How profitable has the Xbox360 been?

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: middlehead

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

but has the xbox360 been profitable for ms?

They are still losing money on each Xbox 360 they manufacture, but I don't know if they are breaking even through the software licensing

Not just that, they're still losing money on every plain old XBox sold. I wouldn't be surprised if their game/entertainment division doesn't turn a profit on hardware until their next system.

Really? :Q I thought that they were making a "small" profit by now; isn't Sony at least breaking even w/ the latest version of the PS2?

MS doesn't own the rights to a single thing in the box, so it wouldn't surprise me. sony, on the other hand, owns everything in PS2. so sony has been able to shrink part sizes, part counts, everything, with minimal license fees. MS, on the other hand, still has to pay intel and nvidia.

 

[bennylong]

The XBOX 360 won't be profitable for a long time, if ever. It's a money losing. Maybe they will finally make some money with the next XBOX if SONY keeps fumbling.

 

[TerryMathews]

Mark my words, Microsoft doesn't care if they never make money on the Xboxes. They're using Apple's (successful) strategy of pushing platform sales through great accessories.

The 360 is a MCE accessory. If even 1/100 people go 'Hey, when I buy a new computer if I get Vista superjumbobutnotultimate edition instead of just regularlameodrmedtohell edition, I can stream videos to my 360. RAWK!' then Microsoft has (in their minds) justified the loss.

Is it worth it? I don't know. But consider you've got not one but two big companies using their next-gen systems to push agendas. There must be some decent logic behind it.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: bennylong
The XBOX 360 won't be profitable for a long time, if ever. It's a money losing. Maybe they will finally make some money with the next XBOX if SONY keeps fumbling.

Taking business from a competitor is not the only way to make a profit... you can also do it by simply expanding the demographic that is interested in it. Much like what WoW did with MMOs.

Is the 360 doing that now? I don't know... but i can tell you i already know a girl who bought a 360 from watching me play Geo Wars... and i've literally read hundreds of posts from people who's SO play the 360 more than they do simply with games like Zuma.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: middlehead

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

but has the xbox360 been profitable for ms?

They are still losing money on each Xbox 360 they manufacture, but I don't know if they are breaking even through the software licensing

Not just that, they're still losing money on every plain old XBox sold. I wouldn't be surprised if their game/entertainment division doesn't turn a profit on hardware until their next system.

Really? :Q I thought that they were making a "small" profit by now; isn't Sony at least breaking even w/ the latest version of the PS2?

MS doesn't own the rights to a single thing in the box, so it wouldn't surprise me. sony, on the other hand, owns everything in PS2. so sony has been able to shrink part sizes, part counts, everything, with minimal license fees. MS, on the other hand, still has to pay intel and nvidia.

yup, held hostage. they've learned their lesson this time though.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
i doubt they make a profit off the hardware yet, its a lot of hardware for the money. perhaps their pain is lessened by software royalties a bit, its doing ok in the us. they will make a profit eventually, they own all the ip this time and can cost cut through hardware revisions this time unlike xbox 1. just like the ps2 that went through 10+ revisions to get into profit.

They won't make a profit off the 360 for a while. The good thing is that MS owns everything inside the 360 so they can continue to reduce the costs of manufacturing like they never could with the original Xbox.

If I remember correctly, MS will be moving to their first die shrink later this year.

 

[Shadow Conception]

Where can you find actual sales figures? Do any sites document them?

 

[manly]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Mark my words, Microsoft doesn't care if they never make money on the Xboxes. They're using Apple's (successful) strategy of pushing platform sales through great accessories.

That's not Apple's strategy at all. Apple has great gross margins on all of their hardware sales.

 

[Pollock]

Originally posted by: Slew Foot
Where'd you hear that Wii wasnt coming out until 2007?

I was wondering this as well. I thought it was the other way around, the Wii was scheduled for a November release and the PS3 rumored to have been delayed to to 2007?

 

[Slew Foot]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: bennylong
The XBOX 360 won't be profitable for a long time, if ever. It's a money losing. Maybe they will finally make some money with the next XBOX if SONY keeps fumbling.

Taking business from a competitor is not the only way to make a profit... you can also do it by simply expanding the demographic that is interested in it.

That's nintendo's whole point with the Wii. Trying to appeal to casual gamers, by offering simple, fun, games at an affordable price. WIll they also have the tougher, nicer games taht appeal to the more serious gamer? That's the debate.

They're supposed to announce the price and release in September, and at e3 they guaranteed a Q4 2006 release. Time will tell.