A look at how the Used Game debate is defining issues with the gaming industry.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)
MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."
darthv72: "Seems about right."
MS: "Excuse m ..."
darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."
MS:
What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.
I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..
If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.
But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.
Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.
If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.
Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you
@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers
Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.
They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.
In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"
Microsoft: "why's that"
Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'
Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk
It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD
The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.
tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
GL compiles a list of some of the most mind-blowing video game narrative twists in recent memory, from The Last of Us to Outer Wilds
With articles like these cant you tag the games mentioned so that we can know ahead of time if there’s a spoiler to avoid?
Not clicking on your article otherwise.
Sometimes it can't be help. Some niche games are out of print and are not being published anymore. Second hand/used games are my only option.
I don't see this issue like most of what I read is seeing it. I but and support the used game market. But I also understand that Digital Distribution is the way forward. I see many benefits to DD over physical. I will list some: convenience; impossible to damage; easier to adjust the price; Better sharing... ; but we need to focus on having owners ship over digital content we buy (Like how amazon sells music as apposed to apple). I think the ownership fight is worth fighting, but the use game fight is really not that important. It will be gone sooner that you think.
Gamers tend to like to try and hold on to thinks that are familiar. But, you need to look at this realistically. Physical media in gaming will soon be insignificant, whether you accept it or not. If the DD is release at the same time as physical and is priced compitatively
Most of the times at Game or Entertainment Exchange (UK) a 6-month used game is more expensive than a brand new one on the internet. GoW Ascention was £20 used and £15 new at Amazon.
So, the only benefit for me it being able to sell the discs that I don't want anymore. If someone is not clever enough to find cheaper anywhere it is not my problem.
I do like to borrow my games to friends. If digital and physical are at the same price, I prefer the disc.
Most of the times digital, PSN or Live, is more expensive than retail. As long as retailers don't start selling digital versions of the games, just like PC, we won`t have competition and Sony and MS prices will keep more expensive.
I support the right as a consumer to be able to sell something you own if you wish when you wish. As a partial collector I like to be able to keep my old systems with their most well known titles in storage knowing that they will likely work fine if I use them or sell them in years to come.
The grey area and the one that annoying know-it-alls keep quoting me is the issue of licensing. In the old days when you bought a game on floppy or cd you buy the game. You own it and it's protected by copyright etc. I can still load up sonic - its mine and can't be turned off remotely or stopped fom being sold.
These days when you buy a game on physical media it feels like you are only buying the right to use the game on their terms, that it isn't really truely ever yours to do with as you please. They can enforce restrictions now because we have allowed them to do so. I know this is a simplistic overview of software licensing but it's how it's perceived by average consumers like me and I don't think I have as much freedom with my belongings as I used to.
This will probably become a one way road to digital and I for one will resist it for as long as I can because I hate the idea of not having full control of my stuff within the law. If I sell my Beatles CD, the record company doesn't get a say in it or a cut of the fee. Same with my car.
Games seem to be heading toward a counter position where they are treated like commercial software.
I think the success of the used game market has actually been its own worst enemy and the resulting response from publishers will end up killing it and the freedoms of ownership that we currently enjoy. You know they must hate the thought of game shops making money out of second hand in such volumes but is it much different to CES or Music Magpie in the UK or a used car dealership?
I normally only buy new games when the price has come down a bit. Hardly ever buy used except for my collections or the odd older PS3 game that I never got to play.
I did not have an issue with the DRM but I see why people did. I think if Microsoft ect could come up with a way to deregister the game your self when wanting to sell the game could help get around the issue. For me one of the big things I liked about the one was jumping from game to game without the disk and it would be nice if we could still do that.
I think next gen will got down the drm rout and im sure they will find a way to let you activate and deactivate the game for selling and giving it to friends.