lol Yahoo....they still exist?

The next Xbox is going to penetrate so many different markets at once if its going to be a true media hub. MS has billions of reserve cash and make 5 billion profit every 3 months.

This opinion is better suited to describe a certain other big 3 gaming company.

You people know that "Yahoo" didn't write this article. Some guy at Yahoo did, and he is pretty smart cause he got all of you to click on it and generate traffic for Yahoo for a troll article.

Just another poor article written by somebody who doesn't have a clue.

but i didn't click his article, i was schmarter then

Schmarter and more better you are!

@nightsurge and Bond,

I can't quote at work (VGC is a coding mess)

So losses 3.5 billion, profits 2.6 billion.
So the EDD was not profitable for the lifespan of the 360, but the 360 itself was.

--> 900 million USD difference.

3.5 billion losses include the last stages of the original Xbox, Zune, Windows Phone, Nokia payments, Kin and PC equipement as well.

We know that Kin alone (a small product a lot of you guys probably haven't even heard of) cost close to 300 million USD. About 200 million was just for the discontinue of the product.

http://www.microsoft.com/investor/reports/ar11/financial_review/discussion_analysis.html

Now imagine what the same scenario of Zune and Zune HD must have cost.

Microsoft payed Nokia 250 million every 3 months. resulting in more than 1 billion USD.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/microsoft-paid-nokia-250-million-to-adopt-windows-phone-q4-ear/

Add Windows phone (especially before WP7) and you get the idea.

So yeah, the 360 and XBL is a highly profitable product by now. The original Xbox is a way to go though.

I know some people went into rage mode at the very suggestion that Xbox isn't worth it to Microsoft, but the article does raise some valid points. That Microsoft should abandon the Xbox brand isn't one of them, however. We already know that the brand is a huge part of Microsoft's plans going forward, even to the point of pulling other devices and services under its umbrella. The plans for it are far more ambitious than just a gaming system, as Microsoft wants to use it as a beachhead for taking over entire households. It's kind of a "you already have Xbox, might as well get a Windows Phone and Windows tablet, etc"--a strategy which Apple already uses quite well.

The bad news is that Xbox is probably one of the most viable parts of that scenario. Windows Phone is showing little signs of becoming meaningful and even though Windows 8 sold a lot of licenses and cheap upgrades it's probably still going change little in terms of market share. Microsoft has also had its share of true money sinks, as well, like Zune and Bing.

From what I can see, they can't afford to NOT keep Xbox as one of their flagship programs. It might be the second best leverage they have to get more Microsoft products into people's homes.

You and Proctus should seek an education. Revenue is not profit. It's income, profit is income minus expenses. This is rather elementary economics. I find it astonishing that both of you fail to understand this. Perhaps jumping quickly to the defense of the Xbox360 isn't in your best interest if you cannot form logical thoughts.

No doubt the article is a bit silly. The future of the MS games business is sound, gathering a huge market share from Sony over this generation compared to the last.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_capital

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost

Just making a profit isn't enough. The money they make has to be greater than the money they (investors) could have made by investing in something else.

Dah, a smart guy who's trying to be funny, that's so cute.

(Not you above post).