Microsoft CEO candidate Stephen Elop said to consider selling Xbox business, killing Bing

Bloomberg also suggests that Elop is willing to shut down or sell some major Microsoft businesses. Elop would reportedly considering killing off the company’s Bing search engine, while contemplating selling the Xbox business. Some investors and analysts have previously called for the software giant to split off its Xbox business and give up on search. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen appears to feel the same way. Allen’s $15 billion asset manager, Paul Ghaffari, revealed recently that Bing and Xbox have been distractions for Microsoft. "My view is there are some parts of that operation they should probably spin out, get rid of, to focus on the enterprise and focus on the cloud." Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund claims Microsoft’s financial earnings could be boosted by 40 percent in fiscal 2015 if the company sold its Bing and Xbox businesses.

[joeyisback]

Go ahead sell the Xbox business wont be missed :-D sell it to Sony :-D

[MONOLITHICIDE]

Exactly

[HelpfulGamer]

Sell it to SEGA ! XD

[thrust]

The dreamcast 2 one can only dream of it.

[theBAWSE]

agreed sell it to a company who can turn this bad image around, the lies, crap PR and who cares about games

dreamcast 2 would be a dream

[decrypt]

This is amazing news.

Nintendo is dead
Ms Goes down

Just one more to go lol and the industry can start progressing again.

[Dehnus]

@Helpfulgamer
That is about the only way I can see it working out properly. But Sony Ponies and MS Xbots cream by the thought of having the other's company go bankrupt.

That a majority of people would loose their jobs isn't important to them.

[OsirisBlack]

Honestly as an older gamer I would be beyond happy if Sega could sneak back into the war. Ever since they stopped producing consoles the quality of their games has suffered significantly. I would LOVE to see Sega get back on the horse and make some good games.

[theBAWSE]

@decrypt

Nintendo isn't dead their handhelds have kept them in the game

I really hope they make a new console and learn from this wii rubbish...

if Sega got xbox it would be a dream Nintendo /PlayStation /Sega three great companies with real exclusives fighting for our money

Microsoft are just an inconvenience with no passion for gaming, hardly any first party studio's.. they just wanted the living room... guess what? xbone has had the worst launch of any console and I sincerely hope it fails hard. Microsoft deserve it after the crap they have pulled with xbone.

[thrust]

Bawse,

Stop chatting bubbles you sound like a fool, MS is not going anywhere if anything in real world sony will go first it's all about money!

Just look how much each company is worth.

MS is a good company provides millions of jobs to people and family's but you can see passed that all you see is Xbox live is £25 a year, whineeeee

[mikeslemonade]

^Thrust

It's Microsoft's xbox division. We're not talking about the entire corporation going down.

.....

There's not many companies that can buy a Microsoft Game Studios. If Sony bought Microsoft Game Studios they would never make the money back. People saying Sega can buy it!? Sega has no money. I can probably buy Sega myself XD

[dedicatedtogamers]

Certain gamers see this and cringe, but let's be serious. Microsoft hasn't brought anything significant to the gaming industry as a whole. They've simply...well, they've simply done what Microsoft does best:

They've bought and aped everything the Xbox brand has. To see them go would simply make room for another console manufacturer to step in. Oh noez! A console world without MICROSOFT!?!?!?! Consoles were fine prior to Xbox, and consoles will be fine after Xbox is gone.

[Eonjay]

Sorry kids its all about money. Microsoft makes alot of money selling software to other businesses and by collecting licensing fees and royalties. The Xbox division looses money but Live generates money (without the need to pay pubishers and and developers for the amount of content that PSN offers).

So when the board is discussing whether to stay in the hardware business or not, they will be weighting the potential boost in profit by selling the brand and sheding the losses, versus loosing a dedicated stream of paying subscribers.

Personally I would like to see them stay in the business to keep Sony competitive.

[specialguest]

Yes exactly. Let Xbox die off, sell it to Sony, etc....because a one console gaming world with no competition is exactly what we need for the industry. /s

The Xbox was a factor in making PS what it is today, a gaming division that listens to devs needs, the fans, not over priced, and less arrogant, because of competition and the lesson learned from the 360 taking a huge chunk of the PS market last gen.

[pyramidshead]

Perhaps that analyst leak told some truth about MS covering up huge Xbox division losses with other profits.

If he gets appointed...oh boy lol.

[Guwapo77]

What is this one console system BS? Nintendo isn't gone... Nintendo has mad bad systems in the past and recovered nicely. Someone might even help Sega get back into the hardware business if Xbox is no more.

Or Xbox is sold and the name changes to something else, the company is still there.

[malol]

"selling Xbox business, killing Bing"
best decisions they could make now

then turn to the old fanbase which is already established ... PC

[devwan]

@thrust

Microsoft isn't a charity and xbox has and seemingly always will cost them more than it brings in, given what has happened so far. They'd do well to flip it to the likes of Samsung while they can.

MS has been striving to position itself to win the war of the living room for years now, but that war ended as a fizzled-out fart some time ago, it's increasingly irrelevant. There are newer, bigger and more important battlegrounds they need to fight for if they intend to stay a part of the converging gaming arena.

The xbox one was designed to be the centrepiece to this faded vision of what they saw consumers desired from their converging entertainment... the core aspects they should be challenging in, gaming, has been severely hindered as all the additional aspects have taken a front seat, leaving the all-in-one-media-box gimped as a gaming device... they ignored their established userbase as they sought to capture an imaginary larger one.

[abzdine]

I miss the Sega vs. NINTENDO Times, and Sega vs Nintendo vs Sony. Competition was very healthy!!

[mistertwoturbo]

I don't want the Xbox business to go away, I just don't want them to be dominate. Hopefully that will drive them to be a better company and start making better products and start thinking about the consumers. That means better hardware, better customer service, and more original first party software support.

All of which I don't see happening anytime soon sadly. Mostly because we have hordes and hordes and hordes of blind followers that eat up everything the sell even if they put poison in it.

[Patrick]

@devwan
Yeah I have to agree, Sell it to Samsung, they make great products and it would be an awesome console. The Samsung Galaxy XBox ...lol Do it MS, sell it off to a company that creates and innovates hardware.

[Ezz2013]

are you "Gamers" wish for gaming companies you don't like to bow out of gaming business ?!

i hate MS....any one know me here know that
and i will never support them
but this is a little extreme guys
this will make us no better than xbox fanboys who wished sony leave the gaming business

[darthv72]

Xbox maybe but what do people have against bing? I mean seriously. I gave up using google 2 years ago and have been using bing for all my searches.

People get the google redirect virus but you never hear about a bing redirect virus. Plus I earn points with all my searches. Points that I have used to get xbox point (now real $$$).

Hell, i even use the bing app on my galaxy phone instead of google. No doubt google is the one more people use but that could be because they are to set in their ways. Like the ipod/iphone craze.

There are better alternatives that most just dont know about. I will admit that MS makes their decisions to jump into a market after its established but some of their offerings are really good if people can get past the fact they are MS.

[blackbeld]

Right choice. Bing is worthless and Xbox is already dead (DOA).

They should focus on software only.

[gaffyh]

Sony recently made gaming integral to their business, meaning they cannot get rid of PlayStation, and they wouldn't considering it is one of their most profitable businesses most of the time.

There have been several people saying MS should sell the Xbox business, and if a CEO candidate is saying, that is a major warning sign. Maybe it's not worth investing in an Xbone, I was considering get one after a price cut, but if they are going to shut it down, then there is no future.

[KillrateOmega]

Dreamcast 2? Oh man, James Small would be in Utopia...

*Insert heavy British accent*

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN...AND THE DREAMCAST!

[Omegasyde]

@ I agree sell Xbox to Sega!

That would be awesome. I don't want any consoles to drop out because it would limit competition, but I wouldn't mind if Microsoft left the gaming scene.

[PoSTedUP]

i know from experience that, what takes years to build can be destroyed in a minute, if you dont play the game right you might as well not be in it...

[ZodTheRipper]

I look forward to this. They don't know how to run this businness, he would them and Steam/Nintendo a big favour.

[prodg52]

The only company that I see that would be interested and have enough capital to purchase XBOX would be Google.

[ThanatosDMC]

Nail in the coffin all ready? Not good for Xbox fans.

They need to get rid of Bing. It's more of annoyance to people. Heck, Comcast promotes that we dont use Bing. (I work for XSS)

[UltimateMaster]

Killing Bing, best decision ever made.

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

The problem you guys dismissing this are missing is that it's not the first we heard about that latelly. Even worse, most times it had came from shareholders. Now, it's a possible future CEO opinion. Couple shareholders with CEO and you have enough of board to actually go ahead and cut the bleeding limb off if Elop gets the job.

The fact that Live still gives some profitable is hardly helps, they could very well keep Live, try to pass that as PC or Tablet service, or license the hardware standard for other manufactures forcing Live there (which sounds great 'till you remember what happened to the 3DO, manufacturers would want a profit and the price would rise even further, third party support was also a no go, and that was actually conceived by EA none the less).

I'm not saying they'll go through with it, in fact, if past is anything to go by, Xbox division was never profitable and many times it was suggested to be cut off, yet it remained, so it may pass quietly by this again. But don't fool yourselves thinking this is a minor issue, every other time the majority of the board (and specially the CEO) were agaisnt cutting off Xbox, if Elop actually gets the job this will be a whole new conversation going on that room (at the very least, he can deeply hurt Xbox division by restricting investments, or even give it an ultimatum).

[GameSpawn]

@Darthv72
"Xbox maybe but what do people have against bing?"

Hey if you like Bing then use it. I've tried, but I keep going back to Google. In my experience with Google, I can type the vaguest search (3 random words related to what I'm searching for) and I have had great luck getting what I want in the first 3 search hits.

Bing on the other hand, even with the MOST specific search hasn't always given me what I'm looking for. I like Bing's image search, but that is where the buck stops.

In the end whatever you're comfortable with use.

[Ritsujun]

Xbone180'd.
Sell it to Nintendo. Xbosh's heading down the casual/Beeburr route, anyway.

[Xavilend]

Am I the only one here that knows that the original Xbox was the spiritual successor to the Dreamcast? #TheMoreYouKnow

[Anon1974]

When Microsoft investors are continually hearing things like "the sale of Bing and Xbox, along with other moves, could lift fiscal 2015 earnings by 40 percent" it's not surprising that something has to give. Especially now with Valueact on the board and Ballmer on his way out.

I think it's not so much a question of "if" but "when" will Microsoft sell or spin off the Xbox business.

[UltimateMaster]

@Ritsujun
Nintendo doesn't want that.

I'm just guessing maybe Apple or Google might be interested in the franchise logo.
Or maybe they'll do their own thing like Steam.

Why not sell it to Steam?

[P0werVR]

"He would consider ending Microsoft’s costly effort to take on Google with its Bing search engine, and would also consider selling healthy businesses such as the Xbox game console if he determined they weren’t critical to the company’s strategy, "the people" said."

Funny how they missed that detail, and yet with all this talk of doom and gloom this week has driven Microsoft's market value since a couple years back. Hmmmm....I wonder why?

Anyways, Bing I can understand. Xbox Division is a money maker for Microsoft and the potential is there, simply because there going up against Sony. Who are lackluster in innovation for next gen. Xbox One is more than prepared because of it's dynamism. Bing however is going up against Google...you don't mess with Google, their too nice.

[dmeador]

It really is amazing how ignorant many posters on this board are. If you in any way think that the xbox going away is good for gaming, you need to learn how things work.

Its sad that you somehow have a personal stake in a company, for no real reason at all. Its just like a Burger King eater cheers about McDonalds shutting down, or a Dodge Ram driver going crazy if GM went bankrupt. One day you might understand that you aren't "wining"

[pixelsword]

If it has to go, I hope Nintendo buys the Xbox and not Sony; that would put Nintendo near the cutting edge in terms of advanced technology, plus there should always be two consoles, two rivals to constantly sharpen each other's claws to make sure they aren't dropping the ball.

The best liked Superhero out of DC, Marvel, etc., is batman; conversely, the best liked villain is The Joker.

Not because of their powers or even their intellect, but because of the finely-tuned balance of good and evil, the evenly-matched rivalry that can take a city already teetering on the edge one way all the way to another; and even in the video game world that shows: the best rivalry of all time so far has been the Sega/Nintendo era.

Oh sure, you can have one console, but either you'll get huge upgrades every 15+ years or you get upgrades every couple of years, having maybe three to five consoles in 10 years.

[WolfOfDarknesss]

This man is playing really REALLY stupid ?, He's is CEO candidate too ! My God.

It's not a good time to talk about Xbox and Bing business situation like that Specially just weeks before the release of Xbox One !

He should support Microsoft and NEVER mention anything about the company financial earnings .

If Xbox one is out , The it will be bad news for Gaming industry .

[BattleAxe]

Samsung would probably be interested in buying the Xbox Division.

[rainslacker]

I really don't see why Samsung would buy the Xbox brand. They have enough money and know-how to make their own console, and if Xbox were to leave the market, it would be wide open for the next competitor to step in.

Google seems more interested in providing services and not hardware, and quite honestly, given the way they have their google phone set up, it would probably make the Xbox brand just what MS intended the X1 to be in the first place, an all digital marketplace with substandard quality control.

Anyone that would have the money to buy the XBox brand would be a company that has the resources, but not the infrastructure to produce their own console, and actually wanted to get into the console marketplace. It's hard to imagine many companies wanting to do this since they aren't already. From the looks of it, it isn't a hugely profitable venture for any company on the home console level.

@Darth

OK, now it's hard not to think of you as a shill when you say how great Bing is, and try to downplay Google due to a redirect virus...really?

[scott182]

I hope Sony never considers buying the Xbox division... They are fine with PlayStation, they would never need anything Xbox.

[Prime157]

Any of you who don't understand that competition is a good thing need to stop commenting.

You think business hinders it now? See how it stagnates after there's only one.

[Chris_GTR1]

why the hell would sony want xbox? lolol.

[nukeitall]

Why would anyone want Xbox division split out is beyond me.

If it wasn't for MS and it's push, you would have a $800 PS4 right now with almost no network connectivity and PS Home version 2!

After all, Nintendo isn't pushing the online space, and nobody has cloud servers like MS.

[hiredhelp]

Lol this would be one my favourite Days if come true.

[Dehnus]

Why? So people can loose their jobs? Seriously?

[Eonjay]

@Dehnus

Wrong... selling a business doesn't mean everyone loses their jobs.

[dmeador]

@Eonjay

Many people would lose their jobs

[sobotz]

It would've been terrible. Competition is always good.

[hiredhelp]

You got nintendo steam apple may join in then theres possible sega come back.

[sobotz]

You know Nintendo can't beat Sony when it comes to console. And apple is no difference than Microsoft.

I think Valve is the most suited rival to Sony if Microsoft left.

[combatcash]

@Sobotz,

Very true, honestly if it hadn't been for the xbox 360 the ps3 wouldn't have seen all of the major price cuts that helped get it into peoples homes.

It helped humble Sony quite a bit. Imagine if sony had left the business we would be stuck with all that DRM stuff from MS.

Competition is always good keeps companies on their toes and benefits us the most.

@sobotz

Really valve?!!!!!! No bro they have worst restrictions than the xbox one did and you saw how people cried about that. It's all digital and while they would make a formidable opponent, they themselves don't make enough exclusive games or (AAA) experiences.

[tiffac008]

Sega coming back? Lets be realistic here, they can't even localize their games.

[Baltar]

I wonder if Nintendo could buy the xbox division, Sony Vs Nintendo+Xbox that would be a hell of a competition!

[Concertoine]

yeah, let sony LITERALLY monopolize the industry, surely they won't pull anything tricky then. When they near monopolized the the industry with the ps1 they took to using anti developer architectures to make it harder to port to competitor's systems on the ps2 and ps3. the ps4 is a different story, but if they dominate like it looks, who knows what the ps5 will be about. Hopefully not like the ps3.
i will miss it, the first xbox is one of my favorite systems ever. ports of half life 2, morrowind, deus ex 2, thief 2, along with bitchin' exclusives like jet grind radio 2, panzer dragoon orta, shenmue 2 (NA),or all the Microsoft game studios games. Also better multiplats like fatal frame and silent hill 2. Then the hundreds of hours of memories on halo 1 and 2, the first GOOD online console network, from which every one today owes at least something.
even the 360 was a great system. MS was cool before the xbox one. I believe they could've come back with something special after this diappointment.

[DARK WITNESS]

those were the good old days when the xbox was really about gaming and it showed !!... those days feel long gone now...

[Irishguy95]

MS were cool till about 2010 and 11, till Kinect reared it's ugly head and MS wanted a Piece of Nintendo's new found casual made pie.

Xbox and Xbox 360 were great for gamers(again until 2010/11 for 360)

The way Ps4 is now, is how the Xbox 360 was at it's launch. Cheaper, better games, stealing exclusives from Sony, much better online(although next gen they are about equal online), better multiplats etc etc

[Hayabusa 117]

Yeah, I loved the original Xbox, and it seems I missed a lot of decent games on the PS2 as well...a brilliant era in gaming, I think having the Gamecude on the same level as the XBox and PS2 might have had something to do with it too...competition is good.

I agree with Irishguy95, the 360 is a fantastic console, but it all started to go downhill round about when they started pushing the kinect and all the shovelware that came with it. The PS3 started in a mudslide, but has steadily climbed at a consistent rate.

I have hopes for the Xbox One but I seriously want to see Microsoft change their attitude towards their costumers and the games.

[Omegasyde]

I agree more competition is better for gamers wallets and choice, but say keep Xbox and remove the Microsoft. Sell the console division to google perhaps?

[rainslacker]

Everyone was using RISC chips back in those days. Sony made in the PS1 a system architecture that was geared almost exclusively for 3D gaming. It wasn't meant as an anti-competitive measure. In fact, the PS1 used a pretty standard MIPS-R3000A 32-bit RISC chip, and RISC was all the rage at the time. The Saturn had one, and the SNES had a coprocessor RISC chip, among many others.

The PS2's chip was designed to streamline game programming overall, and the emotion engine was highly praised for it's capabilities in this regard. It still used common RISC architecture which has been used in every single console for the past 20 years except the original Xbox, but was adopted into the 360. The emotion engine simply put multiple processor cores onto one die and each of those cores was uniquely suited to certain tasks. It wasn't that complicated to figure out. The fact that Sony provided functionality that wasn't available in the more general purpose CPU's of their competitors isn't their fault, but their competitors fault for using more general purpose processors.

The PS3 was a gamble, and a vastly different way of programming from the standard PowerPC/x86 chips that everyone was used to, which is why it got so much heat. However, the design and processes capable within the Cell were uniquely capable of smoking what any other architecture could do at the time. Just very few developers took the time to really utilize it because it was so different and Sony lost it's hold on the market so there was no reason to even try.

In fact, many of the common things done now with new CPU's, including APU's in both the X1 and PS4 are designed around the functions that the Cell started off with and pioneered. The Cell hasn't died, it just evolved into what we will be using in the next gen, only in a more common architecture.

So before you go spouting off random nonsense, learn what you're talking about, because it's very apparent you know nothing of computer architecture.

[CynicalKelly]

You have no idea how bad it would be to eliminate competition and grant any company a monopoly on anything.

Competition is great. It pushes Microsoft and Sony to do better because they have to compete for us.

[Rainstorm81]

If Sony has a Monopoly...Sony will just become the new MS

If they do ever sell the Xbox brand i just hope its to a company that cares about gaming

[SignifiedSix91]

Sony wouldnt be able to afford the Xbox brand lmao.

Besides, I'd rather it be sold to samsung if this ever happened.

[LordMaim]

Sony wouldn't NEED the Xbox brand. All of its good games are third party.

[jocomat9]

LMAO you just got owned.

[Death]

Be careful what you wish. Who would be in the market for a game console/brand and has the money to acquire it? EA? Activision? Ubisoft? If any of the larger third parties bought the brand, Playstation would have problems.

[abzdine]

None of them has enough money than Microsoft has, and let's be honest buying a Ubisoft console to play assassin's creed..... NO way!!

[Death]

Xbox is the brand. The company that would buy them wouldn't change that. You would still be buying an Xbox, but the exclusives would be made by Ubi instead of Microsoft. I would imagine EA or Activision would be a better prospect though. Disney is another possible buyer. On the hardware front, Samsung has been very aggressive in going after Sony's marketshare in other formats. They might also be interested.

[Brix90]

@Death

Your right Samsung would seem like the best competitor if MS left considering there company has many products directly competing with Sony.

[Dehnus]

WoW....
Wishing people to loose their jobs to save a fund like Value Act, just because you are a fanboy.

New lows, I suppose for you "smallnes" awaits, for your mind that is.

Competition is good, no matter how much you hate it.

[G20WLY]

3 posts from you, all about losing jobs? Why must there be job losses? Mergers create job losses. Reorganisation of internal hierarchy creates job losses.

Buying/selling a business, in itself, simply doesn't. It's an acquisition, not a closure!

As for competition, yes, it is a good thing - and if MS sold Xbox the competition would STILL EXIST!! smdh...

[Omegasyde]

I don't want to see people lose jobs. I just wish for a smooth transition to another company which includes all studios and their employees.

[RTheRebel]

Yea Sony they have alot of cash.... oh wait their burning cash lol!!
Samsung BUYYYYYY XBOX.

[THEDON82z1]

As a PlayStation man, I can personally say it would be Sony's worst nightmare if Samsung bought XBOX...if they did buy XBOX, They could keep it alive long enough to learn and tweak the system and relaunch a brand new console geared toward taking Sony's last major business.I for one think that would be the bloodiest battle ever.

[rainslacker]

I honestly don't know why Samsung would want to buy the XBox brand. They could quite easily make their own console, and try to make their own imprint on the gaming industry. Same goes for Apple, or any other major electronics company with enough money to buy the XBox brand.

I know the Xbox has brand recognition, but I'd imagine most of those companies would want to be seen as innovators and bringing their own thing to the field.

I could possibly see some of those big companies buying off certain parts of the Xbox brand, namely the developers or IP's that MS owns.

[Rainstorm81]

No No sell it to Steam

Edit below...

LMAO silly mistake....I was thinking SteamBox the entire time

[SignifiedSix91]

You mean Valve? Steam is a platform, not a company. Lol.

[Hayabusa 117]

I often make that mistake too :P

[DeadlyFire]

Sold to Google.

[Nekroo91]

Oh Frigid?! what did i told yesterday? and xbox fans last week?

And how do i know this? because its my area i have to study companies and markets.

And now the serious stuff, neither Sega or Nintendo or Even Sony can afford the Xbox.

The first contender interested in this market is Apple or Samsung, but since Apple want a more casual thing it leaves the space to Samsung. And hey..its not a bad thing Samsung is a huge company and even their motion recognition on tvs is better than Kinect so we just have to wait and see.

But if Samsung buys the Xbox realistically Sony will be in trouble because it will be face to face with another product company

[G20WLY]

Very true. Even Samsung's motion recognition on the phones is better than Kinect!

It's responsive in terms of recognising the movements every time and translating them into a software command instantly - two things the new Kinect still appears to fail at, if their new fighter is anything to go by...

[rainslacker]

Why would Samsung want the brand itself? Maybe the tech and the properties owned by MS, but the brand itself? It will always be associated with MS.

Samsung has the know how to bring their own console to market, and they can do so with their own vision without being held back by all the negative brand recognition that MS has lumped onto the Xbox brand over the years.

Imagine the announcement if Samsung announced a console along with some fresh new AAA IP's and some major 3rd party support. Samsung is known to make quality products, and has a high customer satisfaction rating. As a gamer, it would be quite exciting to see if they could bring something fresh to the industry, as opposed to just carrying on what someone else started.

[isa_scout]

While I'm more of a playstation fan selling it to Sony would be the absolute worst thing that could happen. I may not be particularly fond of the Xbox One but I cannot deny that it's presence is needed.
Competition drives this industry, without it we wouldn't get bigger better games every year while these corporations duke it out for our hard earned cash. Sega and Sony couldn't afford to buy the Xbox division. If it is sold(it wont be) the most likely canidate would be Apple in all likelyhood. Just my two cents.

[triforce79]

Good.....

[gamer7804]

This would be terrible. Who like less competition. Few brands have the capital to take on Sony and Nintendo . 99.9% sure this will never happen tho.

[twinspectre]

SEGA deserve to buy XBOX and change name in Sega DreamCast 2 , so we will have a Big Competition Sega vs Nintendo vs Playstation

[yellowgerbil]

Sony wouldn't buy it, most likely someone like Google or Apple would buy it, neither of which I think would be any better than MS

[Brix90]

I think if Apple made a console it would do way better MS for the fact look at how popular there products are and beating MS products like surface, etc...
People would buy an Apple console for the name alone but price would be the biggest question.

[thisismyaccount]

Another 10 years of Fable, Halo and Gays of Wars on the Dreamcast 2? FAKU!

2001 Microsoft jumps into the console market, noticed that they have no pedigree... so they robbed PC player and got Halo on their huge VCR.

What a shitstorm that caused ..... but PC ppl. are hypocrites anyway.. 3 years later they drop the support of the old Box, every xbox owner was pissed a microsoft but it´s okay... after a horrendus 24mio consoles sold world wide (to retail?).

2005 Sony partnes with IBM and Toshiba to make their next gen CELL. Thru some loophole > IBM faggots handed over some or ever "CELL Blueprints" over to M$, M$ made something less powerful and got away with it... but Karma is a bitch:

º1 2005 306 had up to 60% failure rate
º2 Some or many were forced to re-buy a new 360 (first edition had no HDMI! NO WIFI... was cheaper right?)
º3 The got the rights for RARE back in 2003? Everyone working at Conkers 64 left the studio long time ago... 400 Mio. well spent M$.
º4 They try ton enforce upon all of us some shady DRM strategyconcept
º5 they spent over 2 Bio. of Dollars to come up with a weaker System than its competitor
º6 The brand is making losses since its "conception"..

if the PS3 didnt come with CELL.. it would have prolly equaled the PS1 sales or maybe even surpased it.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Krazy Kan! Take a nap...

[Blaze929]

yall acting like the things MS did with Xbox 360 today arent the reason you see the capabilities the PS4 features compared to the PS3.

Yeah, kill competition so that we only have one stale option every generation with no incentive to innovate. Kinda like....EA Sports titles like Madden.

[otherZinc]

Read the Bloomberg link, Elop said no such thing.
This is the view of a single analyst named Selund.

This is being sensationalized at n4g. Selund is a radical who probably has zero knowledge of the gaming industry. He even contradicts himself in the Bloomberg link.
Read it.

[Mosiac77]

Sorry bud, Sony is in more bigger trouble than Microsoft. Sony needs the playstation to survive and Microsoft don't. All the microsoft investors care about is their money and not gamers like us. I mean if it wasn't for MS online multiplayer wouldn't be like it is today. Look at Sony now they are catching up to microsoft and still they need to prove it with the PS4 because PS3 was a mess. Online multiplayer has been great on XB live since the first xbox. 12 years thats how many years Sony is behind in online multiplayer quality.

[AndrewLB]

Sony couldn't afford it considering they're down 10-30% across the board compared to last year.

Look... techinasia.com/wp-content/uplo ads/2013/10/Sony-sells-10-milli on-smartphones-in-Q3-2-million- PS3s-but-cuts-profit-forecast-f or-2013-graph2.jpg

They also just cut their earnings projection from 50 billion yen to 30 billion. (not to be confused with dollars)

[buynit]

You are ignorant..

[FITgamer]

They should sell it to Samsung, another good hardware company.

[ajax17]

Sell it to Apple. Sure there'll be a new one every year,(with only minute changes)but that won't stop them from selling out! XD

[lokirevamped]

It amazes me how SCUM that don't care about one brand, make sure he/she show their face in that brands forum. I will miss the competition it brings, no company would be where they are today without competition.

[fiveby9]

Selling to Sony is a bad idea for consumers. Fewer competitors in the market eventually leads to more expensive consoles and poor quality. Of course Sony would probably not be interested in purchasing the XBox business for a multitude of reasons.

[mochachino]

I'm getting a PS4 but xbox would certainly be missed. Remember they set the standard for online console gaming and having it be a multimedia device.

Sony had to play catch up in terms if PSN when PS3 launched.

Xbox has made A LOT of bad decisions in the past 5 years (and obviously is getting worse) but they were leading in innovation not too long ago.

[UncleGermrod]

People do not realize both companies are losing huge amount of money with their respective gaming divisions. The difference is that from a business standpoint, MS simply does not need xbox, as they make tons on software and patents. So basically, a lot of investors feel that MS should simply cut it loose. Sony has more riding on the ps4 than ever, and after all, they are a devices company.

Anyways, just saying...don't act like this has anything to do with the actual system itself. The choice to sell or not to sell the xbox division would be based on choice the majority of us know nothing about.

[iceman06]

You are 100% correct. MS could afford to dabble in the games industry. As, it was not a primary source of income. They thought it would be a quick dollar. But, it turned out to be more of a less reliable, long term investment. As you said, Sony is a devices company and relies on these devices (services and software) for income. Simply put. MS can afford to "trim the fat" and Sony includes this "fat" as part of the overall meal. It's not about the Xbox, 360, or even Xbox 1 failing so much as it is about profit margins. At this point, at least for investors, the profit margin could be much higher without having to service the Xbox branch.

[classic19]

lol to that, bro.

[Magicite]

Sell it to Samsung, it will be worth that.

[2v1]

even Ms dont want the xbox

[MazzingerZ]

He probably means get rid of third party studios and probably Kinetec games as well, XBL is profitable....focus in TV and multiplatforms....

[static360]

that won't be good on the long run having only sony as a gaming platform...well that is unless you count Nintendo

[3-4-5]

Sega Dreamcast 2 prease

[jahfen83]

Sony XPlaystationbox 5!

[awesomeisjayell]

just sell your mother to me i use her more than you anyways LOL.

[whome]

the ironic thing about this, they're going to sell alot of xboners, but will it be enough. sony will still dominate. so i believe they will sell, when the going gets tough. simple as that.

[Retroman]

They should of done this when first sign of RROD issues in 2006.........

[xxthe1andonlyxx1]

Plz dont sell xbox we need fanboy wars!

[redwin]

So, I see that the problem is Microsoft not the Xbox. I think Microsoft has done lots of good. There had been more advancements since MS came to the table. More jobs and the Americans are making great games again and that's since MS came to the table. I think the best thing would be for MS to keep the Xbox and battle it out with Sony , if so, then we all win. No one has the resources that they have and the hunger . I don't want to hear about the DRM, Steam and Ouya are doing the same thing and no one said anything. But I know that MS doing the DRM is a threat to Sony but steam and Ouya not as much. Remember, Japanese people don't buy American games, if MS sells, America will not have the best programmers anymore. That's too much to loose. But I'm a gamer, so I'll buy games anyway, they'll be mainly Japanese games though because we ousted the American . We need Ms .... Sadly .

[Beahmscream]

Hey dumb fuck, without COMPETITION, gaming will not get better.

[DOOMZ]

From Aaron Greenberg (via Twitter) regarding the rumors of selling Xbox:
That is just silly...

“We appreciate Bloomberg’s foray into fiction and look forward to future episodes,” said Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft.

[DialgaMarine]

Sell the core IPs to Sony and Nintendo, and then sell the actual brand name to Samsung. Make a pretty penny there, and then go back to turning a profit on their other products, and then everyone's happy. Good day gents.

[Seraphim]

their business model won't be missed. Who's to say the next is any better. There shouldn't be a lack of potential suitors that's for sure. I have to agree about Bing though, scrap that useless crap. No one wants or uses it and if they do it's because they're PC illiterate.

[Azzanation]

Sony wouldn't be able to afford it.

[Kornholic]

Stephen Elop, the man who killed Nokia.

[Mikelarry]

i hope he doesn't and this is just rumours and if he does sell it hopefully its to someone who is passionate about a games console and gaming in general as i like the idea of the big three, or even 4 when the steam box launches.

[MRMagoo123]

anyone at all besides MS imo , what about sega lol

[Rainstorm81]

Alot of people say Sega.... but they have been shown to be incompetent console manufacturers After the Genesis...... I think Sega should continue being publishers, i think its best for everyone involved

[Hayabusa 117]

Even as publishers, they haven't proven to be especially competent of late. I loved my Mega Drive back in the day, but I business wise, I don't see any reason why Sega should get back into consoles.

[ABizzel1]

I completely disagree, as it is now there's really no need for a "Big 3" considering M$ and Sony share 90% of their game library. The PS3 and XBO are proof that "MANY" gamers are in the know and most won't settle for a console that's priced too high or doesn't have the specs. to back it up. And the PS4 is proof that Sony at least is willing to listen to the people who matter most when it comes to making games & consoles (The Developers & The Consumer).

If M$ leaves I seriously doubt Sony will become this evil pseudo M$ charing $200 / yr. for online, and making a mid-range PC console w. mandatory Camera, mandatory 3D head-display, and other required peripherals for $1,000. I just don't see it, they learned price is of the upmost importance with the PS3 disaster at launch (which is why so called "journalist" should be giving XBO grief). On top of that there's still Nintendo (who need to get their console business together) and PC gaming.

If M$ were to leave the console division, I say they should focus on integrating XBL infrastructure into PSN ($$$), continue making their first party games for PlayStation and PC ($$$), and make Xbox-like peripherals for gamers who don't like the PlayStation controller layout ($$$). Those 3 things are nothing but profit markets, since XBL is coding & software, games are software, and controllers have an insane mark-up compared to manufacturing cost.

PSN + Gaikai + XBL = Amazing online gaming
PS Hardware + PlayBox Software = Amazing games, OS, and services

I'm pretty sure the console will cost $499, games should technically stay the same price (only publisher greed will raise them), PS+ will probably cost $50 - $60 (split 50% / 50% between M$ and Sony),

I really see nothing but good from this, and only "fearist" and fanboys who only own one console and don't want to see any kind of alliance form are against this.

[Thehyph]

I'll agree with this.

I'm no analyst, but I can see Microsoft turning Xbox into something more profitable by doing away with hardware R&D and production.

Microsoft made its fortune strictly from software and licensing, not from selling Xbox consoles. There's no reason they couldn't do the same to the brand.

[Dudebro90]

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[DevilishSix]

Dudbro

Actually he does know what he is talking about. Microsoft got into the console market in the first place because Sony refused to use a Microsoft OS in their consoles. That ticked Billy off and they created Xbox not only as revenge on Sony, but to secure their interests in the living room. If Sony and Microsoft finally resolved this and had an interest I could see Microsoft getting out of the hardware side of the business.

Also, no industry is immune to consolidation, Microsoft has been in a no growth position for nearly a decade now and one of the major reasons Balmer is leaving and Billy left years ago. Billy has been selling off his shares for years now and will be competely divested in the next couple, he saw this position years ago and stepped down.

[rainslacker]

I still see Sony making a lot of moves that seem to be directly aimed at giving them a broader spectrum of services to offer their customers. Things like Gaikai to compete with all the cloud providers out there is just one example. Music Unlimited, PSN(SEN), PS+, etc are all service oriented ventures which is where the money is. I don't see why at this point they would have to get MS on their platform when they have already circumvented the biggest thing MS could offer them, and that's the cloud. Sony has no real need to offer MS Windows on their system, as they seem capable enough to make their own OS.

I can see Sony allowing MS to make controllers for their system, after all it costs them nothing and they get liscensing fees. I can see Sony allowing MS to release games on their system for the same reason.

I can also see Sony offering Live as a service on PSN, as Live is a much bigger service than XBL itself. Skype is already on PS platforms(which seems poised to replace Live completely), and there is really no reason for Sony to have to pay for it. What I can't see is Sony opting to forgo it's own online social service(PSN-SEN) to integrate a different companies into it on a system wide level. It seems like if they did this it would be more like the social media outlets they are integrating into the PS4. Connectivity, but still managed by PSN.

As far as people speculating Sony will become this totalitarian dictator of a company in the console space, I just don't see it happening. They were dominant for close to two generations, and despite what most people say, the PS3 actually had a lot of power, and the value was there when taken as a whole. There was nothing draconian about the PS3 at all. Same goes for the PS1 and PS2.

The cost of services going up is a given. It has to just to keep up with inflation. Same with game prices which have remained relatively stagnant compared to the increase in development costs. However, with all these services and game prices(which are more handled by the publisher), there is only so high you can go before the consumer just says no. They may try to over-inflate the costs, but in the end, the market can only bare so much, and it will never really go over that point.

[mewhy32]

It's true that the games business is brutal recently microsoft is striking out at the plate. But if they sell and xbox is done away with it'll be bad for gamers. That means there won't be as much competition and thus less innovation. I hope that he doesn't sell off xbox for that reason only. He could right the boat by not putting the kinect in every box and reducing the price to 349.99 to better enable microsoft's inferior console hardware to better compete with the smartly priced and hugely more superior PS4.

[MajorAly]

They're already killing the Xbox One sales with news like this. Man, Microsoft, as a whole company, should really take a one week vacation to Bahamas and cool down and think rationally.

[obelix01]

The majority of people buying the X1 will never know or care about this years drama.

[Rainstorm81]

Allen’s $15 billion asset manager, Paul Ghaffari, revealed recently that Bing and Xbox have been distractions for Microsoft.

"My view is there are some parts of that operation they should probably spin out, get rid of, to focus on the enterprise and focus on the cloud."

Damn Xbox has been a distraction???? Im glad i plan on waiting to get one

[quarkist]

who will buy this white elephant????

[mdluffy]

Sony... then it's sony vs nintendo.
but that would be bad for gaming, because sony would have the whole console gaming to them selves, and won't have to try so hard anymore.

[Killjoy3000]

I'm sorry, but Sony has absolutely no use for the Xbox brand. They're just fine on their own. I think they're keen on watching the Xbox division off itself.

[quarkist]

well, this was a serious question. It can very well be Nintendo to save the sinking Wii U console. Or it could be one Valve?

[ABizzel1]

Stop with the Monopoly fears. If anything Sony proved with the PS4 that they listen to developers and consumers, and if the Xbox brand was sold off it doesn't mean we would see the end of the brand.

Better yet, it should be spent off into it's own Micro division. Focusing on software (XBL, OS, and games) and small scale hardware (Controllers, Kinect?????, ......other.....)

Sony proved they learned their lesson, and even if they were the only "HARDCORE" console I seriously doubt they "won't have to try so hard anymore". Software sales still matter and last time I checked there were still tons of amazing games from plenty of developers out there, and they would still have to evolve their console to offer an alternative to PC gaming and Nintendo, on top of giving developers the power and tools they needs to make better games while focusing on a price point consumers can agree with.

Just because your biggest direct competitor goes out of business doesn't mean your career is a walk in the park. As Best Buy (Circuit City), Toy R Us (KB Toys), and more.

[king_george]

I dont understand the whole monopoly fear thing. u guys do remember that sony almost did that back in the ps2 days right? and did being on top with 150 million consoles sold stop them from giving us incredible games? nope.

[Chrono]

Remember Nokia?

[DeadRabbits]

Sell it to SEGA maybe they can raise the xbox brand from the dead!

As for Bing you can't kill something that is already DEAD!

[Knushwood Butt]

lol Bing it!

[DeadRabbits]

Bin It!

[N8]

Agreed I forgot what bing was for a minute.

[saikorican]

So did everybody else.

[mixelon]

.. Maybe they should sell the Xbox division to Sega.

That would be some great Karma.

..

Seriously though, spinning off the Xbox division into a separate company doesn't sound like too bad an idea - I tend to think if anything the Xbox is held back by MS's baggage more than in benefits from it.

[Baka-akaB]

Sega would mismanage and kill it

[MRMagoo123]

anyone would do better than MS is at the moment.

[Baka-akaB]

Far from it . just look at the current state of Sega , and by that i dont even mean to touch their console manufacturer past .

They manage their properties even worse than Capcom and SE this gen . It's why some people were scared by their acquisition of the beloved Atlus .

[infectedaztec]

I hope they don't. I was always a fan of XBox but never a fan of bing. Now I have a Windows phone I'm starting to see the potential of all my devices (except my Mac) being able to talk to each other. Especially with the Cortana app being developed by MS.

At the moment I think Microsoft are being shaded by nearly all they're major competitors in their business areas, but once Bing can connect phone to laptop to xbox all run by Cortana off the one live profile - that knows your preferences I think they will be able to offer a product their competitors can't

[jcnba28]

Who would buy the Xbox brand though? Google?

[Killjoy3000]

Now there's a thought.

[Chrono]

Samsung can buy it easily.

[ABizzel1]

Google, Samsung, Apple, Sony, Activision (parent), Amazon, or Valve are the biggest companies I see trying to buy the Xbox Brand. That or a spin off into a separate smaller division.

I doubt Google will enter gaming, it's preoccupied with it's super secret project aboard a boat, and trying to expand it's Google Fiber service across the nation.

Samsung is possible, but I just don't see what they would bring to the Xbox Brand, to improve it.

Apple if they really are trying to get into the gaming world, but again I don't see Apple with a console.

Sony would benefit most, but I think they're better off buying parts of the brand like IP's, XBL, and peripherals.

Activison's owner Vivendi, could buy it and turn it into a COD box as another way to make money on the franchise.

Amazon sells everything, they have their own tablet, why not their own console.

Valve seems like the best option since they are building their very own anit-console Steambox. They need exclusives, they need more IP's, and they need a reason to get gamers into Steambox aka living room PC gaming, and the Xbox brand would be the most amazing starting point for them.

However, a spin-off of the brand would be most beneficial to M$. Stop making consoles and focus on selling your XBL service, making exclusives for PC and PlayStation, apps, and 3rd party peripherals for people who loved the Xbox controller, Kinect, etc.... Doing this will still make them billions in the gaming industry as well as getting them into the living room (their ultimate goal).

*There's an average of around 250 million console gamers, based on PS4 and 360 sales that's around 160 million gamers.

*XBL has 40 million subscribers (50% of it's install base) now tie it in with PSN / PS+ and a potential 80 million subscribers (50% install base) with a 50:50 split and that's $2.4 billion on the subscription service alone during max install base ($60 PS+XBL).

*At least 40 million gamers love the controller (50% 360 install base, 25% PlayBox 1) that's $2 billion in sales for at least 1 controller for that group of $40 million.

There's still money to be made and by focusing on smaller scale hardware with huge mark-ups and software it's nothing but pure profit for M$.

[DevilishSix]

Valve is in no way the best option. You like Valve and I get it, but Valve is pivately owned and does not have the cash or operating income to take on something as large as the xbox division.

[SaveFerris]

Maybe Vivendi or Disney or Time Warner?

[quiddd]

Bing is a hot mess

[DevilishSix]

Agreed Bing is the real problem here.

[TheLyonKing]

If they sell it off it will be for the ip,s and use of some of the hardware, most companies will jump on it.

They can't sell the actual division and Sega wouldn't be able to afford it even if it was feasible.

[Sarobi]

Elop would destroy the entire company in 3 years tops.

[JustPlay4]

Dude talks about getting of useless stuff, they bought Nokia for crying out loud.

[ABizzel1]

Well Nokia actually makes good phones, problem is they're just not selling "useless stuff" *-*

[extermin8or]

Spinning it off into a separate company isn't a bad idea, if Sony's financial issue got any worse I'd kind of like to see them do something similar with SCE. So it's essentially the same company just separate from the main body-if the main body went down or had to start firing people/selling bits off it would be unaffected. Alternatively they could just ditch the consumer tv business save for one model in say 2 sizes at any one time...as that's their issue. as for MS I'm not too clear what their primairy issue is but.... who would they sell xbox too anyway. I guess Amazon, google or apple (please god no-Imagine the fanboys then, it'd be like every new device they release is the second coming even though it's actually mainly copying other sstuff that's been done but ofc apple would've been the 'first' todo it.) As much as I like sony's playstation product etc I don't want them to have control of Xbox brand and Playstation.... there has to be some competition.
However I could see them selling the IP's they own and some first party devs off and sony buying that-that I wouldn't mind :P

[The Meerkat]

Google or Amazon would be very interesting.

[theWB27]

How ignorant are people who keep belly aching about selling it to sega. One...I highly doubt Sega has enough money to buy the Xbox division. Two...Sega went from being SEEEEGAAA to only making software for a reason and it wasn't ONLY the PS2. They mismanaged a few of their other consoles also.

I sincerely hope they don't sell it off. It would greatly dampen my gaming enthusiasm.

[badkolo]

You guys are so desperate. Enjoy killzone

[vividi]

I will, thanks. Enjoy whatever game you will be playing.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

Enjoy your abandoned system. Co-Founder of Microsoft, and owner of the wolrd's most expensive yacht- Paul Allen wants to get rid of the the xbone division. http://n4g.com/news/1385142... -some should take these signs as a warning. just say'n

[badkolo]

thats his opinion, he aint the boss and cant make that decision, same happened to sony months ago when they were advised to do the same, didnt happen, keep dreaming , many people who sit on the board for both ms and sony want to sell of the gaming division, but they camnt do it and when they tried it got turned down and so will this, his suggestion is just that, a suggestion,, 2 billion out of how much is ms worth, like i keep dreaming, watch out cause ryse is coming and yuour all gonna cream your pants wondering why nothing on your console looks as good, back to the waiting game, just like last gen , you all waited but the only time it was worth the wait was for a few exclsuives. its going to be a nightmare for you guys once again.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

First off ,,Ryse -the telephone dialing game?? Really?

Second.. Time to Triangle son, Time to Triangle.

[cyberninja]

Would be a win-win situation for everybody : ms, gamers and the industry. The question is who's gonna buy it? Sega or Samsung?

[LordDhampire]

We need microsoft for competition, also who would buy it....not sony...some wanna be company?

[kwyjibo]

I don't think Elop would sell Xbox, with his experience at Nokia, he knows how the device business works.

That $2 loss figure that Nomura came up with for Xbox I find difficult to take seriously. And massively understates the losses from Windows Phone.

Selling the loss making Bing might be a good idea, but who's going to buy that stinker? Google can't because of anti-competitive fears, I don't see any other tech giant wanting to get into search.

[TechnoSphere]

if they leave Sony will get worse again.
No competition = bad.

[ABizzel1]

Sony did just fine with the PS1
Sony did just fine with the PS2
Sony learned a valuable lesson about pricing with the PS3, but still had an amazing console and exclusive
Sony should do amazing things with the PS4 listened to developers who love it, and priced perfectly for the hardware you get.

What is the "worse again" you're talking about.

[king_george]

sony had virtually no competition in their first two gens and they still kicked major ass. they wouldnt get worse at all. we know this from history.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

No competition = bad?

I disagee. PS2 and PS1 dominated with little competition. Look at COD it didn't have competition for years til BF3 came but still COD is the same. Look at Gran Turismo it's the best sim racer not because of competition but for good developers. MGS don't have competition for stealth games and it's one of one of the best series in gaming. To me competition means nothing. If developers have the passion to make a good game they will.

[quarkist]

it could be MS would like to sell the HW business, and keep the OS to self. It may be ideal if HW is made by Sony and OS is made by MS...

[feraldrgn]

If they sell off the Xbox, it'll still leave Nintendo & Sony, so there will still be competition, but more like the good old days.

MS would still be able to use the Kinect & TV functionality for other things anyway, so it wouldn't be a complete loss for them.

[Manic2014]

If they want to sell the xbox brand i think they should just sell the division to samsung and team up for supporting xbox. Samsung providing the hardware and MS providing the first party games. Though this is just a theory of xbox being sold.

[Brazz]

actualy this make sense in a perfect world, but... you see... Microsoft isn't a good partner, it never was.Look at Microsoft past, majority of their partners had 2 destinys:

1º) Microsoft start to control than...
2º) microsoft let than broken...

Samsung is doing very good whit TV and phones, they don't need xbox or a "devil pact" whit microsoft...

[finite]

Great idea... will benefit Microsoft by selling this side and give them a stronger hold on themselves and back to what they do best PC...

[grassyknoll]

If anyone is gonna buy it, it's either Time Warner or Amazon. Sony might buy some IP's though

[MegaRay]

Feel sorry for the xbots tho

[Unlimax]

Sell it to Atari ( If that possible lol )

[MilkMan]

He gets my vote!

[mhunterjr]

I think this would be a huge mistake. I get it, enterprise needs to be their main focus, but its clear that the R&D justified by their gaming arm is leading to technologies that will benefit the company as a whole, not to mention boltster the use of other MS products like Azure, Bing and Windows phone. XBOX has the potential to be a great 'Trojan horse' so to speak...

Anyway, I wouldn't think this would happen for the next 7 years or so, so maybe the future of Xbox as a MS product lies with the success of xb1 and its accompanying services.

[Smootherkuzz]

This is what happens gamers destroy a system buy calling it crap. Something happened to Sega consoles with all the bad press from consumers. Xbox systems are great gaming systems. It's a shame the way people act. I say remove all gaming. Take it back to tag and hide n seek. Maybe then gamers will be happy.

[Shinox]

For me , SEGA is more important than the crappy Xbox systems

[Dudebro90]

Yea because the Sega CD, Sega 32x, and Sega Saturn were great....oh wait they weren't, and actually were some of the worst choices any video game company has ever made.

[LeCreuset]

Consumers have spoken. Grow up. MS isn't entitled to be in the console business.

[wishingW3L]

Sega killed itself by producing so many failures one after the other.

[BOLO]

I concur...Sega had the technology (Model 2, Naomi, etc) and the franchises (Sonic, Daytona, Streets of Rage, Virtua Fighter, etc) to be at best a close number two to Nintendo. Instead of capitalizing on their momentum, they decided to release console and peripheral after console and peripheral too closely. Miss the old Sega tho.

[BLAKHOODe]

I know it's cool to hate on Microsoft and Xbox nowadays, but this would be TERRIBLE for us gamers. Do you honestly think the PS4 or Playstation Plus would be as good as they are if it weren't for Sony's competition with Microsoft? You kill the competition and there is NOTHING stopping Sony from returning to it's dark, evil, greedy ways. NOTHING! Competition is good and it's f'n GREAT for us. So for our sakes, let's hope Xbox stays right where it is, because if not.. there will be dark, DARK days ahead for us all.

[LeCreuset]

The problem is, we get diminishing returns in that regard from MS. Gamers would take a temporary hit in my opinion, but I think it would be made up for by higher quality competition in the future once someone else took over Xbox and put out a decent system, or another player stepped into the console war.

As it stands now, things are just embarrassing. Someone should call a tko already the way MS has been stumbled and pummeled. From a consumer interest view, we're talking about Sony competing with a company that wanted to institute DRM, lied about record hardware failure with the 360, gimped their gaming systems gaming performance in favor of entertainment, and constantly tries to deceive the fanbase on issues like the DRM and resolution. Sony competing with Xbox isn't raising the bar. It's lowering it. Get a true contender in there that makes Sony step their game up even more, I say.

[LEOPARD1030]

This is sad, the Xbox brand is needed for the sane competence. Maybe Microsoft needs a partner, a big manufacturer like Samsung.

[obelix01]

Yes only one console would be great for gamers! Sony fanboys, as much as you hate Xbox you need it. You need competition in the business world to get better products. This IS still a business deep down. Monopolies aren't good for anyone.

[LeCreuset]

Who here is saying one console would be great for gamers, or is that your Xbot logic fail causing you to just not get it, as usual? If MS sells Xbox, that doesn't mean Xbox won't be around, and even if it did, Xbox wouldn't be the first gaming brand to go under just to be replaced by another company that steps in to compete.

[Hayabusa 117]

I definitely think bing should go. Who uses it? it's just an annoying page at the end of the 360's dashboard that's nice and minimal and does absolutely nothing. Waste of space, once again, because Microsoft are insistent that it's "the future" ans so they have to it down our throats. Maybe other people use it, I dunno, just seems a bit pointless to me.

As for selling the Xbox division...maybe. It would be interesting to see what another company could do with the infrastructure in place, but on the other hand it might require huge investments to keep going, which Microsoft can afford right now. I wouldn't want to see the XBox go down because then Sony would pretty much have a monopoly of the console space and I think competition pushes both companies to improve. Nintendo won't provide much of that I'm afraid.

Who knows. Maybe Valve could buy it and turn it into a proper open platform console. Or maybe Activision could turn it into a platform sorely built to run Call of Duty games :P Funnily enough, I think the latter has a much higher probability of actually happening, haha!

[Klonoa-dreamtraveler]

definitely want sega to take that empty spot if they sell it off.

[Stoppokingme]

Sell it to Samsung, that will stir the pot.

[DCfan]

Damn, it would be a good day to witness. I wish Sega would get into the console business again. It would be every gamer's dream. Sony vs Nintendo vs Sega

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Neither candidate has specifically mentioned selling off the Xbox brand. That talk was coming from unnamed investors.

And you may remember that a certain high profile Sony investor wants to do the same thing at Sony by breaking the company into pieces.

Why? Because the playstation and Xbox brands have both lost billions.

[kingdip90]

Don't forget that kne of the original microsoft founders said the same thing! Seems there is a big pull to spin off hardware

[DCfan]

PS brand is making profit for sony. Their tv department is whats bleeding money. reading your comments tells me thats you hate sony with your guts.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Only a mouth breathing fanboy would assume that I hate Sony simply because I made an accurate statement.

And no, the PS brand hasn't been profitable for a while. They're also losing money in the music and movies division, as well as in mobile.

Welcome to my ignore list.

http://www.gamasutra.com/vi...

[ooquis]

This is not something you want to say before you launch your new console.

[SoulSercher620]

The internet would explode if that happened. But Microsoft wouldn't really do that... I think.

[bmx_bandit]

FIRST: he is NOT CEO of Microsoft, just a candidate from Nokia.

SECOND: he NEVER said it. feel free to post a link where he said it!

THIRD: just another click-generating link for Sony-Boys. business as usual.

[Grave]

Haha, Bing. It's the Internet's version of HD-DVD.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Samsung could be an interesting potential buyer imo.

[bromtown]

If they sold Xbox, it'd be for a lot of money. As much as I'd love to see it go to Sega, or even Nintendo (then they can make a proper gaming system) it'd be more likely to go to someone with lots of money and a recent hardware background. My money would be on Samsung - I think they'd be up for it, they seem to be growing anyway, why not make a games console.

[makeaveli]

Fan boys are stupid !!
The only reason you're paying 399.99 and not 599.99 like the last time or maybe more for a PS this generation its because MS is in the picture. If MS go out so your beloved 399.99 price will be the last time you ever gonna see it. .. And everyone losses. just saying...

[HappyWithOneBubble]

Then you'd wait for a price drop.

[wishingW3L]

There's Nintendo, there's Steam and soon the Steambox. Xbox is not needed and never was. Although the damage has already been done in the form of rampant DLC and now Sony making us pay to play online. You guys were too stupid for paying for XBL and now Sony is doing the same because they know people will pay for it. -__-

[Red_Devilz]

Sell it to someone who is willing to look past PR lies, TV, Fantasy Football, Call of Doody, Halo and Forza (thats pretty much all of XB1).

[iceman1346]

sell it to me i will f***ing heal that mess

[stavrami]

WHAT BUSINESS ??

[buynit]

Wtf is up with ms.. now they are talking about selling xbox! Im about to just say screw the xbox, I really want it but they have no damn focus for it.

Ms if shit is that bad then just give up before releasing the xb1 and move on to what ever else you want tomake billions off of.. I swear I hate companies that make that kind of money but always cry broke all while they get millions in bonuses and pay the guys that make it happen very little...

Just like my job.. damn gm makes over 200k to do nothing but stare at a computer while im out side in the weather every day and get no sick days helpng the company make half a mil in a month but god forbid u work some over time... I feikin hate corporate!

[ivnheim]

The next war will be between Playstation and Steam. XBox is dead.

[Angerfist]

Xbox Brand would be too expensive and we are just at the Start of a new System, Bing is just 10 Years to late to the party.

Also, hell what i want and what i get are two different things, same for those who suggest to sell it, all this Xbox Stuff makes a ton of Money for MS.

[wishingW3L]

it doesn't.

http://www.nowgamer.com/new...

And that happens because of all the money they throw around to make it a success no matter what. And yeah, from a gamer's perspective it's a success. It has a library comparable to the PS3's and 80 million consoles sold but from a business perspective is not.

[jgrigs09]

I would hate to see Xbox One go. Competition is fun, $hit I don't want to be stuck on one console. I doubt this guy will be the CEO. Last thing that needed to be said was I would consider selling off Xbox. That's a major no no. Plus stop brining up well investors said to sell if off. So did Sony investors suggested to sell of that department?

[iNFAMOUZ1]

I wish they sold Sony. Stupid Sony getting in the way, ruining gaming

[ScepticTankAvenger]

Not to sure about selling xbox, but I agree with the second part. Nobody uses Bing.

[Kidmyst]

I don't know if SEGA has the cash to get this and back into the console game, Apple or Valve would be a choice. But each have their own path they are going. Needs to be someone with some serious cash for development and future products and tech based to help. Nvidia?

[TheLastVoiceOFsanity]

if the xbox goes down i think it's more likely that they'll be bought by samsung as a whole instead of sony. if it was broken up & sold in pieces i can imagine sony buying the halo franchise. i hope if theirs is a fire sale nintendo will buy the rareware ip's.

[strigoi814]

is it gonna be 1080p or 720p if i purchase it?

[JohnS1313]

There's one big difference between Sony and Microsoft when it comes to gaming. Sony makes a lot of electronics and has a lot of divisions that can be helped by a game console. Microsoft really doesn't. They aren't a hardware company and don't have much to use on a game console to help them when their console loses money. With the PS2 the DVD format was helped big. Then Blu-ray on the PS3. Microsoft's shareholders hate anything that's a money loser. That's probably why this is even being talked about.

[ghostrider32]

If they were to sell the division, it should be bought by Samsung. They make good hardware. And why would they sell it to Sega? Seeing how Sony destroyed the Dreamcast, killing the Dreamcast 2 would be a cake walk for them.

[pcdaley21]

The 2 old enemies Sega & Nintendo should pair up and put out a next gen system together. With their great IPs and creative minds it would blow MS and Sony out the water!!!

[cell989]

I really hate Bing, they try to shove it everywhere, any program you DL it comes with it, sometimes they dont even ask you for permission whether you want it installed or not, I hate Bing with a passion for that reason

[ELpork]

I highly doubt that will happen any time soon... Although Stranger things have happened.

[Hayder]

Wow some people on here are so sad, their blind love for a product (SONY) is laughable. I just hope most of the people on here are little kids. A monopoly of anything is bad. Games like The Last of Us and Halo would not be made if there was no competition

[lunatic0001]

damn...it amazes me how blind fanboys are....you idiots know that sony was in a similar situtation last gen with the ps3...they were greedy and ignorant thinking they can sell a $600 console had shitty exclusives at first (lair anyone), even though the ps3 was considered more powerful,it had shitty multiplat games(orange box anyone) because it was complicated to develop games for it and get away with it, but thanks to the competition Microsoft and xbox brought to the table....sony finally understood that they had to try again...they started getting more first party studios, created their own version of xbox live, and now are doing a pretty good job trying to please everyone and not making the same mistakes again with the ps4...ALL THANKS TO XBOX... so no i dont want xbox to go away because sony wouldnt be who they are now if it wasn't for the competition that microsoft brought to the video game industry

[Dirtnapstor]

Has little to do with greed and ignorance. Study business models and learn something without using a controller...
360 line-up was just as crappy when it debuted. However the PS3 had Resistance, that was a mighty fine game!

[lunatic0001]

I never said the 360 had a good lineup but they need each other so they can be better... just look at how much Sony has changed since their ps3 launch...with the ps4.. They are making a cheaper system for gamers and a system thats easier to develop for developers...not the complicated cell processor...all because they now know they are not the kings of the gaming industry that they used to be...all thanks to competition...and resistance was okay...not great though..leave fanboyism aside

[Drithe]

Dreamcast 2? No.

Those bastards cant even bet Phantasy Star Online 2 over here, much less a new console.

End of line.

[InTheZoneAC]

no the M$ and no to Sega

should be just Nintendo and Sony, however, Nintendo needs to get off their asses to make their console relevant and quit implementing stupid motion controls. I want to play great games with no option of using a standard controller.

[dcbronco]

Hiring this guy would be pure genius. Yeah, right. While everything in personal or corporate investing says to diversify, he says"Focus on one product". There is nothing wrong with the track Ballmer has the company on. Xbox is more than healthy and growing and it would be stupid to dump it. If anything MS needs to use Xbox as it cutting edge platform. Hold all jokes about upcoming Wii-One version.

MS needs to push further into hardware and use it resources and Xbox as the launching ground for new technology that then get passed on to other MS hardware. Kinect ability phones, Tablets and MP3 players. Better designed chips. They are still new at making their own chips, they shouldn't quit yet.

They also need to interconnect their services more. Have a Live tier that includes music, TV, Gaming and productivity across your devices. Selling anything right now would be dumb. Especially if your listening to the guy who recently ran a company that has just been broken down and sold off in pieces.

[DoubleM70]

Are you all stupid or something? You do not want one gaming company dominating the other. competition is healthy for the industry. I don't know when you guys started gaming, but I have seen this industry hit rock bottom in the 80's. All the creativity goes out of the bussiness. Not to mention it would put alot of people out of work. Just remember you wouldn't have a great PS4 without the 360 being in the market. Competition is good for us gamers and Enthusiast alike.

[jmc8888]

That's all well and good, and I agree with it sort of, but part of the market process also means sometimes when people are utterly inept, they have to exit the market. The market plays winners and losers.

It would suck, but keeping Microsoft around doesn't mean it would be any better.

Only if MS wants to have a mea culpa and never return to the fascist and authoritarian vision they laid out, would them remaining would be a good thing.

Just because they get trounced doesn't mean they have learned their lesson. Look at Albert Penello's recent...it wasn't us...people weren't ready...type comment.

At least some people at MS still haven't learned, and them remaining in the market mucking it up with this type of crap, and putting Kinect in the box (I won't get into Kinect) are all things that aren't good and there's no reason, especially with Penello's comments to think that will change.

Maybe next time they try all the crap we don't like again, except, it's decently powerful next time. We still lose.

Competition is great, but it doesn't always work and magically everything becomes better. Also, when we think about it, consoles are really oligopolies...it's not like they have tons of competitors.

So we shouldn't hope that Microsoft stays in just to keep Sony honest. We should hope that Microsoft sees the light, but if not, then someone else steps into the void.

Then THAT company, which is trying to cater to gamers, competes with Sony. Because whether or not Microsoft stays in might not matter, it's pretty clear where they want to take us, and gaming is not at the forefront.

[GoodnessGreatness]

No more Xbox. No more ripping off people's money :)

[BobBelcher]

lol... I love how people are okay w/ Sony's ONLY real competition being sold and gone. Yeah, then Sony can rape their consumers w/o any real consequences then. GREAT plan.

[S2Killinit]

dont think they are ok with it. (well, at least those who understand) although I gotta say, the direction microsoft bosses wanted to take the xbox was not a friendly future for the gamer so, i dont know, if someone else bought xbox, maybe they wouldn't be such a huge company like microsoft and so wouldn't believe gamers are irrelevant (as MS seems to think)?

[SDIII]

Bring in the guy who sold NOKIA, obviously they wanted to bring in the best. Who the hell uses nokias anymore??

He will make MS alot of money by selling the xbox brand XD

[ONI5]

MS will sell the XBOX brand to Gamestop and they will rule the world.

[PawnSacrifice]

Sorry chumps & chumpetts,
Steve Ballmer outlined the direction he wants the new CEO to take (numerous articles if u wanna search it)
In brief, PC sales are down, the surface share in market is small.
Windows phone is still behind Apple & miles behind Android, but is gaining fast.
AND here's the kicker,
The XBOX side has a 46% share in the market. And MS will support xbox well into the future as their strongest arm.
Debunked! Bitch

[tigertron]

I wouldn't mind them selling the Xbox brand to SEGA, though SEGA hasn't been exactly stellar these last few years and they couldn't afford to buy it. :(

[JediDiah]

Sony fan boys would get a sticker shock if there was no competition.

[DOOMZ]

Not going to happen, lol!

[cactusjack]

keep dreaming

[JediDiah]

What if EA and Activision partnered together a bought out Xbox.....that would be a BIG game changer!!

[BBBirdistheWord]

"“We appreciate Bloomberg’s foray into fiction and look forward to future episodes,” said Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Microsoft.

"...the 49-year-old executive (Elop) hasn’t finalized or publicly discussed his analysis of the business.

Weird how this story got submitted as news, when it is in fact a rumour from yet another anonymous unconfirmed source.

What a shame that Sony fanboys will be quoting this rumour as fact in future discussions.

[cactusjack]

sell the gaming division to samsung, then you will see a real console war.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Starcraft isn't on consoles. Do they play anything else in Korea? :-)

[cactusjack]

do you even know what samsung does, obviosly not.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

Do you know they are Korean, who hold huge Starcraft tourneys...?

DUHH!

[Dsanders34]

Dummy ps3 fanboys...if the xbox brand dies, sony won't be competitive. A lot of things Sony has done with the ps3 this gen is because of the push Microsoft gave them by making xbox. I guess you guys wanna go back to gaming be dull all over again. You know lousy unreliable online play, no voice chat etc. I don't normally comment on n4g that much anymore and this may really be my last. This site is full of little kids. It's sad, just sad.

[Dirtnapstor]

You're right, many fanboys...but you just join the club by isolating those "dummy PS fanboys".
Competition is a healthy thing, makes for better products, etc.; and everyone borrows from everyone.
The Xboxites are just a bit miffed this time because Sony is blatantly on top. Microsoft should have waited on the Xbone, obviously they weren't prepared this go-around.

Do people realize Sony actually aided microsoft in the development of the first Xbox?

[Dsanders34]

I'm miffed but not too miffed. I do agree Microsoft just wasn't prepared. I just wish sony would "borrow" xbox's controller design so I can give them my money for that nice console they're about to release.

[Inception]

There's still Nintendo and Sony produced PS1, one of the best console of all time, by competing with them.

[Necophiliac]

Bing is better than Google. Google has a redirect virus that almost always gets through when using Firefox! Plus Bing is better for searching for videos and porn. Just sayin..

[Necophiliac]

Youtube forcing my Google+ account is Fuckin annoying.

[S2Killinit]

normally I wouldnt want Microsoft to sell. but I feel like the reason xbox went the wrong direction was exactly because of people like these who only care about the numbers. xbox it self was fine, its just that Microsoft is too big a company to care for a niche market like the gamers. they allowed the first xbox to be for the gamers and thats what got them in the door, but then mother company's ultimate plans were slowly implemented into 360 in the second half of the generation and thus the focus on casuals. as much as I would not want xbox gone, I don't want Microsoft's (not xbox's)gameplan win out because I believe that in the long run the gamers will loose out.
Although I got to say, this whole thing might be a ploy to see if this will gain them some sympity points with the gamer. (if thats true, i gotta say they are playing with fire since the other impression I'm getting is that xbox is a sinking ship right now)

[DinoNYC]

I wouldn't be surprised if the xbox division does get sold off. Just a matter of who would buy it and what would happen to Azure division. Amazon has the best cloud computing service so that's a possibility.

[Sheikh Yerbouti]

I hope they don't sell the XBox because of greedy shareholders. Microsoft makes enough from licensed patents to pay for the losses from XBox every year. They did say they'd give it three tries.

They made Sony get off its ass and show us whose house this is, at least for that. Sega, Apple, Valve...save your pennies.

[chaosdemon09]

This is one of those stories where I simply say... "Ya sure i"ll believe it when I see it"

There's no way the xbone will die cause some new CEO comes in and says ya..no more gaming for us. I'd freaking love it but again I seriously doubt this story.

[Dirtnapstor]

Microsoft wasn't ready this cycle. They should have waited, done things on their own time schedule. All the controversy and cover-ups supports this.
As a PS fanboy, I do hope they pull out of their mire. Competition is a good thing. Everybody can benefit.

[nessus1]

Hope xbox will go away do you
A lot of fear and anxiety from psfanboys

[chaosdemon09]

Seems the other way around..you don't see a future CEO of our company saying he wants to do away with our console lol.

Xboners know there screwed at this point the left overs are just trying to be like..oh I'm different. I like the Xbox..

Oh you plan on buying one? Huh? A...ya no..I can't efford it..or..I'm waiting for halo. :p

[CaulkSlap]

I get the feeling that Xbox One is going to be their last game console.

[KingDadXVI]

F.U.D. Nothing more needs to be said.

[evilhasitsway]

I seen this coming almost a year ago. I remember reading a article saying they x1 didn't do well that they were going to sell the xbox part of the company.

[evilhasitsway]

I will go on record and say I love bing though its the only search engine I use.

[Auron]

Monopoly is never a good thing!

[Joe913]

I don't think ppl realize xbox is not huge to MS they make more money off xbl than the console which to us is a lot but not to MS ppl also do not think about the fact that the first xbox didn't do well xbox 360 did well but because of the rrod every console sold they had to give two to three away so they actually lost a lot of money until the slim xbox 360 ended the rrod out of all the divisions at MS they said xbox division bring in the least so it makes sense and I also think Google will buy xbox or Apple if either of these companies buy xbox it will definitely kill Sony and Nintendo in America what if Samsung bought xbox lol

[mitford]

If there is no competition there is no incentive for a company to strive to do better and you will end up paying more money for inferior products as there is no competition,

so before people start wishing xbox to implode use that thing whats in between your ears.