The Activision-ing of Xbox | This Week in Videogames (bumper edition)

Thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring the video. If you want to set up your own website (and get a discount while doing it), hit this link for more info: www.squarespace.com/skillup

I just hate that CEOs can flop so bad at their job but as a result of their poor performance, OTHER PEOPLE lose their jobs. It’s a broken system where bad CEOs keep their jobs.

Executives crunching is an amazing idea fr

Remember that Hi-fi Rush was released with no marketing behind it, other than "Oh, we made a game, you can play it today, bye". Someone wanted the studio killed, and when it didn't work, they just killed it anyway.

We all stood witness for Skillup’s crunch reversal. Chef’s kiss

Matt Booty couldn't even be bothered to get the names of the studios he laid off right in the announcement he released

To close a bunch of studios and then tell the rest of your team that you’re looking for the EXACT type of game one of those studios made is truly baffling to me.

Gamedev here, thank you for this Ralph. It has always been apparent that your passion for games come with the very important understanding that any artform is ultimately the expression of the people that actually made the thing.

I was already loving the video, but once you told these execs to try 'crunch' I lost it man. Well done, everyone is so insanely frustrated with the situation and to hear you put it all together like this is pure catharsis.

Removing Spencer and Booty might not change anything at Xbox, but they sure as hell deserve the boot more than anyone, so they should get it. The fact that they are allowed to remain their positions after nearly a decade of failure is beyond me.

The fact Bobby Kotick is the ultimate winner of the Acquisition Wars tells you all you need about the state of the industry

Wow, Ralph. This is the best written, most heartfelt, most scathing episode you’ve ever written. Good work, and eff the hyper-financialization of the games industry.

The shitty thing, this is effecting ALL work industries. I work for a major medical device manufacturer that profited ~$12 BILLION US DOLLARS and still laid off 20% of the R&D teams that got them there. This is why there is no loyalty or security in corporate America anymore.

The complete lack of advertising of Hellblade 2 is WILD. It's as if suddenly MS has no money.

Reminder that Microsoft's payment to Bobby Kotick would cover the salaries of Tango Gameworks and Arkane Austin employees for more than 17 years.

The cutting of the music for this one is very appreciated. This is an important message.

I'm glad you waited to make the vid and cover a wider scope. Great work

Phil Spencer is not your cool gaming uncle. He is a Microsoft executive. Always has been.

The worst part is that Hellblade 2 is launching in just a few days and there is absolutely zero marketing towards that game. I got a feeling Ninja Theory will be next

You encapsulated so well what made the Apple ad so uncomfortable for many - it's the callous disregard. It's since been found out that there was a very similar ad run by LG for a phone release in the 2000s, and obviously the uproar over that was non-existent. The point being, we live in a different time now, technology is even more intertwined with our day-to-day goings, and people are very attuned with how the whims of corporations have very real, very tangible effects on their own lives. This backlash is one of the few ways we have to express our aversion to that callousness.