Yes.
That’s a stretch.
The bigger issue is that Sony is likely to follow suit now that a precedent has been set. Like many times elsewhere, once the cat is out of the bag, the incentive is there to follow suit since the majority of backlash will fall on the first mover. Much like Apple started with removing the headphone jack from the iPhone, it wasn’t long before the competition followed suit.
MS setting the (negative) trend here. I expect Nintendo to hang on longer than Sony, but they will eve...
To be fair, there are probably millions of MS stock shareholders.
@Eonjay
What is the purpose of a company or any other business?
A bit concerning… if the next batch of titles don’t help GamePass grow substantially, Xbox will be going full third party.
The point that I’m making is that inflation reduces the buying power of the dollar, meaning that every year, you need to earn more “profit” to even out for the decreased buying power. So that, if my profit was $100 in 2024, that would equal a profit of say, $80 in 2017.
So essentially, if profit numbers aren’t increasing (setting records) year after year, it’s likely that the real profit, in Present Value dollars, would actually be less than in previous years. Just as a $1...
“Record profits” adjusted for inflation?
If nothing else, subscriptions need to be sustainable and worthwhile to a company or they will die. Revenue does not equal profit. Profit is the marginal benefit from running a business, and growing costs requires growing sales to counterbalance. No growth in sales but growth in costs is a death spiral. That’s the biggest obstacle for MS with Gamepass.
Don’t be so dramatic. They provide a service that is unique and fill a void in the industry. They aren’t perfect, but consider the alternative.
They make it for PS4 because money. The largest installed base plus the PS5 is backwards compatible. If you are going to pick one PlayStation platform, PS4 is the smartest choice for profitability as you will capture the entire Sony market.
The only way that $70B purchase makes common sense, given that MS has self admitted no interest in competing in the hardware race, is if it becomes a third party publisher.
MS’ likely strategy going forward will be to try to grow Gamepass with initial exclusivity, but then publishing on other platforms once that early access is over. That way they can harvest maximum profit from each title.
This is similar to Sony’s approach. First on PlayStation, but the...
The median number of hours would be a more meaningful statistic. Otherwise you can have a segment of players that will completely blow the numbers out of the water.
"it makes money" is a very suspect statement. Creating revenue is technically "making money".... but there's a big difference between earning revenue and earning a profit.
I own one. Works fine for me. The sticks are slightly smaller than the Dual Sense, and there is a tiny bit of latency, but picture and sound quality have been excellent for me.
It works on any network that doesn't need a browser to authenticate...
It's a dedicated device that you can literally pick up and play on a whim, with direct interaction to your PS5 and library of games. The quality of experience (controller, screen, dedicated platform) versus trying to jerry-rig and juggle yet another thing on your smartphone is what appeals to some.
“Best selling number 1 console, WORLD PREMIER EXCLUSIVE”
I remember being in disbelief when R-Type for the Turbografx retailed for $69.99 in 1990…. That’s $165 in today’s dollars…. for a 512KB arcade shooter made by a dozen people….. mind blown.
The “dollar” cost of items will never be static. It is the nature of economic growth that leads to inflation. Inflation, on its own, is not entirely a bad thing if it increases at a steady rate commensurate with GDP growth. But to think that the dollar can lose value yet the cost of goods...
It’s inevitable. Inflation and soaring development costs only lead to one path.
"they know what they are doing" is an interesting assumption. Every company has a strategic roadmap, but many strategies end up failing. MS is not immune to this. MS has failed in many hardware industries... they failed with the music industry (the Zune), they failed with the smartphone industry (Windows Phone), and it now appears that their strategies are faltering in the game industry.