Has Microsoft forgotten what gaming and Xbox is all about?

If there’s one thing I’d say Xbox fans have in abundance, it’s patience. They waited years for a more powerful console under their televisions following the Xbox One release. They waited even longer for the touted “Industry-leading” 1st Party studios organisation, and arguably, if we’re talking sheer size, they got that too.

Indeed, they whooped and hollered when Bethesda became a part of the Xbox family. They cheered from the side-lines as Microsoft battled against Sony and the FTC to purchase ActivisionBlizzard. And now, the dust has settled, and with 4 studios closed in a shock announcement this week, and with further cuts across Microsoft’s gaming division reportedly planned, the patience and trust of the hardcore Xbox fanbase has seemingly run out.

The announcement earlier this week that a number of studios (including Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks) were being shuttered came as a shock to the entire industry, for a number of reasons. One studio – Arkane Austin, had released Redfall (which didn’t do well at all), but has released brilliant games like Prey and Dishonoured.

The other big studio – Tango Gameworks – had recently released the extremely popular and critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush. As Xbox fans caught wind of the news, the result was as expected – many fans, pundits and industry journalists are taking Microsoft to task for it, and rightly so.

Microsoft is no stranger to screw-ups – we all lived through the Xbox One launch, and the recent uproar and rumours of Xbox Exclusives going multiplatform was allowed to bubble away for months before Xbox leadership spoke up.

This time though? This time feels different. And if I had to put my finger on the ‘why’ when it comes to that, I need only look at one game, and one studio – and that’s Tango Gameworks and Hi-Fi Rush.

Hi-Fi Crushed

As anyone who watches the XboxEra Podcast knows, my co-host Nick and I share a sentiment in that sometimes, Microsoft, as a company, just “doesn’t get it”.

By ‘it’ of course, I’m referring to gaming. The tribalism of it, the art and creativity of it, the heart of it. I’m totally aware I’m generalising in referring to Microsoft as some single-minded creature, but the eventual decisions that come across to us consumers seem to often lend credence to my general line of thinking here.

Since Phil Spencer took over from the Myerson/Windows-led time for Xbox, he’s made broad and sweeping changes that for the most part have resulted in incredible value for gamers. Game Pass is great, the hardware across Series S and X is simple, powerful and well-made, and he led Microsoft on a spree of studio purchases to finally give us the one thing Xbox fans were truly lacking – really great 1st Party Games.

Microsoft is no stranger to innovation in the console space, and Game Pass, the premier gaming subscription service, is widely adored by the Xbox userbase. When Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass, they went ahead and bolstered it with tonnes of genuinely great content from indies and partnered 3rd party studios, but they knew that to truly succeed, they needed their own content.

By making more than a few very smart studio acquisitions, and throughout many conversations and interviews over the years, they sold gamers on a promise. This is a new Xbox, this time it will “power your dreams”. Hi-Fi Rush was the first game that truly matched that vision – bold, bright and innovative, it captured the heart of what gaming is to me, and I suspect many others – but it also symbolised many of those promises and words spoken in physical, toe-tapping form.

Empty Promises

When Microsoft closed Tango Gameworks, it wasn’t ‘just’ a studio that got shuttered. it wasn’t ‘just’ a Hi-Fi Rush sequel (something the studio pitched as wanting to do) that got canned. No, it was the promise – the very ideal of what videogames represent, and what this ‘new Xbox’ and it’s super-powered and fully armed 1st Party teams could deliver that got the boot too.

Hi-Fi Rush was more than just a fun action platformer from a 1st party team. It was those ideals personified and given life in video game form, the very ideals that Phil Spencer and team have been selling Xbox fans for the last decade.

That Xbox was all about the games – a variety of genres, unique ideas, a team that took creative risks, even if they didn’t always pay off. Big studios didn’t have to worry, because the niche games can be supported by the behemoths and the recurring revenue from Game Pass. Armed with both, Xbox were going to grow together, pulling in more gamers, widening the palate for many in genres people had never tried before.

When Hi-Fi Rush shadow dropped out of nowhere, it became the very poster child of what this new Xbox could deliver going forward. And by closing Tango Gameworks, and any hopes of a direct sequel from that team, Xbox has also seemingly turned it’s back on that promise.

Lessons have not been learned, and ActivisionBlizzard has changed the game for Microsoft

Xbox has had a rough journey in this industry, post the Xbox 360 era, and frustratingly, all of those difficulties and bumps in the road were of Microsoft’s making. In 2013, it took its fans, its position and its power in the industry for granted and launched a console where it was quite prominent that games – the whole point of the device – were not the focus.

In doing that, it sent a message to many that cover this industry that’s never been forgotten. When Phil took over, there was much talk about lessons learned, but when we see Microsoft make decisions like this, it’s hard to reconcile.

Especially when we have Xbox’s own “Power On” documentary, where Xbox President Sarah Bond says “We acquired Lionhead in 2006, shut it down in 2016. A couple of years later, we reflected back on that experience; what did we learn, how do we not repeat our same mistakes?“, followed by Phil Spencer saying “You acquire a studio for what they’re great at now, and your job is to help them accelerate how they do what they do…”

…Not them accelerate what you do.“

Well, you don’t let people that don’t truly understand this industry take the wheel. Xbox did that in 2013, and look what happened.

It’s clear that the sheer size and power of the merger with ActivisionBlizzardKing has changed what Xbox is within Microsoft. Armed with more data than you can shake a stick at, and a desire for constant, continuous growth that all publicly traded companies wield, it’s clear to me that the moneymen have more than one hand on the steering wheel now, just like when Xbox 360 was at the top of its game.

It’s pure conjecture on my part, but when folks like Tim Stuart, Amy Hood and Satya Nadella take charge of things – and I’m sure they are having more way more of a say in this post Activision-world – they’re going to make choices that aren’t about the creative.

Xbox is arguably Microsoft’s only ‘cool’ consumer-facing brand, and by forgetting what Xbox is, what it should represent – creativity, fun, imagination – it risks tanking that brand completely. Throughout this piece, I’ve referred to Microsoft as this giant, singular entity, but that’s not what Xbox is made up of.

The real Xbox is made up of creators. Artists. Designers. People that wrangle the insanity that is video game development into something that brings joy to millions of people across the planet.

If Microsoft lose sight of that, if they forget that amongst all the dollar signs, and recurring revenue, and numbers on an excel spreadsheet that Xbox it’s meant to mean more than just “money” in the bank, then they’re going to fail.

Phil and team need to argue this point ad nasuem internally – otherwise the fanbase they’ve cultivated over 20 years may just leave them behind for good.