Jez Corden has shared what Microsoft is telling their own video game developers about the changes in their division.
Xbox and Microsoft fans have been frustrated and perplexed about what’s been going on in the company. Microsoft has held a large number of layoffs across the company, and this included not only layoffs of developers in the gaming division, but also cancellations of big projects like Zenimax Online Studios’ Blackbird and Perfect Dark.
At the same time, Microsoft confirmed with even the laid off developers that the company, and the game division, are highly profitable and achieving lifetime records of profits and playtimes. Microsoft has yet to talk to the public about these changes, but many developers seem to also be confused with what they’re doing. In the latest episode of the Xbox Two podcast, Corden shared a lot of insight on this situation.
To quote Corden (edited for clarity):
Last week, there was an all hands meeting internally in Microsoft. One of the questions the staff has asked was why was Blackbird cancelled? From what I was told, one of the reasons they cancelled Blackbird was to make strategic bets in other areas. And that they’re going to be hiring hundreds of people um over the next few months to fill out some of these new bets essentially.
Corden then went on to explain that all the circumstantial evidence pointed to Microsoft deciding to focus on Fallout games, potentially Fallout 6, and that being the reason for Blackbird being cancelled.
But Corden also shed some light on what Microsoft meant by “strategic bets.” Microsoft reviewed the landscape of the industry, and it’s a landscape where younger gamers are getting used to return to their favorite games, such as Fortnite, Genshin Impact, and Roblox. Those gamers are no longer buying new games, creating an existential threat to video games as we knew them before.
In plain English, they can’t take risky bets anymore. A game like Blackbird has potential, but in comparison to a known commodity like Fallout, Zenimax Media and Microsoft are better off betting on more Fallout. That’s especially true given the success of the Fallout streaming show.
Microsoft can no longer afford to take that bet on Blackbird in the hopes that it could be as huge or even be bigger than Fallout. Corden also confirms this is the logic behind cancelling Perfect Dark. As strange as that sounds, it is one of the many trade-offs Microsoft made in favor of their other upcoming games, which presumably had better chances of success.
But Corden offers a surprisingly hopeful statement as well. Again, to quote him from this podcast (edited for clarity):
Apparently one of the things that was said in this meeting as well was they still want to make games of all shapes and sizes. And they specifically called out games like Hellblade 2 and South of Midnight. Because, they want to have games available for every kind of player, even if they’re like niche, they’re still passionate about that kind of thing.
If there’s still a point of contention here, it would be that Microsoft wouldn’t talk to their loyal Xbox gamers about this. More than a bad look, it reflects poorly on the company that they can’t be honest to the customers that they actively sought out to build a relationship with. With everything that’s been reported, Microsoft has yet to provide an official statement to address those fans, and that’s still something they have to address.
