William at GameCloud writes: "I genuinely believe that players will be the driving force of this generation. Unlike before, we now have the ability to become involved, and to help shape the games industry for the better. There is no other entertainment medium that allows this sort of interaction, and it is also why I believe, in time, this generation of gaming has the potential to become the most creative and innovative yet. There will always be a natural desire for outstanding graphics, but I also believe there is a lot more room for other types of experiences, as well. The indie scene has clearly demonstrated this over the past couple of years, and I think the “AAA” industry will have no choice but to adapt to this changing landscape. Thanks to each of you, I expect that the best games could still be ahead of us."
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.
It will mainly be different due to the fact that the ps4 is leading in sales, which means that MS no longer has the upper hand with forced 3rd party parity.
But in my opinion, what will really shine(just like last gen) will be Sony's first party studio games. They are gonna visually make ps4 games equivalent to a high end pc game. The order, uncharted 4 and God of war as obvious examples.
Hopefully more JRPGs and platformers
Ps4 exclusives will define the new gen because they will fully utilize Ps4s superior beast engine
i just don't want to have an over saturation of FPS it seems like there is a few open world games and MMOs which is good because i think that will push the limit of these consoles more than a linear genre like an FPS could.