Matthew Rose

Video games | Music | Anime | technology | Image | artist | indie game developer

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@Wendys is this the krusty krab?

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@justinmasonart 🤣

[Bradley Osborn ✝️🎃 @the_Bradster007]

Spider-Man if they were actually from New York:

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

With #GTAV coming to an end on November 19th this year, I want to sincerely thank @ned_luke, @Shawn_Fonteno, and @StevenOgg.
If it wasn't for you three, GTA V wouldn't be what it is today.
Your performances shaped an entire era of gaming.
GTA V means a lot to me.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

Coming home back around 2011–2013, firing up my Xbox 360 Arcade, and booting into Halo 3… nothing beats hearing that iconic soundtrack before diving in. Halo’s always been more than just a game — it’s an identity, a piece of who I became growing up. And honestly, it wasn’t just Halo that carried me through life — it was Xbox as a whole. Whether it was Halo 3 pulling me in with its atmosphere or Halo 4 giving me a whole new world to get lost in, Xbox was always there. Those games were my escape, my comfort, and a huge part of my life.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@XBOXWire They won’t see me coming 🐍📦

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@EricLDaugh You're spreading a narrative that doesn't match the actual facts. The Xbox layoffs were part of a long-overdue restructuring after years of mismanagement, stalled projects, and bloated leadership - not a scheme to replace American workers with H-1B hires.
No major tech or gaming outlet has verified the claim that H-1B workers were hired to replace laid-off staff. That's political speculation, not confirmed information.
Asha Sharma is fixing a division that's been slipping for a decade. Gamers understand why the reset was necessary. Turning this into a political immigration talking point ignores the real issues inside Xbox and misleads people who don't follow the industry.
If you're going to call for someone's removal, at least base it on verified reporting - not assumptions.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@XBOX This is why XBOX is the goat.

XBOX - Bleed Green

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

PlayStation won’t reverse their all‑digital plan just because people are mad.
They will reverse it if pressure hits the parts of their business they can’t ignore.

If fans want change, the focus has to shift to:

• Consumer rights

• Retailer pushback

• Market competition

• Shareholder pressure

• Regulatory pressure

It’s not about the outrage — it’s about ownership access, and long-term value.

Physical media still matters.
Ownership still matters.
And the community deserves a choice.

#PhysicalGames #GameOwnership #LetUsOwnOurGames #PlayStation #PS5 #PS4 #GamingNews #ConsumerRights #PreserveGaming #StopTheAllDigitalFuture #stopkillinggames

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

If I were running Xbox right now, I would announce this tomorrow:
The next Xbox (Project Helix) will launch with two models:
• A full-digital version
• A version with a built-in physical disc drive
And for players who choose the digital model, Xbox will offer an official attachable disc drive that connects through a dedicated port on the console. No online authentication, no server checks, no restrictions — just insert the disc and play.
This restores real player choice and puts ownership back on the table. Physical media is not dead. It’s returning to the Xbox platform.
Xbox has always been for players who value control and ownership.
Right now is the critical moment. With Sony just announcing it will abandon physical media entirely starting in 2028, Xbox has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to welcome millions of players who still want discs, collections, and real ownership. A physical-forward next-gen strategy would pull in players who feel like they’re losing their platform of choice.
This is a critical moment. With U.S. Xbox Series X|S sales trending 66% digital-only in 2025, U.S. physical game revenue down to $1.5 billion, and Game Pass at only 30 million subscribers (far below the 77 million target), ignoring physical media now risks leaving the platform on life support.
Xbox needs to lead — not follow — and give players the choice they’ve been asking for. Please consider this. @XBOX @asha_shar

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

PlayStation posted a fighting stick after six days of silence.
'Always ready for the fight!’

Okay cool - does it come with a digital code in the box like everything else?

[PlayStation @PlayStation]

Switch out lever gates with ease on the FlexStrike wireless fight stick: https://t.co/w3qDZd3hyv

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

Exactly — if she delivers strong exclusives and confirms the next‑gen Xbox keeps discs or other physical media, that would be huge. She’s already been more transparent and consistent than any leader we’ve had in a long time, so seeing her follow through on that would really solidify the direction she’s taking Xbox.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@TheTrueGadfly @asha_shar @LukeStephens Exactly — my thoughts as well. She’s been incredibly transparent, and everything she’s said so far matches her actions. Most leaders say one thing and then do the opposite, but she hasn’t done that. It’s refreshing to see someone actually follow through.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@TheTrueGadfly @asha_shar @LukeStephens Got it — and I agree. The situation she inherited is exactly the problem. I just see a lot of people in other threads blaming her directly, so I wanted to make it clear this didn’t start with her. I appreciate the transparency she’s bringing.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@Focus0685 @TheTrueGadfly @asha_shar @LukeStephens Totally agree — the transparency is what makes the difference. Asha didn’t create these problems, she inherited them, and now she’s the one doing the hard work of resetting Xbox. I just wish more people understood that this didn’t start with her.

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

Remember everyone, everything happening at @Xbox right now isn’t @asha_shar fault. She inherited years of financial and operational problems the moment she stepped into leadership, and she’s the one doing the hard work of fixing what was left behind.

Yes, it absolutely stings to see thousands of people losing their jobs — that pain is real. But no studios were shut down. Instead, teams like Double Fine and Compulsion were preserved, given independence, kept ownership of their IP, and moved under new ownership rather than being closed and losing even more jobs.

People keep throwing around words like ‘blood bath,’ ‘dead,’ and ‘burning to the ground,’ but none of that reflects reality. Xbox isn’t dead, it isn’t burning down, and it isn’t collapsing. It’s restructuring — painful, yes — but it’s also preserving studios, protecting IP, and stabilizing the platform for the future.

And saying ‘they don’t care about you’ is an understatement. If Asha didn’t care, she wouldn’t have publicly shared the same email she sent to her team. Leaders who don’t care stay silent. She chose transparency, even when the news was hard.

Asha is doing the difficult work of stabilizing Xbox, protecting teams where possible, and keeping the platform on a healthier path toward future success. The situation is painful, but it’s not the apocalypse people are making it out to be.

[ASHA @asha_shar]

This is an important email I sent today to all employees at XBOX:

Team,

We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale.

I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication.

Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX.

First, we will reset our content portfolio.

Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision.

Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options.

We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions.

In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX.

Second, we will reset our platform.

We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify.

We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend.

Third, we are resetting how we operate.

As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done.

For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results.

Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX's history. We wish him all the best.

These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates.

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027.

History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them.

Asha

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

Any day now, PlayStation. We’re still waiting.
Your silence says everything. #savephysicalgames

[PlayStation @PlayStation]

Important updates:

News on physical discs for new games - https://t.co/BzZODXdWGY

News on PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita - https://t.co/ev3mN6wj14

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

PlayStation in a nutshell.

[PlayStation @PlayStation]

Important updates:

News on physical discs for new games - https://t.co/BzZODXdWGY

News on PlayStation Store on PS3 and PS Vita - https://t.co/ev3mN6wj14

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@yosp
If you see this, I want to sincerely thank you for everything you’ve done for us in the PlayStation community. We will never forget the incredible games you helped greenlight and the passion you brought to the platform. You’re an inspiration to so many of us, and you have our utmost respect and gratitude for your service at PlayStation.
Thank you, Yoshida-san. 🫡

[Matthew Rose @Matthew_Rose25]

@XBOX @asha_shar what do you think?
#XBOXBLEEDGREEN #XBOX