By Furious Francis, editor in chief
If all the internet rumors are to be believed, the PS4 and Xbox 720 are right around the corner. Major E3 unveilings could be coming in a little over half a year’s time for Microsoft and Sony. The industry needs new consoles, and I am really excited to get my hands on the PS4 and Xbox 720. However, there are a few concerns I have about these systems. Cost of Development, and Japanese game support to name a few.
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.
A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.
I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.
I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons
I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.
Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.
How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.
It's just backwards.
What your talking about is called block list
In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback
Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.
But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.
Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.
At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath
I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong
I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.
Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.
As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people
They can form a company if they want, they are just as jobless as if "Microsoft had left them as 3rd party".
"MIcrosoft leaves Bethesda do what they know how to do best" ... close! Oh the irony ....
(Citation from a week old article)
I think Microsoft and other game publishers are letting people go because they think ai will replace them. Doesn’t matter how much profit they make. They were always going to be let go.
Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much
Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region
that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.
Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.
I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games
It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.
Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo
I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers
The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.
"However, there are a few concerns I have about these systems. Cost of Development, and Japanese game support to name a few."
Cost of development is a myth, the sad reality is millions of USD these days are spent marketing a game. Marketing budgets are infact double or quadrupole the cost of making the game specially in todays AAA releases. Take a game like COD, it costs Activision about 50million usd to make the game (i dont see how though since its just a copy and paste job), Marketing the same game costs them 200million usd.
Its the gamers in the end who have to pay.
Crysis 1 from 2007 is still one of the best looking games out there, from a technical perspective nothing on console can touch it even today. Guess how much it cost to develop a game with Crysis level graphics? It cost 20million usd.
Games like Witcher 2, Metro 2033 are about the best looking games in recent years, even they didnt cost more than 20 million usd to produce.
My belief is developers cry costs, so they can increase prices of games, when really they need to find a way to better manage how they market games.
Edit:
"The HD era raised development costs to unseen levels back in 2005 with the Xbox 360."
Please this is about the most retarded thing i have heard. HD is simply a term given to graphics being rendered at 1280*720. Just because a game is going to run in a particular res doesnt increase its development costs. Us PC gamers have been seeing games run way beyond 1280*720 way before the HD term was created. Personally i been playing at resolutions close to this back in the late 90's. Hence games going HD for consoles is just an excuse for developers to raise prices, its not like consoles introduced games running at these resolutions, its been done long before console Makers / developers are only looking for way to milk the console crowd be it with:
charging to go online,
DLCS (no mods),
over priced accessories
Imo they only need an excuse to some how raise prices.
One of these things is not like the other thing.
Its nice to finally see someone looking at stuff more realistically. Funny enough these points are exactly how I am looking at things.
I think Japanese support for PS4 will be fine. Its 720 you should question. With Nintendo set to dominate Japan with Dragon Quest and Monster Hunter and Xbox not being accepted there, I see it ending exactly the same as the first Xbox. If Wii U and PS4 are sustainable enough for companies like Capcom and Namco as multiplat devs they could choose to exclude 720 altogether in some cases.
More and more, signs are pointing to the next generation of consoles not being the significant leap everyone thought they would be. But I'm not all that worried, I have a gaming PC if I want amazing graphics @ 60fps.
But if the past is any indication, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's first party developers will make exclusives that will make those consoles sing and make them worth owning. Exclusives are the main reason to own a console anyway. I grew up on Sony and Nintendo and they haven't let me down yet when it comes to their games so I'm pretty much guaranteed to get a Wii U and a PS4 for exclusives. Will most likely use my PC for multiplats.
im not worried about ps4 but more for the devs..
i lost count how many had to leave this gen crazy!
Now with the better grafics it will be even worse..