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Microsoft is in talks to acquire Discord, a video-game chat community, for more than $10 billion

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
The statement "20 years of failure" seems like fanboying, in which case pointing him to Microsoft profits (and their being ultimately more successful on the whole than Sony) is an appropriate response.

Afaik Xbox has yet to turn a profit - they haven’t recovered yet the accumulated losses from previous gens.

It only exists because they have a sugar daddy that keeps the lights open - the division by itself wouldn’t have been able to afford things like the Bethesda purchase.
 

martino

Member
Nitro Subscriptions (4.99/9.99 Plans and Annual Option) & Server Boosting. Allows you custom emotes, personalized profiles, animated icons, and more. Then Server Boosting has its own specialized customization options and I see plenty of server members boosting.
Paid options !
BBQG5N.gif

/s
 

DrAspirino

Banned
How can a quasi-monopoly can keep acquiring companies?
planet of the apes laughing GIF


Quasi-monopoly???? come on... Microsoft only represents about 42% of consoles market share AT MOST; Bing has a 2.19% market share, Windows has been declining its market share since 2010, and it has no OS on the mobile market. If you're talking about voice and conferencing, then there's Zoom, Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams...

Quasi-monopoly my ass. The only thing they have a quasi-monopoly is in Office and enterprise market (bussiness servers, exchange and stuff like that). In the consumer market, they're far from being a monopoly.
 
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Javthusiast

Banned
Why though? Rather spend it on game studios instead. Make that game pass bigger baby, cause it is better for me than discord which I never use. xD
 
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Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
Do you have a link to show this?

You can research it yourself... Microsoft quarterly reports are public. At some point they started hiding the info because investors were restless but there’s been a few public statements from ms execs that let you piece together the rest.

Up to the second or third year of Xbox one they were down aprox 5 billion.

Given SIE profit margin and Xbox revenues (which they do report), I’d say they were around half a billion to a billion down the hole when it came time to ramp up investment for the series X/S.

This gen is the gen they break even.
 
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reksveks

Member
You can research it yourself... Microsoft quarterly reports are public. At some point they started hiding the info because investors were restless but there’s been a few public statements from ms execs that let you piece together the rest.

Up to the second or third year of Xbox one they were down aprox 5 billion.

Given SIE profit margin and Xbox revenues (which they do report), I’d say they were around half a billion to a billion down the hole when it came time to ramp up investment for the series X/S.

This gen is the gen they break even.
So no source?
Its a profit year on year based on this article in 2017 : Xbox a 'multi-billion dollar' profitable business, more first-party investment on the way | Windows Central
 
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reksveks

Member
Colin Moriarity spoke of it on his last podcast. He owns Microsoft stock. They never talk about Xbox in the investor calls. It doesn't make them any money.

It might not make them alot of money but that's different from making them the statement that it doesn't makes them any money. Microsoft bread and butter is always going to be cloud and office and the other weird entreprise rev streams. I also have Microsoft stocks also that's generally independent from being able to listen to their investor calls.
 

Holammer

Member
Seems like a waste of money, I use Steam Chat for more and more of my messaging nowadays. If Valve gave it another push to make it more sleek & feature complete I would just uninstall Discord.
 

Zeroing

Banned
oh wow this thread makes my brain hurts. People do indeed love Microsoft?. That brand wasn't even cool in the 90's the only reason some of you like it, is because their are in the gaming business and outside USA and UK, xbox is not considered cool either.


Anyway have fun guys.
 

Gatox

Banned
You can research it yourself... Microsoft quarterly reports are public. At some point they started hiding the info because investors were restless but there’s been a few public statements from ms execs that let you piece together the rest.

Up to the second or third year of Xbox one they were down aprox 5 billion.

Given SIE profit margin and Xbox revenues (which they do report), I’d say they were around half a billion to a billion down the hole when it came time to ramp up investment for the series X/S.

This gen is the gen they break even.
Erm, ok, good effort....
 

saintjules

Member
I know Discord is huge BUT I actually haven't the slightest clue what it's about.

It really reminds me of the mIRC days. Going into multiple servers and chat to people on various topics of discussion that are relative to the channels provided. It was a bit more complicated in the sense that you needed to remember commands to achieve certain things.

Difference between Discord and mIRC is that you could list serv files and actually download things, like music, games, etc. Not sure if Discord does that.
 
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Pallas

Member
10 billion sounds about right... since if it’s to be believed that Discord’s currently valuation is around 7Billion.

Interesting article about Discord’s worth and tidbits of statistical information.

 

Three

Member
Do you have a link to show this?
This is the 360 era for example. An era many consider a success in terms of the product but it wasn't that much of a success in terms of profits until Mattrick and Kinect (which set them on the kinect path for xbox one)

asfd3221125511352.jpg


Original xbox was worse. They stopped reporting xbox numbers as a separate division shortly after xbox one launch so we have no concrete numbers anymore. Now they are on the gamepass path.
 
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This is the 360 era for example. An era many consider a success in terms of the product but it wasn't that much of a success in terms of profits until Mattrick and Kinect (which set them on the kinect path for xbox one)

asfd3221125511352.jpg


Original xbox was worse. They stopped reporting xbox numbers as a separate division shortly after xbox one launch so we have no concrete numbers anymore. Now they are on the gamepass path.

Why you would read into falsified financial reports to cover tax/R&D write downs is beyond me. I cannot help but laugh about this sort of crap that gets spewed around. You think a company division with revenues in the billions and tens of billions isn't profitable and keeps running for decades? Please. It's creative accounting all these large companies are famous for. Xbox makes bank, net profit specifically.
 

Jaysen

Banned
oh wow this thread makes my brain hurts. People do indeed love Microsoft?. That brand wasn't even cool in the 90's the only reason some of you like it, is because their are in the gaming business and outside USA and UK, xbox is not considered cool either.


Anyway have fun guys.
Describes what it’s like to be a fanboy from the perspective of a fanboy. Brilliant.
 

cormack12

Gold Member
It really reminds me of the mIRC days. Going into multiple servers and chat to people on various topics of discussion that are relative to the channels provided. It was a bit more complicated in the sense that you needed to remember commands to achieve certain things.

Difference between Discord and mIRC is that you could list serv files and actually download things, like music, games, etc. Not sure if Discord does that.

All you needed was a sharp suit, smart haircut and a devilish a/s/l game for mirc. Naturally my #hottub was always full.
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
Discord is worthless. Whyyyy

As in many other purchases it wouldn't be about Discord itself, it would be about the userbase.

That's why the price tag is so high too, their sales pitch is "imagine how much money you can make marketing to this captive audience." When the reality is that most of that audience would leave if you started aggressively marketing to them. It's an outdated mindset common to people who haven't grasped how transitory Internet "communities" can be. They're looking for the brand loyalty of 30+ years ago.
 
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Three

Member
Why you would read into falsified financial reports to cover tax/R&D write downs is beyond me. I cannot help but laugh about this sort of crap that gets spewed around. You think a company division with revenues in the billions and tens of billions isn't profitable and keeps running for decades? Please. It's creative accounting all these large companies are famous for. Xbox makes bank, net profit specifically.
You're telling me they falsified financial reports? No, the creative part is the hiding the net income because it stops shareholders from questioning exactly that, why they would fund a division not making profit. It lets them keep going for a long term goal. I'm certain they are doing fine now but they weren't. It isn't falsified.
 
Discord shut down in few years then, ms have such bad managment, its shocking lol, from dropping the smartphone concept to buying nokia,
 
You're telling me they falsified financial reports? No, the creative part is the hiding the net income because it stops shareholders from questioning exactly that, why they would fund a division not making profit. It lets them keep going for a long term goal. I'm certain they are doing fine now but they weren't. It isn't falsified.
I'm not giving a global tax reduction lesson here mate. There's 4-5 major accountancy/audit firms worldwide and they all massage the financial reports and organisational structure of companies like MS/Xbox. The profit is written down.

Again you seriously think the multiples of 10s of billions of gross revenue dollars over say just the last 10 years of Xbox isn't profitable? I laugh at anyone who thinks they're losing money. GAF would do well to move on from this false take that Xbox isn't profitable.
 
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You can research it yourself... Microsoft quarterly reports are public. At some point they started hiding the info because investors were restless but there’s been a few public statements from ms execs that let you piece together the rest.

Up to the second or third year of Xbox one they were down aprox 5 billion.

Given SIE profit margin and Xbox revenues (which they do report), I’d say they were around half a billion to a billion down the hole when it came time to ramp up investment for the series X/S.

This gen is the gen they break even.
They broke even with 360. I don't think they are selling at loss now, nobody does that anymore.
 

Three

Member
I'm not giving a global tax reduction lesson here mate. There's 4-5 major accountancy/audit firms worldwide and they all massage the financial reports and organisational structure of companies like MS/Xbox. The profit is written down.

Again you seriously think the multiples ofthe 10s of billions of gross revenue dollars over say just the last 10 years of Xbox isn't profitable? I laugh at anyone who thinks they're losing money. GAF would do well to move on from this false take that Xbox isn't profitable.
Don't need a tax reduction lesson mate. I have a sibling who has worked for 2 of the big 4 you mention.
Tax reduction isn't about falsified profits it's things like this purchase but yes just having profits isn't good you need to spend the money back into the division.

The last 10 years of xbox were relatively profitable (not every year) but the previous 10 certainly were not. These weren't purchases these were costly losses on hardware, HDDs/nvidia deals and RROD which eat billions in previous gens.
Yes I believe billions in revenue can result in 0 profit. Take into account all console manufacturers. Sony make more than double the revenue of Nintendo. 25 billion just last year vs 12 billion for Nintendo but its profits are lower than Nintendos. What is the estimated Sony profit for PS4 gen 2013-2020? 11billion in 7 years. From >11 billion revenue every single year.

You sell 10 million PS5s this year? You're looking at 5 billion in revenue in that alone. How much are you looking at in profit for selling them? You're not. You're looking at a loss of ~1Billion which you hope to offset in future sales of games/services. Xbox was not profitable for a long time but spending and losing money was a necessary step to try and build the brand and invest for future profits. At the moment we don't know if they are because the data is hidden but there certainly is a new path. One where they're investing heavily (maybe even at a loss, probably ) into gamepass in the hope that they create an install base for profits in the future. I understand the idea of Capex, i understand the world famous example of Amazon but billions in revenue does not guarantee profit and this isn't just due to tax reduction it can be necessary spending to try and actually gain a foothold in the industry. That's what xbox's spending is, that's why they are less likely to post profits but they can afford not to.
 
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BWJinxing

Member
I use discord mostly for porn sharing.

If Microsoft fucks that up, I could see a Tumblr like falloff.

Provided Ms did buy discord. There are some synergies, but this isn't the direction I'd like to see.
 
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Gatox

Banned
This is the 360 era for example. An era many consider a success in terms of the product but it wasn't that much of a success in terms of profits until Mattrick and Kinect (which set them on the kinect path for xbox one)

asfd3221125511352.jpg


Original xbox was worse. They stopped reporting xbox numbers as a separate division shortly after xbox one launch so we have no concrete numbers anymore. Now they are on the gamepass path.
Thats your proof :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 

cormack12

Gold Member
I think the big use of Discord though is the scripting and bots. Which is why it has taken off - it will be interesting to see how that develops if they adopt it inthe console ecosystem. You can run an entire community, events and LFGs from just a bot and simple commands. You don't even need to chat in most, and a lot have seperate channels for chatting.
 

MonarchJT

Banned
Afaik Xbox has yet to turn a profit - they haven’t recovered yet the accumulated losses from previous gens.

It only exists because they have a sugar daddy that keeps the lights open - the division by itself wouldn’t have been able to afford things like the Bethesda purchase.
what losses?
 
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