OK I give you that they might be making some money on on the consoles(Those cost figures don't count promotion, the bundling, shipping, retailer gets couple dollars, etc.) If they were making $77 on each premium starting last year why were they still losing money? They dropped the premium drice $50 and added games. Yes the die-shrink helps but it does os in the long term. Any money they make from the consoles in minimal. If they were making a lot I bet they would drop prices further to push thiei marketshare. Why would they have lost money last quarter when you take out Halo 3? The profit they made last quarter was due to SOFTWARE.
That is how MS has structured things. They are still burning capital trying to win over Japan and parts of Europe. They are still buying up exclusives and starting work on the next console. They keep dumping money into Live so it will stayt light-years ahead of the competition.
So if they can continue to push tons and tons of software then they will be profitable. I just don't think that will Q1-3 of next year will be quite enough. I expect modest losses.
MS is very patient. They only had 1 profitable quarter on XBox and only 1 so far on the 360. They have turned a corner but they are not about to risk domination later for a few million in the black now. They have done it once and that satifies investors and bosses, this quarter is probably a gimmie, and so they wll be unleassh as much money as they need to next year to keep beating Sony.
Final* Word on Game Delays:
The game will not be any better or include more content then planned. Any commnets that say so are just PR hogwash to make you feel better for having to wait.
Delays are due to lack of proper resources, skill, or adequate planning by the developer.
Do be thankful that they have enough respect for you to delay the game and maintain its intended level of quality.
*naznatips is exempt
