Microsoft

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Post by Stranger »

For a company with all the sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits, staff walkouts asking for the money grubbing, sexual deviant CEO Bobby Kotick to resign and the mass exodus of long time talent leaving for greener pastures i can't help but think this is a good thing for Blizzard. A shake up of the top management is badly needed and the change of scenery should be a good thing for the Blizzard dev teams.

It's no secret that Microsoft needs to expand its Xbox game pass library and their "Metaverse" that they keep talking about. If you add all those games into the $15/month fee then i see that as a great deal for gamers. I'm hopefully optimistic about this change and could see myself definitely paying for the XBox game pass (which can be played on PC) because i've always been a big fan of the Blizzard games.
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Post by Leisher »

Stranger wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:00 am It's no secret that Microsoft needs to expand its Xbox game pass library and their "Metaverse" that they keep talking about. If you add all those games into the $15/month fee then i see that as a great deal for gamers. I'm hopefully optimistic about this change and could see myself definitely paying for the XBox game pass (which can be played on PC) because i've always been a big fan of the Blizzard games.
Here's the problem though. Microsoft has no fucking idea what the hell it's doing in the area of gaming. They are absolutely rudderless. Every few years we hear about all the great innovations they're going to make for PC gaming, and those always fail and/or are forgotten. Meanwhile, they continue on with the X-Box, which is monumentally stupid when you consider their dominance in the PC market.

So is the fact that Valve beat them to the punch in a market they dominated. So is the fact that Epic came along and has STILL beaten MS to the punch in the market they dominate because MS is resting it's laurels on:
-Buying Halo and turning it into an X-Box exclusive. Releasing a collection to PC users, then making it an X-Box exclusive again.
-Rolling out the MS store and never improving it. In fact, I'd argue it's simply gotten worse, particularly with the new forced MS IDs.
-Adding just about the lamest features possible "for gamers" with every version of Windows.
-Buying other minor properties, like State of Decay, and making them MS Store exclusives for the first several years.

Microsoft's X-Box division clearly has all the power when it comes to gaming in that company. Their executives are so fucking out of touch that they probably think of gaming as something only kids do and they only do it on consoles. (A stigma they should have fought for decades being the #1 OS on the planet...) Gaming has already financially passed movies as the #1 form of entertainment. There's no way that doesn't include hours spent. Twitch has millions of streamers a night. And the list goes on. MS has completely missed the boat on gaming and they continue to do so over and over and over again.

That's why we have very little faith in this purchase.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by Stranger »

You've sure become a "get off my lawn" guy at your old age. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Post by GORDON »

Remember the "Games for Windows" rebrand? And then they bought PC Games magazine to serve as their primary marketing tool. That mag went out of business within 5 months, IIRC.

Took them about 15 years to get out an AoE sequel.

Was it Windows Vista that had the tool to tell you how good your gaming rig was? That's gone. Remember when there would be a dedicated "Games" folder to find all your stuff easily? Gone.

In spite of their falling backwards into success with XBox, Microsfoft is not primarily a game company.
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Post by Stranger »

GORDON wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 12:55 pm Microsfoft is not primarily a game company.
Agreed, but i do know quite a few people who subscribe to the Xbox game pass and are quite happy with it.

The point of my post was more along the lines of Blizzard needing a major shake up, some new scenery. Kind of like a football player that goes to a new team and then rekindles his career. Also, if the Xbox game pass were to get the complete Blizzard line of games past, present and future (Diablo 4..) along with Call of Doody (like what i did there?) for $15/month then thats a helluva deal for gamers, no matter what Microsoft may have done in the past. Trust me, i'm not the only person who's thinking this.
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Post by Leisher »

Stranger wrote: Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:34 am You've sure become a "get off my lawn" guy at your old age. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Maybe. It's also just a lot of experience. I'm really done buying the promises of corporations or just giving them the benefit of the doubt when they've constantly failed to deliver. Don't get me wrong, I'm rooting for this purchase to go well. I was just pointing out that MS' track history doesn't bode well for the future of Blizzard. I'm also pretty fed up with moron consumers who grab their ankles for any corporation that dangles a flashy item in front of their face. Corporations might act greedy and irresponsible, but we allow it. If we didn't, we'd be getting better products for better prices.

I guess I'm fully on board with companies making money, but somewhere along the way they decided that consumers actually getting good value and enjoying the product is irrelevant. Those two things should have equal importance to a company. I believe short term gains have become far more important to the C suite people these days who just want to make a boatload of personal money before moving onto their next gig. They simply don't give a fuck how much ill will they gain with their consumers because they won't be there.

This isn't just a gaming issue either. It's across the board with all consumer goods.
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Post by GORDON »

Why should they spend another 20% making it better when they'll only lose 5% making a shit product?
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Post by Leisher »

Exactly. When companies are willing to let customers actually die instead of fixing a problem because it'll cost more to fix the problem, then something is seriously broken in the system.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by TheCatt »

Anyone use one of those Microsoft 365 family plans and have a spare family member? :)
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by TheCatt »

It's not me, it's someone else.
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Post by Leisher »

I don't hate Microsoft. I just think they're a really perfect example of how corporations exist for Wall St and not to serve customers.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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Post by TheCatt »

Leisher wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:24 am I don't hate Microsoft. I just think they're a really perfect example of how corporations exist for Wall St and not to serve customers.
It is their literal #1 job.
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Post by Leisher »

Adam Smith would disagree.
TheCatt wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:37 am
Leisher wrote: Thu Jun 02, 2022 10:24 am I don't hate Microsoft. I just think they're a really perfect example of how corporations exist for Wall St and not to serve customers.
It is their literal #1 job.
Making a profit IS their literal #1 job. Constantly sabotaging their own future, products, employees, and customers to make a very small group of people on Wall St. happy every quarter in the unsustainable and unrealistic shell game of "profits and growth can never go down or be steady" is not.

The extremely narrow focused and short sighted "serve our Wall St. masters at any cost" would logically suggest that by not hiring mercenaries to murder Apple executives and sabotage their facilities, Satya Nadella is actually doing a shitty job at MS. We see corporations breaking the law ALL the time in the name of their Wall St masters, so why not murder? Oh wait...they actually have murdered people. Ask Ford.

If we can't be honest about where Capitalism is broken, then maybe the hippy dippies are right about it being a terrible system.

And again, I will point out that I love Capitalism, but Adam Smith's invisible hand is supposed to be controlled by the consumers, not a couple of fat cats on Wall St. and their paid off Senators.

But we don't need to rehash this conversation we've had a million times elsewhere.
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Post by GORDON »

Whether or not a random person thinks the government is bought and sold will vary and change with whatever party the current president is.

Letting people vote is a terrible system of government.
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Post by Leisher »

Huge revelations from MS Gaming CEO Phil Spencer.

Very interesting.

MS needs to completely redo their approach to PC gaming. They treat us like console players, and we're two completely different animals. We're not on their platform exclusively, and thus, forced to sign up. Your app cannot be intrusive and cause problems, like Ubisoft's terrible launcher.

Phil needs to hire a PC gamer to help them get into that market. MS has always been way too focused on console players.

Also, MS wants to buy Valve if the opportunity comes up.
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Post by TheCatt »



MSFT > AAPL, wow.
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Post by Leisher »

That's impressive, although I'd give Apple some of the credit.

I'd also strongly question why Microsoft has completely fucked up their gaming efforts for so long. They should have eliminated Playstation long ago, it's so fucking simple, I cannot believe they haven't done it yet. They should also have been Valve before Valve. Now if they were smart, they'd get in bed with Valve. Don't buy them! They would result in more negativity. They could become a major player in PC gaming again by working hand in hand with Valve rather than against them.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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