"The word “Entitlement” is thrown around a lot these days, be it as an argument on what is ruining our youth or how it is ruining our games. It is becoming increasingly obvious that gamers feel that they deserve special treatment, be it from the outcry to change the Mass Effect 3 ending or unceasing bemoaning about Skyrim on the PS3. This type of behavior is starting to make developers nervous, fearing that an innovation or new story direction will be crushed by the tidal wave of whine."
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.
I dont know man, seems like you are going to make a lot of ppl angry lol. If I could approve it though I would.
-"The problem is that the money you spend for a game is just buying access to the game, not everything on the disk."
Gamers have the right to express their views about corporate greed when it comes to this. The very notion that every consumer must now know that shiny disc they just paid $60 for withholds content is insulting. The reason your argument for this does 'seem' to go against common sense is because...it DOES go against common sense. Since the "on-disk DLC" is really just a key to unlock the rest of the disk, rather than being "downloadable content" (you know...like it should be), posters are constantly wondering about the legality of it.
Since the developers don't NEED to immediately appease fans with DLC, there's no real reason for defending them in this situation.
-"[ME3 controversy]. . .If you were happy for this artistic compromise because you (the most special-est consumer ever) paid for a video game then you might be an Entitled brat."
I was cautious about that at first, but now I can't really find this compromise WITH art to be a compromise OF it. If a group of fans feel distaste for an ending they were hyped about and incessantly moan about it isn't a completely unreasonable action. In fact, their vitriol combined with how fast Bioware came in to promise more shows that, as a group of artists, Bio wasn't satisfied either. The artists themselves never tried to stand by their conviction of the possible thematic elements of what they had produced.
In that case, I don't believe the art was compromised.
Utterly stupid article that has the absurdity to accuse gamers of entitlement for expecting a game that they've spent their hard earned money on to work as advertised.
What trash. I pray that this is a joke article written by some tool dwelling in their parents basement that has a poor grasp of satire, rather than a genuinely serious piece.
This is the list;
1) It is My Money, It is my Game!
2) These Bugs are Bugging Me
3) But I Want It Now!!!!!
4) $5 for Extra Content = Evil Capitalist Pigs
5) This Game Sucks!
Now for my analysis of each
1. We are the fans, so of course there will be a backlash if we don't like how games turn out. Especially franchises and sequels. We have invested in the games and if they all of the sudden take a strange direction fans will talk about it. Doesn't mean we are all entitled, it jut means we have a voice and should use it. Without fan reaction the developers wouldn't have a clue to what the actual consumer wants.
2. Why ship a game just to meet a deadline? How many movies do we see where audio lines are mumbled or the lighting is terrible? So why should gamers be guinea pigs to beta test a game? I see way more games with bugs now than before and that is largely due to the availability to patch games. They save money not delaying games and having better testing. Reminds me of Microsoft Windows.
3. I do agree patience is thin. People expect things instantly. With that said if it relates to #2 then I would expect games to be fixed as soon as possible. Steam gets patches much more quickly than consoles and that is because of a policy process. Too much management gets in the way.
4. Content should come with a fee UNLESS it's content already on the disc. Nobody likes to buy a product knowing that everything isn't included. Can you imagine buying a car and having to pay extra to unlock the radio. That's why you buy various models, you know what you are getting. Gamers should also know from the start what they are getting. If the content is still being made after the game hits gold status then of course they can charge extra for future content. It's up to the consumer to decide its value.
5. We don't all have the same opinions or tastes but I do feel a lot of people never give some games a chance. They move on from game to game far too quickly. If parent A buys their child 4 games per year that child will appreciate those games more versus parent B who buy their child 4 games per month. The child who worked or earned the money to purchase those game will appreciate them even more.