What did they mean by this?

Those morons just closed their only "indie" Japanese studio.

Xbox is no longer a serious console, just get a PC.

Also Japan still being a market Microsoft has not managed to properly crack wrt games, makes this even more baffling—surely removing a (successful) local presence is only going to make that harder
XBox peaked at the 360.
- That was one hell of a peak though
I owned one Xbox years ago. I just wanted to play games without technical issues. PC games were better but I just wanted to go arcade mode for a while. One of the first games I bought froze at the first loading screen every single time. I tried contacting the publisher, Microsoft, the developer... No one would help, barely even got responses. I exchanged it for another copy at the local store it came from, the new copy did the exact same thing. No refunds on games so I was stuck with a $50 game that didn't work.

That's when I realized that consoles have a lot of technical issues too, it's just not possible for me to fix them like it is on PC. Later that same xbox red ringed.

Fuck consoles.
- Pc having technical issues running games is like a 20 year old meme that's kept alive as propaganda by weirdos who want a console vs pc culture war. If you get any pre-built pc from any major manufacturer and keep it updated you're probably gonna be fine in 99 percent of cases, and that 1 percent is from the actual game fucking up and not your system. Most of the time when people run into problems is when they built their own pc and are either using a non windows OS or refuse to update (which I totally understand both of those points and I'm in the same boat) and we know what we're signing up to when we do.
  
  I've always owned both a pc and console for gaming, it's usually a Nintendo but occasionally it's either ps or Xbox depending on the games. Although I do prefer pc ports over console personally. My hands don't work well with controllers.
Not to imply that Xbox was ever a serious console in Japan.

Go read old articles of the xbox console launches in Japan. It is legitimately sad.
Xbox is no longer a serious console, just get a PC.

It's tragic this effectively means just pivoting to a different division in the same company.

Problem: Large studios aren't winning awards, because their products aren't as creative as smaller studios.

Microsoft solution: If you buy up all the small studios and close them down, then the awards will have to go to large studios, because there are no small studios.

Result: Line go up stonks.

It's a simple strategy. Make games that are cheaper to develop but are critically acclaimed and make even more money. I'm surprised they didn't decide to do this sooner.

This is a response to them closing down several studios. Including one that made a smaller game that gave them prestige.
- Step 1: Destroy studios making good games.
  
  (They forgot about a Step 2)
- I didn't know the context, it just sounded funny.
Actually the strategy is simpler than that: Make games in a monopolized market so even if it's not critically acclaimed you own the block.
- People go back to playing old games.
  
  M$: wait no

From my comment on one of the other threads:

Here, I'll translate - "We need an undervalued and underpaid studio that we own to pop out a viral sensation we can exploit the shit out of, who we will then treat exactly the same. Repeat ad nauseam"

While your translation really drives that point home it’s ridiculous that it’s barely even necessary. Like, he’s just saying it outright.

It’s not “we need to invest in indie studios to build our reputation in that sector” it’s “we want prestige and awards”. The wording is slight but obvious. Business people are such wastes of time and energy.
- The way you get prestige and awards is having the occasional experimental flop, though. You don't get either of those for making Generic Military Shooter #98749372, even if that's where the money is. Prestige is something that takes a long time to build.