There was a time when Brian Reynolds was best known for his work on epic computer strategy games like Civilization II, Rise of Nations and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. But nowadays he's the poster child for the casualfication of gaming.
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.
Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"
Microsoft: "why's that"
Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'
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.
Eventually they’ll realize the value is with the employee not the company. Buying an IP means nothing if the people who contributed are let go. They’ll get it one day.
tech is different because they buy threats and then kill them. Twitter bought Vine and did nothing with it. Despite people seemingly liking it. Could've had tiktok a decade before bytedance. go figure.
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.
Kotaku are full of the biggest bunch of idiots I have ever seen -_-
Well, if PC gaming is going to become synonymous with facebook gaming, then I agree, but I don't see that happening.
PC gaming lives on by console ports and an ever-decreasing amount of indie exclusive developers. Almost every AAA PC developers has moved on to console development or intending to move on to it in the future. Blizzard, the last exclusive PC developer is now thinking how there are going to port Diablo 3 on consoles while Valve is busy porting Portal 2 to the PS3. PC hasn't been part of the gaming media for a long time, but every other platform like iPhone, handhelds and consoles always gets mentioned. PC gaming probably won't die, but if you call that 'living and flourishing' then I guess your in denial.
Hell, the only innovative thing I've seen on PC gaming is Ubisoft's internet DRM.
id just like to know how many people on this site could build their own gaming PC without googling what you would need....i for one am one of those people...i would need a lot of help...PC gaming evolves over time, consoles take leaps every 5-6 years...i or anyone else would have to be knowledgeable about the tech available and what best suits you if you are willing to put down the cash to build your own PC
Kotaku don't know their arse from their mouth.
Happy Sony fanboy day!
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Sony 'til I die