Video games were great, but Xbox and PlayStation put an end to it – Reader Feature

So, what kind of week was it? We made the first tentative announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2, then had Xbox give us a free clown show for the entire world that generously lasted for days. At this point we take off the kid gloves and realize that Xbox is not only laughably incompetent, but a complete parasitic pest of gaming, and in real danger of destroying the entire console industry. I think I'll just admit it. That's not an exaggeration, it's just a fact.

PlayStation is almost as bad, that is, slightly more competent, but equally guilty of dragging gaming into the mud through inaction and abandoning everything it has built over the past 30 years. , I think you can avoid accusations of console bias. As the years passed, the second thing became more difficult. The real reason it's less distracting, though, is simply because you don't have the funds to be as disruptive as Xbox.

While trying to figure out what Xbox is trying to accomplish, Varys says of Littlefinger, “If he could become Lord of the Ashes, he would watch this land burn,” Game of Thrones. I remember the quote. In the Xbox and his PlayStation song, Phil Spencer plays the role of Littlefinger. However, Phil Spencer, like the rest of his executive cronies, is a fool.

I'm telling you, Phil Spencer probably likes the game. He likes money better, and if he was an executive he would probably sell his grandmother to climb the career ladder, but when he first started working as a big boss, he probably did better for Xbox and was more interested in gaming. I guess he thought he could help the whole thing. But his failures over the past decade show he can't do that.

As GC already pointed out, Xbox's problem is that they're always looking for excuses not to just sit down and make games. They always think they've found a shortcut to catch up to PlayStation, whether it's by buying companies that Sony can't afford, whether it's TV integration, backwards compatibility, streaming, Game Pass. All you have to do is keep your head down and make a great game.

PlayStation has the same tendency, often securing a “win” by about the midpoint of a generation, but I think that after the success of the PlayStation 4, they will learn the secret to success as a console maker. was thinking. It's not that complicated a secret, it's just… making good games. People who are good at games want to buy a game console to play them.

So it's really not much more than that. Just ask Nintendo. They've been in this business longer than Sony or Microsoft, and they've overcome challenges. And how do they plan on making a comeback despite having far less money on hand? They shut up and make great games and the customers come right back.

But Microsoft has no patience for it (and will never stop talking about it), and now that they've wasted more than $75 billion on acquiring developers, time is running out. Microsoft has the money to make that kind of acquisition, but when you're dealing with that much money, they want to get more money back on top. It's like borrowing from your parents. Parents may forget about some small loans, but when they start talking about big money, they want that money back with interest.

What is Xbox going to do? There aren't any exclusive titles on the horizon that will make people buy the console yet (I'm going to make an educated guess that Hellblade 2 and Indiana Jones aren't going to change the game) ), and the same goes for the large companies we choose to acquire. At most he makes games every five years. What is Blizzard currently working on? How long until The Elders 6, let alone Fallout 5?

They own Activision now so the money is coming in for Call Of Duty, but they need to keep it multi-format or that will stop too. And will they be able to brave Game Pass on day one? The question is. Xbox shut down the studio (until there are no more games to sell, at least for a little while) and basically all he can do is run the business the same way Activision Blizzard does. before they buy them.

Still, after writing this far, I'm not sure which is worse, Xbox or PlayStation. Xbox is more reckless and ignorant, but PlayStation is basically in the same position, abandoning what Xbox was always desperately trying to accomplish. That's how PlayStation stopped making games, and is probably now only working on live service titles and little else.

This is how the death of video games happens, publishers focus on their one or two live service games and eventually wither and die, leaving only Candy Crush and Gacha games. It's not just Xbox or PlayStation. 2K has been making a lot of layoffs lately, so basically all he does is GTA, Red Dead, and sports games full of microtransactions.

EA and Ubisoft and other companies will definitely follow suit, and the games will be all indie games, Nintendo, and probably a few other Japanese developers. Ah…well, maybe the Great Extinction isn't so bad after all. Especially since it was brought on by the victim himself.

From reader Pinky

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