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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Forbes: Microsoft Should Give XBox One To Nintendo

Pemalite on 19 February 2014
fatslob-:O said:
Pemalite said:
kitler53 said:

Will game console sales decline like PC sales?

On top of profit worries is the threat that console market growth may stagnate as gamers migrate toward games on mobile devices.  How this will affect sales is unknown.  But given what happened to PC   sales it’s not hard to imagine the market for consoles to become smaller each year, dominated by dedicated game players, while the majority of casual game players move to their convenient always-on device.

Due to its limited product range, Nintendo is in a “fight to the death” to win in gaming. Sony is now selling its PC business, and lacks strong offerings in most consumer products markets (like TVs) while facing extremely tough competition from Samsung and LG.  Sony, likewise, cannot afford to abandon the Playstation business, and will be forced to engage in this profit killing battle to attract developers and end-use customers.


The PC as a whole is indeed in decline, but only for content consumption. (Movies and casual games.)
Content creation is an entirely different situation. (You wouldn't be going through a million lines of code on a tablet for instance then compiling.)

And PC gaming is actually on the increase, Steam is gaining active users at a rate of 15% a year and doesn't look like it's slowing any time soon.
It's Sony's own fault for not targeting certain demographics in the PC space that led to it's failure, there are still 300+ million machines sold a year which they could have partaken in.

Gaming as a whole is on the decline and PC gaming on an increase won't save anything ...

It probably won't.
But it does mean we got more PC games. :)
Besides, it's when PC gaming tanks that everyone should worry, PC gamers help fund the yearly technological advancements found in the consoles.
Companies like Corsair, Razer built their hardware business's on PC gaming.

Dr.Henry_Killinger said:

Pemalite said:


And PC gaming is actually on the increase, Steam is gaining active users at a rate of 15% a year and doesn't look like it's slowing any time soon.
It's Sony's own fault for not targeting certain demographics in the PC space that led to it's failure, there are still 300+ million machines sold a year which they could have partaken in.

 

I don't know if Steam gaining active users is indicative of PC Gaming increasing. Not only is Steam not mandatory for PC gaming but I don't know how Steam defines "active" and I doubt it accounts much for loss of activity. With regards to hardware, there is no such thing as a dedicated gaming component in the pc, tablet, or smartphone spheres. Only software can be tracked reliably on these platforms and then we arbitrarlly distingusih the hardcore from the casual with the former on pc and latter on tablet/smartphone when it could easily be the reverse.

Rather than a diminishing of the market, I think that the gaming market is becoming more mainstream, in such a way that the movie industry in basically is in the entertainment industry. 

Of course there will be the dedicated gamers, just as their are dedicated movie goers, but once dedicated consoles have run their course and fully integrated into the digital realm. We won't have console sales to track anymore, or rather we wouldn't be able to measure the hardcore anymore.

It's one indication of many that PC gaming is increasing.
Profits are generally up across the board from many PC gaming oritentated companies.
Corsair for instance has consistently increased profits and marketshare (To the point they filed for an IPO in 2012, whilst the PC was in decline and added more product lines.)
nVidia has seen increases in GPU sales.
AMD has seen stupidly large amounts of GPU sales. (mostly thanks to miners in the high-end.)
EA's Origin saw consistent growth in 2013, both in users and profits.

Also, I was actually wrong on the Steam active user account.
It's not 15% a year.
The jump was 15% over just a 3 month period.
That's 65 million to 75 million, the contrast to this is, Sony only tells us "registered" users on PSN, same goes for Microsoft.
http://www.joystiq.com/2014/01/15/steam-has-75-million-active-users-valve-announces-at-dev-days/

Steam calculates an active user as someone who has logged within the last 30 days and has ever purchased something, the contrast to this is, you can make a dozen accounts on Xbox live or PSN and Microsoft/Sony count those, without paying a red cent.

So a breakdown.
2009 - 25 million users.
2010 - 30 million+
2011 - 40 million
2012 - 50 million
2013 - 65 million
2014 (3 months later) 75 million.

That's not a sign of the times slowing.



--::{PC Gaming Master Race}::--

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forevercloud3000 on 19 February 2014
superryo said:
So MS sold so much better than the original X360 and it's a failure? Where did the loss of billions a year come from? I thought they are selling the One at a profit? Seems like a lot of "journalists" are using the PIDOOMA (pulled it directly out of my ass) theory. As for not being the most powerful and not selling as much as the competitors mean you should close shop then Apple should close as well since doesn't Android (mostly Samsung) owns 80% of the market and in some cases have much more powerful devices? How come none of the "journalists" are calling Apple to close shop and selling to Google?


Well what a lot of analysts and MS reps are saying is that XBOX division barely breaks even. Its suspected to be due to MS's ridiculous Marketing budget and the amount of money they have to throw at devs for that prized timed exclusive content. In XBOX's financial reports these types of costs are being burried under other divisions.

In the grand scheme of everything MS, the marginal profit they make from XBOX isn't worth the trouble. Especially not to still be in Last Place. They could probably do much better as a 3rd Party that Shadow puppets/backs another holder. A bit more then they were for the DreamCast. They could help Nintendo Co Develop a actually competitive Hardware, with the combined IP selling power of Halo and Mario.

 

The likelyhood of such a situation happening, virtually zero. MS is far too prideful for that, Nintendo is probably way more so.



      

      

      

Greatness Awaits

PSN:Forevercloud (looking for Soul Sacrifice Partners!!!)

superhippy420 on 19 February 2014
Chris Hu said:

The market didn't crash for Gears the last game was a prequel that is why it didn't sell well.  As for Forza 5 its doing pretty well its the thrid highest selling X1 title I'm pretty sure no one expected it to sell more the COD: Ghosts or Battlefield 4.  Also if you really want to see a game that crashed look at the numbers for Wii Fit U.


Wii Fit U is an awful comparison.    They were selling the meters for $20 and if you got one you got a DLC copy of the game for free.  The meters were also constantly selling out the first month they were out.  Retail sales of Wii Fit U were never going to be good, it just wouldn't make any sense if they were. Nintendo advertised the offer with the Meters like crazy as well.

Say whatever you want about Gears but Halo Reach was also a prequel and it did 9.5 million.   They burnt people out on Gears just like how people got burnt out on Guitar Hero.  Sales of a franchise like Gears don't just all of a sudden fall to 1.4 million when every other one did 6 million because it was just a prequel.  Forza is dead as well.   The racing genre in general is dead.  So many racers came out last gen, that people just stopped caring.   Forza 4 did 1.2 million less then Forza 3. Forza 5's lifetime max is about 2.5 million and that is it.  They ran it into the ground.   Forza 6 did horribly as well considering that Forza is suppossed to be Sony's best selling franchise.  2 million on an install base of 80+ million is pathetic.    Skyward Sword did 3.75 million on a console base of about 85 million and Zelda isn't even close to being Nintendo's biggest franchise.    I own an Xbox 360 btw.  Got one at launch. I am just telling the truth.  The running of franchises into the ground is why Microsoft is fucked. 



Arius Dion on 19 February 2014

Gaming is a very hostile business. The console graveyard is full of carcasses. Gaming is not in a healthy place right now. The object of business is to make money. If you aren't why stay? The landscape is changing and shrinking beneath their feet. The gaming industry will meet massive decline and corporate conglomerates will want to trim the fat.

Gaming is a small part of what they M$ & -$ony do. Sony especially doesn't have the ability to keep dumping cash into a black hole. And M$ hates not making money period. Xbox offers Nintendo nothing. They won't buy the brand at all.



Bet between Slimbeast and Arius Dion about Wii sales 2009:


If the Wii sells less than 20 million in 2009 (as defined by VGC sales between week ending 3d Jan 2009 to week ending 4th Jan 2010) Slimebeast wins and get to control Arius Dion's sig for 1 month.

If the Wii sells more than 20 million in 2009 (as defined above) Arius Dion wins and gets to control Slimebeast's sig for 1 month.

ToxicJosh on 19 February 2014

If Microsoft did decide to abandon the console market (and I think it would take the Xbox not making any money for 2 full years, including software, licensing and gold subscriptions), I think they probably would approach Nintendo as a buyer for the division (although probably not on such generous terms as in OP).



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Soundwave on 19 February 2014
ToxicJosh said:
If Microsoft did decide to abandon the console market (and I think it would take the Xbox not making any money for 2 full years, including software, licensing and gold subscriptions), I think they probably would approach Nintendo as a buyer for the division (although probably not on such generous terms as in OP).


The other benefit there is people could continue working in much the same way without having to relocate or something .... Nintendo of America and Microsoft are literally across the street from each other. 



Incubi on 19 February 2014

Disregarding the credibility or the contribution writer, i'd still like to entertain the idea of Nintendo reacquiring Rare and restore it to its former glory, while also taking ownership of the MGS ip's. Xbox division without MGS and its subsidiaries is worthless.



blessedswine on 19 February 2014
superryo said:
So MS sold so much better than the original X360 and it's a failure? Where did the loss of billions a year come from? I thought they are selling the One at a profit? Seems like a lot of "journalists" are using the PIDOOMA (pulled it directly out of my ass) theory. As for not being the most powerful and not selling as much as the competitors mean you should close shop then Apple should close as well since doesn't Android (mostly Samsung) owns 80% of the market and in some cases have much more powerful devices? How come none of the "journalists" are calling Apple to close shop and selling to Google?


selling the one at a profit means they make money on each system that money goes towards covering the millions if not billions in R&D  just like sony is making money on ps4, they said it wont be till 2015 when they recoup the money from R&D stage of the system.



supernihilist on 19 February 2014

reads like a pretty good assertion to me, obviously the pro-Msoft people will freak out, but Msoft has yet to prove they can make good bussiness and make money with consoles...13 years later



supernihilist on 19 February 2014
kowenicki said:

To add.

This charmer has done about a dozen "articles" on Microsoft over the last 4 years or so... all of them negative, the first one from 2010 entitled "microsoft's dismal future"

He clearly has an agenda.


i see nothing wrong on that, at least in the console deparment, Msoft is wasting their own time and mone on a declining market that has 2 way more stablished brands. they should move on.