The fact that they don't have anything to do for a while is a mark of bad management. It shows that they don't have the foresight to have a pipeline of products in various stages of development to account for this kind of thing. Obviously Halo isn't performing up to expectations, but those expectations were again a product of bad management.
Yes, but it was only a theory. One of the many reasons of why they could have been fired. Often sound designers are freelancers who get hired only when needed, and other cases like seems to be this one they are in-house sound designers.
Regarding the in-house ones, as you mention with decent management everyone should have work to do. And if not in projects for this studio, helping other studios.
I agree that to set unrealistic or unacurate espectations is a mark of bad management, but sometimes they make sense, the management is good but some unpredictable shit happens like the covid epidemic, some new hit gets released changing player tastes or some strategy from other place of the corportation hurts them and even if they did a good job they get fucked anyways.
I mean, imagine a financial crysis due to stuff unrelated to gaming or a bit bet in other area of the corporation didn't work making them to fire thousands of people. Part of these peope would be in gaming and inside gaming even in studios who did a good job. It's possible.
Also, maybe in the gaming division they had decades of loses and want to replace people to see if they turn it into a profit. Or in the specific case of Halo, maybe they tried to make it a reference again in gaming during several games but they didn't achieve it so they decided to replace people. And maybe the sound designers did a great job but may be part of the peope fire. It sucks, but these things happen.
So you’re implying that the activision staff can replace everyone on Xbox division? Even Phill?
I like that idea.
I think they bought a lot of very talented people in the CoD, Overwatch, Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, Prey, Fallout, Dishonored teams etc. I think they could help improve Halo or Gears teams either sharing knowledge and tech or directly sending some of their people to join teams like 343.
Also, it would be a good idea to -at least some time later once all these teams are integrated inside MS- promote some of these folks to replace people like Aaron Greenberg and whoever is in charge of managing the MS Gaming Division studios. I mean, not the CEO (Phil) but the one setting the strategy and overviewing the management of their studios.
Regarding Phil I'd give him 5 years after the ABK acquisition gets closed to see the results of this and the previous acquisitions, since to make AAA games take time. If the ABK acquisition doesn't complete, then I'd count 5 years after the Zenimax acquisition got completed. If years after spending all these dozens of Billions there isn't a substantial improvement I'd fire him and replace him with someone capable.
I'd stop including games day one on GP and making crossgen games to focus instead on selling -not renting- games for all next gen only platforms, would cancel any plans of making any future console and would complete the Sega-like switch to become a fully multiplatform 3rd party publisher making real these Phil Spencer words of them wanting to bring their games to more people. That would highly increase their revenue not only because increasing their game sales because also would stop hurting Xbox game sales, and also would the costs of being a console maker. So would end turning their division into something profitable or at least would highly reduce their loses.
