(Business Perspective) Does MS really need Xbox Hardware?

[Pemalite]

Azzanation said:

2) Nintendo had Sega as a major competitor with the Mega Drive and Genesis, it was healthy competition when it was two major platforms. Sony entered, Sega instantly struggled, there was no room for Sega to compete. Look at the history of the console market. There has always been 2 major platforms and the 3rd platform changes from company to company. You have seen it with your own eyes.

Yes. Nintendo had Sega as a major competitor with the Mega drive and Genesis.

Sega started to struggle with the Saturn because:

1) They didn't work with developers, they didn't even know when the console was releasing, it ended up releasing earlier than developers expected.

2) Sega announced the console as available in 1995. - But it was only limited quantities, consumers missed out due to scarcity.

3) Poor launch games library. - I.E. No Sonic.

4) $100 more expensive console than Playstation. (We know how that worked for the Xbox One!)

5) Difficult to program for. - Dual CPU's leveraging the same bus left much to be desired.

Sega's own choices were responsible for the Saturns failure.

Even Nintendo found much less success in the market with the Nintendo 64, also due to some of it's own poor choices. (Carts).

But Generation 6 was a reset.

Generation 6 was clearly Sony's generation, the PS2 sold 155~ million which beats the combined 24 million (Xbox), 22 million (Gamecube) and 9.1 million  (Dreamcast) sales by almost 3x.

It wasn't a "to much" competition issue in generation 6 that caused Microsoft, Nintendo AND Sega to struggle that generation, Sony was just dominant.

However, Sega faltered before Nintendo and Microsoft released their 6th gen consoles, so their competition was absolutely irrelevant... In-fact Sega had strong Dreamcast sales until the PS2 happened, then they plummeted.

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The 7th generation consoles PROVED that Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo. Aka. 3 competitors can thrive in the console market at the same time with the Wii (101~ million), PS3 (87~ million), Xbox (84~ million) all being profitable and highly successful platforms in their own right.

Azzanation said:

3) EGS hasn't changed the market, not the way you are thinking they did. Let me ask you, what did EGS change exactly for the better? EGS tried to lower Steams cut on games and failed. Steam still takes 30% (With the exception of high end sales). Why does Steam need to take a less cut on games? For what purpose does this benefit the consumers? Your example of Discord was a poor one. In what world is Discord a Steam competitor? 

1) I already outlined how the Epic Game Store has influenced and changed Steam.
I am not going to constantly repeat myself, re-read my prior post as those points are all still relevant.

2) Steam doesn't take 30%. They have different cuts depending on sales.

3) Steam having less cut for games, means more money for developers, which means less sales required for developers to turn a profit and keep making games. - This is basic business sense. - More games benefits the consumers.

4) Discord distributes/sells games and apps. - Discord interfaces with many games as a forum/chat client.

Azzanation said:

4) So you are saying Sony don't want Bethesda's big games? I would say my point is more in favor than yours.

I never made that claim.

Azzanation said:

5) MS is already making deals with other Streaming services to play Xbox games, so where is this hard porting process you continue to bring up? From what we are seeing, is they have signed multiple 10+ year deals with other services to play Xbox games, so where's the porting issue? I dont understand this point? If Nvidia can Stream Xbox games, so can PS and Nintendo.

Microsoft's "deals" are partly to pass a purchase of Activision Blizzard.

I never asserted porting is hard.
I said porting is required.

Azzanation said:

6) Assumption. You cannot run a business on assumptions.

Your entire argument is based on baseless assumptions.

Azzanation said:

7) Maybe when they announce and release some new games maybe...

They have been doing that for years...