ThisGenGaming Writes: "PlayStation 4 has sold 20 million units world wide since its inception, making it the fastest selling console of all time. Nothing else has ever come close to comparing to the overwhelming consumer reception and support that Sony has received for its console. Outside of the PlayStation 4, however, there isn’t anything that has really made people say “wow” about this console generation. For the most part, it has been a disappointment for many reasons. While the PS4 has thrived, many games and other competition have found ways to blunder through and made it one of the more puzzling console generations to date; not to mention one of the least competitive. Why is this so? Why have gamers become a bit disgruntled, or have been so since the start of the console wars? Has this generation helped or hurt gaming in general? Here are Five Reasons why it has underwhelmed overall, and a look at its affects on gaming as a whole."
One of the founding members of the Xbox team has questioned Microsoft’s multiplatform gaming strategy, and said they believe the Xbox hardware business is effectively “dead"
Replies(3)Think that rumor that they'll still make a new console but at a profit at $1000 will be true though. The series consoles will remain their cheap alternative throughout next gen I would say. Keep in mind that game pass and pretty much going 3rd party is their main focus. They want to bring xbox everywhere.
If they don't maintain some kind of console presence, I think they will lose gamepass subscribers and just become a 3rd party publisher who eventually sells everything off
Xbox games are releasing on all platforms. Who needs this hardware? PS or PC is all you need
Even if they could get it down to $800 for a box that can run with comparable performance to a PS6 (at, say $200 cheaper) the population of people willing to buy such a thing would be so limited.
It would be the worst of both worlds.
TNS: Based on its most recent ESG data, Nintendo boasts a remarkably low staff turnover rate of just 1.9%, with virtually no reported layoffs.
It’s unreal that people are downvoting this when they consistently have the best scoring games on metacritic.
Well it doesn’t surprise me. As much money as they make and how they value their employees. It’s a great company in that regard.
Replies(1)Well, when your games remain full price many years after release.
And you make profit off of outdated hardware.
I would be shocked if they couldn't afford to retain their staff.
I didn't want to say anything but drivxr is right.
Nintendo always sells at a profit because they purposely use tech that's always 5 or more years behind. And it's also true their games hardly ever get price decreases.
Don't get me wrong, it's great they kept most of their workforce, but making a point to have your tech specs behind everyone else affords that luxury.
I don’t think it’s their purpose to use old tech. It’s their purpose to make value of software and know their value. Nobody makes games like them that’s for sure. I just don’t appreciate their customer unfriendly policy.
It’s not impossible to take their status. Companies need to have a selection of 8-bit and 16-bit. Now imagine a split screen for 8 player game for SNES Mario kart and selling at $9.99. The problem is that it doesn’t make profit. So many companies won’t invest in “old” technology. Everyone guns for triple AAA modern technology software but honestly we can enjoy modernized 16-bit creative ideas that allows 8-player mayhem. It’s a pipe dream, possible but impossible.
If they ended up kicking people out after all of that stated above, it would be truly shameful.
Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Tesla and Meta are all trillion dollar companies yet they are laying people off in large numbers.
I believe the reason Nintendo layoffs off less workers may be a result of their culture. It seems Japanese companies believe in giving their workers long term or life long employment opportunities and will exhaust all options before laying off workers. This is something we don't see much of in the west unfortunately.
might be something to do with the fact all those companies hire more than 20x the employees than Nintendo
What the hell are you talking about? It has nothing to do with how profitable they are. Its completely cultural, MS and Sony make stacks of cash and still lay folks off. Nintendo chose not to lay off staff for the same reason their execs took pay cuts to increase staff pay instead; because they value their staff and view them as colleagues, and respect them as such.
If Sony weren't so US centric I fancy they'd fare better too, they should get shot of US and European leadership and go back to when Japanese execs were running the show if you ask me!
Even as the company sets out to overhaul the very definition of Xbox, cuts at its studios risk creating a negative image reminiscent of EA's worst era
I appreciate the article but this guy must be living in a delayed universe, The reputation was ruined 10+ years ago and hasn't recovered since. As such people have voted with their wallets and stopped buying Xbox products in large amounts.
Their reputation was lost way before that. From the moment Microsoft said they entering the console business, we all knew it would be a downgrade.
That's not true at all the OG Xbox had drive and they had hunger and they wanted to accomplish something. It was a great console.
they didn't quite reach their goals and they gave up prematurely because they couldn't win. It was halfway through the Xbox 360 when kinect released and that was when they lost their way and we're a rudderless ship ever since
In all fairness, Xbox had some great games with online play, Xbox 360 even better. Xbox consoles started to die with the Xbox One. Ditch consoles for the PC and PS.
@Bathyj hard to compute ay. Xbox was never better than a PC and that's all they ever were. A demo box. Doesn't get more true than that.
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Rumors of Turn 10 being either shut down or hit with massive lay offs is on the horizon.
The issue is MS will do something right only to do something very, very wrong. And they do this what seems calculative at this point. Doesn't matter what they do the Investors and leadership want more and more money an endless bottomless pit of purr insatiable greed. A company that acts like it's broke or hurting is what really, really infuriates me. They've surpassed apple again well over 3 trillion who acts like they're a million dollar company is fk stupid. Pivots and changes for no reason and can't do things for more than a year with out a pivot or changing their metrics.
That would be really bad since Phil just hyped up next year as a big Forza year at Summer Game Fest.
Isn't the point that it's irrelevant how profitable MS is, the suits have decided it's time that the Xbox division started making them money. Hence the layoffs, the pivots.
That wouldn't surprise me, as motorsport has been heading down hill since the great number 4. Where as playground have consistently put out better games. I think the two studios will be merged under playground games banner.
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what a load of crap.
i have said wow many times and thourly enjoyed this gen so far.
all on different pages so 6 clicks.
N4g needs to change fast because all of those points could be on 1 page but its over 6.
I hope this gen satisfies you someday.
Take the good with the bad.
Give it time, I think you had high expectations from the get-go.
The best is yet to come.
Until then, enjoy your portion of the sales profit.
Why is it that there are people out there looking for 10 out 10 experiences when this console cycle is less than 2 years old?
The exceptional games don't start coming until developers learn how to work with the hardware. I think this year will be pretty good, but 2016 will be great. I expect 2017 and beyond to be exceptional.
Underwhelmed? Im loving it
One reason why it may have underwhelmed for some people : Unreasonable expectations
I'm greatly enjoying my PS4. The only game I wish I hadn't bought was GTA5, only because I played it so much on PS3 and I don't really like the first person view unless I'm just driving or walking around the world without a goal.