HomerSimpson-Man
Member
MS has a overall profitable quarter in the billions, leave my good damn hobby alone!
**** you, investors!
**** you, investors!
Washington post: Investors want MS to kill Xbox
- Thread starter tipoo
- Start date
The XBOX One was always designed to fight multiple wars for the living room. It was designed to fight Sony and Apple. Hence why yes, it play games (fighting Sony), it is a multimedia device (fighting Apple).
The XBOX One cannot be viewed as a standalone product but out of the entire ecosystem of Microsoft and how it relates.
For some people, it will be a good answer to their living room entertainment needs. For others it wont.
The XBOX One cannot be viewed as a standalone product but out of the entire ecosystem of Microsoft and how it relates.
For some people, it will be a good answer to their living room entertainment needs. For others it wont.
ComputerMKII
Banned
I wouldn't mind.
plasmawave
Banned
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badcrumble
Member
I think the Xbox division represents a lot of opportunity cost and winning the living room isn't as important as it once was. I don't think Microsoft should kill it off (or sell it) but I don't think they should spend nearly as much money on that division. Just put out a Halo box every five years and reap cash in return, whatever.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
You know I understand the huge losses on the 360 but they're a profitable division now, right?
The investors are right. It made sense for Sony to create a games console, it fits in with their other products (TVs, HiFi, DVD/Blu-Ray players, ereaders, etc etc). But it doesn't make much sense for MS to create a games console when their focus is on business software, operating systems for phones, desktops, tablets and servers. Setting up a cloud server infrastructure makes sense because software is going to the cloud. But what was the idea of creaging a MS branded games console? Because MS wants to sell TVs and Blu-Ray movies? It never made much sense for MS to enter the console space.
Which would essentially be giving up consumers. Google and Apple have alternative offerings for just about everything Microsoft does, with their own ecosystems where it's just more convenient to have one service as opposed to many. In each of those ecosystems Google and Apple have the advantage of how they market to their users and get them further ingrained to their products.
If Google and Apple didn't have a portfolio to threaten nearly every part of Microsoft I'd agree with you.
Xbox is and has been about far more than the Xbox hardware for a few years now. Yeah, they're slow at realizing that all-in-one entertainment service, but you can get Xbox games, video, and music on any Windows 8 device. Entertainment is moving to the cloud and ecosystems will rule. There will be mountains of money to make off of people buying, selling, trading, and renting digital entertainment. Someday, when streaming tech and internet delivery are more mature, it's reasonable to assume Microsoft will offer an Xbox service that is device agnostic.
Yeah, this clearly won't happen, but they could certainly afford it and I'd actually be very interested to see what Nintendo first party developers would work with Kinect. They might actually make something for it that didn't totally suck, at least if the tech is up to it. I'm still not impressed with either Kinect so far.
midasmulligan
Member
just picked up a pro 2 myself...the thing is a beast, loving it.
RiccochetJ
Gold Member
I would be sad if they did. I quite like the system.
lazorexplosion
Member
I never understood why MS even tried to get into the console business. They already had the PC why not push that as a games and media center platform. Their core business has always been PC software so why let that rot with half assed garbage like GFWL while they tried to get into the console business with no real experience at console hardware?
That's the thing though. Most investors do not care about long term strategy. They want to make money now (rightfully so). However, the idea of investors dictating a companies direction is a mistake. Nadella and the board need to do what is best for the long term viability of the company. Personally, I don't care either way as I've never owned an Xbox, but I can at least see that listening to the whims of investors is retarded.
I'm considering it for my wife. She doesn't do anything on a daily basis that a tablet cannot handle, except that some of the things she uses for teaching are Flash based. That is the only thing holding me back.
SwiftDeath
Member
It's just such a blip in the grand scope of MS business, it's profitable (unlike Bing) but its not like getting rid of it would be devastating to the company.
Why in god's name is bing still in existence? The continued support of that is the craziest thing I've seen corporate wise for some time
fluffydelusions
Member
Didn't all the original rare people leave? Not the same studio as the n64 days...
TL: DR answer, to slow down Sonys reign in the 90s and to stop them from taking over the living room
Disaster Nebraska
Banned
Microsoft has much more profit out there in the enterprise and web hosting/cloud markets. I think they won't kill the brands outright. Rather, they will give support to those product when those products incidentally line up with their bigger plans.
For instance, don't be surprised to see Microsoft offer "the light switch" option to activate all the constantly-on stuff for Xbox One a few years down the road, sans the game DRM which would be a nightmare to activate recursively, so they simply will skip that option. But it won't be for the sake of gaming (even if they sell it as such). It'll be to integrate consumers with their network. Remember, the bedrock of Microsoft is now advertisers, advertisers, advertisers. Until the new CEO says otherwise, I'm going to assume that is still the case.
For instance, don't be surprised to see Microsoft offer "the light switch" option to activate all the constantly-on stuff for Xbox One a few years down the road, sans the game DRM which would be a nightmare to activate recursively, so they simply will skip that option. But it won't be for the sake of gaming (even if they sell it as such). It'll be to integrate consumers with their network. Remember, the bedrock of Microsoft is now advertisers, advertisers, advertisers. Until the new CEO says otherwise, I'm going to assume that is still the case.
Probably not the best company to model yourself after. Sony took an absolute beating in the mid-2000s on their Playstation business.
The problem is, game systems by their nature are a bad business model. Spend billion on R&D and Tech on a system. Hope that the bet pays off and in the long-run your licensing fees and software sales will offset costs. Oh, and the business has like a 5 year shelf-life before you have to start that process over again.
It creates a problem (that Nintendo is now facing, and MS and Sony have certainly faced with the Xbox, Playstation 3 and to some extent the early write offs for rrod for 360). You bet on a loser that more or less necessitates that you expend billions MORE hoping to make back the billions you already invested. Once you are in a console business you are pot-commited to get it back.
So, if you are lagging behind internal targets you have a few choices: cut console price, buy exclusives, market beyond your inital budget, open studios to create critical content. None of these are sure things and several of them take years to bear fruit.
It's certainly not a unique situation to the console business, but when you factor in rising costs for everything and shrinking margins it is easy to see why a lot of investors would want to cut bait and run to the safety of divisions that are already generating insane profits to reinvest there.
It's just such a blip in the grand scope of MS business, it's profitable (unlike Bing) but its not like getting rid of it would be devastating to the company.
Office makes more money than Windows itself? Wow.
EdibleKnife
Member
Meh well see what happens. It would be a huge blow to the industry for sure but something will fill the space afterward.
enanogrande
Member
It probably has the biggest upside of all their products, so they'll keep faith in it for a while yet.
imho, kinect 2 is, technically, AMAZING. Someone should really figure out something fun to do with it.
Bing isn't going anywhere. They're baking it into Windows OS and Windows Phone. It's crazy but I wouldn't mind seeing their 10 year roadmap for Bing to see why they still keep it.
badcrumble
Member
Eh, the future of Microsoft isn't through consumers, IMO. If they don't fight off the attacks on Windows (which smartphones/tablets represent) and the attacks on Office/Exchange (which Google is waging pretty successfully) they don't HAVE a future, Xbox or no Xbox.
We're at a weird inroad here where all three manufacturers' futures look uncertain. MS investors want to abandon the Xbox, Sony's teetering on bankruptcy, and Nintendo's audience has evaporated. I could see any of the three companies pulling out of the business entirely in the next 3 years or so.
Maybe this really will be the last console generation.
Maybe this really will be the last console generation.
It's insane how off base you are. The other divisions make the big profits for MS, not Xbox.
Ken Masters
Banned
Despite all the Xbox sales, has Microsoft ever made a penny in profit from system? If I'm an investor I'd also want them to kill it
KojiKnight
Member
Econ 101... it's not just about turning a profit, but economic cost.
Let's say Bob makes pizzas. Bob makes a decent amount on making pizzas, but Bob also has a medical doctorate (he's a very overqualified pizza maker). He COULD invest 300k into opening a couple more pizza chains that would break even and start turning a profit in 10 years... Or he could take that money and open up a couple practices and make back that money and turn a profit in 1-2 years.
Both are technically "profitable" in the long haul, but one is substantially MORE profitable. In this case maybe Bob just likes making pizzas more and thus doesn't care... but Microsoft isn't run by Bob. Microsoft is run by a board of directors and investors... they don't care if Microsoft has more "fun" playing with consoles, tablets, or search engines... that money COULD be being used to make MUCH MORE money elsewhere.
Let's say Bob makes pizzas. Bob makes a decent amount on making pizzas, but Bob also has a medical doctorate (he's a very overqualified pizza maker). He COULD invest 300k into opening a couple more pizza chains that would break even and start turning a profit in 10 years... Or he could take that money and open up a couple practices and make back that money and turn a profit in 1-2 years.
Both are technically "profitable" in the long haul, but one is substantially MORE profitable. In this case maybe Bob just likes making pizzas more and thus doesn't care... but Microsoft isn't run by Bob. Microsoft is run by a board of directors and investors... they don't care if Microsoft has more "fun" playing with consoles, tablets, or search engines... that money COULD be being used to make MUCH MORE money elsewhere.
Instead of them cutting the Xbox I'd much rather see them loose a little access to the MS warchest. Make them hungry enough to stop moneyhatting third parties and focus on building brands in-house.
Bring back some of those Xbox and 360 titles and put these studios you claim to have faith in on those. Maybe bring your studios together ala Sony to make things shine and highlight what makes the One special. They way their going now though is doing more harm to their brand and the industry and if they can't fix that then they deserve to be spun off.
Bring back some of those Xbox and 360 titles and put these studios you claim to have faith in on those. Maybe bring your studios together ala Sony to make things shine and highlight what makes the One special. They way their going now though is doing more harm to their brand and the industry and if they can't fix that then they deserve to be spun off.
Metalingus5150
Member
I wonder what the industry would be like if Microsoft left.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
I read that as a word and was wondering what in the world 'randy' was; I usually see it appreviated R&D.
McHuj
Member
I'd be ok with Amazon buying Xbox and selling it as their console, but I'm not sure if I would trust any other company to.
Certainly not Samsung, I think their software/firmware support for consumer products blows. And I think it would be awful for Xbox.
I think if an investment firm would buy it, they would make the microtransactions in Forza seem like a good deal.
Certainly not Samsung, I think their software/firmware support for consumer products blows. And I think it would be awful for Xbox.
I think if an investment firm would buy it, they would make the microtransactions in Forza seem like a good deal.
famousmortimer
Banned
If I was an investor I would want them to kill it also.
I'm not an investor though. I'm a customer. If they kill off the xb1 prematurely I will be livid. It will be the last MS product I buy.
I don't think they will. They pay lip service to investors but chart their own course and I think they still see the upside to having a box in people's living room even if as a whole the xbox division has lost them money.
I'm not an investor though. I'm a customer. If they kill off the xb1 prematurely I will be livid. It will be the last MS product I buy.
I don't think they will. They pay lip service to investors but chart their own course and I think they still see the upside to having a box in people's living room even if as a whole the xbox division has lost them money.
SEGAvangelist
Member
Yup. Article feels like clickbait to me.
It makes money, but not at the amount it should.
Interfectum
Member
holy shit @ bing.
no idea it was doing that badly.
no idea it was doing that badly.
They were. OTOH, if we trust their own numbers, the billion-dollar marketing push alone eats all the profit they'd have seen in one of the 360's best years, and 360 sales have fallen off.
MS's problem isn't that they don't know how to make a console business that could be profitable, it's that they spend far more getting them there than the competition.
SwiftDeath
Member
I can't imagine they have much marketshare though. Besides maybe window phone users I don't know anyone that uses it regularly and while that's entirely subjective personal experience the numbers for it look abysmal
Seems odd to me considering what the losses are like. They burn through money with Bing and I don't see the returns now or in the future with google still in play
That's why I put article excerpts. Felt click-baity to me as well
Nightengale
Member
shira
Member
Yes yes yesssssssssssss. Nintendo Xbox.
