Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!
As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings.
On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.
- From Owning the Living Room to Ceding the Hardware Market? After Phil Spencer’s exit at Microsoft, Wednesday’s Daily Update provided an entertaining tour of Xbox history, including strategy that has been misaligned for at least 15 years, and why some of those red flags were ignored at the time (spoiler: “[Microsoft] held onto Xbox as the sole piece of evidence that the company could be cool and interesting to consumers”). Today, though, there are new pivots to discuss. So what’s next? Ben builds on the fraught history to explain why, given the lack of growth in the gaming market and competitive pressures on the rest of Microsoft’s business, the days of 1st party Xbox hardware may be over. — Andrew Sharp
- From MJ to Wemby and Everything in Between. With Andrew on vacation, Greatest of All Talk was lucky to have the illustrious Rachel Nichols on as a guest. From sharing stories from her early days as an intern covering Michael Jordan to reflecting on the end of the Washington Post Sports section and the changing media landscape, Rachel’s unique experience provided a compelling through line across eras of sports and media. Come for the discussion of whether Wemby and the Spurs can win it all, stay for the greatest moose related headline of all time. — Ben Thompson
- It’s Time to Build… In Space? In 2016 Jeff Bezos said, “We can build gigantic chip factories in space.” 10 years later, with chip constraints as urgent as ever, a number of companies are already exploring manufacturing in space (data centers, pharmaceuticals), so why not chips too? This week’s Asianometry video answers that question comprehensively, noting that LEO chip fabbing would impose incredible logistics challenges (cooling, cleaning, managing radiation, constant maintenance in space), and would probably require reimagining the entire chip stack (how do you handle packaging in space?). It’s a great, itemized breakdown of the obstacles — available as a podcast or transcript for Stratechery Plus subscribers — that also underscores how many incredible challenges we’ve already solved on earth.— AS
Stratechery Articles and Updates
- Another Viral AI Doomer Article, The Fundamental Error, DoorDash’s AI Advantages — Another AI doomer article has gone viral, and like many in the genre, it lacks an appreciation for dynamism and markets. Then, why DoorDash is going to be fine.
- Xbox Replaces Head of Gaming, Xbox History, Whither Xbox — Xbox has a new head, who isn’t a gamer; I suspect Microsoft is doing what it should have done a decade ago: get out of the console business.
- An Interview with Bill Gurley About Runnin’ Down a Dream — An interview with long-time (retired) VC Bill Gurley about his new book about building a career you love, Uber, and the modern state of VC.
Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber
Asianometry with Jon Yu
Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver
This week’s Stratechery video is on Thin Is In.