A very predictable acquisition (Picture: Microsoft)

The Friday letters page asks why Japanese companies like Nintendo aren’t cutting jobs, as one reader enjoys Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

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RoboExec
So I guess GC was right all along, about the Activision Blizzard acquisition leading to job cuts. But 1,900? That’s just awful. But why? Those aren’t just duplicate jobs (which is bad enough, don’t get me wrong) this is Microsoft trying to hide other, unrelated job cuts, under the same banner and hoping nobody will work out who’s going and why.

This is it for me, I’m done with Xbox. I wouldn’t touch one of their games or consoles with a bargepole now. Not even if they got rid of that grinning charlatan Phil Spencer and all his other odious underlings. He’s been in charge of Xbox for a decade now and what has that brought?

Another flop console, no must-have first party games, a $70+ billion hole in Microsoft’s pocket, massive disruption to the whole games industry, and the needless loss of 1,900 jobs. Nice one Phil, and you’re getting replaced by an AI when? I mean, it doesn’t have to be a very good one, to do a better job than you.
Purple Ranger

The inevitable outcome
Microsoft become a $3 trillion company, then sack 1,900 staff. Make it make sense. I get there is overlap with Activision, but that figure is extreme, to say the least. I don’t want to hear anymore about them acquiring more developers if this is the outcome. Not that this situation is isolated. The whole industry is having layoffs. But the aspect which frustrates me most, is Microsoft becoming the richest company in the world. Surely, they could have sucked it up?

I assumed it would just be support staff that would be laid off, due to overlap of roles. Clearly not. With Sony discussing going onto other platforms, devs getting fired every week, and Embracer Group in freefall. Is there a game crash coming? Has the industry become too saturated with content, I wonder?
Anon

GC: It’s become saturated with greedy, stupid executives. The golden handshake for Bobby Kotick (who, despite being hated by his employees, never oversaw mass redundancies on this scale) could’ve paid for everyone that was made redundant for a year or more.

Capitalism, ho!
Captain Naive over here. Surely there’s some kind of regulations against big companies buying other (often big) companies, then almost immediately laying off a bunch of the workforce? Who is this benefitting except shareholders and executives, i.e. the already wealthy?

It’s the same story in streaming at the mo. I listen to The Weekly Planet podcast (highly recommended to all fellow nerds) and they’ve been talking for ages about the state of streaming and how these failing companies/business models have no answer except get bigger, sack a bunch of people, reduce output and increase prices to the consumer. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
StellarFlux

GC: There may be in Europe, but it’s par for the course in the US. That’s why it was so easy to predict. A lot of jobs get duplicated during an acquisition, but that’s before you get into the additional job cuts that are part of the ongoing round of investor appeasement.

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East vs. West
Anyone notice how Japanese companies don’t seem to be laying off anyone at the moment? I’m pretty sure in a global economy they’re under the same pressures as everyone else, given they’re selling their games to the same people, so how come they aren’t acting like Mr Burns after losing a money fight?

What Microsoft is doing is disgusting, made so much worse by the fact that they are now the biggest company in the world and have paid out more money to Bobby Kotick, just to get rid of him, than they’ve saved by ruining the lives of all the people that make the products they sell.

It’s not like Japanese companies are run like charities but never forget that when Nintendo ran into trouble with the Wii U, Iwata (RIP) and all the other execs took a pay cut. Microsoft aren’t even in trouble at the moment, they’re in the opposite of trouble, they just want even more money, and they don’t care how they get it.

I swear, if Phil Spencer tries some crocodile tears apology video about how difficult it’s been for him sacking 1,900 people for no reason, while suffering in absolutely no way himself, I’m going to vomit.
Gordo

Solid information
Is there any idea on when the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake will be out? Will it be this year? It didn’t look amazing in the first reveal but as a fan of the games I am going to give it a go if it reviews well on GameCentral and other trusted review sources.

I am still hoping the rumour of Bluepoint making a remake of Metal Gear Solid 1 is true, as their remake of Shadow Of The Colossus was very impressive, so trust them to make a good remake or IP, as has been rumoured.
Andrew J.
PS: The Solid Snake amiibo is currently in stock on the UK Nintendo Store, just bought one myself. The Dragon Quest Hero amiibo is also in stock too.

GC: A recent PlayStation 5 trailer implied that Meta Gear Solid Delta will be out this year, but that’s never been confirmed in writing. Bluepoint have said they’re done with remakes and are currently working on an original IP, a Metal Gear Solid remake by someone else is still rumoured though.

Bad art
The success of Palworld is just completely bizarre to me. I played it on Game Pass and it’s… a kind of half broken patchwork of other games, where most of its artwork and backgrounds seem like they’ve been hacked straight out of either Pokémon or Zelda. If this was free I could sort of understand it being successful, but 8 million copies sold in less than a week, at £25 a throw? Whatever the appeal is I’m not seeing it.

Curious to know if anyone reading this is playing it beyond a first few hours of idle curiosity, as I expect it’s primarily just kids, who probably think shooting and eating pokémon is cool and edgy.

I probably would too if I was eight but is this really what we want to end up being the best-selling game of the year? Is the games industry not better than this? The next time there’s an argument about whether games are art or not Palworld is going to be used as Exhibit A… to prove they’re not.
Onibee

Making the list
After about two hours of lots shouting, swearing, and sweaty palms I finally managed to finish what I found to be one of the most difficult Mario levels. Wall Climb Jump 2 from Super Mario Bros. Wonder. What a game though!

It will definitely be in my top 3 when we vote for our favourite games. Any chance of GC increasing the number of games we can vote for to five? So many great games from last year to pick from.
Tony- -1975 (PSN ID)/SW-4453-8520-2043 (Switch Code)
PS: Not sure if anyone else is having the same issue but I can no longer see people’s comments? I have tried on different devices.

GC: That would greatly increase the time it takes us to collate the votes, so we’ll keep it to three.

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All that matters
Excellent feature on the future of Nintendo, GC. Until then I hadn’t really considered what an odd situation Nintendo are in. They greatly eclipse Xbox and PlayStation at the moment in terms of the quality of output and the Switch, while now in decline, is a much more successful console, and yet they still seem strangely vulnerable.

They’re a small fish punching well above its weight but a small fish nevertheless, which means they’re in danger of being eaten by a larger one or just pushed out of the way, unable to compete at the scale needed to be a success in the games industry nowadays. Especially when even Sony are beginning to seem too small.

Except, maybe they’ve had it right all along. Literally as I’m writing this, I see that Microsoft has just had to layoff nearly 2,000 people?! When did you ever hear of Nintendo doing that? They’re a sensible company, they never try to overextend themselves, and they seem to treat their employees well. A 99% retention rate I heard. I know Japanese work culture is different but that’s still insane.

So yeah, they have some serious issues ahead of them, especially in terms of the cost of making more technically advanced games and competing with things like cloud gaming, but despite all their money Microsoft can’t even begin to compete with Nintendo in terms of quality and beloved games. That’s all that’s mattered this gen and I hope all that will ever really matter.
Simon

GC: Thanks.

Inbox also-rans
Four Call Of Duty games leak and two of them are Black Ops games, one is Modern Warfare, and the other might possibly, maybe be something new. I wouldn’t bet on it, innovation is not a priority in this franchise anymore.
Gazza

Personally, I’d be more than happy to buy Super Smash Bros. Ultimate again if it meant getting a minimum of four extra fighters. I’d pay double if that includes Nell from Advance Wars.
Doshin

This week’s Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend’s Inbox was suggested by reader Franky, who asks what is your favourite modern video game music soundtrack?

Assuming that means any game released in the last two generations, which has been your favourite and why? How do you think the use of original and licensed music has changed in the last decade and how would you like to see it further evolve, in regard to the type of music and how it’s used?

Do you own any game soundtracks from the last two generations and how do you think they compare to older titles?

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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MORE : Games Inbox: GTA 6 and the PS5 Pro, Elden Ring DLC exclusivity, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate EX

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MORE : Games Inbox: Palworld is the new Fortnite, Quake 1 vs. 2, and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk soundtrack

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The Friday letters page asks why Japanese companies like Nintendo aren’t cutting jobs, as one reader enjoys Super Mario Bros. Wonder.