I am deeply concerned for the future of Bethesda. 

I don't understand how Microsoft expects to get into the Japanese market when they shut down their only Japanese studio

Microsoft didn't buy Bethesda, they bought Fallout and The Elder Scrolls :(

This is what monopolies look like...

I don't see the passion in Starfield.

I think they are probably going all hands on deck for fallout 5.

Microsoft more than likely allocating funds to BGS as a priority now because they see them as their money maker and they want more Fallout and Elder Scrolls games. They didn’t buy them to only get one game every 10 years.

I've been in the industry for over 20 years and was one of the lucky ones who survived layoff after layoff...until mid last year. It has been one of the hardest times in my life, by far. To see the worry on my wife and kids faces, on a near daily basis... Heart sinks every time I see more industry related layoffs and I wish the best to those affected.

i got a theory the reason Microsoft/Bethesda just shut down 4 studios is so the can divert there funds to a new studio that can make fallout game until fallout 5

Hey man, this is extremely important. Consider the followign senarios in the various industries I've worked over the last decade. Food industry: Monsanto gains a monoply, pushing for constantly growing profits they start cutting corners adding things, putting less in containers and delivering poor products at high prices that honestly no one wants, but has no choice otherwise. (Can we apply that also to the gaming industry with Microsoft buying everyone and becoming a monoply?) I think so. Lumber: In efforts to meet the idea of constant financial growth the handful of companies monopolizing the industry flooded the market with lowish quality lumber, cherrypicing practices, brutal and unsafe working conditions. Ultimately resulting in a crash of the lumber industry a year or two ago. (Similar) Auto-Industry: In yet another effort towards infinite growth the handful of car companies rushed EV's pushing manufacting to its limit under the thought of steady and good work to come. Their rush job resulted in cars few people want to buy, now we are all laid off and they screwed us over. I for one am just going to stop working at t his point. All industries are abusive and sadistic, plus extremely stupid and incompetent. Depressing state of business all over. Rich people are stupid and suck taint.

As somebody who has been laid off 3 times in my life (and those 3 times were in a 4-5 year span, twice at basically the same company). It sucks. For all 3, I did not get ANY severance. I had to apply for Unemployment, and here in North Carolina, we are in the bottom FIVE as far as Unemployment Benefits. That's like. 45-50 out of the 50 states. The pandemic helped fix the weekly amount to get it back up closer to what it was in 2010, but it's still only for 12 weeks (3 months). It USED to be 6 months & up to $495 a week. So what are you supposed to do once those 3 months are up? It's ridiculous. The Job Market is supposedly "good" right now, but I've had friends or fellow coworkers get laid off in the last 6 months - who are JUST now finding jobs. I've been looking myself, bc my job is also up in the air for the next year. Finding a job is hard, and even when you are doing ALL the right things when applying and with your resume.

Zenimax/Bethesda was a deeply flawed organization when Microsoft swooped in and purchased it. Fallout 76. Wolfenstein Youngblood. Live service hell. It is no wonder that some changes are now occurring. Mikami left Tango. Arkane Austin was hollowed out after they were forced to make Redfall. Hard decisions have to be made sometimes.

I'm done with this company. Canceling Gamepass, Sticking with PlayStation. I can't support a company like this anymore

Game Crash imminent and its needed. video games are just made with pressure

I'm not sure if this was to put more priority on the more successful studios or just cost cuts but it's devastating

Really sorry for the employees of Bethesda, I too had a lot of concerns for Bethesda when I learned that Microsoft-XBOX was acquiring them. BGS in particular was a small knit team, all it would take is for a few key members to get laid off and BGS would effectively be done. I hope that some Bethesda people can make some discreet overtures to Amazon or whomever for any viable contingency plan. Contract is probably tough, but if some huge company trying to make a dent in the gaming industry, maybe they can put in an offer to SAVE Bethesda from Microsoft. All it will take is Indiana Jones, Elder Scrolls or Fallout to miss their set objectives and all Hell could break loose.

And sadly it's not just Bethesda studios either. I'm thinking about Ninja Theory. What happens if/when Hellblade 2 doesn't perform like the suits want it to? Are they next to be shut down? Or an Obsidian, or a Double Fine? Those are all great studios with smaller games that don't bring in billions of dollars. The whole thing is fucked and I feel for everyone who's lost their jobs and livelihoods, and who is potentially next.

This does not surprise me at all. Anytime you have consolidation in any industry the first thing you lose is employees. Microsoft stock has jumped about 33% since it bought out Zenimax. Bethesda is now just a small cog in a giant fortune 100 machine. We need to give support to the small studios who are making some awesome games. So sorry LVW to hear about friends losing jobs. I always say when one door closes another one opens. I wish them luck.

Bethesda has been fucked for years. Its downward trajectory is just speeding up

Bethesda needs to be purged of incompetent people. Especially their incompetent worthless support. I've been waiting more than a week for an answer to my ticket and I'm still on "waiting on agent" :( I got replies from Blizzard within 2 days. Ridiculous...

This feels like a move to be a publisher only. They are cutting smaller studios in favor of the big money makers. When you are a platform holder then you want a diverse library of games. You want the awesome small and money maker large games. Publishers only want the money makers.....

The people that may Bethesda great are no longer there. It's full unqualified children who are "told" what to create and despise their supporters.

I was really hoping for a sequel to Ghostwire Tokyo. I hope the developers at Tango manage to make their own studio or something. There's a lot of talent looking for work right now

I fully expect more closures and more lay offs. Games as a service is killing the industry and will continue to do so. I’d not even know who to blame for this. Should Phil Spencer be fired? Is there someone else pulling the strings? Working in the gaming industry seems like Russian roulette, I feel for the people who lost their jobs.

Bethesda ceased to exist when it was absorbed by Microsoft.

The loss of Lady Devon blew my mind, just because of how well the Fallout franchise is doing. I've always enjoyed seeing her dedication to Fallout 76, and still am flabbergasted over it. The game development industry is a brutal minefield, and I feel so bad for everyone affected by it. This looks like a "Cutting out dead wood" move, for games that Microsoft feels aren't bringing the returns THEY think should be coming in. But to fire people involved with Fallout, just doesn't make any sense. But then again, we ARE talking about Microsoft...

About 25 years ago, I tried hard to get into the video game industry. I'm so glad, in retrospect, that I failed. It's such a shockingly cold-blooded industry, and I'm so grateful that I'm not prey to its heartless management.

The kicker is them having record profit margins but then doing this. I get having to do stuff like this when it comes to having to drop deadweight so the rest of a company can survive, but that isn't the situation here.

If anyone out there is talking about how this is OK because people got a severance package it means you can discount everything they say. Severance packages maybe last a couple of months. I still am no where near recovering from 08-09. 2-3 months pay means nothing, and those companies know it. And to be clear, I am backing up a point Lone made.

What little goodwill and trust had after the last huge headline has completely vaporized. As someone who owns multiple consoles and PC, I have no brand loyalty- I just look at quality & consistency; the ability of a platform to value the consumer’s time, energy and obviously, money. Microsoft and Xbox, as a platform has nothing for its fans to grasp onto at this point. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Phil Spencer stepped down after this news. That’s the only way Xbox will be able to recover after this.

I think many people are a bit colder nowadays because a lot of people are going through this or have gone through it. It’s not just developers or people in the games industry. I’m in tech and seen many affected by this. Yeah the devs are people too but not everyone has the same opportunities or can just do RU-vid full time so people are affected at a larger scale. Tech is just not what it used to be even 15 years ago. We’ll all have to find a way to adjust and look to gain the skills that will grant us a place in the future in tech. We can pause for a moment and discuss but we will need to find a way to move forward.

Shitty take here If I'm a plumber, and I screw up. All your toilets overflow, crap everywhere, floors, walls damaged. If I costed someone too much to compensate for, I should be looking for another job. How's this any different. Makes crap get treated like crap. It's a tough world

What really sucks is Bethesda was letting these studios take the time to make their games. Who knows what’ll happen now

Bethesda is a prime example of greed and incompetence. They knowingly release broken unfinished games and rely on modders to fix them all while price gouging micro transaction on top of purchase. Their new creation engine is so useless that even modders can't fix starfield, a loading screen simulator. We need to return to actual game quality. A time when you could buy a cartridge and know a game was finished and worked.

Good for you on speaking out. Things like this have been affecting the games industry for many years now. Allowing these big game companies to monopolize the industry has been hurting EVERYONE. These companies do not give a crap about the people who purchase their games or the employees that work hard to get content out for them. They are only concerned about one thing - profits. If anyone thinks this move was so Microsoft could help get out games that the community wants is sadly mistaken. They know how much those major titles made and they see $$. The games will be made quickly and NOT for quality. Gamers need to fight back by NOT supporting companies like this, Don't buy their titles and don't pay for their online subscriptions. Turn to Indy games and support people who DO care about the games they make and the community of gamers.

It happened the second Microsoft started monopolizing things too much. When one company aquires that many entities, don't expect any to produce good quailty and expect people to lose jobs without consideration.

We need more independant studios like arrowhead, funded by but not controlled by large corps

Shared....this crap needs to stop...Microsoft is like Pacman, eating up companies and spitting out the bones😡😡😡

I also honestly out of left field, I think Steam might be coming out with there own console. Not just a random PC with SteamOS but an actually same-every ware system "everyone has the same specs", but it can also do desktop mode like the Steam Deck and is pretty open like the Steam Deck is. A console experience but it is open and not closed off to using just the consoles store like Xbox's, Playstations and so on. If I want to buy from GOG, I can boot desktop mode and get it working.

Could only hope that some that are leaving decide to band together and start their own projects..

The harsh reality is that it is what it is. I worked a decade in the student loan industry, and politics have ruled the job field obsolete. This happens all the time in different industries. It sucks, but if someone is redundant, the reality is that the company deems them unworthy of allocating budget toward. It sucks, but some people will have to become relevant in other fields or find ways to be relevant in the games industry.

Unfortunately, microsoft is trying to consolidate and allocate their developers towards developing Bethesda's big blockbuster games such as starfield, elder scrolls, and fallout. As much as this sucks, most of the team's that got let go made small games that didn't necessarily sell well. Or had small fan bases with games that have been dormant for years. I'm sure microsoft wants to see more than just one main line bethesda game every ten years.

This isn’t right, glad you are covering it lone. Feeling for those effected

Lady Devvan was the one that hit me especially given how integral she was too the community from day 1. I know Jess Finster who was also one of the launch CMs is now back doing 76 stuff, but 76 is a living breathing community & the person most involved in bridging developers and players was taken away to please Wall Street. I'm sorry you're seeing so many of your friends go through all this

Obsidian and Rare Ltd are next. My theory is that Phil knew these layoffs were coming and since he couldn’t save all the games studios that Microsoft were going to axe. He sent over as many games to PlayStation to try and boost their numbers in an effort to try and save them. One of those games was HiFi Rush, so obviously the move didn’t work. But since Obsidian had two games sent over and Rare ltd had one of those games. So if the move didn’t work for them either then they are next to go…probably right after they release their next game sometime.

The goal of studios is to get money from one big contract and then get destroyed. Then the guy who directed opens another studio or starts collecting a pay cheque for a bit from a big company. :P

I am so tired of hearing about Tango Gameworks. We knew this was coming and it is not MS fault. That studio is in Japan and MS has nothing else in Japan, But Shinji Mikami the founder / CEO and brain child of Tango quit. He killed the studio by walking away. He wanted to go do something with young devs just getting started. So he threw his current team under the bus. BGS has been bloated to the point that management cannot take care of it. BGS employees walked away because they said the teams were too big and communication was impossible. But on a lighter note CDPR reached out and said that they are hiring for both the North America and Poland studio's.

Greenverg clearly lied about it being financially successful. Jeff Grubbs' initial reporting was correct. He took a lot of guff for that one. He was spot on all along.

The only acceptable make-good offer should be a full refund of the extra money paid for the DLC edition.

My Opinion: We will see Fallout 5 much more aggressively monetized. This will NOT be to Todd's liking, but Todd will be the scapegoat. In fact, I don't think anyone at Bethesda would want this. ZeniMax has always had a greedy streak (shocker) and they've pushed their studios into making unsound decisions before (hard push into Live Service a la ESO, F76, Redfall even), and I think the pressure will be on Zenimax from MS to deliver. Im really heart broken over this; this just isn't right, especially when headed by a massive multi-billion dollar corp like MS. I hate to see people lose their jobs, and I hope these folks get up and running soon Also Notice how Matty Booty-Eater mentions Live Service titles in his address? Goes to show exactly what he's after. I wouldn't be surprised if the clean-house was to establish status quo. "Fall in line or else".

Honestly they should’ve just absorbed the studios into other studios to push out games quicker. They could be putting out games much faster if they had more help but nope.

My guess is there doing this to combine them into a new studio to make the next fallout

This all sucks. I have been both ends of layoffs. As the employee being layed off or as a manager being forced by upper management to layoff some of my employees. It always sucks. But right now the economy is so bad i doubt this is the last of the layoffs in and out of the industry.

I don’t know how there is any room for experimentation with Game Pass. Everything has to drive new subs and a sequel to a known IP is going to do that far more. The sad reality of their business model is that it’s at odds with what MS wants to be as a company. I worry for Obsidian as well if Avowed doesn’t work IMO it never made sense to make Bethesda exclusive to begin with. How do you acquire a whole a publisher and immediately remove one of its larger markets and expect to retain the value you paid for? 🤔🤷‍♂️

i hate how they believed that if they have the right to the name that's enough. they can bring any other developer and the magic will still be there. MS, It won't. just like with 343 trying to make Halo...

I’ve been laid off before, it’s not fun but it’s not the end of the world. I had a family that depended on me, but I have been better off for it. Just like people forget the human element being laid off, people forget the human element making the decisions and recommendation. The executives aren’t making these decisions in a vacuum. These studios were not performing in one way or another, we do not know what their financial projections look like, their recent financial performance, and more importantly the reception of their games. Empathising is important but unfortunately no one has a right or a guarantee to a job that they want. I know that seems cut throat, cue the evil vault-tec jr executive music. Bringing up games from 8 or so years ago doesn’t get you much on a go forward basis. Bethesda leadership BEFORE the acquisition failed these studios. The financial condition of the economy, the availability of funding is not conducive to losing projects. Unpopular take out.

The video game industry (I am still in it) is totally collapsing. Businesses and investors are freaking out and take hasty decisions impacting so many devs. I dont think the new generations will even try to get into this industry. Really not worth it. Your passion will be crushed, even to the most hopeful of us.

Putting everything on game pass doesn't help either when they are measuring the success of games.

Hey Lone, hope your friends can land on their feet. Appreciate that you wear your heart on your sleeve with this sort of thing.

Xbox spent that last 5 or so years swallowing up as many studios as they can to just shut down studios, this was the first round there will be more. It’s industry wide rn

NOW you're worried about Bethesda? What about Fallout 76, ESO, and Starfield? I was worried during ESO development that "the real Bethesda" might be a thing of the past, and after Starfield, I have given up.

I’m sorry to the ones losing their jobs but it happens daily in the area I work in. It’s this economy. Also let’s focus on the why, why is Microsoft doing this. I think it’s because the show is successful, and Microsoft didn’t spend billions upon billions to acquire a company, which their biggest money maker is fallout and we haven’t had a true fallout game in nearly 10 years, with one not even in the sights.

Can those studios not go look for another backer loke sony or become independant ? Genuinely asking

If this means these devs are now working on TES and FO, I don't really mind. M$ probs want BGS games to release more frequently in the future, not just every 10 years. Especially now with the hype of the FO TV show. Pretty obvious they aquired Bethesda mainly because of BGS...

It's a good thing you made this video, make it aware to those getting bought out by big publishers because these said publishers would spread way too thin not only will they have layoffs, but they lose key people if a studio gets shutdown regardless of being a critically acclaimed IP or not. LEARN FROM MICROSOFT AND EMBRACER GROUP'S FAILURES, DO NOT GO WITH A COMPANY THAT HAS TOO MANY STUDIOS UNDER THEM BECAUSE THE CHANCES ARE YOU IT WONT JUST BE LAYOFFS IT WILL BE CLOSURE OF YOUR STUDIO!

maybe this will shake up bethesda, and whip them up to shape with actually releasing games we have all been waiting for so many years... and honestly as greedy as bethesda has become with fallout 76, i don't feel bad for microsoft doing what they are doing.

Unfortunately I don't understand the whole "we can't trust what xbox says anymore" when this has literally been going on for years. I like what they're doing and Phil is a cool dude and actual gamer unlike what we had with Jim Ryan. But not being able to trust what Phil, Matt, Greenberg, Sarah etc is not some new establishment. This situation is very unfortunate and as a huge Bethesda fan it sucks, but people need to stop acting like the lack of trust should start now

Honestly I've never played any of the games from any of these shutdown studios. If this move helps them put more resources towards creating the games I actually care about and get them out faster and with higher quality, then I'm all for this. Time will tell.

AI will fill in the gap. We should have seen this coming when Microsoft stepped in. Todd wanted the money and sold out.

I'm not being insensitive or cold. I've been let go and my entire department eliminated. How that impacted the people I led, was the worst part. It's terrible. But nobody made any RU-vid videos about it. There are millions in a similar situation right now. Most in much worse financial shape than video game developers. It's part of life. I find all the videos by RU-vidrs reacting to this somber news, to be engaging in little more than virtue signaling. I play games for fun and to step away from real life for that time. A big world-wide financial crash is looming. Streamlining is a necessary part of that. Mistakes are made all the time but continuously adapting to reality makes good business sense. It's my guess that this will be good for Bethesda in the long run. But nobody knows for sure what the future holds.

I can imagine the impact on you considering your connection to Bethesda and your long history creating content regarding Bethesda games. Especially as you have recently decided to make this your full time career. I think a lot of the toxic takes are from ppl who are either narcissists or they have never been laid off or fired and felt the impact of losing your job suddenly. Take care and I appreciate your knowledgeable take on this news. I have been watching your content for years and I wish you the best and hope everyone affected find new jobs and careers quickly.

I wouldn't get too worried, this is all due to the success of the Fallout TV series, they see a demand and know they're best chance at mass profit is to get F5 out the door quicker as well as some type of spin off ala FNV2 or similar. Really this is what we all wanted, we just don't prefer the means to the end. The other thing too is, and I'm going to get blasted for saying it but, hey if you don't want to get shut down don't release broken flops, ik its not the case with tango but Arkane shot themselves in the foot if they wanted to stay in the game.

Not to be disrespectful but from a business standpoint it looks like they're trimming the fat , they definitely want their devs/money focusing all their attention on Fallout/Elder Scrolls. Especially after the massive success of the Prime show. It would've been nicer if they had all their studios working on those 2 franchises but unfortunately business is cut throat sometimes.

Forza Motorsport was a larger disaster than Redfall but Turn10 didn't go through any of this.

I can't imagine wanting to work within the gaming industry. Just wait, there will be far more with new technologies causing many jobs to be redundant.

Ngl, I'd have loved a Vault Boy game from Tango done in similar animation style to HiFi Rush. 😒

Also this is why the consolidation of gaming is bad and why i laughed when people cheered it on, so maybe people will remember this going forward.

Microsoft should 100% be able to identify when a studio has a great concept for a game and believe in a studios passionate credibility to create a new game. It’s highly likely that this decision was decided because they didn’t see anymore potential in these studios. Obsidian will not be touched they are very innovative with each game they make my favorites grounded, the outer worlds, fallout nv, all have very unique gameplay and impressive worlds worth playing. Another highly likely reason is that some of these studios such as arkane studios player counts were just to low and they brought no attention to game pass. One genre of video games i would like Microsoft Xbox to focus on more is survival horror games like dead space as well as an exclusive one with a main character. It is sad that people loss their jobs but Microsoft should focus on believing in new studios to make great games

This is the future of AI programming and art development. The only people that will have thriviving careers are those in AI specifically

I am someone who likes Microsoft over most all video game companies (I am a PC user not console user) but this is shit I would have loved if they were closing the studios to move them over to BGS then separate BGS into 3 the Elder Scrolls company Fallout Company and Starfield Company with Todd Howard in charge and that would be good for Microsoft and Bethesda.

16:10 AAA is doubling down on sticking to "tested" franchises and avoiding inovation like the plague. This wont work forever though...

A.I. is going to annihilate any job regarding programming. Anyone sitting behind a keyboard, for a living, is at risk of being replaced.

Todd Howard should leave and start his own studio. Just like Stig Asmussen and Kevin Levine have.

Lone, Lone, Lone..... thank you for being vulnerable even in your own experience rooting for the devs. My heart goes to them...

I agree with you on this! Microsoft/Xbox played/lied to everyone! I have no faith in anything that is going to be released in the future from this point on! If the company that made an awesome game like Hi Fi Rush & they get canned for no reason, then no one is safe! Any game that doesn't do what Microsoft wants in sales is going to get canned! I no longer care about Fallout 5, Elder Scrolls 6, or anything they make! I don't have faith in Avowed anymore & if it doesn't do great, they will be the next one to go! There haven't been any exclusives on Xbox, they lied about Starfield because it is going to Playstation as soon as Shattered Space releases! I agree with you I want awesome games from Microsoft/Xbox, but I don't trust anything they say anymore!

I have been saying for years that Microsoft and Sony buying up all these studios was bad for the gaming industry. Two companies shouldn't control most of the dev studios (with the intent to aqurire all of them). It was inevitable that they would focus on making money insted of making qualty games that were innovative or groundbreaking. If Sony and Microsoft have their way games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Days Gone would never exist. Those studios took huge risks to create new IPs with innovative ideas. Days Gone in particular got shafted. While not as successful as Fallout or Elder scrolls, they were successful and the fan base is demanding a sequel that Sony refuses to let happen. Studios like Naughty Dog, Bethesda, Obsidian, and others are at the mercy of corporate bean counters.

Phil said he would save Xbox But he is not your savior

Well for me, I stopped spending money on Bethesda when they decided to go for MMOs instead of Elder Scrolls and Fallout. My interest in MMOs is absolutely zero. They don’t make open world games anymore. And Starfield really doesn’t fit that niche for me. It’s not the same as Elder Scrolls or Fallout.

Hi-Fi Rush sounds like an energy drink for weabs.

Arkane Austin shutting down is brutal. They were a good team, even if Redfall didn't perform well.

I wouldn't hold out on Fallout 5 and ES6. It sounds like they are going to be undercooked and over-monetised live service cash grabs. Everyone wants that GTA V Cash flow. And from what i'm seeing, Xbox will do anything to get there...

I'm confused, they are killing the smaller teams i 100% doubt they would touch the main parts of Bethesda, otherwise what was the point in buying them. I mean what Xbox or really what M$ is doing is bad, but people will forget about this in a few days and once the summer showcase happens we will see the same xbox content creators saying xbox is on top. It's the internet outrage only last for a week at most, the internet seems to have collective amnesia lol.

*Bad Decisions made at the top that hurt the people at the bottom 👎 Bethesda has two of the most valuable franchises in gaming history WHY ARE THEY FAILING???* 🕵

Come on guys, no need to be upset. Studios like Tango and Arkane were like Earth in 2077 to Vault-tec, I mean Microsoft. It just isn't that profitable.

Don't need to be worrid about Xbox/Microsoft. Its normal. The reason is Zinemax games studios need optimization.

Welcome to the Great Recession. As inflation rises, more and more income is going to the basic necessities of life and less and less is going to recreational items. I’m pretty certain that online streaming services are seeing a reduction. Of users, new car purchases are dropping, recreational boats, campers, etc. are less. As more and more income is going to food, rent, and basic necessities, less and less will go to games, movies, eating out, etc. Add to this the fact that there inflation forced Game companies to increase prices, and this is what happens. Corporations, even multi-billion dollar corporations are feeling the pinch. This is what your grandparents (or maybe great-grandparents) struggled with in the late 70’s-early 80’s. You will see a domino effect as recreational industries experience layoffs which will trigger layoffs in other, more vital industries.

No one is safe, if a studio can do everything they are told, produce a very successful game that wasn’t even marketed highly! All the while Microsoft’s profits rose by 20% from last year. No studio is safe, job security is frightening. Especially when 10500 game jobs were let go last year and this year we’re already at 9500. I don’t know how the industry is alive

I’m worried about it too like I know the main studio didn’t get affected, but it could, though one day you never know and if that happens, no fallout 5 or elder scroll 6 which would suck probably the reason why this is happening is because the games they’ve been developing are just broken and people are not having it anymore

I wish the best. The cream always rises to the top.

I can feel the pain in your voice. I hate this for everyone involved. 😞

Bethesda as a core studio will be fine. Its the satellite studios that are in trouble. We could genuinly lose Fo76 and and the Austin studio for example. Bethesda also now don't have autonomy. I fully expect the next fallout to pawned off to another studio or forced to be made alongside TES6 because Microsoft have seen how much money the IPs are making due to the show. Bethesda shot themselves in the foot with the merger. Microsoft are enacting out thier plan. Control 70% of the games industry, cut costs by closing smaller studios, kill any kind of competition and feed the shareholders. Gaming is in for another crash, which, I don't think we are getting out any time soon. Its been a wild ride peeps but this is the begining of the end