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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Which Company Do You See Leaving the Console Business First?

 

so?

Microsoft 452 77.26%
 
Nintendo 54 9.23%
 
Sony 79 13.50%
 
Total:585

Videogames are Nintendo's business, they still don't have any other source of income (their QoL thing is still somwehat related to videogames). It's because of that that they are the least probable of the three to leave the business.

Sony is in troubles, big troubles, but their PlayStation side of the business is one of the few that makes them win money. It's because of that that I find unlikely that Sony will exit the console business anytime soon. They will first get rid of the money-sink divisions rather than selling/shooting down one of the few profitable ones.

Microsoft. Of the threem they are the only ones that don't need videogames or consoles to have success. In fact, its common to hear shareholders complaining about the Xbox brand and asking for it to be sold because it doesn't do anything to the overall MSoft business.

It is because of that, that I'd say Microsoft is the most likely to exit this business.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

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Lol @ the poll.
Even though I do think that Microsoft WOULD leave first, I know that most of the people who voted MS didn't even think, because there's only a handful of MS fans on the site.



I'd say MS are most likely to leave first. For Nintendo it's their entire purpose, for Sony, it's about the only thing making them money right now.

For Microsoft, it's a side project for the company and there is shareholder pressure forming for them to drop XB because it doesn't generate enough profit (remembering their idea of profitable is completely different to what a game centric company in the 90s would have been looking for).

Too much investment is required for what many see as limited returns. I think they'll look more to turn Xbox into a multi format gaming brand and distribution platform rather than linked to a box in your front room.



RIP Dad 25/11/51 - 13/12/13. You will be missed but never forgotten.

Here is a more detailed view on the changes that will come in the next 5-10 years.

Sony:
The ps vita will be sony's last attempt at a handheld machine effectively being the first to stop making a platform. After a marketshare regain this gen for the ps4 sony will continue to create at least one more home console.

Nintendo: after sustanable 3ds sales they will attempt another handheld but this will be more like the vita in terms of sales effectively marking the end of dedicated handhelds. The wii u will not be profitable for nintendo and at best break even. I am certain nintendo will go third party or mobile creater but i cannot dare to say when. It depends on how quickly they will give up on their handhelds as they will no longer have a solid revenue stream

Microsoft: MS will become impatient with the x1 and make one of two choices. Either the xbox division gets subzidised which means a certain death for xbox seeing as their main draw right now has to be exclusives xbox themselves cannot afford to buy off games on their own and they dont have the studio infrastructure capable of competing with sony and nintendo. The other option os that they sell the division which naturally means xbox forfeits.

In conclusion: sony drops handhelds first, microsoft drops home console first, and nintendo will fight for a difficult to guess time period. Nonetheless nintendo is set to leave both behind in favor of appealing to other platforms. Most likely the latest but the hardest hit.



Japan ensures a Nintendo handheld will never sell as poorly as the Vita. DS/3DS are their "main" consoles, as PS4/XBox are to the West.



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Sony is by far the most profitable company right now in terms of consoles, and will remain that way for the next ~5 years considering the Ps4 is looking to reach the mythical Ps2 numbers. Microsoft or Nintendo will likely be the first ones out.

I think Nintendo is more likely to leave first due to their consoles not doing well since the beginning of the Wii era (at the end of era, they had horrid software attachment rates, actually bleeding money due to the fact they first party developed most of their games). Nintendo will never make games for other consoles however, for as long as they dominate the mobile market thats where all their games will go. They will become "handheld consoles" if you will, and likely have a way of attaching to the TV with wireless controllers as the new friendly party based system and mobile device hybrid. This is the only way I see Nintendo surviving. They have a huge bank (due to mobile), but you can't eat losses forever.

Microsoft as a company has struggled a lot with hardware sales accross the board, not just in consoles. I wouldn't be surprised to see the company double down on software and release all their hardware brands to another company... there is just so much money to be made in other markets (virtualization) that theres no reason for a company that big to spend so much time and money on the consoles to not make any money. They ate such huge losses for the classic Xbox that the 360 turned their gaming division profitable from the initial investment just recently. Just too much overhead for such little success..

Sony is the company that is in by far the most trouble, however their console/gaming market is the one bright spot for the company. Don't expect to see them get out of the console business any time soon, they may corner the market on it in the next 5-10 years exclusively. As a company they will likely drop their other hardware assets like TV, PC, etc and become almost exclusively a multimedia company (save for the consoles, until they become obsolete.. which they will).. movies, games, streaming services.



Sony due to liquidation. PlayStation service will continue under Samsung.

Microsoft won't ever leave, xbl will continue as a stream service with exclusives.

Nintendo is the one I'm not sure about.



To be honest if the PS4 failed to sell Sony would have pulled the pin for the sake of the company, they are hemorrhaging but the PS4 has been a God send

MS are just too big to care at this point

Nintendo too much of a game company, and with the string of profitable generations behind them it doesn't seem likely



Please don't take this the wrong way, but I see Microsoft going. Microsoft is very forward thinking and would likely decide sooner than either of the other two that consoles are not the future. Sony will keep going just because of their runaway success with PS4, but will be preparing with PS Now, though whether that will ever take off remains to be seen. Nintendo, well, I'm not sure, but they don't exactly have a choice. I don't think they'll go out of business anytime soon, and they don't exactly have anywhere else to go. They'll keep reinventing the console like they have been for two gens now. Make something that PC can't imitate, make games that can't be played anywhere else because of unique hardware, and thus give people a reason to keep buying consoles after the traditional console goes out of style.



Sony and Nintendo go bankrupt. Microsoft buys both on the ultra cheap. Then we get an epic PS/Xbox/Nintendo hybrid console.

Then that fails too because mobile gaming has completely taken over.



Sigs are dumb. And so are you!