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[Rhaknar]

I bet this means the XBONE never actually comes out in Portugal now

 

[GobFather]

The Mehdi witch hunt is ridiculous, you know nothing about him and the way he does his job except for the fact that his position is not focused on gaming, he's not the most natural looking presenter (although, for what it's worth, he seems to be my girlfriend's favorite Microsoft spokesperson because she thinks he's hot), and he's made a few questionable public statements, which is something that most executives in this business have done at some point. GAF can be such a terrible place sometimes.

No need to generalize GAF when the same things happen outside of GAF. Nor is it exclusive to gamers. You don't want people to generalize and criticize a person that you are defending but you are doing the exact same thing.

Plus, saying questonable things leading to people questioning it... Shouldn't be a surprised. Of course ill intentions towards anyone isn't good but it happens all the time. Open a news page, go to twitter and etc

 

[10k]

Marketing is always the first to get hit. I picked the worst subject to major in lol. Cheaper to outsource it for Microsoft.

 

[JaggedSac]

I hope for all the employees there, that this isnt true. I hope it wasnt xbones fault for this to happen.

It was the Nokia acquisition that caused all of this. They onboarded 30,000 employees with that. Redundancies are usually eliminated after these things.

 

[rakkadakka]

It was the Nokia acquisition that caused all of this. They onboarded 30,000 employees with that. Redundancies are usually eliminated after these things.

Yeah that's basically it.

If I remember right Nokia even had their own manufacturing in India and other places.. they didn't outsource to foxconn.

 

[Kamina]

Hopefully this is not true. 6k is a lot.

 

[lifeexpectancy]

That is really shitty thing to say that you hope someone gets fired. You know how you solve that problem of someone saying the "wrong things"? you retrain them. You speak to them. You dont fire them just because you personally dont like them.

Have you seen the brand key he has developed? Or how the events or organised are executed? PR is but one element of marketing (You have no idea how he executes his ATL/BTL collaterals) and wishing someone to lose their job is just ridiculous.

You act like people want him to lose his job just because they dont like him. People think he DESERVES to lose his job because he is damaging the brand by his public statements.

When you are the public face of a company you dont get to just spout off damaging comments willy nilly. You have a responsibility to represent the company well and not damage their public image. Indirectly hampering brand expansion by way of comments (whether prefaced by a personal opinion disclaimer or not) is most definitely grounds for termination in many places. If I were his boss he wouldve already been let go.

 

[kekke]

I feel sorry for the people working at Nokia. I bet there'll be a lot of jobs in Finland vanishing into thin air.

Sadly you are right...😡

 

[Piccoro]

I bet this means the XBONE never actually comes out in Portugal now

Why are you saying that? It is confirmed by September 5.

 

[otapnam]

Marketing is always the first to get hit. I picked the worst subject to major in lol. Cheaper to outsource it for Microsoft.

Get in the right place you got no problems. They seem to move faster than creative. At least in the corporate world.

 

[DSN2K]

Nokia made their bed....suspect majority of the talent pool left already.

 

[Easy_D]

Most of those will be Nokia jobs. It's funny how when they bought Nokia they said no jobs will be lost. It was a super obvious lie.

. In a perfect world we would have gotten the Lumia line running Android

 

[The Power Of Snap]

You can bet xbone is the last traditional console from MS if this is true.

Expect a chromecast/apple tv device from them with cloud gaming.

 

[nynt9]

. In a perfect world we would have gotten the Lumia line running Android

We already have this: http://www.wpcentral.com/first-look-nokia-xl-android-phone-inspired-lumia

And there's this rumor: http://www.latinpost.com/articles/1...ia-android-phone-possibly-works-microsoft.htm

 

[tfur]

Global marketing...

Does not seem like something you cut, unless the product line you are marketing is in question.

Nokia and Xbox... Hardware realignment, and spin off could still be a possibility.

 

[coldone]

Great time to do house clean up. Xbox EU, Marketing.. obvious who it is. Get rid of all the loose canons.

 

[nynt9]

Global marketing...

Does not seem like something you cut, unless the product line you are marketing is in question.

Nokia and Xbox... Hardware realignment, and spin off could still be a possibility.

It says they're hiring an outside marketing firm instead of having their in house marketing. Apple has been going through a similar process.

Spoiler

And Microsoft, like they've been doing for the past half decade or so, decided to do the same thing Apple is doing, I guess? /s

 

[Doffen]

. In a perfect world we would have gotten the Lumia line running Android

I don't want to be part of your "perfect world".

 

[Mogaman]

That Sux. This goddamn economy is terrible. Blame the Bankers, I MISS THE 90's!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alx]

You can bet xbone is the last traditional console from MS if this is true.

Expect a chromecast/apple tv device from them with cloud gaming.

It could be where all consoles are going actually... after all Sony is the one pushing cloud gaming the most.

 

[Sydle]

30,000 new employees with the Nokia acquisition plus a major restructuring was bound to end in redundancies.

I hope all those affected land on their feet quick.

 

[LeonSPBR]

Current rumors indicate Microsoft is intent on firing up to 12000 people: http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/15/5900763/microsoft-job-cuts-rumors

RIP Xbone

Holy crap that way too many people... hope this news is wrong.

 

[jelly]

Microsoft marketing scrapes the bottom of the barrel internal and external. Nokia have been pretty great over the years, just got lumped with Windows Phone which is a tough climb.

Imagine a lot of managers will be shown the door, always been over the top at Microsoft.

 

[rokkerkory]

Job cuts are so unfortunate. I don't feel for the higher ups that will get cut but more for the every day man / woman. Higher ups will always get a fat check before getting cut.

God speed to everyone else.

With that being said, 5.8k employees is a very small restructuring. Hopefully this will be the last of any cuts.

 

[Spineker]

I knew Microsoft wouldn't let the Xbone's disastrous first year (at least as compared to the PS4) go unpunished. Mattrick was the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Easy_D]

I don't want to be part of your "perfect world".

Okay, in a perfect world smartphones would come without an OS and you could pick the one you wanted and everything would just work, also world peace.

 

[nynt9]

Current rumors indicate Microsoft is intent on firing up to 12000 people: http://www.theverge.com/2014/7/15/5900763/microsoft-job-cuts-rumors

RIP Xbone

Updated OP to reflect the new info

Spoiler

, but I don't think this really is the death of the Xbone, so I don't know what you're about there.

 

[Mix Master]

Great time to do house clean up. Xbox EU, Marketing.. obvious who it is. Get rid of all the loose canons.

throw penello in there too.

 

[soultron]

Cut internal marketing team, engage external marketing studios. I've seen this shit before.

This sounds pretty reasonable to me. I think one of the biggest risks with external marketing is you risk decisions being made that sometimes don't get cleared by the right channels and/or don't fit the culture of the company or the region.

I feel like all of the crazy PR stunts gone wrong in the last few years -- that I've seen in the video game industry -- have been executed by external marketing/advertising agencies acting on behalf of a major company.

Still, I hope anyone affected lands on their feet. Sounds like scary times at MSFT if this rumour is true.

 

[rokkerkory]

Great time to do house clean up. Xbox EU, Marketing.. obvious who it is. Get rid of all the loose canons.

Agree with this

 

[tfur]

It says they're hiring an outside marketing firm instead of having their in house marketing. Apple has been going through a similar process.

Spoiler

And Microsoft, like they've been doing for the past half decade or so, decided to do the same thing Apple is doing, I guess? /s

Yeah, I honestly do not see the CEO's directive "to focus on our core" as a positive for either Nokia or Xbox.

I see the releasing/firing of internal people as a first step in pulling back: "to focus on our core"

 

[zsidane]

Instead of firing six thousand people why don't they give the highest paid executives pay cuts? At least that way everybody gets to keep their jobs and the already rich executives won't be hurting.

You want them to act like they are Nintendo?

 

[Alx]

Yeah, I honestly do not see the CEO's directive "to focus on our core" as a positive for either Nokia or Xbox.

I see the releasing/firing of internal people as a first step in pulling back: "to focus on our core"

He explicitly addressed those points in his latest e-mail to employees

Our first-party devices will light up digital work and life. Surface Pro 3 is a great example – it is the world's best productivity tablet. In addition, we will build first-party hardware to stimulate more demand for the entire Windows ecosystem. That means at times we'll develop new categories like we did with Surface. It also means we will responsibly make the market for Windows Phone, which is our goal with the Nokia devices and services acquisition.

I also want to share some additional thoughts on Xbox and its importance to Microsoft. As a large company, I think it's critical to define the core, but it's important to make smart choices on other businesses in which we can have fundamental impact and success. The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming. We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox. Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base. We also benefit from many technologies flowing from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts – core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for Windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more. Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

You can bet xbone is the last traditional console from MS if this is true.

Expect a chromecast/apple tv device from them with cloud gaming.

I expect that Sony's next console will be the same.

 

[thekiddfran]

This was known last week. Too much manpower out there. Anyone relating this to Xbox one sales is really, really reaching.

The Nokia employees recently added, 25,000, are obvious targets as there will be much duplication in support staff.

MS has over 125,000 employees, so this represents a 5% cut and a possible annual saving of 600m dollars.

 

[babyghost853]

Hopefully Yusef is on the chopping block as well.

Why would you hope for someone to loose their job? I usually don't care when a studio closes it's doors, to me that's a part of business. And while I will not be buying any xbox products, you will never see me actively hoping someone looses their job. That's just childish. Yusef only says what the PR department allows/instructs him to say.

 

[omegashockwave]

Wow that's a lot of people. Hope everyone affected can find new jobs soon.

 

[GenericUser]

All these wrong decisions had to lead to some sort of consequences. Sad for the people that did nothing wrong and now have to pay the bill.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

Are some people really wishing Yusuf to loose his job because they personally don't like him? I'm sorry but this is a very immature way to eject your anger at him. Seriously? Some people really need to evaluate their lives if someone they don't even know personally offends you so much that you wish him to lose his job. Come on now.

Either way, layoff sucks badly and hopefully this is just a rumor. I fully expect there to be cuts but not at this exaggerated degree. I know it was coming after the Nokia purchase but didn't know it was going to seep into other branches. I hope those let go definitely find something else, or create their own startup with their experience.

 

[system11]

Why would you want someone to lose their job? What's wrong with you?

I can think of plenty of people I've worked with over the years where I'd have been genuinely glad if they lost their jobs, because they were wretched unpleasant people who thrived on stepping all over others.

 

[zebwinz]

According to Mary Jo Foley's sources, it sounds like mostly those 25K new Nokia employees they took on will be affected, along with marketing.

I realize that Microsoft has always been a huge, lumbering corporation that has bought it's way into alot of advances but it really seems like they are aiming to be a fast moving, competitive company. They flat out said at WPC yesterday that they are no longer a market leader (or mind share leader in some cases) and need to take on the challenger mentality. Unfortunately in some cases, the battle has already been won and they have to decide if it is worth it to even fight in those markets (smart business but bad for job security). Gaming related - they had Sony and Nintendo listed in their hardware competition slides.

 

[netBuff]

He explicitly addressed those points in his latest e-mail to employees

Not only does this make Xbox just a footnote, "Xbox" as a brand also doesn't equate to gaming and Xbox hardware at Microsoft.

They are very clearly pulling back from hardware. With how gravely Xbone has flopped, I don't expect huge future investments into the system/exclusive titles or even a successor. But they're not going to discontinue the system, either.

 

[watership]

Nokia made their bed....suspect majority of the talent pool left already.

MS took the really big talent and has probably embraced them. MS did grow by 1/3 larger by buying Nokia. Something's gotta give.

 

[@Wreck]

money problems affect everybody

 

[Alx]

Not only does this make Xbox just a footnote, "Xbox" as a brand also doesn't equate to gaming and Xbox hardware at Microsoft.

They are very clearly pulling back from hardware. With how gravely Xbone has flopped, I don't expect huge future investments into the system/exclusive titles or even a successor.

Of course it's a footnote. Even at its peak, the gaming market will always be a drop in the bucket compared to MS main activity. The question is whether they'll keep being active in that smaller market, and Nadella clearly states they will. Either because it's a popular brand and a good way to get public visibility, or because it's a good experimentation field for different technologies that will expand to their core market.

 

[Peterpan]

All these wrong decisions had to lead to some sort of consequences. Sad for the people that did nothing wrong and now have to pay the bill.

Read the link. Why is everyone thinking this is Xbox related, did I miss something.

 

[netBuff]

The question is whether they'll keep being active in that smaller market, and Nadella clearly states they will.

I don't think they see much of a future in dedicated TV console hardware. The way Nadella's statement is worded makes this interpretation very likely. The Xbox brand is what will probably stick around, not dedicated gaming hardware.

Read the link. Why is everyone thinking this is Xbox related, did I miss something.

Because, apparently, they are planning on paring down Xbox Global Marketing?

 

[Moozo]

Can they sack the bloke that does the "Xbok Swan" voice over on the UK Aaron Paul advert

 

[Steverulez]

Not only does this make Xbox just a footnote, "Xbox" as a brand also doesn't equate to gaming and Xbox hardware at Microsoft.

They are very clearly pulling back from hardware. With how gravely Xbone has flopped, I don't expect huge future investments into the system/exclusive titles or even a successor. But they're not going to discontinue the system, either.

Looool, wat? "Gravely"

Xbox One is clearly being outsold by PS4, but its doing better than any Xbox console has before (and despite its initial price and other BS) and they have plenty of games coming. Reads like wishful thinking more than reality.

The rumours say Xbox marketing team, not Xbox developers which is hiring and expanding/

 

[rokkerkory]

Not only does this make Xbox just a footnote, "Xbox" as a brand also doesn't equate to gaming and Xbox hardware at Microsoft.

They are very clearly pulling back from hardware. With how gravely Xbone has flopped, I don't expect huge future investments into the system/exclusive titles or even a successor. But they're not going to discontinue the system, either.

Wut lol