‘Xbox Is Being Sunsetted’ — Seamus Blackley, One of the Creators of Xbox, Thinks Current Shakeup Spells the Finish for Microsoft’s Gaming Enterprise

Amid the official statements and plenty of tweets that adopted one of many greatest shakeups ever at Xbox, one among its creators believes Microsoft’s true plan is to carry its gaming enterprise to an finish.

Seamus Blackley co-created Xbox at Microsoft, bringing to life Microsoft’s console {hardware} in 2001 earlier than leaving only a 12 months later. He has watched his former firm hit the headlines as Phil Spencer and would-be successor Sarah Bond introduced their exit. And in a brand new interview, he revealed what he believes to be new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma’s precise mission — which appears like nothing good for Xbox followers.

Speaking to GamesBeat, Blackley stated that Xbox will not be a core a part of Microsoft’s all-encompassing AI push, and so “is being sunsetted.” Drafting in Sharma, who Blackley factors out got here from Microsoft’s AI staff with no gaming background, is additional proof of the corporate’s true technique, he claimed. “They don’t say that, but that’s what’s happening,” he went on. “I expect that the new CEO, Asha Sharma, her job is going to be as a palliative care doctor who slides Xbox gently into the night.”

Part of the issue right here, in response to Blackley, is that Microsoft head honcho Satya Nadella believes that AI will “subsume” video games “like it will subsume everything,” and that spells the tip for the standard video video games enterprise, a lot of which Microsoft owns.

“The job of all these people is to just gently usher all of these business units into the new world of AI,” Blackley stated. “That’s what you’re seeing here. Whether or not you agree with it, whether you agree with AI having the potential to do that, whether AI will be successful, is a separate matter. But that’s what we’re seeing. That is in no way surprising. It would have been shocking if they had somebody in there in a meaningful role who was passionate about games, passionate about the creator-driven business of games, because it would be in direct conflict with everything else Microsoft is doing. Microsoft is a company that is now about enabling its customers by enabling AI to drive things. That’s at odds with the auteur model of any art, but specifically of games. Microsoft doesn’t have the problem that Apple does, or that Netflix does, where they have an auteur-driven content model to manage. Games are the only place where they have a content business.”

Xbox Games Series Tier List

Xbox Games Series Tier List

It’s value mentioning that Blackley’s feedback go towards the statements launched by Microsoft in its announcement of the Xbox shakeup. Sharma has promised to ship “the return of Xbox,” and, as a part of that, has vowed to reengage with core Xbox followers. There was even a promise to decide to console, which is definitely a crowd-pleasing remark at a time when so many Xbox followers really feel disenfranchised with Microsoft’s shifting technique. As for Satya Nadella, he has stated he was “long on gaming and its role at the center of our consumer ambition,” which doesn’t sound like Xbox is sunsetting any time quickly.

As it stands, Microsoft has an extended record of video video games due out this 12 months and past, and the promise of a brand new Xbox console within the coming years. One of the large questions round current occasions is whether or not Sharma will tear up these plans. Of course, the likes of Fable and Halo and Call of Duty will launch this 12 months, as introduced. But will the next-gen Xbox fall by the wayside? Will any plans former Xbox boss Phil Spencer had for an Xbox handheld come to fruition?

And whereas Sharma has stated she has “no tolerance for bad AI,” and promised to “not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop,” it appears unlikely that gaming will escape Microsoft’s huge AI push totally.

IGN has far more on Sharma’s arrival and the departure of Spencer, together with the various farewells to him from veteran builders, Spencer’s private phrases to the Xbox group following his departure, and Sharma’s personal responses to preliminary considerations round her current AI work and lack of gaming business job expertise.

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can attain Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].