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- nTensify, on 10/12/2007, -4/+37"With the most anticipated game of all time "
Duke Nukem Forever? - mc7winkie, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28The PS3? Turn a profit? You've got to be kidding me...
- curtissthompson, on 10/12/2007, -9/+33Doesn't sound far off, being that Microsoft only began making a profit on the original Xbox the year after Halo 2 was released! And then because of the 14 million Xbox power cords they had to replace due to overheating issues, they went back into the red in terms of profits, though I am sure now at the end of the Xbox's life it has turned a profit, however small it may be.
To turn a profit and make such a huge coming out into the game industry as a console so late by Microsft it's first time around is impressive, they have surely established themselves. Though many would argue it was simply due to Halo 1/2 and nothing else, I would have to say that is blatantly inaccurate, as they came out with the most powerful console, and came out with the first console Internet community of its kind, and banked/marketed off of that very well. If there is any division of Microsoft that knows what they're doing and is doing a good job, it is their gaming division.
With the most anticipated game of all time (arguably) coming out in 2007 exclusively to the Xbox 360, nearing the launch of its two other competitors, Microsoft will almost surely prove its dominance over PS3, through a much better understanding of the people it is marketing its products to.
The only problem with this prediction is it is hard to say how the launch of the two rival consoles will affect Xbox 360 profits, and how any possible future price drops and/or Xbox 360 bundles will affect that possibility (as the freebies expected to come in the console bundles soon will reduce profits). But without a doubt Microsoft has a very monetizable market, making money off of its games (especially Halo 3) as well as its very successful Xbox Live Marketplace! - neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11i like my 360.... no complaints... there could be some better games out yes.... but in time they will be released... i'm talking Gears of War.. Halo and others. However for MS to be bringing in a Profit by 2008 is great... maybe they can make the Live! service cheaper.
- Lynn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11@MonkeyLives
Show a link that shows only 3 Million sold. - def1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Your analysis leaves a lot to be desired. Hard to believe you took so much time on an entirely whacked out diatribe.
- miketuck3r, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9well sony recently annonced that certain chips in the ps3 are costing more than they thought to produce so add another year or two
- rpeterclark, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Your numbers are off. According to a recent report, there are 5 million consoles worldwide, with 3.3 million in NA and 1.3 million belonging to Europe. http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2006/07/20/536274.aspx
As for the original Xbox, it took over 12 months to break 5 million: http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=14535 - Lynn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060721-7321.html
http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/xbox-360-sales-hit-goal-189012.php
http://www.xbox365.com/news.cgi?id=GGNPNdGiHL07211009
5 Million Units. - Brereton55, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6yea i would love to just have banner ads but I love my 360 and the future looks great!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Korea is the new Japan. Their broadband penetration is insane and they love them the multiplayer. Perfect for Live.
- McMultiverse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yeah, because a marketplace with fewer competitors is great for the consumer. Durr.
- Lynn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Microsoft has sold 5 Million.
- Drealoth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/07/21/xbox360/index.php
Microsoft is right on track with its predictions. I'm a fan of the 360, it would be nice if it would ship a few more RPGs. - asurroca, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I don't have a frame of reference (anyone know how quickly other consoles have turned a profit?), but it seems pretty good to me.
- ByteGuerilla, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I must commend the parent poster on managing such a feat. It's hard to get as far away from reality as he managed.
I dunno, guys, I'm thinking some sort of award for outrageous fanboyism? A large pointed hat with the letter L on it or something. - GorGenator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Xbox 360 has sold well over 5 million consoles idiot... @monkeylives
- rpeterclark, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8"MS never made any money off of the original xbox, they lost around 4 billion dollars, and that's one of the reasons they killed the xbox off so soon"
They did eventually make a profit shortly after Halo 2, just like curtis said:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20050130063954.html - SgtAndrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That would be great...but i doubt that...but they might have more Free Xbox Live Gold weekends like the first weekend of every month....and maybe get sponsors for each weekend... and the Xbox Live is great....people can make great games...and directly distribute them to the people who want them.....I'm just waiting for Doom 2/Marathon 2 to come out...
- GorGenator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4haha, now thats something I can agree with.
- an0nym0us, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Microsoft, here's a free advice on how to make a profit. Stop wasting money on the Japanese market.
- DougieD, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4If xbox knocked off 100 bucks from the price tag and made online play free right now, they'd be facing such large losses it would be almost impossible to get back into the green. I'm sure they will be "relevant" and a steady competitor for the foreseeable future because of the strong community. Plus, there are more factors that come into play in terms of money outside raw console numbers; games, peripherals, licensing, online etc. As the above poster said, your argument is pretty flawed and not well thought-out.
- Ramble, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6I disagree, I wouldn't have even heard of (and brought) an Xbox without seeing the Halo ads on TV.
That game was so revolutionary. - gabebear, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3If MS actually manages to knock either Nintendo or Sony out of the market then they will be looking at one HELL of an antitrust suit that will almost certainly force the company to be broken up like AT&T.
- sakuraz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Korea also has uncountable piracy rate. That's why all the Korean game developers are making online games which CANNOT be pirated.
Hence, the reason why you are seeing lots of quirky korean 2D online games:P - Brereton55, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6well i saw the ps3 wont turn profit till 2009 or something
- W00DR0W, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6It's the game division that will finally make a profit. Did you really need to write 2 paragraphs over news as simple as that?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1gabebear@
Funny you mention AT&T. AT&T and SBC have converged once again. It's only anti-trust if the company holds a monopoly and forces other companies out and not letting other companies compete illegally. - pegisys, on 10/12/2007, -10/+11"""Microsoft only began making a profit on the original Xbox the year after Halo 2 was released"""
MS never made any money off of the original xbox, they lost around 4 billion dollars, and that's one of the reasons they killed the xbox off so soon - curtissthompson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1To clarify and be more accurate, your right Microsoft never did make any more off of the Xbox itself! That being said no console ever turns a profit based on console sales alone, they are sold at a loss, and then they look to make their profits off of their peripherals and games, which is where they turn their profit from! That is what I meant by the comment, in case people took that a little too literally.
- megasupA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"That being said no console ever turns a profit based on console sales alone, they are sold at a loss, and then they look to make their profits off of their peripherals and games, which is where they turn their profit from!"
How about consoles by nintendo? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I love how people here are just throwing out these "facts" while supplying absolutely no sources for their information.
- BadassCheese, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Would anyone buy a Wii if there was no Mario games? By your logic, no.
- ByteGuerilla, on 10/12/2007, -8/+7"MS never made any money off of the original xbox, they lost around 4 billion dollars, and that's one of the reasons they killed the xbox off so soon"
Killed the Xbox off? They did make money from the original Xbox. It was the outlay for Xbox Live and peripheral costs (i.e. outlying costs, not costs of peripherals as in devices) that brought the Xbox division below breakeven until they reached profit, as the OP said, the year after Halo 2 came out, due to increased uptake of Xbox Live subs. - Bansuri, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2This crap will never end. It's like whites vs. blacks. Isreal vs. Palestine. Mac vs. PC.
When 2008 comes and goes the Sony fans will talk about how pwned 360 is. 360 and Live will continue.
Maybe sony learned from thier last minute add-on hdd/network adaptor and the (!) keyboards, dial-up connections, and hopefully they learned from thier no-show on a Live!-like service, but they are taking thier cues from the success of the xbox...and thier own failures. I'm sure the Ps3 will be great, it will be the Memory Stick of game consoles.
Let's all save a link to this article and title it "Check back mid 2008".
for the record, I loved my Atari when I was a kid, got a ps1 when I was older, got an xbox, then a ps2, gave it back the next day, now it's PC gaming and 360. - sakuraz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Then how come I see as much creative ads as Apple on the streets of Sydney...
The company's now even trying to emulate Apple's product design.
You're a very scary fanboy sir, thinking Sony will be in the same craphole as Microsoft. Sony is the market leader at the moment. They do not need to undercut their profit to sell products. There IS a reason behind the high prices OTHER THAN making your pockets a little more emptier. it's called putting in enough decent hardwares inside to actually BE futureproof. It's not 10 years as they say it, but it will be enough for at least 5 years from the release. And what do you mean by 40~50% are functional? Are you speaking of Yields? that does not impact the actual power of processors in any way. Just means less chips that are usable for such high standards, not to mention that such percentage is normal for this kind of microprocessors.
And just saying that there only was one killer app...is almost shameful.... and you say "At least two or more" for 360?
What are you, out of your mind? I'm a Sony fan buy still know almost half a dozen games that I'd like to play, or in your words, that are killer app.
Anyway, be better at insulting people. - CGreen, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Shipped is not the same as sold. If a company has shipped a console to a store and it doesnt get sold the company hasto buy it back from that store. So a console that doesnt get sold could eat up the profits(ha! there are none, sold at a loss) of many sold consoles.
So, 5 million means nothing, 3 million is more reasonable. - Sparhawk2k, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3That sounds like a rather optimistic estimate given all the costs. Does that take into account some of the development costs for the processor?
- negativenancy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+35 million SHIPPED... there is no way it could have outsold 5 million by now
- GorGenator, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3ya know... you sir... are a anti-Microsoft. Zune will own iPod, like most Creative products. The only reason Creative isn't on top is because they're cheap and don't like advertising... as we know, Microsoft isn't cheap. I don't care how much in the hole XBox 360 is.. PS3 will be 5 times that in a matter of 3-4 months. I mean, they're producing a ass load of extremely expensive Cell processors, and only 40-50% are fully functional, and therefore go into the PS3. Halo 2 DID bring XBox into the green, whether you realize it or not. Also, unlike XBox where there was one Killer app, Halo, the 360 has at least 2 if not more.
- pegisys, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3@rpeterclark,
maybe I'm not reading this right, but it looks like they made a profit for that year, which means they made more money then they spent that year
but, (and to quote from the article you linked to) "Still, the software giant will need to sustain operating profitability in the coming years, as the company needs to cover its $2 billion Xbox marketing efforts as well as the costs of hardware the company needed to compensate earlier"
so the xbox on the whole wasn't profitable at all, because they made $84 million profit in one year, which I would guess was the most profitable year, didn't make enough money to cover the investments they made in marketing and hardware cost - D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2ehh...I think Microsoft was just using the x-box as ads. the Microsoft name was becoming synonymous with Word and Spreadsheets and they wanted to break into a new market. What better way than with a gaming console, and if they make money on it all the better. think how much they spent on the console and how much it would of cost making ads for a "hip new Microsoft" X-box wasn't meant to be a great gaming console, just ad space and a monopoly buster...quite frankly it did its job...and I enjoyed Halo
- MonkeyLives, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Confirmed monthly sales from NPD:
http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/3913/saleshw7yz.jpg
Suck it bitches.
***** losers.
2 million US
130k Japan
700-800k Europe
200-300 or so from smaller territories.
The 360 has sold just over 3 million after 7 months on the market. Pathetic. - magaman, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Of course they are making a profit quick, you pay 500 for the system and then 100 each time it breaks down.
- MonkeyLives, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Microsoft is around 5 billion in the red on the first Xbox - although the actual figure is most likely quite a bit higher since the Xbox losses were mixed in with other profitiable products/groups hiding the true amount.
The 360 is already well over a billion in the red after only 7 months. And this is before they have had to do the desperately needed 100 dollar price drop on the system. And before they are forced to drop the silly 50 dollar a year charge for the priveledge of playing games online.
Over a year ago Microsoft was making similar claims that the Xbox would stop incurring quarterly losses sometime in 2007. One look at the latest quarterly report from Microsoft shows just how ridiculous that idea is.
A year from now as the 360 losses continue to pile up we will be hearing about a 2009 target for the 360...if Microsoft hasn't pulled the plug on the poorly selling console by then. Zune sounds like it is going to be another hundred of millions in red ink a quarter product... - Hardcore41, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I think its all worth it to knock Sony out of the game.
- MonkeyLives, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0blah
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5the coming of jesus?
- MonkeyLives, on 10/12/2007, -11/+0"Show a link that shows only 3 Million sold."
NPD... - MonkeyLives, on 10/12/2007, -18/+2And the Xbox fanboys stamp their feet and cry.
And the 360 continues to sell worse than any console since the 3DO over a decade ago. Clinging to the tired old last refuge of a desperate fanboy - claiming ship numbers as sell through - just isn't worth bothering with anymore. Been through it with the Dreamcast. And again with the first Xbox.
Wanna pretend the 360 has actually sold 5 million - knock yourself out... -
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