Looking at Spiderman budgets there's no way any of Microsoft's games are profitable, right?

SimTourist

SimTourist

Banned
Looking at how low the profits on Sony's games are despite selling 10-20 million copies, there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies. Their last big seller was Halo 5 with 5 million copies sold, everything else is a lot lower. This was before gamepass was introduced, today these numbers are a lot lower still.
 
I want to reply something but do not know where to start. so off in every sentence heh.

Honestly not sure if this is a drunk thread too. so.. good luck with the replies ^_^
 
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- xbox main profit target is subscription not sales.
- Sony doesn't own spiderman so they also have to fork over a large chunk of sales to Disney/Marvel.
- imagine if only 10 million sales games were profitable lol.
- terrible first topic.
 
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Well, if the games paid for themselves, or even if Game Pass could cover the game expenses, Microsoft would be talking about profit and not just revenue.

So yes, I doubt they have managed to recoup the game costs.
 
MS sells a lot more on PC than Sony. They are making 1 cinematic movie game this gen so far (with a small team that pushed the idea of AA cost AAA games on the 1st one), they have more multiplayer and ongoing games. They are more digital purchases than retail. They also dont have MLB and Marvel revenue splits typically.

When you guys all start shitting on Avowed next time it is shown, maybe wait until you can actually try it. Might just be good because of story and writing which are cheap. Its a AA game. So was Redfall.

But who knows about profit. I dont care as long as they keep making stuff thats unusual and interesting and offering it for cheap.
 
I just wanna say....

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I thought it was fairly well known that Xbox has never been profitable for Microsoft. Naturally they want to change that, but they're willing - still - to play the long game.

Also, MS games have generally lower budgets that PlayStation.

Also also, yeah, this is a trash topic.
 
SimTourist said:
Looking at how low the profits on Sony's games are despite selling 10-20 million copies, there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies. Their last big seller was Halo 5 with 5 million copies sold, everything else is a lot lower. This was before gamepass was introduced, today these numbers are a lot lower still.
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We know Xbox didn't have the budget for 'exclusive publishing,' and they also didn't have a large number of First-Party Studios. Do they even have something like VASG? Xbox has been practically nonexistent in Europe and Asia. Sorry, but I find hard to believe that Xbox could have been self-sufficient enough to remain in this industry without the direct subsidizing of MS.

It's like blockbuster movies; they NEED the domestic and international box office to turn a profit. Something that even Xbox experts have criticized Microsoft for is its lack of localization to other languages
 
One thing you're not considering is most Microsoft games to date have multiplayer with some sort of store. I'm sure that makes them a good amount of money.

Also as many people have pointed out they make a lot from gamepass. Wasn't it around 3-4 billion a year?
 
Iced Arcade said:
- xbox main profit target is subscription not sales.
- Sony doesn't own spiderman so they also have to fork over a large chunk of sales to Disney/Marvel.
- imagine if only 10 million sales games were profitable lol.
- terrible first topic.
Click to expand...

I thought Sony had the rights? Google AI says they do.
 
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They are betting big on gass ,cloud and mobile, don't see how it's gonna work out for them, I expect massive cuts in studios in 6-7 years time but hope I'm wrong and it all works out for them.
 
as an aside, you can't play profitability. I personally don't care how profitable any of these corporations are or are not. perhaps shareholders would care about that sort of thing, I however am not invested in the stock market at all.
 
SimTourist said:
Looking at how low the profits on Sony's games are despite selling 10-20 million copies, there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies. Their last big seller was Halo 5 with 5 million copies sold, everything else is a lot lower. This was before gamepass was introduced, today these numbers are a lot lower still.
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You dont know COD, Diablo, OW, Skyrim, FO, Starfield🤗
 
It's amazing some of ya'll still can't see the long game Microsoft is playing.

Microsoft has conceded the console war years ago and now has been fighting a war of attrition.

10 years from now, I would not be surprised if Microsoft is the #1 gaming company that generates the most net profit from gaming than any other company.
 
Of course they aren't. That's why you only hear about player count, not sales or even uptick in long-term GamePass subs. Why you hear about overall revenue, but not their profit/losses for the division. If Xbox was killing it in sales and profit, you would know about it. They trumpeted those number during the 360 era, and quickly switched goal posts when Sony started beating them in every category and region.
 
The Insomniac budgets are crazy, but also it looks like Sony and Marvel/Disney/ESPN/Hulu/ABC/Fox make money before the actual content creators, Insomniac, make money. So they mostly very much get paid.
MS on the other hand, I doubt any of their games make money even with the slave labor 'bound to the wheel' 6 month H-1B contracts. Maybe the previously independent studios were profitable but after the reverse Midas Touch and cutting off 70% of the console business, I highly doubt it.

Also look at that Sunset Overdrive budget.
$40 something million dollars for mostly nothing when contemporary budgets were nowhere as close and made better quality and better selling and more profitable games.
 
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RedC said:
It's amazing some of ya'll still can't see the long game Microsoft is playing.

Microsoft has conceded the console war years ago and now has been fighting a war of attrition.

10 years from now, I would not be surprised if Microsoft is the #1 gaming company that generates the most net profit from gaming than any other company.
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MS/Xbox had the PC and Console business dominance served on a silver platter and they fucked up.

their "long Game MS is playing" has been a game of incompetence and throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks.
 
No way.

Honestly, seeing how slim the margins are puts the entire industry into perspective for those who didn't already get the gist, and reaffirms the reality in stark detail for those of us who did get it. Unfortunately, just making games and selling them at even 70 bucks isn't enough. Not for the amount of time and money that goes into it.
 
I mean 3 billion a year in gamepass subs is a lot. Of course there are a lot of expenses (hardware, R&D etc) beyond just the games and there are the 3rd party deals - but it's still a solid base to work from.
 
SimTourist said:
Looking at how low the profits on Sony's games are despite selling 10-20 million copies, there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies. Their last big seller was Halo 5 with 5 million copies sold, everything else is a lot lower. This was before gamepass was introduced, today these numbers are a lot lower still.
Click to expand...
youknow-you.gif
 
When your game costs 50 mil to make, a couple of million sales get you in profitable territory.

Then they have games that cost that much to make but sell 5-10 million (Outer Worlds, eg).

I think they are doing fine and don't need course correction.
 
SimTourist said:
there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies.
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I think platform holders don't make the majority of their profit selling first party games. They make their profit being platform holders and getting 30% of whatever shit people buy on their platform.

The first party games are just a differentiation factor to get people to use a specific platform.
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
Not only that. There is no way Xbox is proftable at all. Heavy Creative Accounting going on over there.
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If only your Xbox bashing posts were half as creative. XBox Group has been profitable since the XBox One.
You don't need to be number one in sales or have the biggest sales to generate profit.

It looked like a mistake to me to have your big games on day one on Gamepass for both the console and PC, but in the end, it worked out rather decent.
 
Please, don't be ignorant.
For every 1 engagement in their games Microsoft makes 1mg of fairy dust that they then use to power your dreams.
 
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SimTourist said:
Looking at how low the profits on Sony's games are despite selling 10-20 million copies, there's simply no way Microsoft makes any money on their first party games because they don't sell even 1-2 million copies. Their last big seller was Halo 5 with 5 million copies sold, everything else is a lot lower. This was before gamepass was introduced, today these numbers are a lot lower still.
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Stay off the drugs.
 
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