GamesAjare

It’s heartbreaking to see what’s happening at Xbox right now. A lot of great people are being affected, and I don’t want to minimize that. But if we’re being honest, this has felt like a long time coming and I’m not sure this is the end of it. It may just be the beginning of a much larger reset across the industry. In the long run, I actually think that reset could be good for games and good for gamers. Xbox has struggled for a long time to identify, empower, and protect the key creative people and teams who could have kept the brand at the top. Even when we were making Ori with Xbox, it was clear that the main focus was still Halo, Gears, and Forza - even though gamer excitement around Halo and Gears had already cooled heavily after Bungie and Epic moved on from those franchises. The newer installments simply didn’t reproduce the same cultural impact those series once had. Meanwhile, Ori and the Blind Forest and Ori and the Will of the Wisps became two of the most critically acclaimed Xbox-published games after the 360 era. I always secretly hoped that Microsoft would see the value in what we delivered, that they'd selfishly turn Ori into their Mickey Mouse or a Mario'esque mascot. I emailed Phil plenty of times making my argument that Xbox should have their eyes on delivering magical experiences for kids and families as well, like Disney and Nintendo always have. Ori and Moon could've been the start of something new, but the powers to be were probably too focused on the past for that to happen. We’re still incredibly proud of what we delivered during our Ori era. Our partnership with Xbox produced two games that many players still see as shining stars in the Xbox catalogue. Microsoft still owns an absolutely insane catalogue of franchises. The potential is still enormous. The problem is and has always been that great games are not made by IP. They’re made by people. People who have passion and love for this medium, that understand what gamers truly want. If I were in charge of Xbox right now, I’d also radically slim down, refocus and try to bring back the passion for gaming that clearly existed in the Xbox halls during the 360 era. Xbox should be one of the strongest publishers in the world. With the brands Microsoft owns, that should honestly be fairly straightforward. But nostalgia alone is not enough. Nostalgia can get people to look into your direction, but after that, you still have to deliver the goods. You still have to make products that get players genuinely excited. Products that make gamers literally salivate. And to do that, Xbox has to bet on the right people. They need to find the Miyamotos, Tezukas, Sakurais, etc. within their own ecosystem - the people who actually speak the same language gamers do - and then support them, protect them, and trust them. Bet on those people - Not just IP. We've clearly seen now what happens when you own all the best IP in the world, but don't have the right people in charge to actually service those titles. The formula is really not that complicated: Ship better games than your competition. That’s it. If you consistently do that, you win. And given the scale that Xbox is operating at, they could win HUGE. Of course, pulling off a full reset inside a giant corporation is brutally difficult. But we’ve seen it done before. Apple in 97 was nearly dead and Steve Jobs turned it around by simplifying the company, focusing on beloved brands and shipping products people couldn’t wait to get their hands on. The playbook is already written out for you. From the outside, to people like me, it still looks like Xbox is sitting on an absolute goldmine. They just need to put the right people in charge of mining that gold.