I’m starting to think we have unknowingly entered the age of great American civic nihilism. The impetus for that belief most recently has been RFK Jr. and the wider government’s complete acquiescence to his bald-faced lies and betrayals. If nobody can be bothered to lift a finger over that man, then they obviously don’t think any of this whole civics thing matters at all.
But it is not, nor has been, all about Kennedy. I’m not naive enough to believe there was ever a time when everyone on both sides of the government and private interests coin was completely honest with one another all the time, but the modern era is so full of blatantly cynical lying on both sides that it’s disheartening. And if you want to see an example of this in action that isn’t on the government side, you need only look at what Microsoft has done after its acquisition blitz.
While battling the government to acquire Activision Blizzard, Microsoft stated to the FTC and to the courts that this acquisition would result in more consumer options and would not result in consolidation-based layoffs. Shortly after the purchase was allowed to go through, Microsoft laid off 2,000 staff. Then it laid off more staff. Then it warned it would lay off even more staff, which was a promise it actually followed through on. Then, over this past summer, Xbox cut 20% of its staff.
Most recently Microsoft — you guessed it — cut even more staff and sold or shuttered a bunch of its studios.
This time, not only are people losing their jobs, but the various studios that employed them are being shuffled around, amalgamated together, or shut down entirely, while foundational Xbox IPs are changing hands. Across social media, the gaming community is reacting to the news with a mixture of frustration and resignation.
These moves are big. For example, the most famous first-party Xbox title of all, Halo, is moving from 343 Industries over to Activision. That has resulted in sad situations like one developer literally receiving a promotion and a pink slip in the same week. While Xbox once had over a dozen studios under its umbrella, those are now being either sold, closed, or consolidated with one another, which is the exact thing Microsoft promised wouldn’t happen.
All of this was predicted by game journalists, industry insiders, and the FTC. Microsoft said this wouldn’t happen, but it is. And it was always the plan. And what will the consequences of all that lying be?
Nothing. Regulatory capture is the rule, not the exception. Government inaction is often the best we can hope for, but here it’s debilitating. People lost jobs because of a combination of regulatory apathy and what can barely be called a corporate con-job, so transparent was the con.
And the gaming public is worse for it all.