How the platform owners and game publishers approach the next generation in the face of the steady rise of tablet and smartphone gaming will be interesting to see. While we may argue that consoles and tablets cater to different audiences and that there’s enough room for both, Sony and Microsoft will still need to adapt to consumer demands and expectations, which have changed drastically since 2006.
However, it’s not just the walled gardens built up by the console makers that are at fault here. Game publishers will also have to take their share of the blame, particularly with the way some of them have approached their PC games.
One step in the right direction would be to undo, or at least minimise, the effects of some of the unhealthy and anti-consumer trends that have punctuated this generation.
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.
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.
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.
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" -
INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.
Dlc,timed dlc,exclusive dlc,exclusive retailer dlc,regional dlc,season pass.
I was the most pissed about dlc with Arkham city i bought the collectors edition thinking surely this would get me all the costume dlc. Damn was i wrong.
for me its timed dlc,exclusive dlc,exclusive retailer dlc,regional dlc,shortcut bundles,on the other hand standard dlc which expands on the game and which was not cut from the original game itself to be sold as dlc is great and should be done.
as for season pass if the dlc matches the above description than a season pass can save you some dough
1)DLC
2)Cannot access basic things like Netflix on basic Xbox live service
3)HD consoles doing native sub hd resolution on many of the games
4)Online Pass
5)Faulty xbox Hardware and brainwashed many ppl thinking it was OK
6) Time exclusives
IMO MS had the most impact in these negative trends,
Too many to even bother listing.
games that pretty much play them self as you watch... ugh