Joe

I'm proud to be an American. 🇺🇸

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

No Jesus, no peace.

Know Jesus, know peace.

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

I've said for years Obsidian should make a Shadowrun game & now I find out they did have plans for that series, is truly depressing.

Just imagine a world like Cyberpunk 2077, but filled with creatures you'd find in Elder Scrolls and you just know it would have been successful.

[Chris Avellone @ChrisAvellone]

Aside from other news, Obsidian employees appear to have been told all the company’s projects were “re-evaluated” today.

It seems Grounded is still going (mostly out-sourced in Eidos Montreal anyway, so no surprise), Outer Worlds 2 expansions still planned for now (1st one is Sept), and uh, despite reports, Avowed 2 is STILL being worked on (for now) in the hopes of being “re-pitched” (whatever that means).

All other projects at the studio, including the rumored Shadowrun game John Gonzalez was on, were put on pause.

Edit: No mention of any Pillars of Eternity games, so if Avowed 2 doesn't get a buyer/approval, looks like may be some time (or never) before another Pillars game or PoE3.

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

@PlayStation Screw you, I like to own my games, not rent them.

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

Asha, please continue to invest in Arkane Lyon, I believe they could make a great Elder Scrolls spinoff game, just like they did with Might and Magic.

Plus, please continue to invest in id Software, because Id's Tech engine is one of the best out there and let them do Halo too.

[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

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

Until the Republican party in Michigan puts up good quality candidates, unlike Mike Rogers and most likely John James, they will continue to lose races that they should and would have won.

Hopefully sooner than later, they'll realize people don't want the establishment anymore.

[yeet @Awk20000]

The official Stop Killing Games Twitter page pushes back on the new proposed rules for YouTube at the behest of the UK government

Also shout out the creators who have been giving airtime to the org and warns they could be affected

[LearningTheLaw ✝️ @Mangalawyer]

"Our games aren't selling."

"It must be the global memory shortage."

"What else could it possibly be?"

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

@asha_shar Hopefully this can rebound Xbox for Xbox Helix & unlike Sony, Microsoft will continue to support physical discs for the next Xbox.

Hopefully you can find a way to save Arkane because I've always like their games, maybe let them do an Elder Scrolls spinoff or something like that.

[Steve Ferguson @lsferguson]

This seems to be the mindset of the Trump White House from the President on down.
Trump has told Laura Ingraham on a couple of occasions that "Americans don't have talent".
Secretary Bessent told us soon after that Americans need foreigners to show us how to build ships.
These statements will be whats remembered in the midterms, no matter what the context was. This is poisonous rhetoric to American citizens

[Chancy Luck @chancy_luck]

Today we learned that the White House thinks that zoomers are shiftless layabouts born on third base with a silver spoon in the mouth.

This coming from the same generation that locked the country down for years, refused to work, hid behind their paper masks, imported 20M illegals, and printed trillions of dollars to cover the gap.

Who's cheating who here?

[Chancy Luck @chancy_luck]

Approximately 17,000 H-1B visas were approved in fiscal year 2025 for college and universities.

These institutions often structure hiring through affiliated research institutes, foundations, medical centers, and research parks to avoid the H-1B cap.

THERE IS NO CAP! See where this is going?

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

Charlie Kirk was right and if the GOP ran on this platform, plus not be afraid to say they want the White American vote, they'd never lose to the foreigners again.

Instead, we have Republicans calling Millennials and Gen Z lazy, yet they work harder than the foreign invadors.

[Charlie Kirk @charliekirk11]

This is the social compact breaking down. We need urgency to restore it:

1 - Mass deportations
2 - Stop the H-1B scam
3 - Dramatically reduce LEGAL Immigration
4 - End chain migration and the Visa Lottery
5 - Build 10 million homes for Americans
6 - Crush the College Cartel

[Lucky Teter @TheMagaHulk]

When young White males are being systematically discriminated against and 90% of new jobs are going to foreigners, perhaps you shouldn't go on Fox News and call them lazy and spoiled.

[Morgoth @MorgothsReview]

How the fuck can objecting to becoming a minority in your own country be deemed a whoah buddy, hardcore “ethnat” white nationalist position?

[Aesthetica @Anc_Aesthetics]

Not a word about the actual reason young American CONSERVATIVES are being disenfranchised and unable to find gainful employment despite sending in thousands and thousands of job applications.

H-1B visa scams and the OPT program which Trump can end today with the stroke of a pen.

90% of new jobs since Covid have gone to foreigners. That is a CRISIS.

90% of all job growth since Trump has taken office have gone to women. That is a CRISIS.

Young American men, patriots who are your base are being forgotten and left behind. Trump was elected to fix that. Start listening to your base and start prioritizing young American White men.

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

@karolineleavitt Screw You!

[Geiger Capital @Geiger_Capital]

America is not an economic zone.

It’s a nation. 🇺🇸

[Joe @DarkWaterClone]

As we celebrate the birth of our great country, on America's 250th birthday, may we reflect on how Jesus has blessed this country, the sacrifices of the known and unknown patriots, who without their blood, America wouldn't be the country it is today.

[SaltyGoat @SaltyGoat17]

Should pregnancy tests now be required to enter the US?

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

RAND PAUL PUSHES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP.

Watch the clip ⬇️

[John Birch Society @The_JBS]

America is addicted to cheap, illegal labor. It's made us sick. And the only way to get better is to deport them all.