Game News 2.0

In fairness, Blessing's whole point was that Asha Sharma's first interview as head of Xbox was with an outlet literally called WindowsCentral, with Jez Corden who is absolutely on the side of Xbox. Sure, Blessing was being needlessly overdramatic about it in the first few minutes (most likely for comedic effect), but his point is very salient.

The new head of Xbox doing her first interview with an interviewer/site where the first line of their About Us is literally "Home to the most loyal and passionate Microsoft fans…" doesn't really assuage any fears or concerns about the departures of Spencer & Bond, her appointment, and the direction they wish to take Xbox in. An interview with an independent outlet such as Bloomberg/Schreier would have had far more impact and wouldn't come across as kind of as close as they could get to Microsoft interviewing Microsoft.

To me, that point is encapsulated in Jez's own words at the bottom of their interview:

"I didn't get chance to ask everything I wanted to ask. There are so many questions about Xbox's future and its strategy, so many levers that could potentially shift and so many angles that could potentially warp. I wanted to ask more about Xbox Game Pass and its future in the ecosystem, what role Xbox Cloud Gaming stands to play, and obviously, whether or not we'll eventually get a new Banjo Kazooie. But those questions will have to wait for another time."

And that's why I don't think Blessing was especially calling out Jez, but more so the decision for Sharma & Booty to do the interview with Windows Central who would likely be more favourable to them and not push to ask those follow-up questions like a more independent company/interviewer would. This comes across less of an interview and more just a PR release.

Surely taking the lawsuit is a sign that they believe that there is a breach of the existing laws in place, and therefore the lawsuit will test the boundaries of those laws. If found in their favour, it proves there is a breach of existing laws (which will then set a precedent for others that they could be sued for similar). If they don't win, it proves the existing laws are ineffective and this can then go towards creating pressure on existing lawmakers to hopefully pass new laws and regulations.

Yeah I'd mostly agree. But I also don't think Blessing was wrong to call that out, though I can see why some may take issue with the manner in which he did. If those follow-up questions weren't asked though, it becomes a PR piece rather than an interview, and even if Sharma was forced into given non-committal answers or just repeating her own talking points, that in itself is an answer.

Christ, it even AI'ed the cover art of Grace…