By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Microsoft - Former MS executive: Microsoft doesn't make very much on videogames

Tachikoma on 08 February 2013

God it must be frustrating for Xbox fans to know that despite "how much of a failure the ps3 is" and "how Sony is doomed" and all that crap - with an additional years market presence the Xbox 360 is less than 2 million units ahead in sales, I guess being a fanboy that can't enjoy games for games and has to stoop to sales data and financial reports to feel good really does have it's limits.

I hope all three companies quit making consoles all together.



Around the Network
Wh1pL4shL1ve_007 on 08 February 2013
sethnintendo said:

Just what I thought. Microsoft doesn't care about the video games. They only care about penetrating the market with a multi media hub in every home.  Support Nintendo and Sony if you care about video game consoles.


Sounds like they only want our money. Ohh wait, thats what EVERY company cares about.  Silly me. 



Yay!!!

J_Allard on 08 February 2013
sethnintendo said:
tonymarraffa said:
sethnintendo said:

Just what I thought. Microsoft doesn't care about the video games. They only care about penetrating the market with a multi media hub in every home.  Support Nintendo and Sony if you care about video game consoles.


I'm proud to own all the majors consoles and I can admit they each have there plues and minus. I can also sy that I don't hold a pathetic allegence to any one gaming company.


I don't think Microsoft really gives a damn about the video game market.  They are more concerned with putting a box in everyone's home and have them pay for Live.

BREAKING NEWS: Businesses are in the business of making money. Business invests billions into market they "don't really give a damn about".



KungKras on 08 February 2013
sethnintendo said:
KungKras said:

Making Age of Empires is ignoring gamers as much as possible?....

....dude

Age of Empires is alright but Empire Earth is just as good.

Both are epicly awesome!



I LOVE ICELAND!

Nsanity on 08 February 2013

This is from the same guy:

Microsoft wanted to buy Sega at one point, according to former Microsoft exec and this week’s chief bean-spiller Joachim Kempin. Bill Gates clubbed the idea to death after he deemed that Sega lacked ‘muscle’ to help it defeat Sony in the console arms race.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/08/former-microsoft-exec-reveals-failed-sega-acquisition-blames-lack-of-muscle/



Around the Network
dallas on 08 February 2013
Nsanity said:

This is from the same guy:

Microsoft wanted to buy Sega at one point, according to former Microsoft exec and this week’s chief bean-spiller Joachim Kempin. Bill Gates clubbed the idea to death after he deemed that Sega lacked ‘muscle’ to help it defeat Sony in the console arms race.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/08/former-microsoft-exec-reveals-failed-sega-acquisition-blames-lack-of-muscle/


well, i'd say that lacking muscle is >  ugly trannies but you get my drift



nightsurge on 08 February 2013
VGKing said:
Mr Puggsly said:
VGKing said:
Nothing really new but it should open some of these people's eyes. The Xbox business isn't this immensely profitable division for Microsoft like some make it out to be.

Well even early on it seemed like MS was primarily looking to diversify. Its clear MS didn't step in expecting big profits and continued on even after huge losses on the original Xbox. It was probably the biggest financial disaster in the industry... until PS3 rolled around.

I think most of us knew Sony before the Playstation, but putting out a game console gave them a cult following. MS accomplished the same thing with gamers via the Xbox.

Either way, it looks like the Xbox brand really has become a financially worthwhile endeavor. I presume the most profitable aspect of Xbox is those Live memberships. I've heard guesstimates as high as 20 million Gold members. If that's true, that's a nice chunk of change.

Those Xbox lIve Gold subs are extremely optimistic. I believe the last actual number we had was like 12million, and that doesn't mean these people are paying $60 a year, they could be finding sales for these, they could be paying for the 3month Gold subs. It's end-gen and I expect Gold subs to be no more than 15m.(being a bit optimistic)

The 12 million figure was almost 2 years ago.

Also, I find 15 million figure to be a lowball considering at least 14 million people have played Modern Warfare 3 online. Granted, there could be duplicates or canceled/created accounts. At least MS doesn't include those numbers to inflate their picture like Sony does lol... all MS's figures are "Active" users not total accounts ever created, duplicated, abandoned, forums, psp, ps3, PC, etc... haha

And really, the EDD (the division that houses Xbox, Zune, Windows Phone, and a few other devices) has been posting great profits for the last few years. The only device in that list that is profitable is the Xbox brand. All those other devices have been incurring losses like mad, and yet the EDD still shows ~1billion profit a year?!?! Compare that to the other 2 main gaming companies out there and see how that stacks up in recent years.

The Xbox itself is a mad money maker and if it had it's own division we would likely see profits double or more compared to the EDD division!



VGKing on 08 February 2013
sethnintendo said:

Just what I thought. Microsoft doesn't care about the video games. They only care about penetrating the market with a multi media hub in every home.  Support Nintendo and Sony if you care about video game consoles.

You would think that Sony would have a much bigger interest in this than Microsoft since you know....they actually  make movies/tv shows/music. 



VGKing on 08 February 2013
nightsurge said:
VGKing said:
Mr Puggsly said:
VGKing said:
Nothing really new but it should open some of these people's eyes. The Xbox business isn't this immensely profitable division for Microsoft like some make it out to be.

Well even early on it seemed like MS was primarily looking to diversify. Its clear MS didn't step in expecting big profits and continued on even after huge losses on the original Xbox. It was probably the biggest financial disaster in the industry... until PS3 rolled around.

I think most of us knew Sony before the Playstation, but putting out a game console gave them a cult following. MS accomplished the same thing with gamers via the Xbox.

Either way, it looks like the Xbox brand really has become a financially worthwhile endeavor. I presume the most profitable aspect of Xbox is those Live memberships. I've heard guesstimates as high as 20 million Gold members. If that's true, that's a nice chunk of change.

Those Xbox lIve Gold subs are extremely optimistic. I believe the last actual number we had was like 12million, and that doesn't mean these people are paying $60 a year, they could be finding sales for these, they could be paying for the 3month Gold subs. It's end-gen and I expect Gold subs to be no more than 15m.(being a bit optimistic)

The 12 million figure was almost 2 years ago.

Also, I find 15 million figure to be a lowball considering at least 14 million people have played Modern Warfare 3 online. Granted, there could be duplicates or canceled/created accounts. At least MS doesn't include those numbers to inflate their picture like Sony does lol... all MS's figures are "Active" users not total accounts ever created, duplicated, abandoned, forums, psp, ps3, PC, etc... haha

And really, the EDD (the division that houses Xbox, Zune, Windows Phone, and a few other devices) has been posting great profits for the last few years. The only device in that list that is profitable is the Xbox brand. All those other devices have been incurring losses like mad, and yet the EDD still shows ~1billion profit a year?!?! Compare that to the other 2 main gaming companies out there and see how that stacks up in recent years.

The Xbox itself is a mad money maker and if it had it's own division we would likely see profits double or more compared to the EDD division!

So you're saying all ~15million or so Xbox LIve Gold accounts are active? LOL.



VGKing on 08 February 2013
Nsanity said:

This is from the same guy:

Microsoft wanted to buy Sega at one point, according to former Microsoft exec and this week’s chief bean-spiller Joachim Kempin. Bill Gates clubbed the idea to death after he deemed that Sega lacked ‘muscle’ to help it defeat Sony in the console arms race.

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/08/former-microsoft-exec-reveals-failed-sega-acquisition-blames-lack-of-muscle/

WTF is up with your avatars?