Right, but what drives the sales of Live? Selling consoles. You can't sell Live to people who don't own an Xbox.

Still, the number of consoles sold help a lot. It's much easier to sell 10m of a game on PS4 than on XBox.

Of course, with streaming, this is going to change.

In the future, VGChartz will have to chart user subscriptions.

Halo is also releaseing on PC.... and they wont rule out "other competing platforms" either.

To me this says, MS has stopped careing about hardware sales.
As long as they sell the game + service, they dont care where its sold.

MS hides it under 10 feet. But if we use a rule of thumbs with PS4 having about 45% PS+ subs, then with X1 I think about 50% would be a good measure (so 15-20M subs to gold).

PSNow is under 2M, so Gamepass probably also on the 1-2M subs.

SW sales still makes most of the revenue, and for that if they don't have the platform they miss most since most of the SW sold on Xbox is 3rd party.

Only read the thread title.

In a way it is because selling more consoles SHOULD mean better support (Not always true. Wii, for example).
At the same time,M$ makes a ton of revenue despite not being the best selling Console.

Yeah well...if the next generation is as dismal as this one...he'll be working at Burger King talking about why selling burgers doesn't mean anything as long as people are wearing those paper hats.

It is a tough pill to swallow for the core gaming community, but Phil is right.

A large console user base has been very improtant up until now. Gaming at the highest level was only possible via a Console or an expensive PC. Since most consumers could not handle the up front cost of entering the PC market, or simply didn't want a PC in their entertainment center, Consoles became the home of the best gaming expereinces for the majority of gamers.

Going into next generation this will no longer be the case. Thanks to advancements in networking, and accessability to high level computing via the network, nearly every device will be able to deliver AAA games. Now we are moving from an era where we had games accessable to only the ~200 Million people that would buy a dedicated device, to over 2 Billion people that can access the most current games through the devices and services they already have.

The potential userbase for AAA games will increase by 10X next generation, as consumers will no longer to invest anything to gain access to them. People will be able to choose from a number of streaming services available on the PC, Console, TV, Laptop, Tablet, and Smartphone they already own. The entry price to play the most advanced games will be $0 for Free 2 Play Titles, potentially as low as $5 a month for Access to AAA games via subscription services, and at most $60 to out right buy a game on one of these services.

Consoles sales are no longer important going forward. Consoles will no longer be a barrier to accessing the best games. Consoles will become a premium method in which the Gamephiles invest, to get the best possible gaming expereince.

The majority of console gamers will be happy enough with streaming over the next decade. I fully expect console sales to fall, potentially by as much as half, if not greater, as the casual gaming audience no longer sees a reason to invest $400+ into something that gives them access to something they will only see as slightly better than what they already have. Most of the Fifa, Madden, NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Fortnite crowd will not invest in a next gen console, as they move to playing games on their Smart TV, Laptop, or Phone.

That is the reality of the future we are heading for, but don't be scared. Consoles are not going anywhere, Physical games are not going anywhere. The business is simply expanding to offer more choices, and reach a wider audience. The only thing core gamers might have to come to terms with, is that consoles and physical games will very likely become a more expensive hobby. For those that truly love the console and physical experience, they will pay the price. Everyone else will stream, or if they are stubborn enough, then they will walk away, but that is their loss.

Of course, I just was trying to point out that it was foolish to be so dismissive of them. They can do very well by driving higher engagement with a smaller userbase. Since MS doesn't really have a shot to completely take over, the wisest move is to add value to their base, keep them loyal, and expand services offered. No reason to believe that Scarlett won't also be a success, especially without the complete fumbled start that X1 suffered.

Also, you can now buy GamePass with just PC, but your overall point is true.

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.

Gamepass is probably closer to 4m.