Microsoft buys something great, optimizes all the good out of it, and then pulls the plug.
Skype, Nokia, GitHub...
Now it's happening to video games.
The thing everyone needs to realize is that Microsoft fundamentally doesn't make anything, they never have.
All they can do is buy low and sell high. Or buy high and sell higher.
They certainly can't lovingly craft games, the way gamers expect.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that executives hate artists. Go out of their way to fire them.
Look at what's happening to Blizzard & Bethesda under Microsoft. Arguably Blizzard was ruined the moment Activision sunk their claws in. Quality went down, creativity went down, and all so Bobby could buy a new yacht and sail to Epstein's Island.
"Do you guys not have phones?" That's something a manager who was totally out of touch with his audience would say. Not of an artist creating experiences for gamers.
Microsoft wedge micro-transactions into everything, changes game play to emulate games like Candy Crush where gamers have to pay every 30 seconds. Really more slot machines than video games, but to the ghouls running the show they can't tell the difference.
Players like to be amazed, entertained, and it's not a formulaic process. A gamer will never say, "Oh good, I love feeling pressure and being rushed and all I wanted to do was put in more money all along!"
Microsoft has killed support for all these games. Which kills community.
They add things that nobody wants, because they saw someone else doing it. And they keep adding more of these pay to win and collection "buy a new skin" type mechanics.
Anyway this is a straight up rant at this point, but Microsoft buying something is always a sign doom will follow. Just a matter of time. Xbox held out pretty well. But in the last year or three Microsoft has set its sights on ruining every game it has, so it's just a matter of time now before gamers abandon it. I have zero faith Microsoft will find a way to bring an audience back, because they have no idea how to connect with said audience. It's always just going to be, "How much ARR does that game produce? Wow what a great game!"
Same with Google, Oracle, and basically every big company. In gaming, Valve is a holdout for now - maybe they felt burned after getting prosecuted for shoving Steam full of micro transaction gambling and they're laying low for a while.
Ok, but they bought DOS. They bought MSSQL (Sybase). They stole half of OS/2 and then pivoted to Windows NT with ex DEC folks. Its biggest products were all (mostly) bought. Oh yeah, Halo.
You're cherry picking. They built Windows. They built Office. They built Azure. Windows Phone (RIP). Exchange. Sharepoint. Visual Studio. Bing.
Every big company has a raft of acquisitions in their history and if you really want to you can draw a tenuous line between an acquisition and a subsequent product line. The claim that Microsoft "fundamentally doesn't make anything, they never have" is just silly.
> Microsoft Works originated as MouseWorks, an integrated spreadsheet, word processor, and database program, designed for the Macintosh by ex-Apple employee Don Williams and Rupert Lissner.
Modern Windows was fractions of OS/2 (failed partnership with IBM), ex-DEC folks made the kernel (Win 9X is a failed lineage) and MS copying the Mac.
Your examples while grand, don't paint a picture of a company that does a lot of in-house innovation. You got me with Sharepoint, something to be proud of. Oh and Teams.
> This, my dear friend, is all I can at present recollect on the Subject. You will see by it, that the Opinion of this mischievous Effect from Lead, is at least above Sixty Years old; and you will observe with Concern how long a useful Truth may be known, and exist, before it is generally receiv'd and practis'd on.
> Alpha children wear grey They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm really awfuly glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly colour. I'm so glad I'm a Beta.
MacBook Neo: $699 (up from $599) +16.7%
13-inch MacBook Air: $1,299 (up from $1,099) +18.2%
15-inch MacBook Air: $1,499 (up from $1,299) +15.4%
M5 MacBook Pro: $1,999 (up from $1,699) +17.7%
M5 Pro MacBook Pro: $2,499 (up from $2,199) +13.6%
M5 Max MacBook Pro: $4,099 (up from $3,599) +13.9%
iMac: $1,499 (up from $1,299) +15.4%
M4 Max Mac Studio: $2,499 (up from $1,999) +25.0%
M3 Ultra Mac Studio: $5,299 (up from $3,999) +32.5%
Pads
iPad: $449 (up from $349) +28.7%
11-inch iPad Air: $749 (up from $599) +25.0%
13-inch iPad Air: $949 (up from $749) +26.7%
11-inch iPad Pro: $1,199 (up from $999) +20.0%
13-inch iPad Pro: $1,499 (up from $1,299) +15.4%
iPad mini: $599 (up from $499) +20.0%
More products
Apple TV 4K: $199 (up from $129) +54.3%
HomePod: $349 (up from $299) +16.7%
HomePod mini: $129 (up from $99) +30.3%
Vision Pro: $3,699 (up from $3,499) +5.7%
Price elasticity, and supply and demand, and all that Econ 101 stuff... these numbers confirm there is no demand for the Vision Pro. (=
Half the time "Sign in with Google" doesn't work from Firefox either.
https://imgur.com/a/L5E5JgC
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