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YTD: PS5 14.5 m; NSW 9.91 m; X/S ~ 4.15 m

BoxFresh123

Member
We got it all wrong bros:


jason voorhees GIF
 

onQ123

Member
Let there be competition nadella said. After 80b spent on publishers, they're worse off than they were last generation. Should have known when to quit instead of wasting money on a sinking ship. You ain't saving it.
That money was not wasted on Xbox Consoles

That money was mostly spent on getting the big name IPs. This was actually about going beyond a branded console.

The goal is to have software that can push other companies into making deals to keep the software on their platforms.

Make people get an Xbox account for stuff like Candy Crush & Call of Duty even if they don't own a Xbox then fast forward when the hardware no longer matters & they will already be locked into Xbox ecosystem.
 
Is something like GTA6 exclusivity a realistic possibilty though after recently spending so much on Actiblizz? Obviously MS has the money for that easily but are they really going to give carte blanch funding to xbox like that?

Look at it this way. If they don't, the Xbox brand is dead.

Either that or after 20+ years of not coming up with an industry-defining IP since Halo, they come out with a banger must-play that catches fire like Pokemon.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
switch sales strong after 7 years no price drop is because of TOTKS my friends I am proud of playstation this month they are my role models
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
Microsoft is doubling down because they don't see a way out. They took a big swing to disrupt the industry and they missed.

When the time comes for the axe to fall though, it'll fall hard.

The Xbox brand has been so utterly poisoned by GamePass and Day 1 PC that I think we're at the point where they can't recover.

They obviously have to make a play at some exclusivity for GTA6, so we'll see if they get it, but aside from that this generation is over. Done. Finished. Finito.

It also doesn't really make sense to put out another console. At that point, you have Microsoft Shutter Xbox as a brand and essentially put ABK in charge of everything including the Xbox IP like Halo, Forza, and Fable. All of which will end up on Switch 2 and PS5 or PS6.

Nintendo needs to ask itself if it should put out a Switch 2 Pro that is a pure home console if Xbox collapses. It makes sense for there to be a strong challenger to PlayStation as not every Xbox user will want to jump to PlayStation, just as we saw with the Dreamcast.
I dont get the gamepass poisoned the brand claim. The only people I have ever seen complain about gamepass, or have a negative disposition to it, have been on GAF. Would you share what you mean so that I may understand this perspective?

Edit: demigod demigod I don't want you to miss this one.
 
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MarkMe2525

Banned
That explanation still does not validate your comment. Phil himself said they(Xbox) failed (past tense) last gen. There is no such thing as "failing upwards" in this case. They failed. There was no falling upwards last gen for them.
I see where you're trying to go with this. (All of the moves MS has made), but that currently means jack. You saying PHIL climbed higher is weird since I was not talking about Phil's career, nor was I talking about the present.
Now if 5 years from now MS is in a totally different/better position and at that point we look at the past 15 years as whole, then your comment might hold weight.
If your are expecting a rational explanation or idea, your conversing with the wrong user.

demigod demigod here is another one
 
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jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
We got it all wrong bros:


I had to click on it to see if it was real.

I dont even know what to say...

Based on history...usually the company selling less n less hardware is the one that gets out the hardware business.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I had to click on it to see if it was real.

I dont even know what to say...

Based on history...usually the company selling less n less hardware is the one that gets out the hardware business.
The company that runs out of money to build hardware is the one that gets out of the hardware business. That's not going to be a problem for Microsoft. They can afford to eat losses until they turn the industry into what they want it to be.
 
I dont get the gamepass poisoned the brand claim. The only people I have ever seen complain about gamepass, or have a negative disposition to it, have been on GAF. Would you share what you mean so that I may understand this perspective?

Edit: demigod demigod I don't want you to miss this one.

Microsoft created a model that both pushed users NOT to buy games but ALSO not to buy their console.

Their biggest game of the generation: Starfield. You could play it on PC on GamePass for 10 or 15 bucks without ever buying an Xbox.

Not only have you not bought the game for 70 dollars, meaning you've missed out on 55 dollars in revenue, but you're also hemmoraghing money into the 3rd party content on GamePass, meaning you're not even getting the 15 dollars as operating income.

Meanwhile, you garner no additional royalties or sales as a result of Starfield.

The results have been predictable in that the game didn't sell hardware nor did it sell the units you would expect for B2P. It's fallen off of all charts we've seen for October.
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
Microsoft created a model that both pushed users NOT to buy games but ALSO not to buy their console.

Their biggest game of the generation: Starfield. You could play it on PC on GamePass for 10 or 15 bucks without ever buying an Xbox.

Not only have you not bought the game for 70 dollars, meaning you've missed out on 55 dollars in revenue, but you're also hemmoraghing money into the 3rd party content on GamePass, meaning you're not even getting the 15 dollars as operating income.

Meanwhile, you garner no additional royalties or sales as a result of Starfield.

The results have been predictable in that the game didn't sell hardware nor did it sell the units you would expect for B2P. It's fallen off of all charts we've seen for October.
How does that poison the Xbox brand? I cant imagine most customers care what MS profit margins are. Did you mean something different?
 
How does that poison the Xbox brand? I cant imagine most customers care what MS profit margins are. Did you mean something different?

Consumers don't care about profit margins for any company, that's not the value of the brand.

Consumers don't see any value in the Xbox brand. Microsoft has told them they don't need to buy their plastic box and in fact it's better not to. They've said it is better not to buy games at all and better to subscribe.

I didn't even mention the decision to create an XSS and XSX.

Everything Microsoft has done has diminished its brand. That's what I mean by poisoning it.

It means they have a product that can't sell and to the degree that it can't sell, it's not even viable to sell the brand to another company at any discernable value.
 
So MS ran out of money for making smartphones?

People don't understand that Microsoft isn't going to just dump money into Xbox forever. There comes a time when you have to call it quits when your product isn't performing.

Microsoft greatly regrets getting out of the mobile business and fears that it might have got out a step too quickly, but even that is revisionist history, they had no market share and likely were never going to have any market share.

Microsoft's regrets on mobile however might keep them in gaming longer, but my guess is it will come at a great cost in terms of the valuation and revenue of Activision Blizzard.

They can't foreclose CoD for 10 years, but I expect other Activision Blizzard games to be exclusive and they'll suffer the fate of a diminished Xbox userbase, which will slowly strangle ABK. Meanwhile, their competitors will outpace them. I think that's the bet Sony ultimately made. In 10 years either CoD will be diminished/replaced or it'll have to be multiplatform to keep revenues up.

Think about what 10 years actually means. That's well into the PS6's life cycle, meaning again, people aren't going to buy an Xbox specifically for CoD at the outset. They can't even market it as the best place to play it.
 

GHG

Member

Some of the posts in that thread:


Do you have a PS5 pillow that you cuddle at night and profess your love to?

Release schedule feeling a bit lite to you op?

Michael Jordan Lol GIF



Not content with the slew of negative Xbox threads, a good ol' jolly up feel good thread to rally the troops was also created.

Still, how could you forget psvr2 man? The killer app for me completely

This is the weirdest thread I've seen on herein a while. Screams of insecurity?

is it because Sony is in a draught and we have no idea what's launching in the first 9 months of this year from Sony?

Op, have you completed god of war? I guess your emotionally invested in the ps5?


Plus the high fan speeds adds to the whole “storm” thing

when-the-coping-is-too-strong-cope.gif


You were spot on in the end.
 
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MarkMe2525

Banned
Consumers don't care about profit margins for any company, that's not the value of the brand.

Consumers don't see any value in the Xbox brand. Microsoft has told them they don't need to buy their plastic box and in fact it's better not to. They've said it is better not to buy games at all and better to subscribe.

I didn't even mention the decision to create an XSS and XSX.

Everything Microsoft has done has diminished its brand. That's what I mean by poisoning it.

It means they have a product that can't sell and to the degree that it can't sell, it's not even viable to sell the brand to another company at any discernable value.
When you are referring to a companies "brand" you are referring to the potential customers perception of value (reliability, worksmanship, socal status, nostalgia, etc.) A companies profit margins on units sold has very little impact on a companies "brand", as the public doesn't often keep tabs on such things. If GamePass leads to lower overall profits to MS, that does not impact the value proposition from the customers perspective. If anything, this OPTIONAL service can only add to the value proposition.

I apologize, I thought you held a perspective I was ignorant too, but this is just misuse of the term "brand".
 
When you are referring to a companies "brand" you are referring to the potential customers perception of value (reliability, worksmanship, socal status, nostalgia, etc.) A companies profit margins on units sold has very little impact on a companies "brand", as the public doesn't often keep tabs on such things. If GamePass leads to lower overall profits to MS, that does not impact the value proposition from the customers perspective. If anything, this OPTIONAL service can only add to the value proposition.

I apologize, I thought you held a perspective I was ignorant too, but this is just misuse of the term "brand".

Again, you clearly aren't listening.

The consumer asks what they should buy, they look at several brands.

When they look at Xbox what do they see? They see a brand that is in disarray. They see a brand in which the parent company has said, "Don't buy this"

The best place to play our games? PC.
The cheapest way to play our games? GamePass
If you're going to buy a console, buy our heavily discounted model because we don't have any confidence in the more expensive one...

The impact this has on Microsoft's profit margins isn't what is poisonous to them, it's the fact that no one wants to buy Xboxes anymore and as a result of that developers aren't going to develop exclusively for Xbox either, which in turn means fewer people will want to buy Xboxes... It's a vicious cycle, and certainly a poisonous one.

Phil spencer and Matt Booty might as well be the guys from Chernobyl, choking the life out of the plant before it melted down
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
I've been telling people for months, so it's a relief to see people finally picking up the pieces here.

Microsoft is in a dire situation and all the obfuscation that they can conjure won't change that.

I can't imagine anyone will be looking to buy an XS next year. I've admonished people who think the PS5 will sell 12 million in Q3FY23, but I do think that it could sell 9+ million. That's devastating to Microsoft from a mindshare perspective. For the second holiday season in a row, anyone who wants a PS5 will be able to get one and they have another banger of a title to go hand in hand with the console.

I really don't think people understand what that means, especially as much of this will be concentrated in the West. What it means is that anyone who asks "What gaming system should I buy?" is going to have the same answer... A PS5... it's what everyone's friends got for Christmas. Buy An Xbox and not have the kid be able to play Spider-Man when that's what everyone is playing now?

That's how the N64, Saturn, Gamecube, Dreamcast, and OG Xbox got roasted. And to be frank N64, GameCube, and even OG Xbox had bigger titles to keep them in the mindshare than XBS does now. This only gets worse when the PS5 Pro comes out to no competition.

GamePass is poisoning the Xbox brand. We're going to see how Microsoft handles that poison. If they stop doing Day 1 on PC and/or Day 1 on GamePass. The reason why GamePass isn't growing fast enough is because the Xbox consoles aren't selling fast enough.
vb1wmy9s5qk61.gif
 
Look at it this way. If they don't, the Xbox brand is dead.

Either that or after 20+ years of not coming up with an industry-defining IP since Halo, they come out with a banger must-play that catches fire like Pokemon.

DeepSpace5D DeepSpace5D and let me expand on that.

The conditions necessary to come out with a game like Pokemon have not been met for Microsoft.

When Pokemon came out, the Gameboy sales were in massive decline. That's why they had come out with the Gameboy pocket to try and create more game sales. Pokemon came out and had a huge userbase to sell to. When that userbase discovered pokemon it pushed more people to buy the gameboy pocket and eventually the gameboy color.

Microsoft has really no way of generating a hit game at this point.

You look at hit games like Fortnite, you can literally play on your phone, pc, mac, console e.t.c. It's available everywhere.

You look at a hit game like Mario Kart 8 and it didn't save the Wii U. It only sold well on the Switch.

An exclusive game not available on anything but PC and XBS, is only going to sell well on PC and it isn't going to sell hardware units even if it is a hit.

They need to aggressively drop the price and get GTA6 exclusivity for even a week and then they need to plan out their next system and redesign gamepass and stop PC day 1. And honestly, I don't think that would save it.
 

DeepSpace5D

Member
DeepSpace5D DeepSpace5D and let me expand on that.

The conditions necessary to come out with a game like Pokemon have not been met for Microsoft.

When Pokemon came out, the Gameboy sales were in massive decline. That's why they had come out with the Gameboy pocket to try and create more game sales. Pokemon came out and had a huge userbase to sell to. When that userbase discovered pokemon it pushed more people to buy the gameboy pocket and eventually the gameboy color.

Microsoft has really no way of generating a hit game at this point.

You look at hit games like Fortnite, you can literally play on your phone, pc, mac, console e.t.c. It's available everywhere.

You look at a hit game like Mario Kart 8 and it didn't save the Wii U. It only sold well on the Switch.

An exclusive game not available on anything but PC and XBS, is only going to sell well on PC and it isn't going to sell hardware units even if it is a hit.

They need to aggressively drop the price and get GTA6 exclusivity for even a week and then they need to plan out their next system and redesign gamepass and stop PC day 1. And honestly, I don't think that would save it.
Perhaps if they could make CoD exclusive right away it would have a big impact. But ten years down the road at the rate it’s going if things don’t turn around somehow, it would probably just greatly diminish the CoD brand a decade from now if the Xbox community is not robust enough. That’s just my guess anyway.

And I honestly don’t think Xbox can renege on their PC/Gamepass day 1 at this point. I would imagine all but the most loyal Xbox followers would revolt at that news. Seems like Xbox is trying to do the early access sales a week earlier than “official” release to compensate somewhat. But I imagine that can only generate so much when everyone knows they can play it on Gamepass at no additional cost a week later.
 
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ReBurn

Gold Member
So MS ran out of money for making smartphones?
They're still making laptops and they don't sell the most of those.

Microsoft didn't stop making phones because they ran out of money. Microsoft stopped making phones because people stopped publishing apps for Windows mobile. With Microsoft buying some of the biggest game publishers around there's little chance that scenario is going to happen this time around. And with those publishers having strong PC audiences they don't need to sell as many consoles to move copies of games.

Xbox won't die because it runs out of money or doesn't sell enough consoles. The only way Xbox dies is if Microsoft stops seeing future value in video games. Unless regulators stop them they're going to keep going after studios and publishers and they'll continue to buy more of the third party IP that PlayStation currently depends on for most of their revenue. It's a slow burn, but Microsoft has the money and is insidious enough to buy enough of the industry to own a scary amount of Sony's third party revenue stream. That's not hyping Microsoft in any way. That's just the reality of their war chest and having time to wait it out.
 

jroc74

Phone reception is more important to me than human rights
They're still making laptops and they don't sell the most of those.

Microsoft didn't stop making phones because they ran out of money. Microsoft stopped making phones because people stopped publishing apps for Windows mobile. With Microsoft buying some of the biggest game publishers around there's little chance that scenario is going to happen this time around. And with those publishers having strong PC audiences they don't need to sell as many consoles to move copies of games.

Xbox won't die because it runs out of money or doesn't sell enough consoles. The only way Xbox dies is if Microsoft stops seeing future value in video games. Unless regulators stop them they're going to keep going after studios and publishers and they'll continue to buy more of the third party IP that PlayStation currently depends on for most of their revenue. It's a slow burn, but Microsoft has the money and is insidious enough to buy enough of the industry to own a scary amount of Sony's third party revenue stream. That's not hyping Microsoft in any way. That's just the reality of their war chest and having time to wait it out.

MS acquired Nokia...and still exited the smartphone hardware business.

Bottom line...MS decided it was better for business to get out the smartphone hardware business. Thats all I'm saying. Company sees declining hardware sales and acts accordingly.

BB isnt dead, MS still makes mobile software, apps. Xbox wont die, but their business goals could change.
 

AmuroChan

Member
This is why MS is going all in on Gamepass. They know they can't really compete on the hardware side. So they shifted their strategy to focus on GP and making that a ubiquitous thing that will eventually run on any device. This is their big bet. They know that in the traditional model they'll likely always be stuck in 3rd place.
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
Again, you clearly aren't listening.

The consumer asks what they should buy, they look at several brands.

When they look at Xbox what do they see? They see a brand that is in disarray. They see a brand in which the parent company has said, "Don't buy this"

The best place to play our games? PC.
The cheapest way to play our games? GamePass
If you're going to buy a console, buy our heavily discounted model because we don't have any confidence in the more expensive one...

The impact this has on Microsoft's profit margins isn't what is poisonous to them, it's the fact that no one wants to buy Xboxes anymore and as a result of that developers aren't going to develop exclusively for Xbox either, which in turn means fewer people will want to buy Xboxes... It's a vicious cycle, and certainly a poisonous one.

Phil spencer and Matt Booty might as well be the guys from Chernobyl, choking the life out of the plant before it melted down
I'm not sure if you are responding to the wrong person, but I can't wrap my mind how any of what you just said explains your position. You keep going on these rants while still failing to explain how gamepass is poison to the Xbox brand. I asked a specific question about a specific claim you made. Throwing word salad at a question isn't very convincing.

I assume you didn't mean to say gamepass specifically is a poison to the brand and you are too dug in to back down.
 
Perhaps if they could make CoD exclusive right away it would have a big impact. But ten years down the road at the rate it’s going if things don’t turn around somehow, it would probably just greatly diminish the CoD brand a decade from now if the Xbox community is not robust enough. That’s just my guess anyway.

And I honestly don’t think Xbox can renege on their PC/Gamepass day 1 at this point. I would imagine all but the most loyal Xbox followers would revolt at that news. Seems like Xbox is trying to do the early access sales a week earlier than “official” release to compensate somewhat. But I imagine that can only generate so much when everyone knows they can play it on Gamepass at no additional cost a week later.
Netflix advertised that sharing passwords is love before doing a 180.

They’ve got to do whatever they can to shore up their console sales. Gamepass has no future.

Won’t be the first subscription service to fail or change drastically.

But if they lose Xbox as a console, they’ll just be another 3rd publisher, but massively limited like SEGA.

First you’re losing what user base exists on Xbox. And then you’re losing the royalties associated with game sales. They don’t even have the catalog that sega does.

You put halo MCC on ps5 but what else will actually sell? Even that’s not going to do great numbers. Maybe sea of thieves.

They need to dip back into their wallet and buy some medium sized studios.
 

dem

Member
The reality is.. if the plan is to buy a bunch of studios to compete.. it’s gonna take a long time to turn around that boat.

And if they ever get it turned around, it will be in America first.


If they are serious about moving hardware anytime in the future.. they are going to have to leverage Call Of Duty in some way.
 
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Trogdor1123

Member
they are doing pretty well on the game pass front I thought? Maybe they are less concerned with hardware then? Glass half full guys lol
 

MarkMe2525

Banned
Why you guys always crying about emojis but are ok when yall do it too? You don’t hear me crying about it.

Snowflakes
I don't think I have ever went into a thread and threw 20 laughing reactions out there without joining the conversation. I would feel like I'm hiding behind a reaction that cannot be responded too. You can be particularly agregious with this behavior. Reminds me of Ezekiel, which in my mind cannon, you are an alt of. I realize you most likely are not, but it works for me.

If you happen to disagree with something I said, it's obvious that I don't mind hashing it out with my words.

Edit: I'm embarrassed that I used "your" instead of "you're" twice in a single sentence that you quoted.
 
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I'm not even sure Rockstar would accept MS' money to do that for GTA6.
For a game that now have such a long-term plan, Rockstar would NEVER accept that. At least not to have it fully exclusive. Maybe like 6 months but even that would cost MS a lot...and for what? A few consoles sold when people can just play it on PC instead of an Xbox? lol
 

Fess

Member
Makes me really wonder if the next box is coming in 2025 now
Yeah they need to just pull the plug on this one. Fast. Next year Sony will have PS5 Pro out and MS will, according to rumours, have nothing. It’ll be Japan Xbox numbers by the end of a regular 7 year generation cycle.

Go with shorter generations and do Series 2,3,4,5 etc like Apple Watch. 3-4 years. Full backwards compatibility. I’m already used to buy a Pro so short generations is the same thing, I don’t care.
And highlight that Xbox is on PC too in PR. Start talking about cloud too. These isolated Xbox hardware numbers are embarrassing, can’t be used for anything, except maybe in court when showing how far behind they are to try buy more publishers.
 
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zedinen

Member
?? I have only pointed out the OP's funny situation in which he uses Welfare as the source of all his XS sales estimates but then decides to ignore Welfare's LTD figures and invents a different one...

Read the OP, again.

The sources are Welfare (YTD, Q3) and Microsoft Brazil (LTD as of June 30, 2023)


Microsoft Brazil: Xbox Series X|S have sold a combined 21m units ( GI: published on July 3, 2023)

The Xbox Series X|S have sold 21 million units according to recent sales figures.

According to Forbes, the information was revealed during the ID@Xbox Developer Accelerator Program at BIG Festival in Brazil.

The numbers were shown on a slide during a presentation led by Leonard Barros Barreto, director of partner production management at Xbox.
 
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damidu

Member
Yeah they need to just pull the plug on this one. Fast. Next year Sony will have PS5 Pro out and MS will, according to rumours, have nothing. It’ll be Japan Xbox numbers by the end of a regular 7 year generation cycle.

Go with shorter generations and do Series 2,3,4,5 etc like Apple Watch. 3-4 years. Full backwards compatibility. I’m already used to buy a Pro so short generations is the same thing, I don’t care.
And highlight that Xbox is on PC too in PR. Start talking about cloud too. These isolated Xbox hardware numbers are embarrassing, can’t be used for anything, except maybe in court when showing how far behind they are to try buy more publishers.
people arent buying series s at $200, you think they would have a market to sell new xbox every 3 years lol
 
Yeah they need to just pull the plug on this one. Fast. Next year Sony will have PS5 Pro out and MS will, according to rumours, have nothing. It’ll be Japan Xbox numbers by the end of a regular 7 year generation cycle.

Go with shorter generations and do Series 2,3,4,5 etc like Apple Watch. 3-4 years. Full backwards compatibility. I’m already used to buy a Pro so short generations is the same thing, I don’t care.
And highlight that Xbox is on PC too in PR. Start talking about cloud too. These isolated Xbox hardware numbers are embarrassing, can’t be used for anything, except maybe in court when showing how far behind they are to try buy more publishers.

I always thought it was weird how Microsoft gated the rest of their ecosystem from Xbox.

The idea of a cheap but powerful gaming device that also doubled as a PC seems really appealing to me.

Your Xbox comes loaded with windows and office products and can be remotely used throughout the house via docking stations to monitors or tablet screens (like PS Portal)

Truly the one device and central hub of the entire house….which I thought was the entire premise of the original Xbox vision to begin with?
 
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Fess

Member
people arent buying series s at $200, you think they would have a market to sell new xbox every 3 years lol
No S, just X. Go with new powerful Series consoles every 3-4 years. With full backwards (and forward) compatibility those looking for cheap consoles can buy an old one. Then talk about Series family and include all console when talking hardware, or ignore hardware numbers for PR completely.
 
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