A nongamer leading a console/studio company..... More corporate trash coming our way.
To be fair, my Xbox gamer tag is pretty lacking as I’m mainly a pcgamer and retro gamer. So hopefully that is the case with her.
But to be honest, from my perspective, Xbox is already lower on the scale to me that it can get worse in any measurable way.
Doesn't matter for the role.
You're right, my experience as a sous chef does make me a perfect fit for that chief of surgery job I saw advertised. Imma go for it.
Business experience for a business role.
Knowing your product is part of business...
I can assume Microsoft isn't so incompetent that they don't have reports and metrics relevant to their products.
Yeah? And how have those reports and metrics been fairing the last generation and a half? Running a creative medium based on metrics is why AAA is in the shitter. How many studio closings are we seeing lately?
The Xbox team has been full of people that migrated over from T-Mobile for years now. They are full of layers and layers of leadership that has no idea how the game industry works.
If you look at their decisions over the last 5 years a lot of it makes business sense on paper, but look at where it brought them and the industry. A titan that is inept and brings nothing to the table.
Former Xbox leadership Phil Spencer, whom Sharma was succeeding, was a prolific collector of achievements with a rich gamercard that was a popular subject of discussion among Xbox communities.
Scrolling to the bottom, Sharma's very first achievement was unlocked in The Master Chief Collection and was the aptly titled "Your Journey Begins" on January 15 of this year
SYAC
If anything this proves that the correlation between active gamer and competent gaming CEO might not be that strong with how awesome Xbox is currently.
I think being an active gamer is an important quality but it certainly doesn't guarantee success. Certainly having never played an XBOX before in your life is a BAD BAD quality for XBOX leadership.
On the one hand I see the reason for criticism, when a person that apparently never touched a video game becomes a XBOX CEO, on the other hand does her account really read like a real one, and I think this is great. I think there is nothing easier for an Xbox CEO than to have a fake account created going back 20 years and showing thousands of hours of gaming or have somebody game for you Elon Musk style.
This reads like someone that is actually preparing for the new role she has to fill and making her own gaming experiences and listening to community feedback.
Is it as good as having someone as CEO with a long history in gaming? Probably not. But I think this might be the next best thing.
"She has zero experience but at least she's not lying, I guess?"
Yeah I don't get what you're trying to say here at all.
It’s hard to do much worse than Spencer but I’m sure she’ll manage.
Wow she made her first MCC achievement on january 15 of this year. Wtf? 18 hours in Infinite. I have like 200 and i despite this game. How can one be the CEO of a gaming division, when your not a gamer? Every news from Xbox is just evolving from bad to worse.
How can one be the CEO of a gaming division
By all respect, a CEO does not need to be a gamer. Also 18 hours versus your 200... Maybe she does not have the same time as you to play? I honestly don't know why people think that a CEO have to be this junky like us and play all day long.
I'm honestly completely blown away at the number of people who think a CEO does not need to know absolutely anything about the product they're supposed to be selling...
I'm honestly completely blown away at the number of people who can't read, but are able to type. And are able to hallucinate things into existence. Where did I wrote "absolutely anything"??
You said they don't need to be a gamer. How can someone not be a gamer and know absolutely anything about XBOX? That seems like a bare minimum?
Not being an active gamer does not mean knowing nothing about the stuff. And yes, she does not need to play 200 hours like a sweaty gamer to understand what she is selling. It's not the job of the CEO.
Yes she does LOL
Nope she does not.
Given that Elon Musk is supposed to be in charge of like 6 different companies at once and still manages to find the time to shitpost on Twitter all day, a CEO's time can't be that busy.
Taking 2 minutes to post 2 sentences is not the same as playing a game for 200 hours.
Of course a CEO is not obligated to know anything about the product, which the company sells (and he/she can make a really good job). But I think, that this is exactly the source of the problems gamers have with the industry right now. In my opinion a CEO should be passionate like Larian’s Swen Vincke to really turn the tide. Sorry for my rambling
I did not say a CEO should not know anything about the product they are selling... Can people not read?
understandable have a great day
It's like they sought out the person who would most precisely piss off Asmongold.
If you're offered the job, take it I guess because no one expects you to succeed. If the internal expectations are to focus on the following: Minecraft, CoD, Diablo, WoW, Overwatch, Candy Crush, then maybe this person will excel in that direction. Also all those being video games that found success before Microsoft
Actually trying to make Xbox a success, it's been nearly 13 years of trying to course correct and probably a good amount north of 100 billion dollars and still no strong consistent lineup of new releases. Fable can knock it out the park but that would just be one single player AAA game hit for Xbox after 13 years. So I imagine her expectations are going to be in managing what's proven profitable and winding down what's been proven to be outside of what they're good at
Who cares
I'm not a fan of a company having a CEO with no clue about their product either. But how much worse than Spencer can she really be? Maybe he should have focused more on his job than his gamer reputation.
Phil Spencer merely did what his higher ups told him to do, she will do the exact same except caring less about video games.
So you agree with me that she won't do a worse job?
She completed Firewatch to 100% on January 20. Titles like What Remains of Edith Finch, Gone Home, and A Short Hike also had higher completion ratings, indicating Sharma may have a preference for emotionally charged narrative games.
I don't know what your takes are, but these are some of the best games in their genres that she completed, I wouldn’t say no to more of that, especially a bigger "A Short Hike" game.
Obviously she's not into bigger gaming timesinks, but different people have different preferences, I'd give her the benefit of doubt, because I don't know much about her managerial skills. And that should matter more about her job than what your free time preferences are.
I've never cared for Xbox but at least it had a personality before Xbox One. An annoying, idiotic personality that I thoroughly disliked, but it had a personality nonetheless. It was the "fratbro" of the pack.
Ever since Xbox One though, the fratbro graduated and suddenly became the most bland and boring corporate guy you've ever heard of. And as every corporate guy nowadays, he now has caught the AI brain rot.
With a KD of 4/18 were fucked. They let the noob run the ship.
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
By games
Language specific