(When) Do you think Xbox will stop producing hardware consoles?

[Grinchy]

All the better to pivot into third party, ass to nuts

I actually like the idea of MS putting that massive warchest into software for the industry, instead of throwing it away on hardware no one wants to buy.

The billions it would cost in R&D and production to inevitably just waste a bunch of store shelf space could go into dozens of creative/risky software development. They're in a unique position in that way and maybe they become the ones who get us back to actual, new IP and ideas instead of constantly chasing sequel after sequel of "safe bets."

 

[Hardensoul]

So what Sony did with PS1 with disc drive vs Famicom/Super Nintendo/N64 cartridges?
Or PS2 with it being many peoples first DVD player?
Or Sony attempted again, but struck out with Blueray for PS3/PS4?

Odd how GameCube was the only actual attempt at disc drive system by Nintendo besides that infamous never released Nintendo/Sony system and the split that redfinited gaming, then they reverted back to Cartridges for Wii, Wii U, Switch and now Switch 2. Barring a few third party expections they are the last major ecosystem of exclusives remaining.

Xbox Next Gen might be attempting that but with AI. A vastly improved and open platform Xbox with AI, though it may or may not be all digital, or have an optional disc drive. Xbox One reveal still haunts them. This potental Xboxs ease of use, perfomance, may be a big factor in bringing AI to a lot of people depending on how well it sells. Microsoft should also have all the companies they brought for 70 billion+ dollars start to release their new megaton games like Elder Scrolls VI/Fallout 5, New Vegas Remake/New Vegas 2, Baldurs Gate 3 scale Pillars of Eternity 3 by this trime.

Correction. Wii and WiiU were both regular size disc. GameCube was smaller disc.

Nintendo going back to carts for Switch was better for the portability. Cart cost has gone down and read speed was better than CDs. Also doesn't require games to be installed with exceptions of bigger 3rd party games.

 

[cryptoadam]

They will release one more console at least. They most likely spent billions developing it already since most consoles start R&D once the last one is launched.
Wouldn't shock me if they only launch in select markets. We already see MS giving up some markets. They probably don't launch nextBOX in ME and Asia.
MS only got into gaming under the false belief that people would use their TVs as phones and PCs and that everything would happen through the TV. Then Apple dropped the IPhone and changed the game and entire XBOX project was pointless. We aren't making video calls on our TV and multi tasking our dinner recipes while watching Football. People just use phones. XBOX was always a Trojan horse to rule the living room. Now you have firesticks and smart TVs and smart phones.
They will try to minimize the losses from investing in nextBOX and then exit the console business and probably eventually sell off all their studios for pennies on the dollar to Chinese companies

 

[Shaqazooloo]

I'm expecting maybe a slightly higher selling Wii U from their next console then that's it. I have some nostalgia for the OG Xbox and the 360, so the decline of Xbox has been somewhat heart breaking. I was really hoping they'd be decent competition for Playstation this gen but that ain't happening.

 

[teezzy]

I'm expecting maybe a slightly higher selling Wii U from their next console then that's it. I have some nostalgia for the OG Xbox and the 360, so the decline of Xbox has been somewhat heart breaking. I was really hoping they'd be decent competition for Playstation this gen but that ain't happening.

The real tragedy is the loss of an American third pillar in the console hardware industry. Maybe Trump's tariffs will benefit Xbox hardware moving forward

 

[Stilton Disco]

That works when you can spend $50 million, and sell 2 million copies at $60. We all saw the Insomniac leak, and the recent COD budget leak. These games are costing half a billion dollars to produce, and gamers are still bitching about them. My general attitude is that their budgets aren't my problem, so therefore they must cast a wider net.

I will gentlemen's wager that Wolverine will be Sony's first big single-player game that hits PC day & date. That game's budget is likely $400 million, and 10 million sales ain't going to cut it with the license fee they will have to pay to the Rat.

Edit - Where did MS ever say they lost $100 billion in gaming? That number is absurd.

Playstation also fucking up now doesn't excuse Xbox's retardation.

And the $100B in the red is covered by buying a Bethesda and ABK alone, and something they're never making the cost back on, and Xbox has basically never been profitable. MS keeps dumping money into the department, with zero profit overall.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Xbox was always a defensive move. Microsoft viewed PlayStation 1 as an encroachment on PC because of the games and the multimedia function of CD player. PlayStation was the first mass-market console, in a sense, and it scared Microsoft.

 

[cryptoadam]

Xbox was always a defensive move. Microsoft viewed PlayStation 1 as an encroachment on PC because of the games and the multimedia function of CD player. PlayStation was the first mass-market console, in a sense, and it scared Microsoft.

I always viewed as trying to win the living room.
In late 90s and early 2000s people thought that everything would be done on TVs.
Video calls. Web surfing. Etc... it would all be done on the living room TV.
This was life before streaming and smart phones. The zenith of this was when the Xbox had Skype installed and could hook up to your cable box. They thought they would control the living room and thus control everything you did

And then Iphone came out. Netflix became huge. And smart TVs and Firesticks became a thing and the living room TV died.
So at this point there is no reason for XBOX to exist especially since gaming is a massive money sink. You don't really make money on hardware or software anymore. If you don't have MTX out your ass your game isn't going to make money.

Xbox is basically a division stuck in 2001 but it's 2025.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Playstation also fucking up now doesn't excuse Xbox's retardation.

And the $100B in the red is covered by buying a Bethesda and ABK alone, and something they're never making the cost back on, and Xbox has basically never been profitable. MS keeps dumping money into the department, with zero profit overall.

Perhaps it's just because I'm Accountant-brained, but MS didn't spend 75 billion on Zenimax, and ABK that's required to be paid back immediately. They exchanged $75 billion in cash reserves, in a highly inflationary market, for 2 potentially profitable revenue streams. In the case of Zenimax they were floundering on the case of utter collapse, and on ABK it was at th height of the he 'Cosby Room' drama with spooked ABK investor happy for an offramp. As it turns out MS made out like bandits with both of us these purchases.

IDGAF how MS's gaming financials were in 2018, they are healthy now. There are 6+ games coming out this year that MS is publishing, they're the biggest publisher in the entire industry this year. I don't care that most of them are coming to PlayStation day-and-date, in fact I think every game should. As it stands this year the only games of note released on PS will be published by MS beyond GTA, Monster Hunter, and if Ghosts actually releases this year.

I think every dev will make more profit by casting the net to as many potentially customers as possible, Sony can't sustain $350+ million dollar budgets on their games, and only selling 8 million copies.

 

[Franky Family]

Hopefully another three systems, I'm not ready for their controllers to go away just yet. Give Banjo-Kazooie to Nintendo this instant, Xbox. Don't even sell it, just gift it to them you glazed hens