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[Varteras]

It's going to be an Xbox branded Windows PC and the only way people will be able to access their legacy Xbox libraries outside of the games that also have ports available on the windows store will be via streaming.

Book it.

If you're right, Topher said he'll let Banjo64 draw him naked, while demigod records it. Heisenberg007 will provide ASMR narration.

 

[Snake29]

"Without ABK" as if that matters? Hardware dead though lmao

It matters because they make the most money on PS consoles or PC. Imagine they would go exclusive?

 

[Banjo64]

It's going to be an Xbox branded Windows PC and the only way people will be able to access their legacy Xbox libraries outside of the games that also have ports available on the windows store will be via streaming.

Book it.

Phil’s hinted at this already in the blog interview when he raised out of nowhere the fact that Xbox games also give you a windows store PC key. That to me smacked of setting the scene and revealed their inner thoughts. If Xbox dies, you still have your PC versions of the games so they haven’t betrayed their users.

 

[Sanepar]

Ms should start to be transparent with xbox and gamepass numbers.

 

[GHG]

If you're right, Topher said he'll let Banjo64 draw him naked, while demigod records it. Heisenberg007 will provide ASMR narration.

 

[Heisenberg007]

It's going to be an Xbox branded Windows PC and the only way people will be able to access their legacy Xbox libraries outside of the games that also have ports available on the windows store will be via streaming.

Book it.

Don't you know? That's ALL THAT XBOX FANS EVER NEEDED FROM MICROSOFT.

"OMG, the dream is coming true."
"Finally, this is the way forward."
"I'd pay $2,000 for this!" (even though I could buy a PC for $2,000 all this time).

 

[Banjo64]

If you're right, Topher said he'll let Banjo64 draw him naked, while demigod records it. Heisenberg007 will provide ASMR narration.

Only get me involved when there’s cum on the table.

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[ulantan]

How the fuck does phil still have a job?

 

[Heisenberg007]

If you're right, Topher said he'll let Banjo64 draw him naked, while demigod records it. Heisenberg007 will provide ASMR narration.

I am NOT doing that again! That was a one-time thing.

Not for free at least!

 

[Sanepar]

The acquisition bringing in the dough

Yeap but xbox as a platform is dead.

 

[bender]

 

[Varteras]

How the fuck does phil still have a job?

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

it just hit me, remember the meme:



how it started

how it ended:

Dat 30% cut

mastefull strategy from our pal Phil Spencer

sometimes reality really imitates fiction. perfection

Remember that Nintendo purchase fantasy email He had to be smoking some good shit the day he wrote that right?

 

[Heisenberg007]

Phil’s hinted at this already in the blog interview when he raised out of nowhere the fact that Xbox games also give you a windows store PC key. That to me smacked of setting the scene and revealed their inner thoughts. If Xbox dies, you still have your PC versions of the games so they haven’t betrayed their users.

Exactly. What do you guys think the new "game preservation" team by Sarah Bond is doing?

They are most likely creating PC versions of all their Xbox-only games, thus preserving customers' licenses, as the next "Xbox" will likely just be a Windows PC.

 

[Banjo64]

How the fuck does phil still have a job?

It’s not who you know it’s who you blow.

Don't you know? That's ALL THAT XBOX FANS EVER NEEDED FROM MICROSOFT.

"OMG, the dream is coming true."
"Finally, this is the way forward."
"I'd pay $2,000 for this!" (even though I could buy a PC for $2,000 all this time).

Depressingly, coming soon to NeoGAF.

 

[LordCBH]

So basically ABK is propping up an otherwise floundering divisor of Microsoft.

 

[Punished Miku]

Don't you know? That's ALL THAT XBOX FANS EVER NEEDED FROM MICROSOFT.

"OMG, the dream is coming true."
"Finally, this is the way forward."
"I'd pay $2,000 for this!" (even though I could buy a PC for $2,000 all this time).

I think you're just upset if people are happy at this point. If I can get a PC and not lose any of my library at all, that's a huge win. And while I could get a PC earlier, I was happy with console, and the rumor is they are going to bring something similar to a console interface to PC so I'm interested in that. Not sure why any of this would be something worthy of any criticism at all. I made a prebuilt PC thread when it was clear Xbox games are going multiplatform, and the amount I'm loosely shooting for is around $2000 or less. If they come out with a prebuilt PC, I'll see what everyone says and pick either that or a different brand. Why wouldn't I?

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Yea, Xbox as a console is dead. Down again by 31%? Weren’t they down by around the same last quarter? The console is in free fall and nothing can save it at this point. No wonder they are putting their games on PS5 and Switch now and talking about next gen hardware already.

And ideally, you'd want the console to peak at its 3rd or 4th full calendar year. The Series consoles peaked far earlier and the peak wasn't that high to begin with.

 

[ulantan]

I think you're just upset if people are happy at this point. If I can get a PC and not lose any of my library at all, that's a huge win. And while I could get a PC earlier, I was happy with console, and the rumor is they are going to bring something similar to a console interface to PC so I'm interested in that. Not sure why any of this would be something worthy of any criticism at all. I made a prebuilt PC thread when it was clear Xbox games are going multiplatform, and the amount I'm loosely shooting for is around $2000 or less. If they come out with a prebuilt PC, I'll see what everyone says and pick either that or a different brand. Why wouldn't I?

Damn that was fast.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Spending to success....

 

[bender]

 

[GHG]

I think you're just upset if people are happy at this point. If I can get a PC and not lose any of my library at all, that's a huge win. And while I could get a PC earlier, I was happy with console, and the rumor is they are going to bring something similar to a console interface to PC so I'm interested in that. Not sure why any of this would be something worthy of any criticism at all. I made a prebuilt PC thread when it was clear Xbox games are going multiplatform, and the amount I'm loosely shooting for is around $2000 or less. If they come out with a prebuilt PC, I'll see what everyone says and pick either that or a different brand. Why wouldn't I?

You could have done it when they announced all of their games were coming to PC day 1 with no compromises.

Would have saved you from any uncertainty in the long run and you wouldn't have any worries about your current library.

 

[nosoynadie22]

so Microsoft gaming is growing but Xbox as a brand is dying

 

[Punished Miku]

Damn that was fast.

I've been saying this since February when the Hi-Fi Rush shirt JPEGS leaked. He's specifically mocking me since I have said I'm looking for a PC $2000 or less. Literally nothing is wrong with that.

 

[Astray]

Where are you seeing that?

I don't think without them they would have made a loss overall, it just means the "growth" would be flat/slightly down.

It's in the last line of the ABK impact slide on the OP.

so Microsoft gaming is growing but Xbox as a brand is dying

Basically this.

They're clearly heading headfirst into software and abandoning hardware as a core activity.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Without Hogwarts-level game being there (like system sellers), the hardware sales are where they were expected to be.

The software revenue is crazy though.

 

[Jaybe]

Using Welfare’s post and going back to ATVI earnings reports, it looks like the ABK side of the business lost a significant amount of revenue versus year ago (-17.3%) likely due to CODMW3 selling a fair bit less than CODMW2.

ABK JanFebMar2024: $1.971 billion
ABK JanFebMar2023: $2.383 billion
$ change: - 412 million
ABK year over year $ change, -17.3%

 

[GHG]

Slap a Windows Phone metro interface on there and you've got the perfect amalgamation.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Using Welfare’s post and going back to ATVI earnings reports, it looks like the ABK side of the business lost a significant amount of revenue versus year ago (-17.3%) likely due to CODMW3 selling a fair bit less than CODMW2.

ABK JanFebMar2024: $1.971 billion
ABK JanFebMar2023: $2.383 billion
$ change: - 412 million
ABK year over year $ change, -17.3%

Big oof

 

[nosoynadie22]

 

[Kacho]

Thar she blows

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Up $12 AH, +3%.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on cross-platform Xbox games: "Finally, we're expanding our games to new platforms, bringing four of our fan favorites to Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation for the first time. In fact, earlier this month we had 7 games among the top 25 on the PlayStation Store, more than any other publisher."

Yeah, well.

 

[twilo99]

20 billion in profit? No wonder they don't care if xboxer loses a bit of cash. Not likely to "give up" any time soon.

Xbox was border line rounding error prior to the ABK acquisition.

 

[Jaybe]

Xbox guidance for next quarter (Q4 April - June)

Total: growth in the low to mid 40's with ~50 points impact from Activision
Content and Services: growth in high 50's with 60 points impact from Activision
Hardware: decline YOY

 

[GHG]

Xbox guidance for next quarter (Q4 April - June)

Total: growth in the low to mid 40's with ~50 points impact from Activision
Content and Services: growth in high 50's with 60 points impact from Activision
Hardware: decline YOY

So basically all "growth" comes from the addition of Activision while they anticipate all areas of the legacy Xbox business shrinking.

Why did they get rid of Bobby again?

 

[bender]

Why did they get rid of Bobby again?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

800,000 units sold in an entire quarter is horrific. Hardware is dead

It really is.

OG Xbox saw about a 35% drop YOY from its 3rd full calendar year (2004) to its 4th (2005). So, it went from 6.2 million 3rd CY to 4.1 million the 4th. But at least that could have been explained by the release of 360 late 2005 and MS shifting production to the new system ASAP.

Xbox Series has no such excuse. It is just a console with zero appeal to the vast majority of would-be customers. It also proves the theory that lack of continued enthusiasm from hardcore/core gaming enthusiasts also negatively impacts the wider appeal to casuals and mainstream. This is around the time where the latter two would be showing up to buy the console at a wider scale, but that's not happening because momentum among hardcore & core gamers dried up by early 2023 (and was already declining from H2 2022).

I assumed Xbox Series would see a similar YOY drop to OG Xbox this year, or ~ 35%. So from ~ 7.2 million CY 2023 to 4.68 million CY 2024. But if Welfare's estimates are accurate (he slightly overshoots with Xbox shipments, but he's better with that than VGChartz are with PS & Switch #s, both of which are constantly underreported), at this pace Microsoft would be lucky to do 3.5 million for the entire calendar year. Forget about anything near 4.5 million; they'd need a miracle in momentum and none's around the corner.

And the B2P software sales have to be almost as bad in terms of drops, but MS doesn't report them separately. The only thing that seemed to hold well was services revenue but that was expected since they now count Battle.net and the other ABK services as their own.

They know better than anyone that Xbox as a console platform is dead.

 

[Alebrije]

More like

Either way Microsoft wins

 

[analog_future]

Hardware way down. Software/subscriptions way up.


Paints a clear picture for the future of the Xbox brand.

 

[Clear]

Consolidating platform ambitions behind GamePass, and publishing multi-platform is the only logical path forwards now.

The numbers don't lie.

MS have many pathways to make a fuck-ton of money from gaming, unfortunately Xbox consoles as we know them aren't one of them. Its been over a decade of constant decline despite massive investment.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Hardware way down. Software/subscriptions way up.


Paints a clear picture for the future of the Xbox brand.

Yet they are going to double down for at least one more gen

 

[SenkiDala]

Hardware way down. Software/subscriptions way up.


Paints a clear picture for the future of the Xbox brand.

Yeah exactly, their plan is totally working. Yet everybody on GAF "omg how come Spencer isn't fired yet ?" because... the results are very good ?

 

[GHG]

Yet they are going to double down for at least one more gen

Phil has been doubling down for a decade now.

Someone needs to put him out of his misery and tell him the truth.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

Hardware way down. Software/subscriptions way up.


Paints a clear picture for the future of the Xbox brand.

 

[adamsapple]

Yet they are going to double down for at least one more gen

And I'll be there day 1*. Love their eco-system.

* As long as there's a physical capable SKU at launch.

 

[yazenov]

Hardware way down. Software/subscriptions way up.

Gaming revenue without the addition of ABK would have been a 4% decline

How did you conclude that subscriptions are way up? The last we heard is that subscriptions came to a screeching halt. Software is up due to the inclusion of Activision.

 

[jroc74]

Yup, now the question is which games are next. And when will they come.

 

[Unknown?]

800,000 units sold in an entire quarter is horrific. Hardware is dead

Holy crap!! No wonder they stopped production.