Xbox Business Still Losing Cash Options

[Xbox-Scene]

Xbox Business Still Losing Cash Posted by XanTium | April 26 18:40 EST | News Category: Xbox360

From next-gen.biz: [QUOTE] Microsoft has announced overall record profits for its fiscal third quarter thanks to Windows Vista, but the games division is still losing money. Overall revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $14.4 billion, up 32 percent from a year prior. Operating income was $6.59 billion and net income was $4.93 billion. Microsoft attributed the strong figures to "robust demand" for Windows Vista, which released in January, and Microsoft Office. However, the Entertainment and Devices Division, which houses the Xbox and PC gaming business along with the Zune and other products, reported decreased Q3 revenue and continuing losses. Revenue for EDD was down 21 percent to $929 million from $1.2 billion for the same period a year ago. Operating loss improved by 22 percent to $315 million from $402 million. Microsoft said that revenue was down for the quarter because of "decreased Xbox 360 console sales." The company shipped 500K consoles during the period, bringing the worldwide total to about 11 million consoles. Xbox 360 and PC software sales followed the quarterly decline in hardware, as revenue from games decreased $393 million, or 44 percent. [/QUOTE] Full Story: next-gen.biz

[neonetic]

Good that they lose money becaused of all the xbox360 that have a very high rate of failure. They deserve it! They need to stick to windows and get out of gaming.

[bucko]

Good that they lose money becaused of all the xbox360 that have a very high rate of failure. They deserve it! They need to stick to windows and get out of gaming.

I don't think 11 million consoles each have a failure rate tbh.

[Murc]

360 console sales are sluggish right now because of one thing...GAMES.

For over a month now I havn't seen a game that I want to rent...let alone buy.
But luckily...May looks like a very good month...so sales will increase.
Plus...dont think that releasing the 'Elite' wont help sales...many people are holding off right now so they can have the top notch one.

The May titles I have my eye on are:
Spiderman 3
Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
Forza Motorsport 2
Shadowrun
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (for me...this ones deffiniatly a renter...since movie-games are generally bad)(excluding Spidey).

[d-range]

I always find MS revenue & profit numbers interesting, in a strange way. They don't seem to coincide with my view of reality most of the time. I mean, how can they post 'record profits' for Q3 because of 'robust demand for Vista'?? First of all: my impression is *not* that everyone is rushing out to get Vista. Especially businesses still seem to hold off the boat, and these are figures for the *past* quarter. Second: Vista for consumers has not been out for long, so not a lot of people will have bought a boxed retail version yet. Also I don't think boxed retail versions is where MS gets most of their OS profits from. Third: Vista OEM installs should not offset their 'usual OS profits' at all, as all these OEM systems would otherwise have been sold with XP, which has about the same OEM pricing. So where does all the Vista revenue come from then??

Also, I think the statement that the console division made a loss 'because of lower demand for 360 consoles' seems odd. I simply don't believe MS makes a lot of money on each console sold, *if* they even make money on them. So why don't they just say the software attach rate was lower than expected, the XBL purchases where lower then expected, more units broke etc..

Somehow I just don't take a word of all this...

[elmo_sni]

...Forza Motorsport... i cannot wait :-\ Zomfggg i want it now, and mass effect? ughhh the future lin up for 360 is very promising they just need to spit them f*ckers out already DAMNiT!

[lando786]

hmm figures not looking good but what the hell MS has botomless pockets lol this year is gonna be great for all 2 consoles alot of games coming out :-D im gonna be all

[Jagosix]

Good that they lose money becaused of all the xbox360 that have a very high rate of failure. They deserve it! They need to stick to windows and get out of gaming.

Hello Fellow Gamers. Hhhmmm.... get out of gaming? Dude.. are you that stupid? M$ has tons of $$$$ for years to come. By the looks of it, you obviously don't have an x360. Every game system will fail sooner or later. No machine made by man lasts forever. Anyways... M$ already stated that they're in the gaming business for years to come. SO, get use to it.

[neonetic]

I had three fail xbox360 with same problem 3 red light of death!!!
Jagosix you must be microsoft bitch to think highly of them.

[bigmac_375]

sure microsoft is losing money now, but next round theres gonna be profit, for they already have most of the assets they need.

This post has been edited by bigmac_375: Apr 27 2007, 04:40 AM

[psychoace]

Tax breaks. The hardware division loses money while the software end gains it (this includes games and game licenses). They cut a nice tax break from the one end because of the money loss then Microsoft doesn't have to pay more to the goverment in the long end.

[Legendary Badass]

Playing games on Vista is not going to help Xbox profits. Some console gamers could convert to PC only with the realization that they can get gamerscore and the full Live interaction over the PC. Sure PC gamers have been playing for free, but charging them to play cross platform will up the number of players. MS is now giving itself yet another competitor. One must factor in the fact that all accessories are now going to be sold in two colors, and that many 360s are still crashing. Heck, I've had 5 of them and the majority of my Live friends have had replacements. How can a company expect to turn a profit with so many replacements?