There is a recession going on, companies are going out of business and Microsoft open their own store, and they are in trouble?! how exactly?!

Just as outlawlife said 'someone explain....please'

That article seemed like a poor attempt at bashing Microsoft. It has absolutely nothing to do with games, xbox 360, PS3, Wii or the games industry and yet it is on News for gamers?!

Nineball2112 - Poor effort.

When companies are in trouble they contract, they don't expand by opening new stores and taking risks.

Not sure how branching out into the retail sector is a sign for "trouble".

Still, not sure what MS are really going to push but I really hope they use stereotypical nerds for store assistants. Brown sandals, the lot :)

I think they realized they have to open their own stores in order to draw more sales,attention,and interest to their current and future products.

That's about it really.

... you close them.

its called Sony style in new York city.
its upper scale & appeals to the 5th avenue / park avenue shoppers.
You know, the rich folk.

I went into a SONY store and they didn't even have a PS3 in there.

I was like WTF.

But it was explained it was a different division.

Then i was like OMFG WTF LMAO

Well,from what I gather they are in trouble. Most of my friends are more likely to switch to some form of Linux rather than upgrade to Windows 7. None of them would even think about it before, but that shows how badly MS f***k-up with Vista. But then again, I don't think any of them would ever PAY for an OS, if you get my drift.

If you think about it MS has always been on a different level than apple. It was always a gigantic MS and a little struggling apple. So its not the fact that MS is opening stores but that fact that its feels like it needs to that's telling. 10 years ago MS had no need for a retail store. the entire computing world bowed before them. Now they feel like they need to do some face time with consumers by opening a store. they are still a giant but cracks are starting to show. opening a retail store will make them look like they are trying to be apple. it doesnt matter if thats true, because consumers will see it that way.

MS is OPENING STORES to better compete, well they must have the money..obviously

The has competition become more fierce which is forcing MS to change but like all business in competition[that's how it goes].

MS makes money off licensing..not so much "my friend is putting linux on his laptop next week" to stick it to MS.

I bet gamestop and other retailers are happy to hear this

They'll still have like 60% of the PC market since people don't replace their computers that often. The MS Stores are just there to create mindshare and take away power from retailers who sell their products.

Though this may be their shining moment to show potential customers what the Zune is really made of, I doubt they'll take advantage of the situation and simply relegate it to some random corner.

realises its in trouble, haha dont make me laugh

I`m just wondering how much the entrance fee to a Microsoft store will be ? ;)

Seems like opening stories will create some jobs. Just what the US needs right now. Why are we slapping MS around for this? Shouldn't we be saying "great job!"?

damn that sux wish things would get better

would i go in a MS shop or a Apple shop, that is so hard, lmao.

Apple shop all day long.

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau