If the BDS boycott is about justice for people living under oppression, a trivial benefit for gaming could be stopping Microsoft living rent-free in our brains.

When I talk to other journalists and random bus stop strangers about the idea of divesting from Microsoft and Xbox - worth doing for many reasons besides the company’s dealings with the Israeli military - there is often an air of learned helplessness, a kind of deer-in-headlights mentality. Microsoft’s gaming biz is too huge to ignore. They own so much. They own a lot of the malarkey that gets eyeballs. Which I can confirm, based on day-to-day experience of traffic stats. Still, I would argue that they do not have any momentum with the things they own, and to be frank, a fair whack of their stuff does sod-all traffic for us. Microsoft today are institutionally incapable of being intriguing. As such, an extremely indulgent way of thinking about the BDS boycott is to treat it as positive encouragement to seek intrigue elsewhere.

Last week’s Xbox showcase was a banner day for advocates of the idea that Microsoft’s gaming business is a zombie, after thousands of layoffs in the face of a landscape transformed by fever dreams about productivity gains and the ‘democratisation of art’ under ChatGPT - a brave new world of acute component shortages in which the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard starts to feel like buying up horse stables in 1908. Admittedly, a more basic reason for the show being so short of excitement is that Microsoft are keeping the powder dry for their next Xbox console, which isn’t far away from a proper reveal. But still, what a crock of diminishing returns.

  • onlooker@lemmy.ml
    22·
    5 days ago

    Holy shit, the author of the article did NOT hold back. And I’m glad he didn’t, all the criticisms listed are valid and deserved.

  • monotremata@lemmy.caEnglish
    22·
    5 days ago

    I used to be a big fan of the Elder Scrolls games, but they haven’t released anything actually new in 15 years. That’s frankly impressive. Everyone wanted to make a game that could be “the next Skyrim,” except, apparently, Bethesda, who could literally do that.

    And it’s only gotten worse since the Microsoft acquisition. I never played Starfield, because it didn’t look like they understand their own gameplay model. I didn’t play the Oblivion remaster, as they seem not to understand their own art direction either.

    At this point I kinda doubt they’ll actually release TES 6, but if they do, I’ve not got much hope for it.

  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip
    9·
    5 days ago

    Avoiding Microsoft gaming? Been doing that for a very, very long time.

    Not hard at all. Xbox was a never own since it came out and windows went to shit at XP.

    And people find this “helpless”? What?

  • plutopos@lemmy.zip
    51·
    4 days ago

    Oh, boycotting Microsoft’s games comes naturally. Boycotting some of their other stuff, on the other hand, ranges from moderately difficult to impossible depending on your job

  • Excel@lemming.megumin.orgEnglish
    5·
    4 days ago

    I’ve been accidentally boycotting Xbox for the past 20 years because they never had anything appealing in the first place.

  • glitzer_gadze@feddit.org
    7·
    5 days ago

    Most insane thing to me is how fast customers are forgetting how bad microsoft gamimg is. Asha did like two small things and everybody is celebratimg her as the second coming of christ.

    • psx_crab@lemmy.zipEnglish
      51·
      5 days ago

      I mean, she’s only been here for a few months and already did some well-received change/reversal(for the customer), but people still attribute Phil and Satya’s fuckup to her. I know i’m gonna eat my own word later on considering there would be an expected layoff next month, but i’d reserve my judgement after a year or so, mostly because traditionally woman are judged worst than man.

      Also i don’t really gaf about m$ or xbox 🤷

  • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zipEnglish
    92·
    5 days ago

    Yeah but then you won’t get to experience the bland ass generic as fuck attempt to milk the fable franchise whose dev team apparently never bothered to even look at a picture of the originals

  • FarceOfWill@infosec.pub
    2·
    5 days ago

    At least gamepass and the ms aquisition spree gave us Pentiment.

    Seems a small thing to have released after buying half of the industry but thats microsofts problem. Maybe they can sell them all again when they get bored.