microsoft game division sees first quarterly profits

Good for MS. Glad to see they are finally seeing a return on their investment.
 
But $165 million seems kind of small compared to the over $7 billion they've already lost in the console market.
 
MS will post a profit next quarter also. This quarter only included one week of Halo and the continued sales of games like Halo and Mass Effect through November and December should keep them in the black for awhile.

And those losses from Sony are just ugly. 830 million in one quarter? Jesus, what is going to happen to them when their holidays sales spike? 1.5 billion in losses?
 
MS posts a profit now, but i think that 1 billion dollar amount they stated for the RROD problems is severely under what it will really cost for them, and long term it's just going to cost much more.


Sony and MS are sitting scratching their heads and Nintendo is just killing them both.

Nothing but profit is much better than nothing but losses, for most of the life of the system. Hell, hasn't MS's game division done nothing but lose money since the Xbox?
 
"Absorbing the $1.06 billion in "red ring of death" repair costs during the last quarter of last fiscal year gave the company a huge loss overall"

Damn, pretty costly mistake. What boggles the mind is that even the newest 360's being produced are still suffering from the rrod. They haven't fixed it........ unbelievable.
 
Damn, pretty costly mistake. What boggles the mind is that even the newest 360's being produced are still suffering from the rrod. They haven't fixed it........ unbelievable.
The real question is how many of the new machines are suffering the RROD. We'll hear about it forever but if it's down to more like 5% then I doubt it will do them much harm.
 
Haven't heard the heatsinked machines RRODing, at least not with the same regularity of the unheatsinked ones. It's still early, and the unheatsinked ones will be RRODing throughout the lifespan of the Xbox360 since there was no mass recall, but I'm hoping that after this 3rd bricking, there won't be a 4th now that I'll have the heatsink installed.
 
lol if they can´t make a profit after the HALO 3 launch they will never ever make a profit... Hope it lasts but I suspect they will loose money next quarter again...
 
lol if they can´t make a profit after the HALO 3 launch they will never ever make a profit... Hope it lasts but I suspect they will loose money next quarter again...

Unlikely. This quarter only had one week of Halo. With the 360 apparently reaching profitability on hardware (or at least getting close), and the additional Halo/Mass Effect/other game revenue through November and December, MS should post at least one more profitable quarter.
 
I am just hoping that they DON'T see Nintendo's success and then they try to start going after the casual gamer...and not relying on graphics as much anymore. That would make me sad :(

But as a business point of view, if I was Microsoft or Sony I wouldn't be trying to adhere to the hardcore gamers anymore...But more to the mom and pop...
 
I am just hoping that they DON'T see Nintendo's success and then they try to start going after the casual gamer...and not relying on graphics as much anymore. That would make me sad :(

But as a business point of view, if I was Microsoft or Sony I wouldn't be trying to adhere to the hardcore gamers anymore...But more to the mom and pop...

I think its inevitable that we will see scaled back hardware specs next generation with a lower entry price point. Not to the extent of Nintendo but MS took a hit for entering at $400 and Sony destroyed themselves by entering at $600. Don't expect either company to do that again.

I think we'll see the machines enter the market at $300 next gen with a mild loss on initial hardware at best. Sony and MS won't milk the customer to the tune of the Wii (a $150 machine with a $250 price tag), but the days of losing $200+ on hardware are probably over.
 
But as a business point of view, if I was Microsoft or Sony I wouldn't be trying to adhere to the hardcore gamers anymore...But more to the mom and pop...

My boss, who is probably in her late 40s and has never played video games, is talking about getting a Wii. I almost choked. Nintendo's reach with the Wii is simply amazing.
 
Unlikely. This quarter only had one week of Halo. With the 360 apparently reaching profitability on hardware (or at least getting close), and the additional Halo/Mass Effect/other game revenue through November and December, MS should post at least one more profitable quarter.

The thing is for games they sell like crazy on launch day and first week. Then they go down like nothing else. That is why people seem to think that HALO 3 for example is more profitable then movies like Spider man 3 despite Spider man 3 over the time is much more profitable with cinema, rent dvds, buy dvds, tv broadcasts etc.

But yeah this season is always hot on games so should make profit even without Halo 3 :)
 
The thing is for games they sell like crazy on launch day and first week. Then they go down like nothing else. That is why people seem to think that HALO 3 for example is more profitable then movies like Spider man 3 despite Spider man 3 over the time is much more profitable with cinema, rent dvds, buy dvds, tv broadcasts etc.

But yeah this season is always hot on games so should make profit even without Halo 3 :)

They sold ~3.3m opening week of Halo IIRC. Since then, it appears that they've sold ~1.8m of the game in the new quarter. With Christmas coming up, that number will continue to be strong for the next two months. With the other games coming (Mass Effect to counteract Madden's sales in last quarter) along with Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Ace Combat, Orange Box, etc. MS should be just fine through this quarter.

After that, they'll be facing another price cut so anything can happen.
 
So all Microsoft's game division needs to do now to stay profitable is to release a new version of Halo every 3 months. It could happen.
 
I think both the 360 and PS3 have done a pretty poor job of appealing to the hardcore audience. The 360, while decent, has been plagued with unforgivable hardware issues since day one. The PS3 has suffered from Sony's repeated attempts to shoot itself in the foot PR-wise, the high price, and the lack of games.

Perhaps if Sony and Microsoft had managed to avoid their current cock-ups, they would be doing a lot better this generation. I wonder how much of the wii's current success is because the competition has done such a good job of screwing things up. I don't think trying to appeal exclusively to the hardcore audience is a bad thing. If you do it right, you can make a fair bit of cash. For example, look at the software attachment rates for the wii vs the 360. Now, imagine how well the 360 could be doing if it never had any hardware issues....
 
So all Microsoft's game division needs to do now to stay profitable is to release a new version of Halo every 3 months. It could happen.

Hey, then we could call them Nintendo or Capcom......

Anyways, I am pretty sure MS will continue to make money from this point forward. They have established their install base and the system continues to sell well on both fronts; hardware and more importantly software sales. Since November 2006, third party partners have seen their titles hit the top ten sales 27 times for Xbox 360, compared to 2 for PS3 and 1 for Wii. MS has the software and will continue to gather the software with sales like these.
 
I think both the 360 and PS3 have done a pretty poor job of appealing to the hardcore audience. The 360, while decent, has been plagued with unforgivable hardware issues since day one. The PS3 has suffered from Sony's repeated attempts to shoot itself in the foot PR-wise, the high price, and the lack of games.

Perhaps if Sony and Microsoft had managed to avoid their current cock-ups, they would be doing a lot better this generation. I wonder how much of the wii's current success is because the competition has done such a good job of screwing things up. I don't think trying to appeal exclusively to the hardcore audience is a bad thing. If you do it right, you can make a fair bit of cash. For example, look at the software attachment rates for the wii vs the 360. Now, imagine how well the 360 could be doing if it never had any hardware issues....

It's kind of funny, my 360 survived a 70mph crash and roll on the highway in the back of an SUV, I have yet to get a RROD after 1 year of ownership, although the motherfucker scratches up my DVDs :(. I can't even play with my GH2 disk any more, it just gets stuck at the loading screen. It's a good thing I have a friend that doesn't play his copy and that GH3 is right around the corner. I can't even imagine how people that have had multiple consoles break must feel.

Then again, I have plenty of less-than-fond memories of blowing into my Nintendo and SNES games, so I don't suppose this phenomenon is that new.:p
 
snip...
Then again, I have plenty of less-than-fond memories of blowing into my Nintendo and SNES games, so I don't suppose this phenomenon is that new.:p

are you kidding? those were the best times. everyone had their ritual, but mines was damn near flawless. blow on each side of the bottom of the game 1 time, tap the front of the cartridge 3 times with your palm, tap the back 3 times with your palm, put the cartridge almost all the way in then slam it down and push it left to right 3 or 4 times, the hit the power button.

if that didnt work rubbing alcohol and a qtip always did the trick

worked 60-70% of the time....it was amazing.
 
remember the numbers is from Microsoft. Wouldn´t surprise me if they do it like the Xbox 360 they register every console they have shipped as sold :rolleyes:

As for all consoles not being aimed at hardcore gamers. The fact is that they all try to reach outside the hardcore gamers. You can be sure that Both MS and Sony envys Nintendo like crazy because they are the only one that really succeeded. Together with Sony and PS 2 with titles like Buzz, singstar, etc. These are the titles that really sell no matter how old they are lol.
 
are you kidding? those were the best times. everyone had their ritual, but mines was damn near flawless. blow on each side of the bottom of the game 1 time, tap the front of the cartridge 3 times with your palm, tap the back 3 times with your palm, put the cartridge almost all the way in then slam it down and push it left to right 3 or 4 times, the hit the power button.

if that didnt work rubbing alcohol and a qtip always did the trick

worked 60-70% of the time....it was amazing.

I just sacrificed a rodent over the console and drank its blood. Then, when the cartridges stopped loading, I blew on them and shoved something in the console to keep the cartridge down.
 
they probably wont make any true profit untill xbox 10 and halo 12 comes out
 
I think its inevitable that we will see scaled back hardware specs next generation with a lower entry price point. Not to the extent of Nintendo but MS took a hit for entering at $400 and Sony destroyed themselves by entering at $600. Don't expect either company to do that again.

I think we'll see the machines enter the market at $300 next gen with a mild loss on initial hardware at best. Sony and MS won't milk the customer to the tune of the Wii (a $150 machine with a $250 price tag), but the days of losing $200+ on hardware are probably over.

a fucking men... i don't want to pay ass loads of cash...
 
Back
Top