Why did the Xbox outsell the GameCube?

[Teeqoz]

nanarchy said:

dharh said:
Halo, hard drive, xbox live, dvd. It truly showed something _new_ and was not a gimmick. It had true enhancements to what we knew of console gaming. Despite that, it was a failure btw.

It wasn't a failure, it was hugely successful for them in terms of what their goals were. They never expected to make money or be the leading console, they were up front about that at the time which was pissing investors off big time as they were saying it was a long term bet and it worked.

Well, that depends on what you mean by "worked". Overall Xbox still hasn't made money for Microsoft, and they also spent a lot of resources there which they could've spent in other things that actually would've given a return. It was a long term bet, and it worked out....kinda. There is no reason for investors to be pissed about xbox currently, as it will be overall profitable this gen, but for investors then, they had every right to be pissed, as it still hasn't been beneficial for Microsoft in the long run. You could argue that the value of xbox (xbox brand+their IPs+their devs) is enough to make up for that, and that in that sense they have made money, and I'd agree to some extent, but Xbox was by no means a great business move from Microsoft. I'm really glad they did join the console fray though, as it either brought us, or at the very least shortened the wait for many great features to be brought to consoles.