Consumers will vote with their wallets. They will choose to buy:
Xbox to play Xbox games
OR
PS5 to play Playstation and Xbox games.
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Xbox Series X (coming 10 Nov 2020)
- Thread starter gkarris
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Xbox to play Xbox games
OR
PS5 to play Playstation and Xbox games.
That's not addressing the question.
Pretty much. Exclusives are the reason to buy a console for most people. If you can get all the Xbox games and all the PlayStation games on PlayStation, why buy the Xbox? Hell, with the PS5 Pro the PlayStation version might actually be better too.
Yupp. Some Xbox titles might run better on the PS5 Pro or even base PS5 than a Series X.
To sell hardware? Yeah it is a problem. Remember when you could buy a Mac that wasn't made by Apple, those were not good times and Apple figured that out.
Not to say there is anything wrong with MS becoming just a 3rd party publisher. They are just going down the same road that Atari/Sega went down is all.
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Xbox's second quarter of 2025 (Q2 FY25) saw a decline in hardware revenue, but growth in content and services revenue.
Hardware revenue
Xbox hardware revenue fell 29% year-over-year
The main factor behind the decline was console sales
Content and services revenue
Xbox content and services revenue grew 2% year-over-year
This was driven by growth in Xbox Game Pass and Activision Blizzard content
Xbox Cloud Gaming logged 140 million hours of engagement
Other highlights
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was a success, with a record-breaking launch month
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was played by more than four million people since its launch
Microsoft's overall financial results
Microsoft's revenue for Q2 FY25 was $69.6 billion, which was a 12% increase
Microsoft's overall gaming revenue fell 7% year-over-yearThat's underwhelming year on year growth considering that COD6, Indiana Jones and FS2024 launched on gamepass that quarter. 2% revenue growth doesn't beat inflation let alone annual % increase in gamepass subscription fees. Pretty embarassing.
I interpret that as COD6 did not bring more people to Xbox or Gamepass.
The Mac could run a superset of Windows and Mac software, which wasn't reciprocated on the PC. As an "advantage", it never amounted to more than a rounding error in extra sales for the Mac.
Will the PlayStation versions have all their Xbox friends, etc, or will you have to use Playstation network, or some publisher's own social locator setup?
Right, they weren't good times for Apple, because the cloners' machines were better products, and Apple was a lazy monopolist, incapable of surviving market competition without artificial barriers. That's why they were dying once Windows was "good enough" to use instead of Finder.
So, is it a sign of Doom for Apple's smartphone gaming aspirations that formerly exclusive Apple arcade titles are now on PC and console?
Making their own consoles, with their own exclusive games is what killed Atari and Sega, because their consoles couldn't sustain market critical mass. Becoming multi-platform publishers was a post-failure second attempt.
Nintendo and Sony are far more vulnerable to Atari and Sega's fate than Microsoft are. MS has an ecosystem, and that entire ecosystem can be tapped to pay for console development. Neither Sony, nor Nintendo have that.
Were. Exclusives were the reason to buy a console. Microsoft has made pretty clear that the era of exclusives is over. So a bunch of Playstation players start playing MS owned titles, and maybe the next version works better on a MS console, maybe it costs 50% more for the PS version? Maybe the PS version doesn't have "better" graphics, because the studio does a straight port and doesn't optimise for it. Maybe the PS versions get a free cash-in and swap when they migrate to an Xbox.
What's Sony's revenue model when consoles are so expensive the entire addressable market will only buy a console every 8+ years? How does Sony subsidise their consoles at below cost when the majority of games played on them arn't made by, or bought from Sony, and therefore provide no revenue to them?
Microsoft's solution is sell a game that can be played on every device the person owns, in addition to their console, or rent them a games catalogue that runs on every device they own. Are those people *also* going to buy a second subscription to a Playstation catalogue, or do they just buy the one MS subscription, which has most of the games already being released, and they all play "for free" on their laptop, handheld, etc.
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No, still are. Xbox sales aren't exactly exploding and Game Pass growth has pretty much stalled. It's pretty clear this experiment failed. Game Pass is not a compelling enough thing to sell consoles and isn't really cared for on PC, especially when the other guy has good enough similar service. And there's no reason Sony couldn't make a PC Playstation Plus if they wanted too. It's just not a moat.
Sony (and other console makers) make money from licensing on every title. Regardless of who makes it. They probably make more off third party games because they don't have to pay for development and marketing even if it's a smaller cut of revenue. First party titles and exclusives work to drive interest to your console.
The era of console exclusives is over for MS because they fumbled the XB1 generation HARD. They were riding high on the XB360 era and completely screwed the pooch.
They priced the 1 too high (blame kinect i you want) and it "wasn't strong enough". They screwed the whole not owning games thing, even though they technically turned out to be right (in the digital storefront age). They didn't have any good exclusives that would get folks to continue to buy the hardware. The list from that era goes on.
Folks told MS they needed exclusives and they basically bought other publishers to try to get them that (and somehow that still failed to move the needle hardware wise).
MS probably should have gotten out of the console hardware business after the XB1, but they made the XSX to run in their azure datacenters for XB Cloud so they may as well sell them to end users.
Yupp. The experiment hasn't worked. Hopefully the $68b investment in Activision will eventually pay off. At least they have alot of IP thet can licenced to third parties for games, movies, merch and more.
Sorry, but I think people here have bought so deeply into the "MS is abandoning Xbox consoles" narrative, that they're blinded to what is happening.
Microsoft is pushing *in* to the PlayStation to consume the financial oxygen. Games they own will displace Sony-owned "platform exclusive" games, and eventually those games won't make enough on the Playstation to fund themselves, let alone the console.
What happens when little Timmy says "I want a console that can play my game I also play on my laptop and handheld" and Microsoft decides Sony is going to start paying them for their continued presence on Sony's consoles?
The Series X was a straightforward upgrade from the 360 for a lot of people (more or less the same price when going from a 360 Elite), and pretty much all your games kept on working. Upgrading every second generation is likely the new normal. Which makes sense for MS because the console loses them money, but Gamepass is reliable revenue.
The irony being, a Playstation owner who plays Microsoft-owned games will likely be more profitable for Microsoft, than they are for Sony.
How is MS consuming their financial oxygen? Sony gets paid for every game sold on PS. Unless you are saying that Sony is going to allow Xbox Cloud Gaming, which is an interesting take. Not sure why Sony couldn't ask for a cut of the subscription (like what MS was gonna offer Apple).
I just grabbed a used XBX specifically for MSFS 2024 and I'm blown away at how great it works for this!
Grabbed a joystick, KB & Mouse just for this usage with the XB and it's a phenomenal and cheap way to have an MSFS box!
Grabbed a joystick, KB & Mouse just for this usage with the XB and it's a phenomenal and cheap way to have an MSFS box!
Installed after a purchase.
I demoed 2024 w/ a free month of GP and, despite all the reports and complaints all over the internet, I found it to run great and the visuals to be fantastic so I jumped onboard
I own 2020 also if I were to need it, but I quickly noticed and appreciated the visual upgrades of 2024
If Sony is making more money from a competitor's games, than they make from their own, that is a catastrophe waiting to happen. The argument for why would MS continue to plow money into a console if it isn't profitable in its own right holds just as true for why would Sony plough money into 1st party games, given the opportunity costs of not investing that money in something with better profits.
It's not like Apple where they can afford to lose money on Final Cut, because Final Cut sells them a Mac which they make a 20-30% profit margin on. Sony doesn't get that with consoles.
Microsoft can lose money on games, because games are just a part of a bigger ecosystem. What is playstation a part of? A movie studio?
Platform-exclusive games that aren't very profitable, as a loss-leader for a console that loses money on every sale?
What's the path for Sony when microsoft owns most of the big 3rd party games, when they own the device ecosystem in which games work on all your devices, and decide that they want a cut of every playstation console sale, as the price of continuing to provide games for the platform?
I guess the console market collapses (again). Leaving Nintendo to pick up the pieces (again).
Assuming Nintendo survives (the 64, gamecube and Wii U being significant failures, kiddysafe handheld games devices that are cheap enough to entrust to a child is a pretty stable niche), I think MS' strategy is predicated on becoming bust-secure. The Xbox won't need to be self-sustaining, just merely there as a predatory pressure on PC gaming to keep hardware prices and performance above an acceptable minimum, and to provide a more turnkey entrypoint for developers fleeing mobile gaming (which is an industry trend I've seen directly).
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Nintendo makes money on the hardware they sell (almost the whole time, it is why the hardware is typically so old). They will be fine for as long as Mario/Pokemon/Zelda sells, note how in the "hardware failure" years they didn't go out of business.
MS is probably terrified SteamOS could make Windows irrelevant in the handheld space (based on handheld rumors). Looking at current prices for GPUs makes me believe the idea that a MS branded home console would keep prices in check hilarious. Not even sure Nadella will allow the xbox hardware division to survive if they can't turn a profit on hardware sold as is usual in a console life cycle.
Flight Sim is an absolute gen. I own 2020. Trialed 2024 during launch week. Found it to be too buggy and unfinished. Will buy it in a few months when it's more polished.
Pokemon and Mario games sell the Merch.
Xbox will evolve into a content network. Want to reach well segmented gamers? Advertising or launch an experience in:
-Minecraft
-COD
-Forza
MS will likely take Xbox beyond gaming in order to capture more revenue. Fortnite is leading the way with concerts, wearables and more. More IP folders will launch on the MMOG platforms than spending $100-200m to develop and market a game.
Yes, I got on the beta train (even on Xbox, which is nice) and it made a huge difference (fixed Mouse look, which was critical) ...
The entire thing feels very beta though, I will admit
I'm sort of stunned they released it like this if being honest
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Revolving bug probably took longer than Asobo and Xbox forecasted. As a result they just pushed it out the door to recoup some money. It's also easier to recruit and work with contractors to resolve bugs for a game that's live rather than secret and still in development. Now the game can be debugged openly.
2nd X Series ordered 1tb digital.
Decided against PC return after last years Raptor Lake.
This is to be 4th Xbox -maybe 5th is to be ‘next gen’ from 2027.
3 are gone and slowly removed from Microsoft Account, including HP Omen40l
Decided against PC return after last years Raptor Lake.
This is to be 4th Xbox -maybe 5th is to be ‘next gen’ from 2027.
3 are gone and slowly removed from Microsoft Account, including HP Omen40l
Possibly decided too soon though keep reading pc options over next few weeks.
Meanwhile hopefully X Series….again
Where is Series X …only 1 day delay.
Meanwhile hopefully X Series….again
Where is Series X …only 1 day delay.
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