Theres probably a dangerous amount of times Microsoft has said "I dunno, just buy it"
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Analyst DFC: 'Question is not if Microsoft will exit the game business, but when'
- Thread starter chadskin
- Start date
Theres probably a dangerous amount of times Microsoft has said "I dunno, just buy it"
Flying Toaster
Member
vpance
Member
Why buy when they can just block them? Embrace, extend, extinguish.
duhmetree
Member
Then Gabe should buy the XB division.
Both companies are trying to accomplish what the other is known for.
edit - a Steam XBox Scoprio. I'd buy it
LurkFish17
Member
Xbox will still exist. Though maybe not as a separate unique division.
Cynn
Member
It's not. For that to be the case they would need to NOT be supporting PC in a bid to win them to the Scorpio platform. If anything, Scorpio proves that MS isn't just still playing in the console market, but they are willing to bleed to keep in it.
Scorpio also seems like a way to keep the Xbox console closer to PC so they can do more cross-play and have a unified VR platform. Microsoft wants to unify PC and Console gamers in a way they feel Sony can't. That's their killer app right now.
Flying Toaster
Member
Step 1. Purchase Xbox Division
Step 2. Announce Half Life 3
Step 3. Something about underwear
Step 4. Profit!!!
That's good news, but the larger trend is worrisome. I want console and pc gaming to thrive.
In Service
Member
We can keep on saying that GAF =/= the buying public but it's all just opinions. I agree with yours.
Also, in relation to the XBO v XBS v Scorpio offering there is such a verifiable phenomenon as Goldilocks Pricing. If anything the XBS kills the XBO for new consumer entrants to the console space (not GAF entrants to the console space). Not a bad thing.
Sad Affleck
Member
You were right.
http://www.cnet.com/news/playing-games-on-the-pc-is-making-a-comeback/
The overall decline in PC sales makes total sense. Outside of gamers, who really needs to his PC? Even a six-year old PC is more than capable of handling most common tasks today.
Why? So they could ruin another store front?
Flying Toaster
Member
PC gaming has technically always been niche. I know there are a lot of us but at the end of the day people just don't want to deal with the issues of PC gaming when you can go to the store buy a little box and plug it in and play with your friends.
I don't think PC gaming is dying by any means but to actually think that it is going to be a huge part of the market is a little overzealous.
shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
Oh yeah I understand this and totally agree. That was my point: IF Xbox isn't profitable, there must be some other strategic purpose behind it (aka to drive Windows 10/UWP/Windows store adoption).
But that also means it could very easily get cut the minute it no longer justifies its existence. If Windows store only manages to achieve the same market share as, say, Windows Phone did after a couple years, IMO the pressure will be incredibly strong for MS to exit the gaming business.
Edit: okay I thought Xbox wasn't profitable. I am having a hard time finding any concrete info on whether it is or not.
oldergamer
Member
Xbox as a business IS profitable. where did you get the idea it wasn't? MS isn't losing money on Xbone from what i understand.
oldergamer
Member
I can't believe we are back to talking about this, as if MS didn't just double down on PC and console. The console business is profitable. Why would MS abandon it?
Sad Affleck
Member
High-end PC gaming of triple-A multiplatform franchises is still kind of niche compared to consoles, sure. But if one looks at the big picture he will realize in nearly every other segment the PC is the market leader.
Mixolydian
Member
This is the exact type of post that needs to cite a reference showing the Xbox division as unprofitable.
LordRaptor
Member
PC Gaming has technically always been bigger than consoles can dream of.
Solitaire and Minesweeper players probably number in the hundreds of millions.
Let's not forget that Valve was founded because during research the most common software installed on Windows PCs turned out to be Doom.
I hope soon we get threads like "@kilerwarior10293 tweets that xbox is stupid, discuss?"
BBQMan
Member
Hardware? Maybe, Software? Never.
While this would have been true for the start of the gen, later on Sony ended up proving its spot.
Albert Einstein.
Their shareholders don't want Microsoft to fail, but they want their console division to go the hell away. It barely turns a profit and they see it as a waste of time and resources that could be focused elsewhere. The whole UWP seems like a answer to that by weening people into a digital platform that is basically pure profit aside from maintaining servers, marketing, etc.
Microsoft cares more about Windows 10 and device unification than they do about their XB hardware. It's going to happen. They don't even report XB1 sales numbers anymore.
If anyone here is an investor and/or keeps up with investment news, this really seems like the direction the they are taking. The fact still stands that the majority of MSFT shareholders want to see this piece of hardware and support for it go away.
Actually data suggests that PC gaming (thanks to MMO and f2p markets) is now bigger than console gaming. More people than ever are willing to play some type of game on their PC.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
There are pre- built gaming pcs you can just buy, no idea if they're any good but they exist and can be brought as easily as any console.
Sad Affleck
Member
Gaming is the only segment other than Windows where Microsoft has a brand that is somewhat popular with consumers. I think that is incentive enough to hold on to Xbox. It's just that Windows isn't the unstoppable behemoth in computing it once was. It's lost a lot of ground to Android and iOS and people are starting to think that maybe they don't need a Windows PC anymore.
Back in 2005 Microsoft could afford to shun the PC in favor of Xbox because noone was challenging the dominance of Windows in the consumer space. Now Windows needs propping up, it needs unique selling points and gaming is one of the advantage that Windows has over Android and iOS. Strengthening Windows is much more important to Microsoft than battling it out with Sony over a limited market.
Back in 2005 Microsoft could afford to shun the PC in favor of Xbox because noone was challenging the dominance of Windows in the consumer space. Now Windows needs propping up, it needs unique selling points and gaming is one of the advantage that Windows has over Android and iOS. Strengthening Windows is much more important to Microsoft than battling it out with Sony over a limited market.
There's always going to be hardware there, but they won't necessarily be focused primarily on games.
You'll see digital platforms rather than static hardware that basically physical rights management for games. It's going to be about how has the most exclusives on their storefront and not some physical hardware. It's already happening now.
It's senseless to spend money and contract out work to third party hardware manufacturers when all you've got to do is set up a digital ecosystem that can be ran on whatever device a consumer chooses to play their game on.
There's an all digital future coming. It's not a matter of if.
****Also devices means phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc. Things both "normal" consumers and "power" consumers use everyday.
This idea isn't bright that MS would leave gaming. The Scorpio announcement shows large future investment. You don't design Scorpio then plan to leave or abandon the Xbox brand.
slavesnyder
Member
NPD has more to worry about than Microsoft.
CosmicQueso
Member
TRUTH.
My question is who the fuck is DFC? Just because someone has "analyst" next to their name doesn't mean shit. Are these the guys? http://www.dfcint.com/wp/the-dfc-team/ For all we know these guys formulated their analysis from this very forum because it sounds like almost every thread that's popped up here.
diffusionx
Gold Member
Sure, but the high-end market small. I think of current consoles as like a low-end version of that high-end market if that makes sense. The games are often the same but with "PC gaming" we are usually talking about spending a lot more money to play the games at higher fidelity. Not playing Hearthstone on your work laptop.
High-end PC gaming is niche. If you go beyond the high end then clearly more people are playing games on PC than on any console.
More people play League of Legends every month than PS4 and XB1 HW sales so far combined. That's one game.
The Xbox One is my gateway into a Windows ecosystem and as long as it gives me what I want, I'll stay there.
The Xbox One and a Windows laptop give me far more flexibility that my Apple TV4 and MacBook provides, it's cheaper and more powerful and with Scorpio and a surface pro 4/ surface book it seems that's going to get a lot better.
I just wish that windows mobile was there too.
The Xbox One and a Windows laptop give me far more flexibility that my Apple TV4 and MacBook provides, it's cheaper and more powerful and with Scorpio and a surface pro 4/ surface book it seems that's going to get a lot better.
I just wish that windows mobile was there too.
Flying Toaster
Member
Alright you are all correct. Let me try to explain what I was getting at.
How many people actually go out and either order or make themselves the dedicated PC's they will need to play things that are being released on PC on super uber settings?
Free to play and MMO's are a huge market and there is even a large market from STEAM and other digital distributors. But as a whole is the growing market in PC gaming a large portion of people who will purchase top of the line super PC's with awesome graphics cards and is that growing PC market on the same level of growth as console gaming dwindles from time to time?
Are the console players that are leaving consoles going and getting gaming PC's?
I thought the mass uptick in PC game sales was attributed more to ideas and things such as the steam box and less tied to the super hardcore niche GTX 1070's and super crazy processors. I won't deny the huge growth in PC gaming that we have not seen since the Half Life days but at the same time the ease of plug and play is still there for the mass audience.
Edit: I am an idiot, Durante was cool enough to get where I was going and answer it with what I was trying to ask.
I heart you Durante. You are the best. Also thanks for the other responses as well.
Lots of profitable operations get shut down by big companies. Because there are other ways to invest their money that are more profitable.
michaelius
Banned
Maybe this should tell you something how company is perceived among people.
IMHO analyst is only partially right - Microsoft started exit from console hardware business and they are attaching xbox name to windows 10 storefront as a measure to save face but ultimate goal is forcing everyone into W1o ecosystem and getting 30% cut from as many apps sold through the store as possible.
LordRaptor
Member
I'm not sure why that is a question that needs to be addressed as being particularly relevant...?
Here's a thread about a guy on GAF playing Doom (2016) in ghetto mode on an old PC - do you think bethesda particularly care what his specs are, or just see sale +1?
Imperfected
Member
I didn't list "things people say at E3" as a leading indicator because it's absurdly useless as one. The baseline level of corporate double-speak makes any assumption of motive or intent nearly pointless.
If Nadella were going to sell the division for scrap tomorrow, he wouldn't say, "This was a monumental failure, we're going to strangle this thing in its crib and get back to business." He would say, "We have been deeply touched by the passion fans of the XBox(tm) brand have shown over the past decade, with (x) million consoles and
million games sold, and over (z) hours played on XBox Live, there's no question that the XBox has changed the way we play games and live our lives. Now, as we move into the sunset of the XBox One All-in-One Game Console, we know those players are looking ahead with equal optimism to the bright future for open-platform Windows 10 gaming."As a more concrete example, does the statement "the greatest boost for ecosystem investment is games" mean, "We know that gamers buy consoles for exclusive games and are committed to maintaining a high quality and quantity of XB1 exclusives," or does it mean, "Games are too important to waste on XB1 exclusively when they could be boosting investment in the Windows Store and general Win10 ecosystem"?
Talk is cheap. Follow the money.
Yes.. that's exactly what I am saying.
Sad Affleck
Member
Well, Sony seems to think so, supposedly the Neo is partly a way of mitigating that. The high-end PC gaming market is relatively small but it has to be much larger than it used to be. People are snapping up $600 GPUs as fast as retailers can list them. Also, I think that the number of people with console-level hardware or higher has to be significant, since even entry-level cheapo cards like the 750Ti can provide console-like visuals and performance.
That's specifically the segment I'm not addressing because it isn't relevant in fact, one could argue that's the gaming segment that mobile is capturing.
LordRaptor
Member
Do League of Legends players count as 'Pc gamers'?
They can play the game on a low spec machine.
They cannot play the game on any system other than a PC due to the intrinsic design of the game and its necessary inputs.
oldergamer
Member
Sure when it's a small profit. Ms has made more then a small profit on console gaming. It's actually one of the few success stories outside of Windows and Office.
You said Minesweeper, etc. I'm talking about games like Evony, Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, SW: Commander, etc. Sure, people play on PC, but mobile is taking screen time away from PC's.
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