Microsoft playing a dirty game

Kilthor69 · July 9

Found the below today. So, MS layoffs 4800 employees to hire cheap foreign labor.

"A popular U.S.-based gaming brand owned by Microsoft is facing fury after mass employee layoffs occurred in the wake of the company being approved for thousands of foreign worker visas.

Microsoft announced that it will lay off 4,800 people total and 1,600 from the corporation's XBOX division, which makes and sells the dominant video game console.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been approved this year to hire from foreign countries 2,273 employer-sponsored, non-immigrant workers under what is known as the H-1B visa program, according to data from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS)."

Arunei · July 9

I'd be more than willing to bet this is dancing way too close to becoming political given the nature of things, and regardless this forum isn't the place to have a discussion about foreign labor. The only thing that matters and applies to ESO is the fact that 213 members of the team working on ESO have either been laid off or had their hours reduced by at least 50%.

Especially because that statement about them hiring other people in no way implies or indicates that the new hires are going into positions that were made vacant by any of the layoffs. They could be going into other positions that have been open since before the layoffs, for example.

Arizona_Steve · July 9

ESO runs really well on Linux. Just sayin'.

Personofsecrets · July 9

Capitalism

ketsparrowhawk · July 9

"dominant video game console"

Pixiepumpkin · July 9

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Capitalism

Capitalism is not the issue. Unfettered greed is.

Recent · July 9

I heard microsoft laif off many of their employees across the board not just zos employees. They want to automate a lot of jobs.

Luneca · July 10

No one is owed anything. That's the reality of the situation in a for-profit system. Gaming isn't a special industry. In fact, it's the industry with the least accountability in all of sofware engineering.

BretonMage · July 10

Microsoft has been a top H-1B employee for years. That is not new. Most of these H-1B hires probably aren't even in the gaming division. Most of these foreign hires are software engineers and computer scientists, whilst the ZOS layoffs are mostly the creatives. In fact the only thing they have in common are that they show that MS is focusing on AI (https://nfap.com/research/nfap-policy-brief-ai-and-h-1b-visas/).

KalevaLaine · July 10

ketsparrowhawk wrote: »

"dominant video game console"

Made my day!

LalMirchi · July 10

XBox is definitely not the dominant video game console. The Playstation otsells the XBox by a factor of 3. XBox sells 1/3 of what Playstation sells. So MS is cutting their losses and running away.

Masteroshi430 · July 10

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

Capitalism is not the issue. Unfettered greed is.

Dying is not the issue. Losing life is.

Gabriel_H · July 10

Arunei wrote: »

The only thing that matters and applies to ESO is the fact that 213 members of the team working on ESO have either been laid off or had their hours reduced by at least 50%.

... at that one site.

Gabriel_H · July 10

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Capitalism

Capitalism is not the issue. Unfettered greed is.

That you think there is a difference is a problem.

Gabriel_H · July 10

LalMirchi wrote: »

XBox is definitely not the dominant video game console. The Playstation otsells the XBox by a factor of 3. XBox sells 1/3 of what Playstation sells. So MS is cutting their losses and running away.

Way over-simplified. PS outsells XBox in units by 2.5:1 on the latest generation, BUT that is not the only revenue stream. XBox has better engagement and users play nearly twice as much as PS users. Most of that is through Game Pass, where XBox and PS have roughly the same amount of monthly users - the problem, and part reason for the recent cuts, is that Microsoft wanted 80m monthly users by now, and they have only half of that.

LalMirchi · July 10

Gabriel_H wrote: »

LalMirchi wrote: »

XBox is definitely not the dominant video game console. The Playstation otsells the XBox by a factor of 3. XBox sells 1/3 of what Playstation sells. So MS is cutting their losses and running away.

Way over-simplified. PS outsells XBox in units by 2.5:1 on the latest generation, BUT that is not the only revenue stream. XBox has better engagement and users play nearly twice as much as PS users. Most of that is through Game Pass, where XBox and PS have roughly the same amount of monthly users - the problem, and part reason for the recent cuts, is that Microsoft wanted 80m monthly users by now, and they have only half of that.

Fair enough, I don't follow gaming news usually. But I do admit to reading any news about ESO that turns up in my news feed now when I'm concerned about the future of my favourite waste of time. (I'm writing a song with that title right now).

Pixiepumpkin · July 10

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Pixiepumpkin wrote: »

Capitalism is not the issue. Unfettered greed is.

That you think there is a difference is a problem.

They are not the same thing, I am amazed you think they are.

Captialism:
(politics, uncountable) a socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.
(economics, uncountable) a socio-economic system based on the abstraction of resources into the form of privately-owned capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.

Greed:
An excessively eager desire to possess something, especially wealth; avaricious desire; especially, coarse and brutal avarice.
A greedy person.
Synonyms Greediness, Greed; eagerness, avidity. Greediness is used either literally or figuratively, as greediness for food, greediness for favors, applause, knowledge; greed has now lost its literal sense, and is rarely used except for avarice and in such phrases as greed of gain, greed of wealth, greed of gold

Two completely different things. Quite amazing that you think they are the same.

SkaiFaith · July 10

Is the name in the title how it's actually spelled? I swear I've read the name written in a different manner so many times recently, I'm not sure anymore.

katanagirl1 · July 11

I wondered when someone would post this, we saw it in the news yesterday. The timing is just too convenient.

ZOS_Icy · July 11

Greetings,

We ask that threads remain focused on ESO. As we want to keep the discussion on the forums focused on this game and to prevent derailment, we've closed this thread.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team