On Sunday, Microsoft put on its annual summer showcase at the Los Angeles Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to hype up the games coming in the year ahead: a Halo remake, a Gears of War prequel, a new action game starring Senua. At the showcase, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma announced that fans with special badges at the event—all of whom paid their own way to Los Angeles and surely own an Xbox—will get a free limited edition Xbox Series X console.On Wednesday, an open letter to Xbox employees titled “Xbox Reset” warned that the business is “currently unable to make as many consoles as players want to buy,” and that the company “over extended” in its studio acquisition spree over the last few years. The casual tone of the message being signed “Asha and Matt” is a poor match for what it signals:This month was the time for Asha’s first big giveaway. Next month it will be time for Asha’s first big layoffs.It’s long felt futile to point at the obvious hypocrisy of, say, giving away a bunch of consoles while complaining you can’t manufacture enough to meet demand, while your parent company itself creates the conditions leading to the current “hardware component crisis,” as Matt and Asha call it.Those in charge can handwave that criticism away: ‘It wasn’t that many systems, really.’ Or ‘this fiscal year’s budget is already set; it’s next year’s where we have to tighten our belts.’ Or ‘you gotta spend money to make money,…
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