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thismeintiel on 13 June 2019
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VAMatt said:
thismeintiel said:

Those profits came from Nintendo selling tens of millions of handheld HW, which led to tens of millions of SW sold from that HW. It definitely didn't come from underperforming home consoles.

And yes, digital subs and sales are important, but it is the combination of both that and physical retail that makes one very successful. And more boxes sold means more profit from HW and higher potential for sales of physical and digital goods.

Except that nobody has ever made an real money on sales of consoles.  They're a loss leader.  They're used to get you in the "store", so you'll buy the other merchandise (software, subscriptions, and peripherals) where they make real money.  

But, your other points are right.  Selling consoles is an important part of the overall recipe for success, as the industry works now.  But, with MS selling subscriptions to PC users, and games to users of nearly every platform, the recipe is changing.  And, in that context, Phil's statements make sense.  

You don't think Sony and Nintendo are making money on their HW? Oh, they are. Especially Sony. The PS4 HW was profitable just 7 months after launch. And they have been able to sell their HW at $299 for almost three years now. They are making a killing on HW.

EricHiggin said:
thismeintiel said:

Those profits came from Nintendo selling tens of millions of handheld HW, which led to tens of millions of SW sold from that HW. It definitely didn't come from underperforming home consoles.

And yes, digital subs and sales are important, but it is the combination of both that and physical retail that makes one very successful. And more boxes sold means more profit from HW and higher potential for sales of physical and digital goods.

MS seems to understand the long game from a tech perspective, they just don't understand it from a present consumer's perspective overall and how that leads to a future customer worldwide. Either that or they're just more worried about making money, and focusing on digital is a safer bet vs physical in terms of profit in general.

I think the beginning of this gen proves your last statement to be true. MS is one of the foolish who believes that killing the used game market will bring them larger profits. Of course, the truth is that it would more likely result in increased piracy and lower game sales. 

DialgaMarine said:
I’m aware that Xbox has been under new management since last gen, but they clearly didn’t have this philosophy when their hardware sales numbers were actually more competitive. I only disagree because I think their metrics for success are far more vague than putting out hard sales numbers, and I feel that they’re implying that putting out hardware numbers somehow equates that company’s console not being consistently used by the majority of its buyers.

Funny enough, they don't seem to like to give out any hard numbers, SW or HW. It's always vague metrics, like how many hours played or how many times a specific goal in the game was met. Their position is no matter how poorly or well they are doing, they're great.