This is terrific advice and more relevant than ever in the gaming industry, where Xbox is bleeding studios and employees, but Nintendo just gave everyone a 10% raise.
They tried to put full leash on studios, didn't worked, they tried to just "hey, you did good game, we buy you and just give you money to make next one" didn't work, they tried "buy studio that already is in progress of making anticipated game", didn't work either. And the one game that was actually successful above projections, they fired the fucking studio that made it!
Hell, one of their flops, Redfall, apparently "reviewed well internally". It just seems like they have nobody there that knows what a good game is
Because they hired the wrong people based on the wrong criteria. They don't hire gamers, they hire yes-men and activists[1] that agree with their own eco chamber and discriminatory political views[1]. They actually despise gamers and their goal is to "own the chuds" and hijack the medium to push their own toxic world views[1] and self inserts. And the out of touch execs tolerated this for a while during the ZIRP ERA because all stocks were going to the moon regardless, especially during covid. But now they finally got to see the output of those people they hired.
>Hell, one of their flops, Redfall, apparently "reviewed well internally"
Easy, they don't make games for gamers, they only make games for themselves full of self inserts. Except there's not many customers like them, so the game flops and mass layoffs happen or the studio gets shut down because that's the only way to get rid of the rot.
Just look at the people at those studios today vs what idsoftware, bethesda, blizzards was like back in the days. Polar opposites. If you want to make successful games, you need to hire the chuds back.
Indie studios are now where it's at.
I'm being harsh. I'm sure that there are plenty of people in the org that have taste. And they have a lot of users. But MS is where products go to die (i.e. enshittify).
Some will point to “MBA types” but that’s a red herring. The engineers don’t have taste either.
Apple is more tasteful, IMO, but Apple also has a tendency to abuse its users, taking the attitude, "What are you going to do? Switch to Windows or Android?" Adobe has taken a similar attitude since the Creative Suite became subscription-only. "What are you going to do? The GIMP? Seriously?"
I bet you - if they had people like Facepunch [running independent studios] - then yeah Xbox would've been successful (they kinda already are, but fucked themselves over due to an incoherent strategy)
Unlike - Xbox - Nintendo have an identity. Fun games first, graphics second. Xbox had an identify before - multiplayer/ live games. but now who knows what they're.
[0]: Facepunch - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facepunch_Studios