The Gaming Heretic Writes: “Would you like to subscribe to our magazine today?” I said, through clenched teeth, while I fumbled with this greasy teenager’s used copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, “It saves you ten percent off of all used games, plus you receive bonus credit for your trade-ins!” His glassy, disinterested stare answered my question before he could reply—an answer that I received nearly 90 percent of the time I asked this question. “No thanks,” he apathetically uttered as he stared at the credit card reader, swiping with his card in rapid successions. Clearly, his mind was busy inventing new insults to barrage the online community of Call of Duty with.
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.
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's sad how this isn't an isolated incident.