PlayStation is set to lay off around 900 employees worldwide.
10.02.2024 - 20:21 / eurogamer.net / Phil Spencer / Vikki Blake / Shannon Liao
Xbox is still committed to making consoles, says boss Phil Spencer
Earlier this week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer called an all-staff townhall meeting to address the rumours suggesting that hitherto first-party Xbox games could be released on other platforms, insisting that this did not mean the company wasn't committed to the Xbox console.
According to journalist Shannon Liao, the meeting – which was held with all internal staff on Tuesday – confirmed that the company was indeed considering bringing first-party games to «multiple kinds of devices», and more would be revealed publicly next week.
Newscast: Why are there so many games industry layoffs? Newscast: Why are there so many games industry layoffs?«The company held an internal Tuesday townhall where Spencer told employees that there were no plans to stop making consoles, and that Xboxes would continue to be part of a strategy that involves multiple kinds of devices,» Liao reports, adding that Xbox did not return a request for comment.
good evening! here's your weekly games journalism industry newsletter, as promised. link? why, you'll have to do some digging to find that (it's my full name dot s*bst*ck dot com) pic.twitter.com/cDwbjV1oIu— Shannon Liao (@Shannon_Liao) <a href=«https://twitter.com/Shannon_Liao/status/1756090644269769202?ref_src=» https:>February 9, 2024
To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settingsEarlier this week, following a potentially seismic shift in Microsoft's approach to its first-party games, Spencer confirmed the company will be sharing its «vision for the future of Xbox» in a «business event» next week.
Yesterday, Microsoft responded to a claim from the FTC that its planned layoff of 1900 people across Xbox and Activision Blizzard goes against what was said in court last year, in regards to how Activision would remain structurally independent.
«In continuing its opposition to the deal, the FTC ignores the reality that the deal itself has substantially changed,» a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to Eurogamer.
«Since the FTC lost in court last July, Microsoft was required by the UK competition authority to restructure the acquisition globally and therefore did not acquire the cloud streaming rights to Activision Blizzard games in the United States. Additionally, Sony and Microsoft signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation on even better terms than Sony had before.»
PlayStation is set to lay off around 900 employees worldwide.
Last week, on the heels of rampant rumors and speculation, Microsoft announced that while they aren’t porting their biggest games like Starfield to other platforms, they would be bringing four slightly lower-profile games to the competition. At the time, Phil Spencer wouldn't say what these games were, but as of today we now know three of the four. During the latest Nintendo Direct it was announced Grounded and Pentiment are coming to Switch, and now we know Hi-Fi Rush is coming to PS5.
The worst-kept secret in gaming has just leaked even more dramatically, as a trailer confirming that Hi-Fi Rush is coming to PS5 has just appeared on Bethesda's Latin American YouTube channel.
Following on from today’s news that Pentiment and Grounded are coming to Nintendo Switch, Microsoft has announced that fellow Xbox game Hi-Fi Rush is coming to PlayStation 5.
Xbox games Pentiment and Grounded are confirmed as coming to Nintendo Switch.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has addressed lingering questions around the company stance on physical media following last year's leaks of an «adorably all-digital» Xbox Series X refresh, saying Microsoft continues to be «supportive» of the medium, and insisting «getting rid of physical, that's not a strategic thing for us.»
Will this year’s Call of Duty launch day one on Game Pass? Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested it will.
Even with its continued push for Game Pass, Xbox has no intention of fully abandoning disc-based games, according to Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer.
For the best part of this generation, Sony’s been pressured by a vocal part of the gaming community to borrow Xbox Game Pass’ unproven business model with PS Plus. The platform holder eventually decided to take a half-step, merging PS Now with its existing subscription but resisting the urge to add day one first-party software to the service. It’s described this strategy as unsustainable.
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Xbox Cloud Gaming should start allowing users to stream their own games sometime in 2024, according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Streaming enthusiasts have been waiting for this feature to be added to the Xbox service since its earliest days, back when it was still called xCloud.
The enormous success of Helldivers 2 continues, with the game officially outperforming both Fortnite and Call of Duty on PSN in the USA. Compared to the original game, Helldivers 2 is proving to be a breakout hit, with player counts rising daily.