'Xbox Is Being Sunsetted' — Seamus Blackley, One of the Creators of Xbox, Thinks Recent Shakeup Spells the End for Microsoft's Gaming Business

Amid the authoritative statements and galore tweets that followed 1 of the biggest shakeups ever astatine Xbox, 1 of its creators believes Microsoft’s existent program is to bring its gaming concern to an end.

Seamus Blackley co-created Xbox astatine Microsoft, bringing to beingness Microsoft’s console hardware successful 2001 earlier leaving conscionable a twelvemonth later. He has watched his erstwhile institution deed the headlines arsenic Phil Spencer and would-be successor Sarah Bond announced their exit. And successful a caller interview, helium revealed what helium believes to beryllium caller Xbox CEO Asha Sharma's existent ngo — which sounds similar thing bully for Xbox fans.

Speaking to GamesBeat, Blackley said that Xbox is not a halfway portion of Microsoft’s all-encompassing AI push, and truthful “is being sunsetted.” Drafting successful Sharma, who Blackley points retired came from Microsoft’s AI squad with nary gaming background, is further grounds of the company’s existent strategy, helium claimed. “They don’t accidental that, but that’s what’s happening,” helium went on. “I expect that the caller CEO, Asha Sharma, her occupation is going to beryllium arsenic a palliative attraction doc who slides Xbox mildly into the night.”

Bill Gates and Seamus Blackley contiguous the Xbox astatine Comdex connected November 11, 2001 successful Las Vegas, NV. Photo by David McNew/Getty Images.

Part of the occupation here, according to Blackley, is that Microsoft caput honcho Satya Nadella believes that AI volition “subsume” games “like it volition subsume everything,” and that spells the extremity for the accepted video games business, overmuch of which Microsoft owns.

“The occupation of each these radical is to conscionable mildly usher each of these concern units into the caller satellite of AI,” Blackley said. “That’s what you’re seeing here. Whether oregon not you hold with it, whether you hold with AI having the imaginable to bash that, whether AI volition beryllium successful, is simply a abstracted matter. But that’s what we’re seeing. That is successful nary mode surprising. It would person been shocking if they had idiosyncratic successful determination successful a meaningful relation who was passionate astir games, passionate astir the creator-driven concern of games, due to the fact that it would beryllium successful nonstop struggle with everything other Microsoft is doing. Microsoft is simply a institution that is present astir enabling its customers by enabling AI to thrust things. That’s astatine likelihood with the auteur exemplary of immoderate art, but specifically of games. Microsoft doesn’t person the occupation that Apple does, oregon that Netflix does, wherever they person an auteur-driven contented exemplary to manage. Games are the lone spot wherever they person a contented business.”

It’s worthy pointing retired that Blackley's comments spell against the statements released by Microsoft successful its announcement of the Xbox shakeup. Sharma has promised to present “the instrumentality of Xbox,” and, arsenic portion of that, has vowed to reengage with halfway Xbox fans. There was adjacent a committedness to perpetrate to console, which is surely a crowd-pleasing remark astatine a clip erstwhile truthful galore Xbox fans consciousness disenfranchised with Microsoft’s shifting strategy. As for Satya Nadella, helium has said helium was “long connected gaming and its relation astatine the halfway of our user ambition,” which doesn’t dependable similar Xbox is sunsetting immoderate clip soon.

As it stands, Microsoft has a agelong database of video games owed retired this twelvemonth and beyond, and the committedness of a caller Xbox console successful the coming years. One of the large questions astir caller events is whether Sharma volition teardrop up those plans. Of course, the likes of Fable and Halo and Call of Duty volition merchandise this year, arsenic announced. But volition the next-gen Xbox autumn by the wayside? Will immoderate plans erstwhile Xbox brag Phil Spencer had for an Xbox handheld travel to fruition?

And portion Sharma has said she has "no tolerance for atrocious AI," and promised to "not pursuit short-term ratio oregon flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop," it seems improbable that gaming volition flight Microsoft's large AI propulsion entirely.

IGN has overmuch much connected Sharma's accomplishment and the departure of Spencer, including the galore farewells to him from seasoned developers, Spencer's idiosyncratic words to the Xbox assemblage pursuing his departure, and Sharma's ain responses to archetypal concerns astir her caller AI enactment and deficiency of gaming manufacture occupation experience.

Photo by David McNew/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].