270°

The Xbox 360 casualty sheet: 45 companies that didn't survive this generation

Remembering those who didn't make it
It's been a long, hard generation: financial crises, increased competition from tablets and mobile, the rise of certain mega-franchises severely limiting the success of other games' multiplayer modes. There's been a brutal shift in business models over the course of the Xbox 360's life. Spiralling development costs and uncertain returns have taken many companies to the wall; the loss of the "b-game" mid-market titles has taken down publishers and studios alike.

BadboyCivic3938d ago

Sony Liverpool? THQ?

I bash MS for the things they have done wrong. I don't blame them for everything gone wrong.

dirigiblebill3938d ago

"I don't blame them for everything gone wrong."

Nor does the article.

gaffyh3938d ago

Thing with Sony though, is that even though Sony Liverpool has closed, the IPs still exist, and they could make (and probably will) sequels to the franchises that Sony Liverpool developed.

Bathyj3938d ago

yeah, it must be one of those Sony fanboy sites.

oh wait...

shutUpAndTakeMyMoney3938d ago

Well the next gen would have been so locked down if MS had their way.

ColdFeet3938d ago

Maybe I'm just knitpicking this list but when they talk about Clover Studios, they don't even mention Okami. God Hand is hardly the reason Clover Studios were considered creative.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3938d ago
GentlemenRUs3938d ago ShowReplies(2)
Cmk01213938d ago

This is just so ignorant. 3rd party companies closing because of one console? Just beyond imagination the amount of fanboy write ups allowed on this site. def jam fighting game failed causing it to not make more games...SHOCKER. good games sell crap games dont simple as that.

DragonKnight3938d ago

Official Xbox Magazine wrote this. Are you saying that Official Xbox Magazine is a Sony fanboy magazine?

die_fiend3938d ago

So ignorant? So when you say good games sell are you saying Okami isn't good? Or viewtiful joe? Def jam was fun back in the day

Killzoner993938d ago

Just goes to show you Microsoft is circling the drain and they're trying to take everyone down with them. They're done.

DiRtY3938d ago

Yeah.

Sony Liverpool
BigBig
Zipper

ring a bell?

GameCents3938d ago

The article is about developers that used to work on xbox games, multiplats included, that have not made it through for whatever reason.
This isn't about the studios that closed because of Microsoft. Heck SONY is involved in the demise of more studios this gen than any other console maker.

Killzoner993938d ago

These are 45 companies that went out of business because of Microsoft. Sony only shut down a handful of devs this generation. The fact is Microsoft is destroying the industry while Sony is innovating and rebuilding it. "The Last of Us" alone has done more for the industry than Microsoft has ever done. Microsoft works with the NSA to spy on consumers with the required Kinect. That should be enough for you to see how evil they are.

dirigiblebill3937d ago

@Killzoner99

"These are 45 companies that went out of business because of Microsoft."

Hilarious. Literally all you have to do is read the intro paragraph, right there at the top of this page, to understand that this isn't what the article's saying at all.

coolasj3938d ago

I miss Pandemic the most.

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50°

Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX

This could be fun as they make great tables. Go big or go extinct. Prime your senses for a neural handshake and step into the cockpit of a Jaeger. It is on you to cancel the apocalypse when Pacific Rim Pinball comes to Pinball FX on May 16.

220°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

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.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv7218h ago

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.

solideagle5h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18813h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio2h ago

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:

Cacabunga5h ago

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.

shinoff21834h ago

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.

Cacabunga3h ago

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

purple1017h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos7h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac6h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

"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.

purple1016h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

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

Kornholic4h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

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140°

Why Monopolies In Gaming Must Not Be Allowed

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.

thorstein17h ago

Shouldn't be allowed in any field.

Inverno13h ago

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.

jwillj2k412h ago

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.

MrCrimson11h ago

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.

Zenzuu12h ago

Monopolies shouldn't be allowed regardless. Not just for gaming.

MrCrimson11h ago

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" -