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[Stardust_Dragon]

Looking ahead here, looks like NPD/Circana's next date for publishing console gaming data for the month of June will be this Friday on July 28th later this week, so we should soon get a better idea as to what happened this past quarter, at least in the United States. Also, Sony's next financial quarter earnings call is estimated to be held on August 4th, which is the following Friday, so we should be finding out not too long from now just how well/poorly things have gone the past few months for both PlayStation/Xbox over the next couple of weeks.

 

[jroc74]

Phil will just make the next Xbox run Windows, bringing Sony's games to millions more gamers. Sony will be a 3rd party publisher sooner than Xbox.

You say this like there are no Bethesda games on Playstation right now...

After MS gets ABK, MS will be the biggest publisher releasing games on Playstation.

 

[MScarpa]

Don't care. Give me games.

 

[skit_data]

Not to go all

But I think the single largest contributor to this is indeed their PC strategy. There's simply no pull factor towards the console when you get everything it offers and a lot more on PC. It's possible that might be exactly what they want but considering considering the games are primarily consumed via other storefronts I'm not entirely convinced that's the case.

I think the whole day and date commitments they've made both in regards to PC releases and Gamepass might prove to be some of the biggest strategic mistakes in Xboxs history, because it would be very painful to unwind it.

 

[Zok310]

Don Mattrick right about now must be saying; “yall got rid of me for this?!”

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Don't care. Give me games.

keep asking, maybe until the next decade they will arrive.

 

[Stare-Bear]

The pizza scented controller will save Xbox.

In all seriousness, why the fuck would you spend money and time on a pizza scented controller when you’re so far behind on the competition.

 

[wolffy66]

This is why the CMA and FTC had no case. Never made sense.

 

[X-Wing]

Eh... Bethesda RGP's have pretty massive sales.

It's been 8 years since they've had a major release, so things can change.. but they can change in either direction. With fairly "hardcore" games like Elden Ring selling massive amounts Starfield is ripe to be a huge success.

Yeah, Bethesda games sell great when they are multi platform. We will see how Starfield does, given it’s locked to a platform that isn’t really doing that well.

 

[MrTired]

The fact that Microsoft touted Gamepass subscriber numbers as a measurement of success previously and is no longer sharing the number is telling. It's been 18 months since numbers were shared, and instead they spoke about gamepass engagement.

It is almost certain that the console is mostly likely sold/shipped less than the XB1 launched aligned is very poor. I think we can comfortably say that Redfall and Minecraft Legends didn't meet there financial expectations.

Starfield won't be enough to stop the decline in hardware revenue/unit figure for Microsoft/Xbox next quarter.

 

[Hudo]

That's good to know for the shareholders, I guess.

 

[Heisenberg007]

The S in Xbox Series consoles do not stand for sale.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

I guess, the next time Microsoft will be doing big acquisition people won't complain that Microsoft is a monopoly

And shareholders don't care just like usual. Makes sense though - unless Xbox is aggressively losing money, they don't care about anything aside cloud. And Xbox is not losing money - with ABK it will simply sustain itself via mobile, so Xbox won't go anywhere.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I guess, the next time Microsoft will be doing big acquisition people won't complain that Microsoft is a monopoly

And shareholders don't care just like usual. Makes sense though - unless Xbox is aggressively losing money, they don't care about anything aside cloud. And Xbox is not losing money - with ABK it will simply sustain itself via mobile, so Xbox won't go anywhere.

hardware tho.....Xbox has never made money. so

"unless Xbox is aggressively losing money'.

"Xbox won't go anywhere"

 

[Heisenberg007]

I guess, the next time Microsoft will be doing big acquisition people won't complain that Microsoft is a monopoly

And shareholders don't care just like usual. Makes sense though - unless Xbox is aggressively losing money, they don't care about anything aside cloud. And Xbox is not losing money - with ABK it will simply sustain itself via mobile, so Xbox won't go anywhere.

The two things are not related at all.

They can still be a monopoly (having 32+ studios vs. 20 studios of the next best competitor) and still absolutely suck at what they do.

 

[ByWatterson]

delete

 

[ByWatterson]

Delete

 

[Poltz]

The decline of Xbox hardware has been utterly remarkable. Being behind the Xbox One is damning.

 

[ByWatterson]

The decline of Xbox hardware has been utterly remarkable. Being behind the Xbox One is damning.

It's also sort of inexplicable unless Gamepass just isn't much of a draw.

Exclusive but unremarkable titles kept Xbox One going. A service of great back catalog and some decent third party offerings appears not to be even as strong as Halo/Gears/Forza of last gen.

 

[Poltz]

It's also sort of inexplicable unless Gamepass just isn't much of a draw.

Exclusive but unremarkable titles kept Xbox One going. A service of great back catalog and some decent third party offerings appears not to be even as strong as Halo/Gears/Forza of last gen.

The majority of games on Xbox and PlayStation are the same, differentiating factor is Japanese game support and Sony 1st Party. Why wouldn’t you buy a system with God of War, Spider Man 2 etc?

 

[Heisenberg007]

Delete

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Haven't seen this one posted here



Also this one

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

 

[Heisenberg007]

XBS has been behind XBO for nearly 3 quarters now.

It was Welfare who kept insisting that XBS was ahead when every data point was proving otherwise.

 

[Poltz]

XBS has been behind XBO for nearly 3 quarters now.

It was Welfare who kept insisting that XBS was ahead when every data point was proving otherwise.

Certain members on here too…

 

[DenchDeckard]

Cold hard reality but seems to be completely true imo.

Terrible year for releases last year and focusing on cloud just gave the competition a clean runway to take off and leave Series consoles in the dirt and stuck on the ground.

Such a promising generation floundered completely. There is absolutely no excuse for this gen to perform worse than last gen...how do you have a worse performing generation than that?

What a waste.

 

[Duchess]

Jesus Christ, what an absolute shitshow.

 

[Riky]

They've done well to keep growing the division and make it profitable before they got the games out, good to see Gamepass still growing.
Once Starfield appears which is the most anticipated game this generation and then Forza I'm sure they will have hit the one game a quarter target. Eventually most gamers when you have that stream of exclusives will jump in.
Starfield will also generate a lot of extra money from Gamepass subscribers with the premium upgrade for early access, millions jumped on that with Forza Horizon 5 and this will be a lot bigger.

 

[gametimedecision]

Listen the PlayStation brand is so strong that they could have released a box that didn’t turn on and still sold like 25 million. It is crazy to me that day and date is killing them this much? Do the PC and Console market overlap that much? I would imagine someone that has a powerful enough PC that they game on PC wouldn’t want a console to begin with, even if they were forced to buy a console for exclusivity they wouldn’t buy 3rd party from the store anyway, it would just be a first party machine….does that really help Microsoft? The people that only buy console still would view a starfield as an exclusive, it being on PC wouldn’t mean anything to them.

But seemingly it does make a difference I guess. Is it just the idea of “this isn’t a true exclusive” is that enough to stop someone from buying a console?

 

[GHG]

Activision deal should be no problem then.

Just let them buy Sony I think. They must compete.

Bless you for thinking that is what competition amounts to.

 

[MrTired]

They've done well to keep growing the division and make it profitable before they got the games out, good to see Gamepass still growing.
Once Starfield appears which is the most anticipated game this generation and then Forza I'm sure they will have hit the one game a quarter target. Eventually most gamers when you have that stream of exclusives will jump in.
Starfield will also generate a lot of extra money from Gamepass subscribers with the premium upgrade for early access, millions jumped on that with Forza Horizon 5 and this will be a lot bigger.

Interesting, could you please point out where the mentioned anything about the division being profitable?

What metric are you using to measure how anticipated a game is?

If/when Microsoft make a steady stream of blockbuster "exclusive" it will probably be to late. A lot of people would have made there purchasing decisions already and as we're seeing most aren't choosing Xbox. Multi console ownership isn't a lot especially between PlayStation and Xbox. I don't think this there will be a turnaround in hardware sales.

 

[Riky]

Interesting, could you please point out where the mentioned anything about the division being profitable?

What metric are you using to measure how anticipated a game is?

If/when Microsoft make a steady stream of blockbuster "exclusive" it will probably be to late. A lot of people would have made there purchasing decisions already and as we're seeing most aren't choosing Xbox. Multi console ownership isn't a lot especially between PlayStation and Xbox. I don't think this there will be a turnaround in hardware sales.

Phil Spencer mentioned it recently, since they take a loss on hardware and make profit on software then it follows that profits increased looking at these figures.

You only have to search Starfield on this board to see how anticipated it is, since they are day on date on PC they have a massive userbase to aim that on top of the 22 million plus Series console owners.

Hardware sales are bound to increase when you release a steady stream of games. Like I said eventually the weight of content will make gamers join the ecosystem either through an Xbox console or a subscription to Gamepass, Microsoft will be happy with either.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Phil Spencer mentioned it recently, since they take a loss on hardware and make profit on software then it follows that profits increased looking at these figures.

You only have to search Starfield on this board to see how anticipated it is, since they are day on date on PC they have a massive userbase to aim that on top of the 22 million plus Series console owners.

Hardware sales are bound to increase when you release a steady stream of games. Like I said eventually the weight of content will make gamers join the ecosystem either through an Xbox console or a subscription to Gamepass, Microsoft will be happy with either.

Nope. Never happened.

In fact, Phil Spencer admitted in courts that "Xbox has been missing internal targets" and "the business is not going strong."

 

[Riky]

Nope. Never happened.

In fact, Phil Spencer admitted in courts that "Xbox has been missing internal targets" and "the business is not going strong."

Where does it say it's not profitable?....never happened.

He's already talked about Xbox being a long term project as it's not crucial to Microsoft's overall massive revenue, the one where they have made enough profit to pay for Activision in one year.

"We’re about — call it 10% of Microsoft’s revenue right now. So Microsoft doesn’t sink or swim based on Xbox’s success today. So it allows us to take some longer-term views of what our success looks like. We run a profitable business inside of the company and that’s important. We do that today."

So yeah it did happen.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Starfield will definitely give them a big subs bump and not a short one since this is a game that's gonna take ages to complete. Not sure if that will relate to increased console sales as well. Imagine buying the ultra powerful Series X and being stuck in 30fps.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

They've done well to keep growing the division and make it profitable before they got the games out, good to see Gamepass still growing.
Once Starfield appears which is the most anticipated game this generation and then Forza I'm sure they will have hit the one game a quarter target. Eventually most gamers when you have that stream of exclusives will jump in.
Starfield will also generate a lot of extra money from Gamepass subscribers with the premium upgrade for early access, millions jumped on that with Forza Horizon 5 and this will be a lot bigger.

If only Phil could nurture his studios like he's nurtured his lil solders

 

[PendekarRajawali]

Phil holds Xbox first party games to make MS looked as the victim of the market so the ABK acquisition approved then boom…Xbox release all their first party games including COD on gamepass.
I could be wrong though.

 

[Riky]

If only Phil could nurture his studios like he's nurtured his lil solders

Nothing to contribute but baiting as usual.

 

[trent_the_gent]

Gamepass is pretty much the main selling point of the Xbox and it has been fairly terrible in 2023.

I still play my multiplat stuff on my Series X because my IRL friends play on Xbox but i much prefer my PS5 and Switch overall. PS Plus shits all over Gamepass now.

 

[Zok310]

Starfield is the next mgs4, meaning it wont do jack shit for the platform its on because the game is built for core gamers who are already subbed to gp and already have a xb console.

 

[ergem]

Phil is training xboxers not to buy games anymore with gamepass.

 

[Three]

Starfield is the next mgs4, meaning it wont do jack shit for the platform its on because the game is built for core gamers who are already subbed to gp and already have a xb console.

I bought a PS3 because of MGS4. I'm sure Starfield will provide xbox with a much needed boost. Whether it will beat PS or not that month is what's going to be interesting, Spiderman 2 releasing and all. I personally think xbox might snatch Q4 CY.

 

[MrTired]

Phil Spencer mentioned it recently, since they take a loss on hardware and make profit on software then it follows that profits increased looking at these figures.

You only have to search Starfield on this board to see how anticipated it is, since they are day on date on PC they have a massive userbase to aim that on top of the 22 million plus Series console owners.

Hardware sales are bound to increase when you release a steady stream of games. Like I said eventually the weight of content will make gamers join the ecosystem either through an Xbox console or a subscription to Gamepass, Microsoft will be happy with either.

Could you provide a link to your source about the comment Phil made?

Well according to YouTube in terms of there most viewed trailer Marvel's Spiderman 2 has been viewed more than Starfield. That only one way of measuring interest.
Another is Google trends and you'll find the Starfield interest pales in comparison to Zelda TotK prior to release let alone post release.
So I'm not sure how you can comfortably make that statement of Starfield being the most anticipated game this generation.

I disagree on the inevitability of the scenario you've laid out. Gamepass has seen a steady stream of games added to the library (not first party I'll admit but third party). However it hasn't grown enough for Microsoft to update us on Subscriber numbers since it last did in Jan 22. Hardware sells are down where as the competitors hardware is up year on year even though their libraries on 95% the same.

 

[Bernardougf]

Nothing to contribute but baiting as usual.

And you with the spins and PR copy/paste like propaganda ... so yes ...everything as usual

 

[Riky]

Could you provide a link to your source about the comment Phil made?

Well according to YouTube in terms of there most viewed trailer Marvel's Spiderman 2 has been viewed more than Starfield. That only one way of measuring interest.
Another is Google trends and you'll find the Starfield interest pales in comparison to Zelda TotK prior to release let alone post release.
So I'm not sure how you can comfortably make that statement of Starfield being the most anticipated game this generation.

I disagree on the inevitability of the scenario you've laid out. Gamepass has seen a steady stream of games added to the library (not first party I'll admit but third party). However it hasn't grown enough for Microsoft to update us on Subscriber numbers since it last did in Jan 22. Hardware sells are down where as the competitors hardware is up year on year even though their libraries on 95% the same.

Why the head of Xbox isn’t worried about AI, Netflix or the future

Phil Spencer talks with Polygon about the future of living games, Xbox’s huge 2024, AI, and more

www.polygon.com

Install base, Starfield will be hitting more users day one due to Gamepass and launching day and date on PC.

Each accounting period says Gamepass has grown, when they hit a milestone like 30 million they will probably update us.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Why the head of Xbox isn’t worried about AI, Netflix or the future

Phil Spencer talks with Polygon about the future of living games, Xbox’s huge 2024, AI, and more

www.polygon.com

Install base, Starfield will be hitting more users day one due to Gamepass and launching day and date on PC.

Each accounting period says Gamepass has grown, when they hit a milestone like 30 million they will probably update us.

The last update on GP numbers was 18 months ago when they reached 25M subs and they've been very coy about sharing actual numbers since then. Hitting 30M subs by now should be the bare minimum considering their main focus is growing Game Pass.

Edit: Also what's with the weird custom rank. Are you a MSFT stock holder? Else I don't understand you defending this frankly disastrous showing where Xbox division failed to meet all their expected targets for the quarter.

 

[crackajack]

Considering the mediocre output, and non existent brand attachment to most non american people, I guess this can be seen as okay.

After Starfield and ABK things should get interesting. MS might not even care about HW sales much, but if revenue doesn't go up, beyond what ABK brings by itself, the whole strategy would have to be declared a failure. I doubt that, it should begin to show results, and this will be the two deciding factors if the suits continue to back Phil's direction.

 

[Jemm]

I suspect Starfield will urge many people still on Xbox One (X) to finally upgrade to Series X|S.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Where does it say it's not profitable?....never happened.

He's already talked about Xbox being a long term project as it's not crucial to Microsoft's overall massive revenue, the one where they have made enough profit to pay for Activision in one year.

"We’re about — call it 10% of Microsoft’s revenue right now. So Microsoft doesn’t sink or swim based on Xbox’s success today. So it allows us to take some longer-term views of what our success looks like. We run a profitable business inside of the company and that’s important. We do that today."

So yeah it did happen.

Now you're shifting the discussion to "long term".

You claimed that Xbox is profitable. Can you share the numbers that back up your claim?

 

[Topher]

Its Neogaf