What is Microsoft doing wrong? (Credits: Getty Images)
A reader is frustrated with Microsoft’s recent actions and argues they’re squandering their money on projects that never work out.
Like many gamers I was shocked to see Microsoft’s full page ads in UK newspapers this week. Well, maybe shocked isn’t the word exactly. Baffled? Embarrassed? All of the above really, to the point where my eyes almost rolled out my head when I found out where the idea of bringing Call Of Duty to 150 million more people came from. If you don’t know, they arrived at that figure by adding the number of Switch consoles sold (125 million) to the number of GeForce Now subscribers, now that Call Of Duty is on there.
That is so ludicrously stupid I don’t even know where to start but what gets me is how disingenuous Xbox is being about it all. There’s no mention of where they got that number from in the ads, or that it has anything to do with the Switch. They certainly don’t mention the fact that, despite what they’re pretending, modern Call Of Duty games are not going to work on Nintendo’s console. And then, of course, there’s the fact that anyone with a Switch that was interested in Call Of Duty wouldn’t have that as their only games console in the first place.
The absurd fabrication and obvious desperation on the part of Microsoft is awful to watch, as they constantly twist the truth and says things that any casual gamer would know are blatantly false. If anyone, including Nintendo wanted Call Of Duty on Switch then Activision, who famously like money, would’ve put it there. It doesn’t need Microsoft to come along and, like a white knight, finally bring the game to Switch. According to the ad they’re buying Activision Blizzard to ‘unite’ them with Xbox, as if they’ve purposefully been kept apart all this time.
To me, as someone that owns both consoles (but uses my Xbox Series S much less), Microsoft comes across as both entitled and bullying, but also sadly pathetic when confronted with the idea that they won’t get their way. But then, looking back, their entire legacy is one of failure, missed opportunities, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
The original Xbox tried to bludgeon its way into the industry on the back of precisely one game and the instance that because it had better graphics it must be the best console. That didn’t work (although it was the only time they didn’t come dead last in a generation) so they ditched the console as soon as possible in order to get the Xbox 360 out before the PlayStation 3. Which seemed a good idea until they found out it didn’t work and had to spend $1 billion fixing the red ring of death problem.
The Xbox 360 is undoubtedly their greatest achievement though, outselling the PlayStation 3 for a time and cementing American-made games as the dominant force in the industry – for all the good it did Microsoft. It should’ve been the best selling console of that generation but it got trounced by the Wii and instead of staying the course, and forging their own distinctive path, Microsoft gave in on their ShooterBox image and alienated everyone with Kinect and a legion of bad motion-controlled games.
That combined with always-online killed the Xbox One before it was even released and that brings us up to the Xbox Series X/S where, despite spending a fortune on buying other developers and supporting Game Pass they’re still in last place. All Xbox knows is how to fail and that’s not a fanboy insult, it’s plain fact and it seems to permeate every level of the company.
Phil Spencer has been in charge for nearly a decade now and how many classic video games has he nurtured to release? Unless you really like Forza, arguably none. And all those developers they’ve bought, how many new games have they produced? None yet, that weren’t already nearly done when Microsoft bought them.
And before you say they haven’t had time yet consider how long Fable has been in development by now. Or all the reports about poor management, stories that are clearly not just inventions given the chaos at Halo developer 343 Industries at the moment. With its money and resources, including all those developers, Microsoft should be an industry giant but instead it’s the eternal nearly man, always promising the world and never delivering.
I say all this out of frustration, not hatred, it’s not like I’m going sell my Xbox Series S or anything. In fact, I’m keen to see what Starfield is like, assuming its latest delay is the last one (another example of great Microsoft management!). But I wish it was on PlayStation instead. The whole Xbox brand feels increasingly sinister and manufactured lately and I resent having to deal with it.
By reader Godfather
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A reader is frustrated with Microsoft’s recent actions and argues they’re squandering their money on projects that never work out.