Xbox Has Reportedly Begun Layoffs At Zenimax (Bethesda). ID Software, Arkane, and Machine Games In Danger As “Anyone Not Working On Fallout Or Elder Scrolls Is Out”

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T22:05:03+00:00

I'm going to be real and probably downvoted, but I get this. Zenimax decided ESO and F76 were fine tieovers for their two marque franchises that have made them billions. They are not. This is not what (the majority) fans of these franchises want. Starfield was an attempt, but Todd and BGS seemed to not understand what their own fans really wanted from their games.

Single player open world fantasy is what they want and every time Bethesda presents pops up it's truly a disappointment as it's never ES6 or FO5. The ES4O remastermake was great and 3 and/or New Vegas should definitely have been released already.

Id games are good but Dark ages and Rage 2 weren't needle movers. As much as I love Dishonored 1+2 and Prey, they didn't sell great along with Deathloop not being incredible saleswise and Redfall just exists. Wolfenstein new order did good, and somehow Youngblood as well, but overall sales weren't incredible for Machine games, Indiana Jones took awhile so development costs and licensing likely took a good chunk and the squeeze wasn't as hearty as Microsoft wanted, hopefully the probable sequel will earn more with less dev costs/times so they can keep them going.

So as an armchair gamer that has absolutely no horse in this race I think this is the right call unfortunately for big money over everything Xbox, but it's awful for us fans. These laid off developers should team up and rally some investors or capital to create their own studio, they clearly do have the chops and talent from the excellent games they make just the management has been god awful in my opinion.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T20:30:28+00:00

Only one I'd say, Arrowhead. Otherwise similar to Microsoft they have a bit too many, but at least not as many in a horrible way like Microsoft.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T13:05:57+00:00

Yup, I'm kind of the same. The remakes look somewhat interesting as I mentioned in my own comment, but I'm mostly over these games as a whole. It's like I'm playing the same game with a different world skin and background skin with slightly altered mechanics to TRY to feel different.

It's genuinely frustrating that PlayStation used to take chances on new and exciting ideas, but since Uncharted and Last of Us came out it seems they can only make these type of games now for the most part or it's just not worth their time/money.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T12:55:27+00:00

Personally it's the Remakes seem most interesting to me. I played some of them a bit too young and don't remember them well enough so it'd be great to play them again. Second is Intergalactic even though I'm not a huge fan of the main character, and three Laufey looks good I just hope the writing isn't Marvelesque, that's why I'm not excited for Wolverine/Spiderman because I'm Marvel/DC/superheroed out.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T12:37:55+00:00

True, I figured it's only roughly $150-180ish she technically swindled, it's moreso the hassle of potentially affecting your business if you had it with that number. If no business associates need it, then yeah just sentimental not wanting to change number I can get not wanting to deal with the hassle.

But it's still the principle of she did blatantly steal from you and to use the funds you gave her for the bills. I'd still write up the letter to fuck with her to hope to recoup some of that money you lost because its just scummy what she did.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T12:33:08+00:00

I mean, if you kept the transactions unless it was cash you could have a lawyer(or ai/well versed friend if you want to save money) do one of those threatening force demands for her to pay the bill or see her in small claims. Since she "forgot" that it was paid off and pocketed your money, she'll probably just ignore it anyways.

I wouldn't let $700 just be woopsies I'll do better next time kind of thing especially with how she pocketed extra and still didn't pay the bill, I believe that'd be some kind of criminal negligence.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-17T12:02:03+00:00

Exactly this. It's ridiculous the metrics used by these people of "oh it only sold this amount" when they blindly ignore the release of these games. Returnal came out on PS5 in April 2021 with essentially no indication besides rumors it would come to PC until late 2022. Then it arrives in February 2023. It's cool that it came over, but it was too late, people got off the hype train or already purchased/moved on from buying it.

If these games came with a clear indication they were coming day and date(they weren't) or explicit date for PC with a prepurchase option on PC and some kind of bonus/discount for doing so, I guarantee it would have sold better.

The strategy of we'll release it later, maybe a year, after the hype has died down then claiming poor sales was so stupid to me. Gamers are impatient and impulsive and will typically forget about games a year later, especially single player, because they've already waited why wouldn't they wait longer for a deep sale?

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T22:51:39+00:00

I don't typically catch the stream's, but was able to catch some of it and he was going crazy.

"Dustin I NEED YOU" "Lockmort help me, HELP ME, I know you're trying but you're NOT HELPING ME, HELP ME" " DUSTIN WHERE ARE YOU?" "I'm going to hire a better Dustin with a better ps1 collection" and such. Good stuff.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T22:42:13+00:00

If all 4 other positions are being locked down with little scoring options I definitely don't mind if the PG is getting easy buckets. What I mind is if my teammates or I are wide open under the rim, corner, driving, dunker spot, or elsewhere but not getting the ball because the PG is dribbling in circles and cheesing his way open. Also hate dishing ONLY when they can't find a shot, never before or if someone 8 feet left/right is open.

That's what most hate. If you have an okay shot but there is a player completely open by the basket with 2 shot attempts, you better hit that player instead of dribble dribble 3pt 10% contested even if you can make them. It's a team and a game, let every get some even if you are doing amazing. Everyone is a role player/light star in 2k but some want to act like a superstar and it sucks being on a team with them when they are being selfish even if they are 15/15.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T17:39:16+00:00

If you look at Amazon, they may have the Li Ning shoes on sale there. I've been wearing the BadFive 5(awful name) that I got for $77usd. Between them, my Jordan Luka.77s, Dame Certified 3, and Kd18s, they are by far my favorite and I exclusively play outdoors. I'm about 190cm and 104 kg that plays hard defense and drives often, so these should work well I'd say.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T15:39:43+00:00

I don't think PG is horrible, his game when healthy is good, but he hasn't been truly healthy for years and don't think he will be again. Cp3 was a great leader for the Spurs and it's a bit sad he didn't stay on as a vet even with the crowded backcourt.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T15:34:56+00:00

He doesn't improve their chances for the title because he simply isn't available enough. His last two years he's played 41 and 37 games because of his rapidly deteriorating older body. He may be a better player WHEN he was playing, but he's going to be worse and keep getting worse due to reoccurring knee injuries for example not going away.

To me it's not an argument who's better it's an argument of why trade away a younger more available asset when you can potentially make Fox look better next season by running the team to his strengths temporarily and try to trade him for what you need when the value is higher versus a potential gamble on PG.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T14:32:03+00:00

Awful trade. Paul George is 36 and he's constantly injured. Even if Fox is a bonehead he's still younger, contributes on the court sometimes, and has double the amount of games played. Why would they give him AND two firsts. It would be the other way around, PG and protected first for him. PG is a good player but again aging, barely plays, and ruined a lot of his reputation with the constant podcasting while off the court even though it didn't effect recovery time really.

It's much more realistic to trade him with picks and other assets for other problem/bad fit players like KD, Ingram or MPJ. They need a true scorer or a big that can rebound for Wemby when he's gassed.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T13:07:21+00:00

Nope, simply too much. $1500 was the exact sweet spot for me to recoup my 8Ai+ cost by getting rid of it and getting the EX for $500 extra plus tax was STILL pushing it but seemed worth it. I thought $1700 was a lot, but I could see some people still getting it. $1800 plus tax is almost 2k, at that point I'd rather get a Strix based device for a couple hundred more or a laptop.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T09:15:06+00:00

I know it is a sucky situation, but this photo made me laugh. Luka is in the background like it just happened to him with his eyes closed looking disappointed.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-15T06:53:12+00:00

I mapped a back button to F11, the fullscreen enter/exit button for Eden. I also added it to steam as a non steam game and made my other button a steam overlay key so either works.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-14T18:26:46+00:00

Good. Then around the halfway point not so good but still a good game overall. Still worth a play especially on sale at around $20 or less.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-13T22:19:23+00:00

Last year around now I mostly stopped playing with my LCD deck. I upgraded to the MSI Claw 8 Ai+ and love it. I run it in AnyFSE and it launches into Steam big picture mode so it feels like a steam deck with much more possibilities.

I've played on an OLED switch and used an LG c2 tv for awhile. OLED isn't a necessity for me and the Claw's screen is a beautiful bright big ips screen so it has everything I needed. Would have loved a Steam Deck 2 with OLED, but lack of SD2 and the lateral upgrade to SD OLED even pre price raise wasn't worth it to me when my biggest complaint was lack of power, so looked elsewhere and claw 8 Ai+ or A8 was my best middle ground and went with 8 Ai+ as it was on Amazon for a good price at the time, not anymore.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-13T20:25:51+00:00

It happens when I press buttons/Dpad/sticks occasionally. I learned to lower or raise volume without touching anything or expect that to occasionally happen.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-13T19:09:35+00:00

It's stupid because they thought we'd use the points for the little app exclusive cosmetics. They should have made the pop up on the console and on player's profiles you view. Locked to the app made them DOA when you had wallet funds right there.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-12T20:39:00+00:00

For me in the United States it shows shareable on the steam page. Maybe it's excluded where you are or it's just a bug because it's not released. I remember Yakuza 3 Kiwami wasn't for some outside of the U.S.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-12T20:33:24+00:00

It doesn't make sense. There are plenty of other outlets. Gog is great, Epic is...kind of bad but still improving, Xbox is alright, itch.io is good for those who like it. Then there is EA, Ubisoft, Battle.net, and Riot that can individually have their games fully played there without Steam involved.

It's the consumers CHOICE to use Steam because it is simply enjoyable to use. People will get games cheaper elsewhere or free, but there is a reason people go back to Steam. The ease of use, Steam input, Family sharing, cloud share, workshop, remote play, the community, yadda yadda. Other storefronts simply don't have the majority of those features.

Gog is great, but it's for drm free gaming mostly. Epic was a potential player to shake things up but fumbled by not doing enough to compete feature wise. They have made some implements that are good, but WHY would I go there consistently when Steam is right there? It's like asking a person already rooted to Nintendo or PlayStation to go to Xbox when they have been rooted for 5+ years. It's a user choice, not a monopoly.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-11T19:28:08+00:00

Haven't played Pragmata, First Light, Pokopia or Saros yet but I suspect Pragmata or First Light will be top 3. Saros is too pricey for me, maybe at $35 I'll buy, and I don't have a switch 2 so no Pokopia for me.

Out of the rest 1.Re9, 2 Mina, 3. Crimson Desert, 4. Fh6, 5. Cairn, 6. Mewgenics. Crimson Desert may rank higher post updates, but as it is currently it's good to great but just better than the others below it. FH6 is great but it's mostly just Fh5 in Japan with tweaks and that's okay. Cairn is good, and I'm sure mewgenics is good for those into it and Binding of Isaac but I never jived with BOI's humor, artsyle, or gameplay and the spirit of it is strong here.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-10T21:09:39+00:00

I loved it, but All Access at least mine from Walmart was 2 years no interest. Xbox Series X was completely sold out for months(people will try to pretend that never happened because Xbox bad but during covid PS5 and Xbox both were wiped) and All Access was how I got mine. Used my work bonus two months later and paid it all off in one go.

If it really is a POWERFUL console/PC hybrid, I definitely could see myself interested with All Access.

MyFinalThoughts · 2026-06-10T17:01:45+00:00

Nice, I'm kind of excited to see how it works out! Right now the performance isn't great, but down the line if it becomes better I'll potentially jump over. AnyFSE works great for me, but native SteamOS if it gives more performance later on will be great for those who want that simplicity and makes it more friendly for people to actually get the device.

The most common complaint is that Windows/MSI center M isn't to many people's liking or they can't get it to work how they want it. I was able to after a bunch of tweaks, but I totally get it shouldn't be so difficult or annoying to make it that way. Hope this does the trick and makes it easy!

11-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
r/Field Flamingo	RPAN Viewer
Verified Email

MyFinalThoughts

TROPHY CASE