I’m serious - nobody knew what it meant. Its an internal MS thing - but what does the number include and what doesn’t it include? And how do Sony calculate their margins? Its comparing apples and oranges unless we know.
This is the first I’m hearing of these profit comparisons. Can someone post the numbers? Or point me in the direction of finding them?
Edit: Saw some numbers in another thread, so I’m good.
Kind of, hopefully i can shed some light tomorrow given the time. But the misreads are suprising to me
When it comes to social media, it is unfortunately chaotic for no reason. Don’t think this applies to general audience. It’s similar to CoD from outside versus social media. You always get those who hate the franchise and many vowed to not buy the game. It sounded like so many people will do the same that the sales will decrease tremendously, only for the opposite to happen.
Based on my experience with other fanbase, around this time, the brand would have fall into irrelevancy or begin to show strong sign. While it won’t apply to outside world, social media would have them silence and not care about Xbox topic since it’s a “dying brand.” However, since Xbox is in fact striving let alone alive, the social media banter continues and then some. It could have been ignored like Stadia, but it’s proven to be a platform worth investing.
So yeah, after Starfield, Xbox is shining bright instead flickering off to cold darkness. What to do? Hate the platform more.
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It is so fascinating that the talk is that there isn’t the demand for Xbox consoles as shown by their sales figures…yet it now transpires that Xbox are having to limit the hardware they make due to at launch each unit losing them an average of $230 and needing a record subsidy from MS to offset losses…
I think that’s therefore quite a different conversation to the one that is common in online discourse.
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This. Forum wise, im mainly here and also on Install Base even though I rarely post there. I closed my accounts on other forums including GameFaqs, IconEra, NeoGAF and another one I can’t remember (wasn’t resetera as I got banned from there 5+ years ago). lol
Barely used GameFaqs outside of release date info and whatnot but the other forums, always so negative about everything including Sony and PlayStation despite being more heavily favored towards that brand.
I’m on Twitter but mostly follow official game accounts, publishers and development studios. Also follow Xbox and PlayStation focused users and while majority usually get swept up in all the bullshit, I rarely do because anything that’s really “bad”, I just ignore and scroll past. Twitter is simply best for news and updates because you get them there faster than anywhere else.
Only other forum I post on is Operation Sports, mainly for AEW wrestling and NFL football. There’s some gaming discussion there outside of the sports games but it’s minimal and while there is a PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo threads, all of them are pretty tame, calm and rarely have any console warring at all.
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Xbox’s gross profit margins are single digit % (Phils words), so are Sony’s. We know Xbox’s profit margins were higher than Sony’s at the end of last gen, but we don’t know by how much.
Differences between Xbox and Playstation:
- hardware: we know MS subsidizes around $200 per console sold, Sony likely doesn’t lose as much as PS5’s SOC is smaller and the cooling solution less sophisticated
- PSVR2: I imagine bringing it to the market to a very lukewarm reception must have been a massive money sink
- presence on PC - MS has more robust software offerings on PC
- GAAS - MS has a ton of ongoing live service games that likely generate decent chunk of money. Sony is investing A TON into GAAS, but I think GT7 is their only ongoing live service game
- digital distribution - Xbox users buy much more digitally than PS users
Other than the console hardware, Microsoft should be generating more profit per user than Sony. The problem for Xbox is that likely both companies have comparable fixed costs, so it evens out in the end and both companies end up with single digit profit margins (as opposed to Nintendo’s 20+%)
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Right but that $230 average unit subsidy seemingly isn’t in the Xbox Accounting Margin yet given how PS operates as an independent business unit within Sony their subsidy presumably is…so it makes comparison difficult on these margins. That is the point I was making.
Fanboys are garbage. Everyone should know this. If I had enough time & enough spare cash lying around, I’d get a PS5 (I have a Series X). I’m not inclined to do so simply because I have a huge backlog of games anyway (including some ps4 titles I never finished like Days Gone) & Gamepass is keeping me busy for the few hours a day I get to play on my console. I bought Elden Ring last year & I’ve barely had time to play 10 hours or so, ergo adding another console (& library) on top of this makes no sense.
But Demon’s Souls Remake looks amazing, the dualsense controller is probably amazing (I can see how racing car games in particular are transformed) & some third party titles also probably benefit from the haptics as well. But here’s the thing: people who avoid Xbox are only hurting themselves, i.e. they’re missing out on some great experiences unique to the Xbox side of gaming. The MS rewards system is also totally underrated IMO considering how generous they are with the points.
I mean when it came to making a choice between Xbox & PlayStation for this gen, I chose Xbox because it has more shooters, the rewards points are great & Gamepass saves me quite a bit of money. That’s it. The Series X is also an excellent console for what it’s worth (VRR in particular).
It makes little sense for the subsidy not to be in the accounting margin as selling hardware is a variable cost of revenue so it should be included there. It’s the fixed costs that aren’t included in AM.
I mean its in Phil’s email Xbox have to request P&L relief in the form of subsidy from MS. Indeed in his email Phil thanks them for the ongoing hardware subsidies that are at a % higher than normal against AM (he says this was agreed).
I mean I guess if it wasn’t separate from the AM it wouldn’t be a subsidy!
Good thing is after the ABK merger complete it can be very possible for Xbox fans to just be in the Xbox eco system for most of their gaming needs and pretty much ignore the rest of the industry chuds trying to push console wars.
You can hang out here, play the million games on gamepass and Xbox and just ignore the fodder from other gaming communities that just like to piss on Xbox as a part of their hobby.
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Console exclusives tend to bring out the worst in console warriors. Best to ignore them and enjoy what you have fun with.
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Salt is sold out.
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Its interesting that the discourse around Starfield also extends into the mainstream. I know it’s been discussed to death since reviews went live, but the situation with ign is remarkable. Their Sony guy pretty much tasked himself with reviewing Starfield, whereas the two xbox guys were assigned to cover Mario Wonder and Spiderman 2. What’s even more suspect is that neither Ryan or Destin have properly expressed their opinion on Starfield, as if not to go against the Dan Stapleton review.
IGN is arguably one of the biggest and most influential gaming sites in existence (even though most of their content is shit), and this was a pivotal moment for xbox. Their agenda was conveniently in place to discredit Starfield
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It’s funny how the Gaf/Era Split just made a Right wing Sony forum (Neogaf) and a Left wing Sony forum (Resetera) instead of Resetera being a real neutral and welcoming forum. No matter what the root of those forums are Sony based and they barely tolerate anything else
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Best thing about that is at the end of the day , they still failed. https://x.com/Joe_Sinister1/status/1704254199104487603?s=20
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It’s all very desperate. The fear is showing.
Cultists in media trying to whip up their flock against the evil Xbox. It’s quite pathetic.
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I find it hilarious that no major media outlets are covering that and forums like OtherEra for example didn’t make a thread for it. We all know they’ll create article and threads if there is negative Microsoft news about video game business.
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That is why I want all big tech/streaming companies to join the gaming industry and splash in a big way like Microsoft because the status quo has overstayed their welcome and need fresh blood and big money if we want the gaming industry to reach new heights. It won’t come from the old guards like Sony and Nintendo, it will come with Microsoft or other companies capable of shifting the direction of the entire industry(Apple, Amazon, Tencent etc). Change is scary and that is why these 90’s nostalgic Nintendo or Sony fans are acting up right now, but they are not the future of gaming, as there are millions of gamers out there that don’t care about things hardcore gamers care about and those are the people companies are looking to attract to their ecosystem.
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