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[Menzies]

Now what did Phil do after Don's fuck up? he spent $3.5 billion on Minecraft. Then wandered about for four years before finally buying Ninja Theory, Obsidian and Playground Games. Starting Initiative in 2018. Basically punting an entire generation.

Agree with you about the CEO's setting the vision and that they are few and far between.

However, I'm not sure you are witness to the behind the curtains board meeting conversations and budget allowances.

I don't think Phil had access to an open cheque book as soon as he took over the reins. Microsoft is a big ship to move. Slowly but surely, he eventually received the backing to execute on his the Company's vision of 'anywhere, any device, any time' with pushing the direction of subscriptions and cloud.

 

[Heisenberg007]

9/10.

He made a few stupid mistakes, such as announcing Horizon at $70, announcing PS3 PSN shut down, etc. and that's why I'm taking out that 1 point. But overall, he has been great.

- Record console launch amidst supply shortages
- Best launch lineup
- Exploring new venues and expanding PlayStation horizontally
- Most aggressive Head of SIE in terms of expansion.
- Record growth of internal PlayStation Studios teams

 

[Airbus Jr]

 

[remember_spinal]

People say the only thing sony is doing right is games, and i mean last time I checked i literally turn on my gaming console to play games.

This is why gaming or at least the discourse around gaming is getting lame because people bicker about everything that has nothing to do with games. Since when do we even care about gaming CEO’s? I went years not knowing anyone but kojima and miyamoto now i know whos in charge of every damn department at every game company and their linkedin resumes.

Please just keep delivering good gaming experiences, SIE. I dont give a fuck about anything else

 

[OuterLimits]

Jim Ryan is like the newly hired head college football coach who is making some head scratching play calls/decisions but the team is still fairly successful largely thanks to the hard work done and talent recruited by his predecessor.

Granted, I think some of his decisions have been wise. Branching out some to PC and mobile is likely a smart move. PS+ Extra is a great deal(however Premium doesn't deserve the same praise with its laughably lacking classics offerings). Some of his decisions I'm not a fan of, but could be a good financial move for the company. We will know in a few years

 

[zokie]

i think communication between the gamers/customers is very important and there are always lack of updates

lack of updates for
- playstation plus classics ( when and which games are coming )
- playstation stars ( i buy games digitally nowadays and other stores have some sort of rebate back )

- information is not kept confidential as there are always leaks before State of Play or Playstation showcase

Even if he steps down , problems will still continue especially PS5 stock availability worldwide

 

[Ozzie666]

I had a think about this. Playstation is succeeding in spite of Jim, based on the previous generation and history. Jim is living off that previous success. Eventually something is going to give and past success will go the way of the 32X.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I had a think about this. Playstation is succeeding in spite of Jim, based on the previous generation and history. Jim is living off that previous success. Eventually something is going to give and past success will go the way of the 32X.

I think, in a small scale, he is being the Tim Cook of Sony… he is extracting money, but creativity and the classic soul is lacking somewhat…

 

[A Most Virtuous Cat]

Poorly.

Tretton was the best they had, Layden was horrendous and Ryan is just so far over his head in diluting the brand.

This might sound ridiculous, since the ps5 is the leader in the next-gen race. I own one, by the way, and PlayStation is my preferred console.

BUT, PlayStation should have been selling better this gen so the first two years are not really a good metric, as they came in with the most momentum. Starting with Layden and continuing with Ryan PS has lost all trust in the Japanese market, they have stopped making super diverse genres and games and narrowed into cinematic action games as a whole.

One of my biggest concerns is that Jim not only let Activision go FP to a rival (if you have ever been in the industry, you know that there is absolutely NO way Ryan didn’t know it was happening), but his acquisitions in response to Microsoft’s have been concerning and anti-climatic.

MS grabs both Bethesda and Activision/ Blizzard. PlayStation grabs… Bungie… to not even make exclusives? A mobile studio next?

Meanwhile I lost a lot of faith the last few years with their disrespectful non-commitment to Bluepoint, who deserves more than PS has given.

My absolutely BIGGEST beef is that he has allowed first party games go multi platform, which PlayStation being a VG only company makes ZERO sense. You need people to WANT to buy a PlayStation, and the way to do that is through primarily a strong exclusive library (see: Nintendo and PS of the past).

This isn’t even touching on that he has shown interest in creating services like gamepass rather than just going against it, and then dumb PR stunts like raising the price of the console in virtually all major markets. Forget the studios closed or the inability to acknowledge there is a fan base for games like Killzone, Crash, etc.

Very disappointed in what has occurred since Tretton stepped down, as a whole. Ryan is just another spoke in that wheel.

I still have love for PS, and again - still my preferred console. But to say I am not disappointed would be a lie. You have to be able to criticize things you like, or you end up blindly allowing them to become things you don’t.

100% agree with you. It's like they are not even focusing on "PlayStation" any more, but trying to put their hands into too many pies at once. Focus on PS5, release ground breaking games, stop with the crossgen, PC and mobile releases. The very fact that they greenlit the TLOU remake is evidence that their decision making and creativity is in a very bad place right now.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Very poorly. Not from a game perspective. The amount of quality games are still there. Demon's Souls, Returnal, Forbidden West, GoW Ragnarök, Ratchet, Miles Morales. The hits just keeps coming.

But from a business perspective he is terrible. Ruthless actually. His constant price gouging will be death of PS. I feel today's SIE is more about greed than games and that turns me off from the ecosystem. And then we have the aggressive push towards GaaS and live service games and that is something I don't care or want at all.

I love Playstation, always have, but the current direction Sony is headed with their PS is something I don't support at all.

 

[Wohc]

From a business perspective: He does a great job and secures PlayStation's future.
Form a fanboy and warrior perspective:

 

[hemo memo]

Very poorly. Not from a game perspective. The amount of quality games are still there. Demon's Souls, Returnal, Forbidden West, GoW Ragnarök, Ratchet, Miles Morales. The hits just keeps coming.

But from a business perspective he is terrible. Ruthless actually. His constant price gouging will be death of PS. I feel today's SIE is more about greed than games and that turns me off from the ecosystem. And then we have the aggressive push towards GaaS and live service games and that is something I don't care or want at all.

I love Playstation, always have, but the current direction Sony is headed with their PS is something I don't support at all.

The amount of quality games are not thanks to him but because of very talented devs that were there before he even take that position. His actual decisions that he is mainly responsible for are price gouging and GaaS push and buying mobile studios.

Things are going great for Playstation DESPITE Jim Ryan, not because of him.

 

[Esppiral]

The words "Well" and "Jimbo" can't get mixed together in the same phrase.

 

[Miles708]

He's a bean counter. At most he can optimize what he has but he's not the kind of head that would greenlight something like Bloodborne.

It's PS3 Sony again, and there have never been so few reasons to prefer a Sony console over the competition.

PS4 has been a fantastic generation, but it's mostly over.
Hoping to be surprised and happy to be proven wrong.

 

[aygomyownroad]

Xbox is really killing it this gen, they have had some great first party games, bought some big studios and the jewel in the crown of GamePass is hard to beat.

It seems like last gen, with the PS brand being a lot less consumer friendly this time around, his attitude doesn't help. But there are some great games coming out on it and that is something that is very important overall.

I like my PS5, but I rarely use it just now, the cost of games can be hilarious (Digital on Xbox but second hand games on ps5), the quick swapping games on Xbox is so convenient to have several running at once and not lose your place.

Biggest thing is a remake... of TLOU... a remake of a game released twice already, and for full price. Not a free upgrade or even a small upgrade fee... If it was on Xbox you know it would be on Gamepass. Feels like a get rich quick style scheme to plug up the holes.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

10/10, more PC ports please.

 

[Three]

Focusing on sequels and remakes is far from killing it. It's Playing it safe and will catch up to him.

It's better than the exact same games but now under a first party banner.

 

[JimmyRustler]

How though?
He basically did what everyone hates him for already.
Price increase on Games,
Price increase on the console,
Releasing PS exclusives on PC.
And PlayStation is still going strong.

I don't get the hate for the guy.
Constant high quality games,
A next-gen console with almost no load times,
A controller with some pretty good features,
A revamp PS Plus subscription with 700+ games,
Releasing PS exclusives on PC for the PC gamers.

What's funny, is there are people above him that are most likely in charge of pricing.


What's even funnier is wanting a company that makes some of the best games to go down in ruin.
I don't get it.

Call it a hunch. The guy seems way to profit oriented for my taste, the complete opposite for the PS4 team.
Most of the game reelased now were put into production well before he took over, including the upcoming God of War. And ever since he took over all I've heard is how he wants to expand the PS brand everywhere (PC, TV etc.) and almost nothing about how he wants to expand it in a sense of more IPs . Also, it's intersting how many of the PS teams seem to be working on new and upcoming service and multiplayer games.

Just can't shake the feeling that PS will only be a shell of what it has been a few years down the line. I don't ever see one of those legendary Last Guardian, FF Remake E³ happing under him.

 

[Leyasu]

I judge gaming CEO's on the games they bring to the forefront. Not on the meaningless PR some engage in.

So far, in terms of games, Jimbo is killing it.

I didn’t realise that Jim was actively making games at Sonys studios.

You learn Something new everyday.

But in reality, Jim is there to grow the business and profits. For that he is doing well.

 

[Graciaus]

The games are selling great but nothing they have made has interested me in years. Bringing games to PC is a smart move to get more of a revenue stream.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

The entire PlayStation brand is floating on air. As in they’re winning but not for any particularly reason outside of loyalty and expectation. I’m not sure you can even credit that to a particular leader within the company. Sure you can point out the exclusive lineup and the quality of games, not to mention sales, but Nintendo is also winning in these categories. PlayStation is beating Xbox but not by much. That’s just what it feels like right now to me. Like the Xbox brand is growing and PlayStation is slowly dwindling.

They are winning because as it turns out people care about games and PlayStation doesn't disappoint In that regard. That's it.

There is no mystery here.

And how is Sony beating Ms but not by much? At this point in the previous gen they weren't that different lmao

 

[Orbital2060]

Jim Ryan has bosses he refers to and who tells him what to do. If anything, you should blame Sony corp for anything that happens and give Jim a fucking break.

 

[Cyborg]

In terms of sales and how healthy PlayStation is, he has been doing an amazing job. At the same time you can't deny that he is out of touch with the fanbase and is running the business like an ''oldschool'' CEO. In the long term, I believe this will harm the brand.

 

[Three]

They literally had a stage announcement for the Crash remakes with an exclusivity agreement. What more do you want?

Not only that but Crash 4 came to PS+ essential too.

 

[Pelta88]

I didn’t realise that Jim was actively making games at Sonys studios.

You learn Something new everyday.

But in reality, Jim is there to grow the business and profits. For that he is doing well.

Firstly, who said that?

 

[Leyasu]

Firstly, who said that?

Reread your post. The way you worded it was as if Jim is the one getting the games out. Which would be Herman’s job.well sort of Herman’s job as he is just overseeing the studios and helping to schedule the releases etc. He isn’t in the trenches

But yeah, I was just mocking your incessant fanboyism

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

No PS showcase yet, so poorly.

 

[lovetalkgames]

They are winning because as it turns out people care about games and PlayStation doesn't disappoint In that regard. That's it.

There is no mystery here.

And how is Sony beating Ms but not by much? At this point in the previous gen they weren't that different lmao

That last part is completely untrue. Xbox had no upward mobility, in fact they were trending down as a brand last gen. They’re trending up right now. Does that have no barring to you on how things could end up in the future?

 

[NahaNago]

I can't really say that I'm a fan. Sony's first party were going to make great games so you can't really place that on Jim Ryan. I think that he is great for Sony but not so much for Playstation. I kind of feel like Sony is simply looking at short term profits and not the long game. Like how they bought the anime streaming sites but don't buy the anime studios so in the future those studios could just decide to either make their own app or get paid even more to put it somewhere else like with what happened to netflix. The bungie deal almost makes sense since they are trying to make more online multiplayer games but couldn't they have just bought a smaller cheaper studio and kept the games semi-exclusive or paid less for Bungie since they would be multiplat.

I will say that under his leadership Sony has started tackling things they should have a long time ago like diving more into online multiplayer games, buying studios, and making video game movies. The only other area I see them majorly lacking right now is the Japanese video game front. They need to either buy a Japanese studio or hire a famous developer to make a first party studio. More animated video game adaptions would be nice. That Ratchet movie was okay but it felt rushed since they were trying to fit a several hour game into an hour and a half movie. They should have eased in with a couple of cartoons to introduce kids to these characters, then released games during that time period, and then released a movie. Mostly only somewhat hardcore ratchet and clank fans were going to see that movie in theaters.

 

[Badlucktroll]

Well, he may have got Silent Hill back as a Playstation game.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Just doesn't make sense to be why Sony has reduced the amount of gaming events when the buzz generated from these events during the latter half of the PS3 and throughout the PS4 must have contributed a lot to both the sales success for their hardware and their 1st party games.

You look at how they handled the announcement of the release date for God of War and then those awful short Game Informer snippets to showcase the game and it makes you wonder, why they didn't just show a proper trailer at a gaming event and top that off with the release date too?

 

[ahtlas7]

Don’t think his paycheck is dependent on our feelings. He is executing Sony’s Playstation strategy as it’s been designed.

 

[Stare-Bear]

Games cost £70 25 years ago, I paid that much for N64 games.

We should be thankful game prices didn’t keep up with inflation

 

[prinz_valium]

From a business perspective very well so far (the strategic decision made now won't show results for 5 to 10 years)
From a consumer perspective quite bad so far.

 

[nightmare-slain]

i'm sure he's keeping the shareholders happy but he doesn't seem to give a fuck about "the players".

 

[crackajack]

He manages the success he inherited from the PS4 and maybe even mainly PS3 era. PS4 was an easy win with MS fumbles. But Sony was at their best when they had to really fight for the market, overcoming their Cell odyssey, PSN troubles (online and social itself + the hack) and that was the time were PS+ was born and the PS4 designed.
This spirit is now necessary too with MS hyper aggressively going in with GP and now having the studios to have games, being much more competitive than they were with the 360. They invest in GaaS and studios too, but seem to do rather slowly which should have started in the PS4 era, maybe also not closing seemingly unprofitable studios, turning them around. Even Japan, with the niche successes of Gravity Rush and Last Guardian was part of what defines Sonys catalogue. Their marketing is spectacularly missing all the chances to shine. Blog-posts, half assed trailer shows. Imho in its content great but in its presentation and information terrible lackluster . The same applies to the relaunch of PS+, incl confusing tiers, especially Premium/Classic tier is imo worth the money but still super weird, worse deal for PS-now PC gamers.
MS's momentum is just building now and the market share will shift. Might be all Sony can do to counter with more constrained money bags, and currently supply constrain pretty much limits any sale anyway, but if they don't step on the gas soon, VR2 launch, things might get tougher for them.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I wish @yosp was the CEO. Playstation's communication in terms of new games and game updates is terrible compared to Nintendo and Xbox.

PlayStation communicates way more than Nintendo dude. Nintendo does their directs and that's it.

PlayStation has quite a lot every time they have a game to be released. Their yearly showcases, their state of plays, their blogposts with multiple info drops, their more traditional media approach that Nintendo and MS don't do nearly as much as well (i'm already starting to see God of War ads...and it won't be out for another 3 months, lmao)

 

[Pelta88]

Reread your post. The way you worded it was as if Jim is

So you don't read what's posted and instead, look for inflections to create your own conversation?

Noted.

 

[Melfice7]

He's transformed a formerly fun brand into one known for nickel and diming.

Don't forget, Xbox had its best years under Mattrick. We're still some years away from feeling the true impact this clown will have on the games.

Pretty much this

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

I think it’s a bigger risk of them going gaas. A better bet is them focusing on all big budget SP games and just sit back and eat up all the mtx fees from third party MP games. Best of both worlds with low risk.

Madness.

GamePass was engineered to mutilate the Shawn Layden era of PlayStation.

Releasing 1 - 2 big single player games a year left PlayStation vulnerable for 50/52 weeks. When God of War Ragnarok releases later this year, it'll be the bell of the ball for a week before everyone moves on.

GamePass and Microsofts 30+ studio advantage would fill the void left by PlayStation for the remaining 50 weeks. I'll take "How to lose marketshare overnight for 300 Alex."

Catering to the GAAS crowd provides PlayStation with unique advantages that modern XBox will have trouble navigating...

- GAAS gamers are immune to FOMO releases throughout the year. They're naturally more interested in additions to their one game than additional games.

- Expensive marketing budgets are inferior to friends trying to get you to play. PlayStation can hit TV and internet with a bunch of expensive advertisements for a few weeks leading up to a games release, but that will never be a as effective (or cheap) as having friends ask you join them in a GAAS title they play.

- Multiplayer is already more lucrative and popular than single player. A trend that's only going to widen in the coming years. Sitting on the sideline, investing in horses while all your peers are making cars would be a folly for the ages.

- Creatively, multiplayer is more rewarding as there's more to explore for creative types. As multiplayer worlds grow larger, get more persistent, and are able to hold more players...the potential for new experiences outstrips single player which has been stagnating for some time. If you want to attract the best creative minds in the industry, you do it by offering the new unexplored frontier of games...not Uncharted 7.

GAAS is a risky endeavor but not jumping in would be death.

 

[Loxus]

Call it a hunch. The guy seems way to profit oriented for my taste, the complete opposite for the PS4 team.
Most of the game reelased now were put into production well before he took over, including the upcoming God of War. And ever since he took over all I've heard is how he wants to expand the PS brand everywhere (PC, TV etc.) and almost nothing about how he wants to expand it in a sense of more IPs . Also, it's intersting how many of the PS teams seem to be working on new and upcoming service and multiplayer games.

Just can't shake the feeling that PS will only be a shell of what it has been a few years down the line. I don't ever see one of those legendary Last Guardian, FF Remake E³ happing under him.

Jim Ryan was at PlayStation for years.

Jim Ryan
Jim Ryan is an English businessman and the current President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the subsidiary of Sony Corporation focused on research, development, and sales of PlayStation hardware, software, content, and network services.

Ryan joined Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, then known as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, in 1994. He was named President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe in 2011. In 2016, Ryan was named Head of Global Sales & Marketing of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC, keeping his role as President of Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe. He was named Deputy President of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC in 2018 while remaining responsible for his prior two positions. Ryan succeeded John (Tsuyoshi) Kodera as President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment in April 2019. He reports to CEO of Sony Corporation, Kenichiro Yoshida.

The fact that Europe is PlayStation stronghold should tell you he knows how to run PlayStation.

What I don't get is hating him for expanding PlayStation. Releasing games on PC later down the road is to boost profits when the games slows right down on the consoles.

Eventually PlayStation will become an everywhere streaming service.
You can already start streaming games on PC via PS Now.

For example, Xbox has their games on PC and GamePass day one and Xbox is still a very strong brand.

Not really sure where your getting that only multiplayer games are in development thing from.
There are plenty of single player games in development.

Plus some PlayStation gamers are asking for some multiplayer games.

Jim already made all the necessary changes.
No way he would increase game prices again during the PS5 generation.
PS5 price will eventually drop within 2 years or so.
Don't think he'll do day one releases on PC since he's not willing to do it on PS Plus.

The only thing that can ruin PlayStation down the road is lack of exclusives, which is very unlikely.

Also, what do you mean by a shell of it's former self?

 

[fart town usa]

Not a fan. Shawn Layden was more likeable and had some personality to him. Jim Ryan is like a piece of dry toast, 0 likeability and doesn't know what fans want.

I am okay with live service stuff personally. But where is Bloodborne Remake, or remaster. Why shit on Japan studios? Where are the stuff that fans want ? Like a new Socom, or resistance Reboot? I don't want 10 million superhero games from Insomniac. I am excited for Wolvernine but both games they making are superheroes titles and that's super lame.

He's a toast sandwich.

OT, I don't have any issue with Jim Ryan, I also don't really watch E3 but it seems like Sony is doing just fine in terms of software. No complaints really from me but I also go the multi-gen route, I never stick with just current gen.

 

[Banjo64]

I agree with the comments saying he’s bland whereas the previous administration were ‘4 the players’.

However. That’s the point of these people.

When times are hard it’s all ‘we’re down with the kids, here have some amazing games on PS Plus, haha we’re making memes on Xbox aren’t we cool hahaha’. They’re doing it to expand the user base, with a view to eventually milk the fuck out of you (we’re in this stage now with PS). Then when the money starts going down they repeat the process all over again.

It makes me laugh when Xbox fans don’t realise that’s the current end goal for MS.

Phil Spencer ain’t going to be doing presentations to the MS board like ‘good will and relatability is up 400%’

 

[Godot25]

From corporate standpoint he is doing great
"Milking" every possible penny from customers while benefiting from strong market position (raising price of games, raising price of consoles, paid upgrades etc.). And then reinvesting those money for future potential profits by developing GAAS games where are real margins. But that stuff is still TBD.
But I understand why many PlayStation gamers are resentful toward him. Because he basically inherited well oiled machine and he is just exploring new stuff with money from that well oiled machine. But many of that stuff is not appreciated by core PlayStation players

 

[Strider Highwind]

I think hes doing cool but there are a little issues that keep popping up here and there that I think they're either A) a little behind on or B) a little stubborn about and the news it generates looks bad. Some really great content has came out while hes in charge, so overall I'm happy

 

[Insane Metal]

He's doing fine. He's going after the money and they need it.

 

[GreatnessRD]

He's bringing Playstation titles to PC. He's alright in my book.

 

[Javthusiast]

 

[SlimySnake]

I don't think Phil had access to an open cheque book as soon as he took over the reins. Microsoft is a big ship to move. Slowly but surely, he eventually received the backing to execute on his the Company's vision of 'anywhere, any device, any time' with pushing the direction of subscriptions and cloud.

Maybe. Thats why I brought up the Minecraft acquisition. If he had $3.5 billion for Minecraft, he probably had a few hundred million for Respawn, Insomniac and Crystal Dynamics. They all went for around $300 million six years after Don Matrick left. He couldve had them for a lot cheaper.

Minecraft acquisition is actually a perfect example of suits chasing success instead of talent. He bought the product. The dev team hasnt produced anything other than Minecraft in the last 8 years since the acquisition. It's a bad investment for the xbox brand. Before Jimbo got scared by the Zenimax purchase and went on his studio spree, he was going out there trying to buy timed exclusivity for any exclusive he can. Even Starfield. Again, buying products instead of talent. Phil buying Activision is the same thing, he's buying CoD instead of trying to create his own CoD, PubG, Fortnite or Apex.

 

[yurinka]

I think he's doing a great job:

• SIE makes now more revenue that any console maker ever did
• SIE is more profitable not that it has ever been, and its profitability is growing to a point that in a few years will be in Nintendo levels
• PS has leader in market share in terms of console active userbase, console maker revenue or console game subs
• Their exclusive blockbusters sell more and receive more awards than ever before
• Has been growing and will continue growing the headcount of basically all their dev teams to allow them to work in more games at the same time, so to release exclusive games more frequently
• Acquired wisely super talented and experienced talent with a lot of potential: Insomniac, Bungie, Haven, Bluepoint, Housemarque, Nixes, Firesprite etc.
• Has been smart also investing in AAA 2nd parties like Kojima Productions, Sumo, Firewalk, Deviation, Haven, Bluepoint or Housemarque to name a few
• Also opened PlayStation Indies to get indie exclusives but in conditions more favorable for the indies and saw results like Kena, Sifu, Stray, Rollerdrome and many more
• Did the much needed PS Plus and PS Now revamp, they are much better now and will be soon as they release the cloud gaming for smartphones, tablets and tvs (MS implemented it before comercially but Sony was the one who patented it and announced plans to do it before)
• Invested in PC (needed to get extra revenue source, as AAA game budget raise every gen) in a smart way that won't damage their console: porting only a few old games per year. Less than the PS only games they release that year, so over time there will be more PS only games, not less.
• Invested in mobile (needed to get extra revenue source, as AAA game budget raise every gen)
• Investments on PC and mobile are separated than the ones in PC that won't affect their investment in console, which also will continue growing. In fact, new specialized teams of experts will handle the PC and mobile stuff, their console devs continue focused on console only and don't have to worry about PC and mobile
• They unified the regional marketing & PR teams they had globally into a single team that now works following the same global strategy, becoming more effective, profitable and streamlining rendundant work
• Same goes with 2nd party publishing, they unified all their regional 2nd party publishing teams in a single and stronger global XDEV team, and the Japanese team will now also cover devs from the rest of Asia
• PSVR2 sounds really promising, seems a great step over the previous one and their competition having apparently fixed most PSVR1 issues
• The PS success made MS gaming division go into kamikaze mode in a desperate move to see if by doing that they can compete with Sony: invested almost 100B in acquisitions plus way more money on moneyhatting 3rd party games and lost 1st party game sales to improve their copies of Sony's game subs and cloud gaming by putting popular games there day one. Seeing that MS can't compete against Sony they are slowly moving their gaming business not only to subscripcions, but also out from consoles, particularly to PC. And as of now that MS strategy isn't paying off, so MS may end quitting from making their own consoles.

Maybe. Thats why I brought up the Minecraft acquisition. If he had $3.5 billion for Minecraft, he probably had a few hundred million for Respawn, Insomniac and Crystal Dynamics. They all went for around $300 million six years after Don Matrick left. He couldve had them for a lot cheaper.

Minecraft acquisition is actually a perfect example of suits chasing success instead of talent. He bought the product. The dev team hasnt produced anything other than Minecraft in the last 8 years since the acquisition. It's a bad investment for the xbox brand. Before Jimbo got scared by the Zenimax purchase and went on his studio spree, he was going out there trying to buy timed exclusivity for any exclusive he can. Even Starfield. Again, buying products instead of talent. Phil buying Activision is the same thing, he's buying CoD instead of trying to create his own CoD, PubG, Fortnite or Apex.

As I remember Minecraft did cost MS around $2B. The team didn't release any other IP of similar success, but MS did a good job milking Minecraft itself and other Minecraft games and stuff they released for the brand selling it everywhere and not making it exclusive or including it on GP the moment they bought it.

I think that they may have recouped this particular investment, and if not they'll do it soon. Specially because the cost of to keep supporting Minecraft and making the newer Minecraft games and merchandising is very small.

It's a pretty different case of Activision Blizzard King and Zenimax: their acquisition cost is way, way higher, and the costs they have will all their employees and related stuff is insane. Many of the revenue Zenimax and ABK generated by selling games will be removed by including them on GP, plus the revenue of some of their games will be removed even more if not released on non-MS consoles. So (at least most of) their big IPs will continue multiplatform.

In the long term the bigger acquisitions like Zenimax and ABK will keep making the MS gaming division more and more unprofitable unless they stop including their games day one on GP or they keep their new games multiplatform.