Today, one day after Microsoft announced that it would shut down four of its games studios, Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, held a town hall to discuss the division’s future goals. “We need smaller games that give us prestige and awards,” Booty told employees, according to internal remarks shared with The Verge.

For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.

Hi-Fi Rush, which was a surprise release last year, was praised for its innovation and charm. The rhythm action game featured music by The Black Keys and Nine Inch Nails, with an art style that evoked the hyper-stylized games of the PS2 era. Just four months after its release, Hi-Fi Rush hit 3 million players. During the 2023–2024 awards season, the game went on to win a Game Award, a Game Developers Choice award, and a BAFTA.

  • haui
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    476 months ago

    The reason these companies are successful is anti competitive behavior and money, not genius. Granted, gates did good when he invented a universally adopted OS but since then, they’re just using their power to bully themselves to more money.

    They desperately need to be broken up and I wonder when the rest of the world will come to that conclusion. I hope it happens before we get „privatized government“.

    People defending megacorporations of any kind should be ashamed of themselves.

    • @Aceticon@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Gates did good when his mother who was in the board of IBM convinced them to use on their PC the OS made by her son

      FTFY

      • haui
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        296 months ago

        OOF

        I didnt know that. So from „young inventor in a garage“ to „privileged child gets everything in life because money“. Thats sad man.

        • haui
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          26 months ago

          I‘m sure you mean well but your link does not work to substantiate your claim. Can you cite or link to a specific part of the document? Assuming its not my phone thats making trouble. In that case I apologize.

          • @Aceticon@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            For the link, under the section “Creation of PC DOS”

            “In July 1981, a month before the PC’s release, Microsoft purchased all rights to 86-DOS from SCP for US$50,000.[3][10][11] It met IBM’s main criteria: it looked like CP/M,[2] and it was easy to adapt existing 8-bit CP/M programs to run under it, notably thanks to the TRANS command which would translate source files from 8080 to 8086 machine instructions. Microsoft licensed 86-DOS to IBM, and it became PC DOS 1.0. This license also permitted Microsoft to sell DOS to other companies, which it did. The deal was spectacularly successful, and SCP later claimed in court that Microsoft had concealed its relationship with IBM in order to purchase the operating system cheaply. SCP ultimately received a US$1 million settlement payment.”

            • haui
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              86 months ago

              All because his mother was on the board of directors? Now I understand why he wont give away his fortune. He isnt the saint everybody thinks he is. Its all marketing.

              • @Risk@feddit.uk
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                86 months ago

                I mean, yeah… There’s no such thing as being an ethical billionaire.

                • haui
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                  16 months ago

                  Yeah. Try to tell that to anyone who is in that TV-watching-bubble. I have problems even conveying that musk is not a saint.