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Resetting Xbox

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Re: Resetting Xbox

#191

Post by Dylan16807 »

hbn wrote: post #29
rockyj wrote: post #24

This is a total mess IMHO. - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). Some points - - They are huge business even now - 5 bi…

Game Pass was never a sustainable business model. People liked it because when a new game came out, they could buy a month of game pass for like $15, play through the game in a couple weeks, and cancel. It was a really good deal because Microsoft has spent the past decade+ trying to recover from their terrible fumble of the Xbox One launch, so they were subsidizing gamers to come back to their platform. With the mone…

Traditionally if you're going to play through a game in a couple weeks and then not own it anymore, that means you sell it and someone else buys it for their own couple weeks, and the company should be happy if they make $15 per person in the chain.

Also this is part of why I'm really worried about how weak the concept of game ownership is getting.

See also how anyone buying GTA6 near launch will be unable to resell it.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#192

Post by tayo42 »

darth_avocado wrote: post #116
rockyj wrote: post #24

This is a total mess IMHO. - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). Some points - - They are huge business even now - 5 bi…

> Then they did not have to give away popular games day one on Game Pass A company that sells consoles complaining about not having enough games after 25 years in business and acquiring most popular game studios is hilarious. They keep cutting game studios, killing games and then set ambitious profit margins. At some point you have to question, do the people in charge understand their own business at all? They just g…

This attitude seemed prevelant at Blizzard too based on a book I read (Play Nice)they wouldn't fund anything that wasn't a billionaire dollar idea.

Never ending growth and profits just seem to ruin everything

Re: Resetting Xbox

#193

Post by sharts »

rockyj wrote: post #24

This is a total mess IMHO. - The make around 5 billion in revenue per quarter - The problem according to them is profit margin - around 150-160 million So first of all, they are big! Secondly they are not at a loss. They just have a "thin, non-growing margin". So to fix all this they are trimming down, so they can "return to growth" (which I think is ridiculous). Some points - - They are huge business even now - 5 bi…

Why is any of this surprising? This is just MBA fundamentals.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#194

Post by johnnyanmac »

xg15 wrote: post #160

For that kind of announcement, I found it surprisingly open and detailed (at least if everything in there is true). Still, some points are telling. > Our business today is not healthy. We are operating at margins that are 3-10x lower than comparable platform and publishing businesses. So the layoffs are not because they're operating at a loss and had to cut costs urgently. The margins are there, they aren't even thin…

Minecraft is an enormous game and the success of the movie among Gen Z/Alpha (a demographic that is fading from the silver screen) shows the potential of a multimedia franchise. It was by far their best purchase (and in some ways runs counter to the idea that "Not every studio fits with us".

But yeah, on the other end: 15 year old Skinner box experiment continues to Skinner box and remind us that war truly never changes.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#195

Post by NeutralCrane »

babelfish wrote: post #99
12_throw_away wrote: post #59

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day "more than a billion"? What are we doing here? Do you have any idea what your target market is? Surely someone in your organization can provide you with a good stretch goal ... >10% of all humans using an XBox daily is not that. Seriously, I cannot fathom why you would say this. Innumeracy? Narcissistic delusion? Stealth la…

There are approx ~3 billion "gamers" worldwide, why shouldn't Xbox set a goal of 1/3 of them using their platform?

I’m guessing 90% of them are mobile gamers exclusively, so no, that is not realistic

Re: Resetting Xbox

#196

Post by bluescrn »

babelfish wrote: post #99
12_throw_away wrote: post #59

I want XBOX to be one of the few companies that entertains more than a billion people each day "more than a billion"? What are we doing here? Do you have any idea what your target market is? Surely someone in your organization can provide you with a good stretch goal ... >10% of all humans using an XBox daily is not that. Seriously, I cannot fathom why you would say this. Innumeracy? Narcissistic delusion? Stealth la…

There are approx ~3 billion "gamers" worldwide, why shouldn't Xbox set a goal of 1/3 of them using their platform?

Yet the biggest selling console of all time, the PS2, sold 160 million units.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#197

Post by Dylan16807 »

tracker1 wrote: post #180
pyth0 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just so I understand your objection, they are woke because in the game one of their studios made, the woman in the game wasn't attractive enough for you?

And you totally skip the "self-insert"... But I'm sure you'd cast Lizzo as Helen of Troy.

Who was the "self" being inserted here? That's a confusing term for a game made by so many people.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#198

Post by ButlerianJihad »

The crazy thing about Xbox games, or any game today, is that they require infrastructure, they require maintenance and subscriptions, and they require a constant release cycle, and moreover, a thriving community of humans who are playing the same exact game at the same exact real time as others. It seems like the primary lost art of gaming is single-player, offline, solitary modes.

Anyone could literally pick up an Atari 2600 from 1977, plug in a cartridge from 1978, plug it into a TV from 1981, and play the same exact video games with no problems. Now who will be playing the same Xbox games in the year 2076?

Re: Resetting Xbox

#199

Post by bluescrn »

joshstrange wrote: post #55

I think the Xbox Series X will be my last Xbox after owning Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X. I was all-in on their platform and I even paid for Game Pass for many years. But they kept increasing the cost of Game Pass with no new features, the platform has seemed stagnant, and honestly I can't tell you why my Series X is better than my Xbox One. Literally I don't see a difference. I'm sure there is one…

I cancelled Game Pass when the recent price hikes quit.

Then realised just how few games I'd actually bought this generation. Game Pass was a mistake, or at least putting big AAA releases on there on day one was.

Re: Resetting Xbox

#200

Post by jjmarr »

mfro wrote: post #166
grg0 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think graphics peaked ~2015. But interaction still leaves a lot to be desired; we still have slipping and characters who can't walk stairs in AAA games to this day. Making characters more physically grounded and present seems like the obvious thing to improve to me.

This is something audiences are clearly desperate for today. I think it's obvious when looking at the huge success of Helldivers, Bodycam, Ready Or Not, Arc Raiders, (none of which are particularly innovative) players appreciate high quality, tactile and grounded world interaction.

Counterpoint is Roblox, which had one of the most innovative game engines ever. It could multiplayer simulate thousands of blocks of destructible terrain in 2006.

This feature was mostly ignored by the playerbase because developers found it easier to create static setups and focus on iterating on other parts of their gameplay.

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