Shadow-dropping HiFi was dumb as fuck.OK here's my thing with that. Despite not being a AAA title, Hi-Fi Rush still hasn't made the money back they spent to make it.
I keep seeing this narrative that even though Hi-Fi rush was a financial flop too, that it doesn't matter since Microsoft is "no longer using sales as a metric". The problem with that is that streaming services live and die by one thing. Subscribers. New or returning subs, to be precise. And I'm going to be very blunt here, I don't see HFR driving that sub count up by any significant number.
People can spin it all they like, Phil and MS can spin it all they like, but the cracks are starting to show with their current model.
What? MS thought they were Beyonce that released a full album at midnight with no marketing and succeed massively? You're not f*cking beyonce, MS, you're barely an Olivia Rodrigo. Nobody knows or care about you and you don't have a myriad of crazy fans like Beyonce.
They really need to get their shit together.