Neowin: Gabe Newell, managing director of Valve Software, recently made critical claims about Windows 8 being a "catastrophe" for computer companies. Does the Valve head honcho have a point?
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 part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people
Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much
Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region
Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.
I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games
Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo
The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.
Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"
Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”
Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever
Nice one ☝️
This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.
No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.
Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.
Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?
Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.
I've said it before that Microsoft release a turkey every other OS since Win 95 with ME and Vista being note able flops with home users. Windows 7 was a good OS but now Microsoft try to force gamers into Windows 8 with all this XBOX integration just like they tried to force gamers into Vista with DirectX 10.
They deserted PC gamers for the console market after using the PC as a testbed with their Sidewinder peripherals and the Microsoft Gaming Zone but now want a slice of the action that companies like Valve have developed and will try and force Steam and Origin into submission not by fair competition but by pushing their services into the back end of Windows 8. This isn't new, this is the Microsoft of old who tried to force Internet Explorer into being the standard web browser until they were forced by the courts to offer alternatives via a pop up window. I hope the same happens with Windows 8 otherwise gamers will suffer.
Windows 8 is good for indie developers as it is more accessible to have their games scene and played on the Windows Store. I find this to actually be a good things and possibly bad for the big name guys which doesn't make sense as they still can have their desktop applications there.
I see people very upset with how the start menu and screen look but let's be honest here you sepnd about 2% of your time there and the other in actually a browser or an appilcation.
I'm looking forward to what is going to happen with Windows 8 and I'm happy so far with what they are doing but it takes some time getting used to it.