OP
OP
Here's my contribution.
My proposal would be to approach Disney with an offer to acquire Xbox, Mojang, and part of Zenimax (Tango, machinegames, arkane) in return for cash and switching hosting services from AWS to Azure. I'd sell off id and Bethesda to the highest bidder.
The problem right now is that Xbox's skillset doesn't match its audience. Xbox came up and made its identity the dudebro shooter console, but none of its studios are currently good at making them besides id, and they can't carry the whole identity of a console by themselves. With the loss of Activision-blizzard, it's unlikely that they are able to continue serving that audience. They also lack the expertise to do cutting edge character animation and technical artistry to compete with top level AAA games.
The current brand strengths of Xbox lies primarily in gamepass and minecraft. Halo, Gears, and Forza have long faded into background noise especially among people who don't follow gaming closely. The current strength of Xbox studios lies in making polished A to AA level games when given enough time and resources. I think they should lean into that and become a kid-centric console that focuses on colorful games with zany humor.
What I'd do is pitch to Disney an idea that there's a potential synergy in having cross-media integration between Disney properties, minecraft, and xbox such that they could become the next Nintendo. I'd fold mojang, obsidian, playground, rare, compulsion, what's left of the coalition, and what's left of 343 into one studio and pitch a genshin impact-level open world minecraft 2/mmo set to launch at the start of the next console generation. And, like Fortnite, I'd have Minecraft 2 be able to support broadcasted events where the devs can add, say, a concert where Elsa from Frozen sings. Turn10 can make a DisneyKart racer instead of Forza. Doublefine would continue doing what it does. I honestly believe they could challenge Nintendo with the strength of Disney's IP.
My proposal would be to approach Disney with an offer to acquire Xbox, Mojang, and part of Zenimax (Tango, machinegames, arkane) in return for cash and switching hosting services from AWS to Azure. I'd sell off id and Bethesda to the highest bidder.
The problem right now is that Xbox's skillset doesn't match its audience. Xbox came up and made its identity the dudebro shooter console, but none of its studios are currently good at making them besides id, and they can't carry the whole identity of a console by themselves. With the loss of Activision-blizzard, it's unlikely that they are able to continue serving that audience. They also lack the expertise to do cutting edge character animation and technical artistry to compete with top level AAA games.
The current brand strengths of Xbox lies primarily in gamepass and minecraft. Halo, Gears, and Forza have long faded into background noise especially among people who don't follow gaming closely. The current strength of Xbox studios lies in making polished A to AA level games when given enough time and resources. I think they should lean into that and become a kid-centric console that focuses on colorful games with zany humor.
What I'd do is pitch to Disney an idea that there's a potential synergy in having cross-media integration between Disney properties, minecraft, and xbox such that they could become the next Nintendo. I'd fold mojang, obsidian, playground, rare, compulsion, what's left of the coalition, and what's left of 343 into one studio and pitch a genshin impact-level open world minecraft 2/mmo set to launch at the start of the next console generation. And, like Fortnite, I'd have Minecraft 2 be able to support broadcasted events where the devs can add, say, a concert where Elsa from Frozen sings. Turn10 can make a DisneyKart racer instead of Forza. Doublefine would continue doing what it does. I honestly believe they could challenge Nintendo with the strength of Disney's IP.
