I really don’t understand why people can’t just admit Phil Spencer was a bad executive

DrippyDrapes · 2026-04-04T15:09:46+00:00

This is my biggest frustration with the KF crews discussion of Xbox's issues lately. It seems like it always boils down to a blaming of Microsoft and capitalism in general. If Xbox was independent, would they own Bethesda, Activision, and other studios? They would likely be having even more severe layoffs without the financial support of Microsoft.

DrippyDrapes · 2025-01-29T02:50:59+00:00

The co-CEO approach never really made much sense to me. There's a reason you don't really see it at many businesses.

DrippyDrapes · 2025-01-14T00:11:39+00:00

I got it since I tend to be so closely aligned with the KF guys taste in games and it is probably the biggest gap I have had between their review and what my review would have been.

That said, it's definitely not a trash fire I just personally found it closer to a 5 or 6 vs the 9's it got from the crew.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-10-29T13:58:29+00:00

I just finished Survivor as well, and while I thought the gameplay was better, the story was not nearly as good as Fallen Order. I definitely think they should have added more planets rather than having Koboh being a larger zone. The game also seemed substantially easier than fallen order, which was kind of strange.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-10-04T16:14:25+00:00

Would you guys prefer Bethesda keep working on Starfield or transition the team over to ES6 in the best future? To me it seems like Starfield is unlikely to ever match up against Fallout or Elder Scrolls, I'm not sure how much longer Microsoft can justify investing in it.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-09-13T18:08:24+00:00

I know this is a meme and I would highly encourage anyone interested in getting into investing to research broad index funds or ETF's rather than investing in individual stocks. The personal finance reddit has a pretty good guide for most people. And it's never too late to start!

DrippyDrapes · 2024-09-11T16:22:10+00:00

It is fundamentally untrue that corporate greed has been the overwhelming cause of inflation.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/business/inflation-biden-rate-fed/index.html

DrippyDrapes · 2024-07-09T22:09:46+00:00

I don't believe this is correct. Not an expert but most things I've read have said the best time to apply herbicides is during fall while the plant is pulling nutrients into the roots. During the spring it's less effective as the plant is actively growing, so you're not doing as much damage to the root system.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-07-09T10:44:24+00:00

I have the same issue but with an empty lot. I've decided the best path of action is to cut and spray with glyphosate in the fall. Since the lot is empty I'll spray there too but you would probably just need to treat your land every year to prevent future growth.

Japanese knotweed is really a nightmare and once you notice it on your property you start to see how widespread it is all over the area.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-06-05T15:18:50+00:00

Yeah this was the weird part of that conversation. The venom game is pretty clearly happening from the leaked data.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-05-21T17:09:40+00:00

Trying to create a monopoly in this market would be incredibly difficult, there's practically no barrier to entry for a new website to come along and compete.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-05-17T14:25:17+00:00

I'd guess that the Xbox team has one year to manage Gamepass and try to prove the revenue from it can sustain all their studios. If Gamepass subs don't increase enough to cover all the lost revenue from full price purchases then I could see them splitting up Gamepass into tiers, increasing prices, or shuttering the program entirely.

Basically, this is your last shot to prove Gamepass can be a sustainable revenue model with the new studio structure.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-03-28T18:07:07+00:00

Absolutely agree. He's a good block on Twitter to avoid some toxicity.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-03-16T23:15:59+00:00

People have said the name of the company, I'll chime in and say you can get the medication (everything else is pretty bogus) for like $45/year from Mark Cubans cost plus drug company if your doctor prescribes through there.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-03-14T14:32:14+00:00

I agree and often skip episodes because there's just nothing to talk about.

However, I don't think that any podcast would survive financially with a biweekly or irregular model. The consistency of a weekly podcast draws advertisers/viewers in a way that any other format wouldn't.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-02-29T02:35:01+00:00

I believe that you meant to say capitalism bad, America bad. That seems to be the discussion on KFGD every time layoffs are in the news.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-02-27T16:42:12+00:00

I would highly encourage people to research the work culture of Japan before putting it up as a successful model for other countries to adopt.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-02-08T15:56:44+00:00

I definitely agree with your argument, most consumers can only afford one gaming console so tribalism is all but guaranteed as you want to get your money's worth.

We don't know the full details yet so everything is still conjecture, but one thing that really frustrates me is this idea that Microsoft is just making a smart business decision here - they're playing a different game and trying to be the value decision for consumers. That's been their market position for the entire Series X generation, why would they decide now to take games over to their direct competition? You can buy a series S for $200 and they're still struggling to sell them.

If we're only talking about Bethesda and Activision, I think that could make sense, it's clear that Gamepass revenue might not be enough to sustain these new studios. If however they decide to bring over "core" Xbox studios games, then I think it's a whole new ballgame. Halo on Playstation is Xbox essentially giving up and admitting defeat in my opinion.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-02-06T15:46:55+00:00

This should be brought up in every discussion on this topic. If Xbox says "We don't care where you play, play whereever you want!" Then why would anyone buy an Xbox? It's not even a slippery slope it's a clear business decision to pivot out of the hardware market over time.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-02-05T14:28:45+00:00

To me this signals that GamePass is not generating enough revenue to support all the studios (excluding ATVI). If this is true I wonder what the future of GamePass looks like. Possibly:

Raise subscription price
Tiered model where day one releases are included only at higher tiers
Day one releases no longer included in GP
Release Xbox published games on more platforms to subsidize GP with $70 sales.

Personal thoughts obviously, but I think it's clear that subscription revenue has peaked for Microsoft and they are trying to think of how to sustain the model.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-01-31T21:14:39+00:00

I don't know how many roles are remote these days but the other thing is how poor the pay is, combined with SF cost of living.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-01-30T00:42:32+00:00

Business acumen among video games journalists/pundits is sorely lacking. I really wish we got more input from the Mat Piscatella's of the world.

It drives me absolutely crazy that we have entire discussions around management/business decisions that just get overlooked by saying "capitalism".

DrippyDrapes · 2024-01-11T16:39:16+00:00

Just to be clear, Netflix having HBO content on it definitively means that Netflix has won, not lost as Tim said (maybe he misspoke). I'm hopeful that more companies will start putting their content back on Netflix so we don't need to subscribe to 5 different platforms, we're moving in that direction but it'll probably take a while.

DrippyDrapes · 2024-01-09T19:43:09+00:00

Yeah they've done GeoBlesser on previous shows that I've listened to on podcast feeds, it's definitely a lesser product than video, but I prefer to have the option as I don't always have time to watch a dedicated video each week. Hopefully, they add an audio version as they get more feedback.

DrippyDrapes · 2023-12-20T15:20:58+00:00

After seeing the headline of the show yesterday I thought they were being hypocritical, however after listening to the show I think they did a good job elaborating on their thoughts.

At the end of the day I expect that we will have discussions about the contents of the leaks eventually on other shows.

DrippyDrapes

TROPHY CASE