(Business Perspective) Does MS really need Xbox Hardware?

[DonFerrari]

Machiavellian said:

Azzanation said:

Disagree. Not all competition is good. You think Epic Games Store entering the PC space was great competition for Valve? It caused more of a problem with consumers than gains. Nintendo and Sega were doing quite well to before Sony entered, adding that 3rd player which ended up killing Sega.

I would rather see a healthy 2 platform console race than 3. Xbox is literally wasting resources in a industry they cant compete in. Set the full focus on making great games and remove the focus on hardware. Go back to full PC development and put games on the high selling consoles to increase overall sales and IP popularity.

This also doesnt damage me the slightest as a consumer. Only benefits me. It means MS can focus solely on building the best games again without the distractions of hardware.

Disagree with this point as well.  There is no situation where any company at any point in time without any competition will not abuse their marketshare.  After a while they need to protect their marketshare, they will stop innovating because why should they when there is no competition.  Even Epic coming into the space makes sure that Valve continue to do things that make their customers happy or they will leave.  There is nothing I see from Epic entering the store front space that caused any problems.

What ended up killing Sega, guess what, it was Sega.  Just like every other console company that could not compete when a new entrant enters the market with a better product.  You have so many console makers who were killed off by Sega and Nintendo.  That is how competition works, any new entrant in the market either brings something that separate them from their competition or they see themselves gone.

Your last point is pretty much the crux of all this.  Personally you believe that the market can only sustain 2 platforms but that is a misconception.  The market can sustain as many platforms based on how each platform successfully satisfy the market they target.  

Personally it would be great if we only had one console with all the games on it.  That would be a perfect world but history shows us while it sounds great, such a situation would cause whichever company to stifle any competition, monopolize the industry, raise prices and basically stop innovating.  The Sony today is directly related to the competition from MS and Nintendo.  Moves Sony has made from their console strategy, to their services to the devs they have purchase has all been direct situations caused by competition against MS and Nintendo.  The same is to be said for MS as well.

As a consumer, I always need Sony to feel MS right behind them ready to flip the status quo and Sony to push to keep it.  Case in point, I just purchased Sony PS Extra because Sony is selling it for 36 bucks for the whole year.  Why do you believe Sony is heavily discounting PS+ Extra, because of GP of course.  With no competition, there would be no need for Sony to provide this discount and we as consumers benefit from competition between them both as each seeks to secure customers.

Even in perfect world a single platform would still be problematic. Because if you don't have to make games to show off your console them I won't need to invest on games that may not give direct profit but turns out being great games that niches love.