Former Blizzard president Mike Ybarra believes that “consoles will never die” and that companies in crisis are pushing “the narrative that suits them best.”
Ybarra responded to comments on X by comparing Sony's focus on exclusivity and Microsoft's cross-platform approach to Xbox games.
“If your strategy is to win in the living room, you need exclusive hits because winning is a matter of platform and game,” Ybarra said. “Sony knows how to generate hits and how to choose other people's hits to make them exclusive. If I were them, I would double down right now because the blood in the water is everywhere.”
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He added later in the thread: “I think the losers push the narrative that suits them. Consoles will never die, in my opinion.”
Ybarra also responded to Concord's failed launch and Sony's focus on live service games: “I would move away from the all-inclusive approach on this one. Players are tired of battle passes and $18 skins.”
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These are certainly insightful comments from the former Blizzard president, following his departure from the company following Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
In fact, Ybarra has been particularly vocal in the months since his departure, stating that he would like to tip game developers as part of the game pricing debate and defending Xbox boss Phil Spencer following the closure of Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks.
Still, it's unusual for Ybarra to criticize his former employer. During his tenure at Blizzard, Ybarra himself came under fire from staff after a disastrous company-wide meeting to discuss an internal employee satisfaction survey.
Microsoft's big release this Christmas will be Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, followed by a PS5 release in spring 2025.
As for Microsoft's failure to compete with exclusive titles, over the weekend at PAX West, Spencer spoke about passing up games like Destiny and Guitar Hero, admitting that “I've made some of the worst gaming decisions.”