Says who? The closest I've seen is some market analyst playing armchair quarterback and telling MS how to run it's business. I certainly haven't seen anything close to that come out of MS itself.
Does Bill Gates carry enough clout for you to understand they've absolutely been seriously considering doing that?
Gates said hes certain that Satya and the team would look at that [selling the Xbox division] and its up to them. If the new CEO chose do so, he would absolutely support him.
I really don't get some of you. You people act like its fanboyism when apparently you were just sticking your fingers in your ears and not really paying attention.
Next up are you guys going to try to convince people that the Wii U has been a smashing success and hasn't been problematic at all? Because that is the level of willful ignorance you're exerting to pretend that Xbox is doing fine.
You do realize the Xbox One has sold like 3x the number of consoles as the Xbox 360 in the first 2 years of it's life right?
Also, EA is ESTIMATING the number of consoles. And, without any real numbers from MS, they are simply guessing.
You realize that doesn't matter if they're not making real money from Xbox?
You can keep pretending it doesn't matter, but it is very obvious to anyone paying any attention. Poor sales alone made Microsoft drop Kinect even though they were very adamant about it being an integral part of using an Xbox One. They outright admitted that hurt them and that they were doing it to try and spur sales.
Couple that with them doing price drops and sales and its still not really making a difference in their situation. Likewise they've had the blockbuster games come out, spent money for exclusives, and it still isn't mattering that much.
This really isn't a fair point. That was something rumored long ago, before the launch of the Xbox One, and when it was completely floundering in the media after E3. Since then, it has sold very well, even compared to its predecessor's hot start when it was the only option on the market for a year. It's just made to look bad by what might end up being the best-selling console in gaming history, depending on how long this generation lasts. Microsoft just announced that its XBL totals have gone up again, higher than ever. That service is almost pure profit in large chunks, since the infrastructure exists already.
More likely than a Steam competitor is cross-buy on all Windows 10 devices. We'll see if it happens, I don't expect it, but being able to pay once and play Rise of the Tomb Raideron XB1 and W10 PCs would be nice.
It's been rumored for some time, often in a tone that Xbox would be spun off into its own business. However, that was with Mattrick's anti-consumer trash talking. Phil Spencer's got the P.R. side down pat, the games are plentiful and of good quality, and I don't see how they could have any issues turning a profit now. The hardware has to be dirt cheap with Kinect out of the way and AMD working on such old tech for the thing.
Except nothing about this is factual. It's a half-assed guess based on unstated hypothesis. Also, we don't know for sure if Sony's numbers are sales or shipped, same for EA. We also don't know the metrics EA is using, which have the potential to actually be higher than reality. So, no, it's baseless speculation on EA's part, in some respects, and they didn't over anything to point to the source of the guess.
Sorry but it has absolutely not just been rumors and they've persisted well after the One's launch. See my quote above, that was from about mid-2014. There is absolute pressure on Microsoft over the Xbox. This has been a big issue with high level Microsoft stock owners (for years actually). And yes you can point to it being an issue basically constantly, and the Xbox still going, but Microsoft has changed a LOT in just the last 5 years. They're not at all the same company they were.
Also, sales don't mean anything. IIRC even with the 360 winning in sales it actually only lost Microsoft money.
http://www.neowin.net/news/report-microsofts-xbox-division-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-in-10-years
This is from their just released (in the past week) financial call:
On the one hand, Xbox revenue was down $703 million or 20 percent; total sales volume was down 10 percent, with the company selling 6.6 million Xboxes in the quarter, and average selling price also fell due to the Xbox One price cut.
But everything is fine!
Actually, maybe I need to point some things out to you people. I'm not a fanboy at all. I actually bought a One (largely because I got a good deal on it during holiday sales, and there's a few games I was interested in). I don't own a PS4 and doubtful I will anytime soon.
I am not saying Xbox is going to be killed off tomorrow or anytime soon. They'll almost absolutely let the One run a course of a good 5 years if not longer. I actually think there is a good chance we'll see another Xbox, for a couple of simple reasons. It won't really cost Microsoft that much, and console sales has helped AMD, who I think will make an APU targeting consoles again, and once again offer a good deal. In fact that deal alone is probably why the One wasn't shuttered already (Microsoft and Sony got really good deals for the APUs). If they'd spent money like they did on the 360, I think it would have been killed off already. But they'll be able to shrink their costs (they outright admitted they overbuilt the One to prevent any 360 like issues, and so when they move to 14/16nm, they'll be able to make big gains and be more in line with the PS4), and not lose tons of money. I don't see them having anything that will change the One vs PS4 dynamic though, and Morpheus could be a big boost for Sony I think.
I do think we'll see Xbox change to be more like a Steam Machine. It'll have an Xbox interface (possibly an App or something that could work on mobile, Win10, Xbox, etc), but it will be running over Win10 (which effectively the One is already doing). And I think it will become more like the Surface line in that Microsoft will have their own version, but they'll also push for OEMs to be able to make their own (to keep them from making Steam Machines, or capitalize on the work they already put into making a Steam Machine, if they offer cheap Windows upgrade for it, it'd be a no brainer for OEMs and consumers; largely I think that already happens with Steam Machines, you're better off ponying up a bit more and getting a full Windows one that you can then put SteamOS on if you want or just play Steam from Windows). This will help them make inroads against Steam on PC, while continuing the Xbox brand (which is considered a successful brand by everyone but their stockholders basically), and it would actually I think help them both (get more Xbox Gold subscribers, help bolster their PC gaming.
