Bob The Builder

Verifying myself: I am bobdabilda on Keybase.io. XzD26Zgjqu8NVaDnFx0B26I651h-dMcu5c_T / keybase.io/bobdabilda/sig…

I unfollowed any streamer posting one for a while. Eventually I just stopped going on Twitch entirely.

"We have always had a flat studio where everyone is a maker" - id Software @asha_shar Sounds like when you said you were firing only middle management that you were lying. Care to comment about how useless your empty words are? One year two days after Phil used the same excuse.

of the actual content you're trying to listen to for like 3 seconds every time. Fuck that. This headset is too expensive to have gripes like this about it, especially when they can be solved through Firmware updates.

Synapse to just put it in whatever mode I want it in. Also, I want to stop having to hear this random female voice every time I do anything on this headset. Beeps were good enough for my Blackshark V2, they'll be fine for the V3 Pro. She's so fucking loud, and reduces the volume

.@Razer You are Razer, so I assume sourcing a Razer Headset should be no issue for you, right? So here's what I want you to do. Grab a Blackshark V3 Pro off a shelf somewhere. Set it up for a PC and a Bluetooth connection to a phone. Swap modes from HSW to BT to Simul a few times

both before and after Phil Spencer leaves so they can get away with firing more people so that it's not viewed as "eliminating redundancies" and getting them sued over the ABK deal? I've got a bridge to sell you if you defend this irresponsibility.

So July 2nd 2025, Phil Spencer lays off an unannounced number of people to cut through middle management at Xbox / Microsoft Gaming, and July 6th 2026 Asha Sharma does the same, but this time it's 3200 people... Explain to me how this isn't a planned thing where they fire people

> This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have Except for the humans. Those, we're laying off and disinvesting in. lol

> For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Rest in peace everything that's left. WoW expansions with less devs, et al.

> Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. > We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. jfc...

I'm sure you've felt the fear that every Xbox worker now gets to feel for the next 12-18 months wondering if their job is limited time only. Fucking ghouls, every one of you CE Assholes.

Why do the "I know this is painful" / "painful for us" ass posts never come from someone who's ever felt any pain in their entire fucking lives? I'm sure you've felt the pain of the 1600 people you're laying off Asha Sharma, and

@asha_shar So, fire people, new CEO, fire more people? Is that the current corporate meta? Got it.

This is an important email I sent today to all employees at XBOX: Team, We are beginning the most significant restructure in XBOX history. After careful consideration, I've made the difficult decision to reduce our team by approximately 3,200 throughout FY27. This will include approximately 1,600 role eliminations today, and in addition, four studios will leave XBOX to new management. I recognize that a year-long restructuring creates additional challenges. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make all the necessary changes in a single day, and I wanted to be direct about the scale. I know this is painful. These changes will directly affect people who have poured their creativity into building XBOX. Many joined us through acquisitions, while others were recruited here, or sought us out because they loved this industry and loved XBOX. Today's decisions do not reflect their talent or dedication. Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3–10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. We entered Gen 9 with a smaller install base and a higher cost structure. To grow, we bet on Game Pass, multi-platform, and a broader portfolio of content. While those businesses have created meaningful value, they did not grow at the pace we expected. As that happened, our core business weakened, and we added more teams, more investment, and more time, hoping for a better outcome. And now the industry is facing the most severe hardware crisis in its history. We must reset XBOX. First, we will reset our content portfolio. Since 2018, we have aggressively expanded our studio portfolio while the number of games created each month across the industry now outpaces the last ten years combined. We now find ourselves competing not only with the largest publishers, but also with smaller independent studios. It is neither possible nor desirable to own every great independent studio. We have also learned that we are not the best home for every type of studio; in a typical year, we lost 64 cents for every dollar we invested. As we reset XBOX, we will help independent creators succeed by providing open development tools and audiences to realize their vision. Compulsion Games and Double Fine Productions will return to management and transition to independent studios with their IP, catalog, and runway for their next games. Ninja Theory and Undead Labs have entered terms to join new ownership with funding to complete and grow Senua and State of Decay 3. In France, Arkane’s management is beginning required consultation with its Works Council to review potential strategic options. We are also making reductions across other units, and in some cases, shifting investment to focus on higher priority projects. These changes vary in size across Activision, Bethesda/ZeniMax, Blizzard, King, Mojang, and XBOX Game Studios. None of our first party publicly announced games or projects are being cancelled as part of these reductions. In addition, Mojang and King will now report directly to me. These two studios have increasingly become platforms and are our largest by monthly active players. They bring critical geographic, demographic, and differentiation to XBOX. Second, we will reset our platform. We know that great technology gets better when it gets simpler, not bigger. Today, in some parts of the company, work passes through as many as 14 layers of management. Our platform teams are 40% larger than they were at the start of this generation, even as our player base and playtime have declined. That complexity has slowed decisions, blurred accountability, and made it harder to deliver for players. As we reset XBOX, we will simplify. We will reduce management layers to no more than 5, and where possible, 3. We will deliver success through a flatter organization that is built around makers (individual contributors focused on building), player-coaches (leaders who remain deeply involved in the work while developing their teams), and directly responsible individuals (DRIs) who own key decisions and outcomes. And we will streamline how we work across our tools, with a cleaner code base, shared services, and 50% reduced vendor spend. Third, we are resetting how we operate. As XBOX grew our headcount, we became more fragmented. Teams, studios, and functions often operate independently, and it became harder to work towards a shared goal, make the right tradeoffs, and get things done. For the first time, we are establishing a Chief Operating Officer with end-to-end P&L responsibility across content, hardware, platform, and services. Helen Chiang has been promoted to this role and will report directly to me. Over nearly two decades at XBOX, Helen has helped build some of our most important businesses, from XBOX Live to leading Mojang and the Minecraft franchise. She will bring our businesses together under one operating model, making sure we make clear investment decisions, learn from our successes and failures, and hold ourselves accountable for results. Thank you, Dave McCarthy, who is retiring after 17 years with XBOX. Dave has played a defining role in building the platform that millions of players rely on every day and has been a trusted partner through many of the biggest moments in XBOX's history. We wish him all the best. These changes are about a bigger future for XBOX, not a smaller one. The next decade of gaming will be larger, more global, and more creative than anything we've seen before. This year, we'll invest as much in XBOX as we ever have, but we'll invest with greater focus, greater discipline, and greater clarity, all in service of making XBOX where the world plays and creates. I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day and gives everyone the opportunity to create and connect. I know we can achieve this goal. XBOX has many of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history, talented studios around the world, and we will return to growth in 2027. History is full of companies that mistake longevity for inevitability. We will not be one of them. Asha

@discord Pretty sure your first horror drop was "we need to see your ID now".

this is our first drop in the horror genre, should we do more like this?

Grr... Why do you act like you're gonna do the thing, and then not do the thing? Grrrrr.

I have to keep reminding myself that the heat is making me angrier than I usually am, and not to yell at anyone. Might just ||||||||||||||| to save everyone the trouble. So fucking hot. No AC. Fuck I hate my life. It's all my fault.

I'm gonna die of heat stroke in this shitty little room one of these days, aren't I? I guess some of it was fun while it lasted. I really wish I was better at making friends. I really fucked up there.

"Play has no limits" unless it's movies or games or music you purchased digitally, in which case we make you acknowledge a ToS that clearly defines that there are in fact limits, and we will force you to follow them.

@TwitchSupport @zachbussey Maybe your support team saw evidence of this happening, and didn't want to mislead your customers through support tickets?

@zachbussey 👋 Hey! This is inaccurate. We’re still working to understand how/why our support team provided these durations, but we can confirm there are no changes to add additional ads or extend the ad pod beyond the creator settings for our Midroll Ads or Preroll Ads.

Twitch Preroll Ads may now be up to 90 seconds long, instead of 30. Midroll Ads may now stretch to up to 4 minutes (even if the streamer sets them to 3 minutes). via Twitch Support