Microsoft Now Owns Blizzard?

Same thing that happened to Bethesda. They pump out bunch of crap with micro/macro transactions and call it cake.

The stalwarts will keep going as they are.

I feel positive about this acquisition. Microsoft have really went all pro consumers in the last years, and people that deny that just ignore all the cross platform, exclusivity deals in other platforms, sell their products in other digital market, cheap alternatives to their consoles, and a big etc.

Now will that help Blizzard? I dont know, I think the blizzard that we all knew and loved is long gone. Many years have passed and most of its talents and ideas have move to others in comparison to when MS bought Zenimax (Bethesda), they were just starting to lost themselves and when MS bought them they could return to their stuff (Single player experiences). But who know? Maybe they made a huge clean up in Blizzard and they manage to put it to form again. Only time will tell

How does hardware design not a factor in anything if it affects aesthetics as a whole and space taken?

I am quite certain hardware design is one of many reasons why xbox had difficulty winning console war in Japan because people just don't prefer hardware design like this.

Edit: some of the posts in this thread explained the design preference difference better than I did. Huge power adapter is one thing that I find it "rough" in terms of hardware design, it is not the only factor for the final decision but it adds up.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/14u594/why_xbox_failed_in_japan/

Wut

ps5 is huge, unbalanced, and doesn't fit nicely in a media center.. so i don't quite get why people prefer it aesthetically

but, given every good exclusive is ps, i've owned ps1/2/4/5 and never an xbox, so doesn't really matter

We were discussing xbox360 v.s ps4 though, not ps5. Ps5's design and size was heavily critized in many gaming community too, and it is one of the main reason why I still haven't get one because I don't feel like owning a console that huge in my room....I am waiting for the slim version that may or may not come out soon.

activision not being at the helm anymore is a good thing, literally no one could do worse.

no idea why this guy is obsessed with talking about consoles in japan in regards to xbox vs ps. xbox did fine domestically, there's really no world that you can call it a failure

Metroid also, and Mario is a massive IP with a ton of games in it.

People asked why xbox sales decreased greatly after ps4 era hence the discussion. Japan is a very large market for consoles so getting less sales in Japan means having a disadvantage in console games market. It makes perfect sense to mention it in a console games discussion.

I'd agree that xbox 360 isn't a huge failure based on sales but xbox that comes after 360? Idk.

yeah i have no idea where you're sourcing any of your information from in terms of what's a success/failure.

if you're looking at marketshare, if you have access to a trillion dollar market and are calling someone with a marketshare of 40% a failure then you are something special.

if you're looking at profit, i think the ps5's profit per console is like $5? woowoo! big success my guy.

guessing per user microsoft is making more off an xbox user than sony is making off a ps5 user but i don't know where you'd find that data

Didn't I posted data on the first page?
Edit: source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles




A quick google I am not getting data close to what you said here.

https://gonintendo.com/contents/16868-new-report-shows-market-share-and-more-between-nintendo-sony-and-microsoft

Console game market 2022:56.2bn.
(even the entire video game market is about 200-300bn, not trillions: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/amp/video-game-market-102548)
MS market share:27.3%

Even MS told FTC they lost the console war, not I. Source: https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-ps5-switch-microsoft-sony-nintendo-sales-1850567636

If they really have 40% market share why would anyone believe MS's statement?

hell to the yes. this is someone who gets it.
They are EXTREMELY customer-centric. Probably the absolute most customer-centric entity in existence today.
They continuously also have taken a spot in the top 10 employers globally for the past decade.
Satya has done an exceptional job of *ALMOST* eliminating the mess Balmer left behind.
It's crazy that in many people's minds Microsoft is still associated with the kind of entity it was during Balmer's years.

Maybe I'm cynical, but MS' "pro consumer" gaming strategy seems more about carving out a chunk of the medium so they can extract profit from subscriptions and customer data rather than winning the console wars via traditional sales models. Why sell tires when you can own the roads instead?

They don't care about game exclusives or beating Sony/Nintendo, they want to own a franchise in the consumer data brokerage league with Apple, Meta, and Google.

I heard that, or something similair, said by someone high up in a huge investment firm recently. He was treading a thin line speaking between the lines to me and a colleague, not wanting to be quoted in the future. But it was clear that he didn't agree with my assessment of them, or rather agreed but thought my opinion wasn't the entire truth.
he started with "they're not the great savior if you look at them from several perspectives" and mentioned data.
However, that doesn't mean they aren't customer-centric. And which big tech company today isn't trying to get ahead by both attaining data and leveraging it.
I don't necessarily see both truths being at odds with each other.

edit:
In a big healthcare network, we leveraged patient data for some pretty good added value for our patients.
Example: Opt-in to have your social media and consumer behavior data monitored, along with a fit-bit type watch, in exchange for reduced premiums on your insurance.
5 year study on test group lead to earlier clinical interventions by healthcare provider, which lead to outstandingly greater outcomes, which lead to health insurance providers reducing their premiums with us, as it meant less interventions net, and greater outcomes.
We increased access to our facilities, reduced the premiums, and became a preferred provider by insurance companies.
just an example of how we were both data centric, and leveraged it, but also customer centric. was a win/win/win situation.

Also, we were able to use said data towards finding greater correlations between lifestyles and certain morbidities and co-morbidities.

This was pretty big back in the day, and others were doing it. But we did it better and wider. the entire "pron is bad for you" and many others have its roots in this.

i think you're missing key words in what you quoted, i bolded it for you.

consoles were sold at a loss until the recent iteration and they still arguably are sold at a loss or a wash if you really dig down into financials.

so.. nice work sony?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2021/08/04/sony-gaming-profit-drops-33-due-to-selling-ps5-at-a-loss/?sh=4c261b604fc4

Hardware sales for consoles are sold at break even or a loss. Profit comes from game sales, dev licenses to make games, subscriptions etc.

Can't make profit without market share. Trying to make money off console sales means less of a market share means less profit.

PlayStation takes 30% cut every game sold according to this post:

https://osgamers.com/frequently-asked-questions/what-percent-does-playstation-take-from-game-sales

Essentially every game sold at $70 Sony made $21. If a gamer purchase 5 games at full price then it quickly break even. More so after hardware production cost decrease after a few years.

I also read that PS4 owners own 9-13 games in their library on average, so that number is higher than 5 games.

High install base of a console means more game developers will release games on that console and sell more copies to more users, which means more copies sold and more profit for hardware developers. Install base absolutely do matter when we discuss market.

Whether a console is successful or not is based on a company's opinion anyways, not internet opinion. If MS said they are losing the console war due to low market share( https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/24/23772314/ftc-microsoft-day-two-hearing-summary-xbox-console-wars-sony-playstation-call-of-duty )
how can I correct them as a random internet user? I am just following MS's own statement that's all.

ofc. forgot about that one. But never tried it. We had a choice for my brother's birthday to buy Castlevania or Metroid. Never regretted the choice.

I wonder what the gaming market would be today if SEGA had survived as a console.
When we saw sonic and Altered beasts in the window shops, that NES suddenly seemed like garbage.

Jessi, that right there is funny as ***.

correct, which is why in my first response to you i said profit per customer on royalties from games. which i assume is higher for xbox. most playstation people just buy SE games or some variation of that, i've also heard the number of games owned by the japanese specifically is very low but i can't find the articles that came out last year talking about this situation. talking about console sales when assessing the success (which is all you had done prior to your last post) is pretty dumb unless you're measuring success by "NUMBER IS BIG". you can sell 100billion $1 bills for 50 cents per bill, doesn't mean you're successful, in fact it generally means the opposite.

reading is just too hard in 2023.

above meme is funny, i'd still rather microsoft buy blizzard than anyone else. at least playstation-bois will be swimming in SEs NFTs soon, praise the lord

lolwhat. Playstation people buy all games. From Elden Ring to God of War to Ghost of Tsushima. Xbox is dead last in software sales, and have been for a long time.

sure, post the data then. everything even console related that you can find that's publicly available seems to insinuate sony is on the decline, which it should be. it's been a subpar product with a garbage UI and failing eco system since the ps2.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-series-x-s-has-sold-18-5-million-versus-ps5s-30-million-analysis-firm-estimates/#:~:text=Elsewhere%20in%20his%20analysis%2C%20Harding,from%2046.3%25%20to%2045%25.

lmao, nice article. No need for me to post any data when you post something that says Playstation is dominating with 70% marketshare. Can you even read, or do you just throw out trash fanboy opinions? I really got a a good laugh at the "failing ecosystem" bit.

my claim was that microsoft likely makes more per user with xbox live/game pass over the years + just a more active user core in terms of how many games they play, my claim was also that sony is on the decline. which that article showed.

just so i understand, your claim is "PS5 BETTER LOL"? never argued that they don't sell more consoles(at a loss).

here's kotaku (fanboys will love that) article for you about how close to 6m playstation users only play COD, from the lips of the CEO himself:

https://kotaku.com/call-of-duty-1-million-ps4-activision-ftc-xbox-court-1850592788#:~:text=However%2C%20according%20to%20Sony%2C%20about,Nothing%20else.

No, I am measuring success using MS's own words. If they said they are losing console war, then I go with that statement. Anyone else's opinion doesn't doesn't matter to me.

All you did was enter the discussion and hurl insults, adds no actual data to the discussion.

Here is one article about ps4 selling more games than any console in the industry, at 1.577bn copies. So the idea of PS players don't buy game is obviously false according to data.

https://gamerant.com/ps4-most-sold-games-console-history/

You are free to believe whatever you want about MS's performance anyways. I am not interested in changing your opinion, nor continue this discussion.

Edit:

In the link and it says 1m ps users plays 1 game not 6m, 6m is the number for people who mostly play cod...not sure if this is trolling at this point. And that is 1m out of 117m ps4 users lol. So less than 1% of ps4 owners play 1 game = Sony not selling their games? What about the remaining 99% users? Quite a conclusion.

Your article didn't show either of those things. Which is why I asked if you could read. Xbox doesn't have a more active userbase, according to your article. They are 20% behind, again according to your article. And Playstation is nowhere near decline, also according to your article. Great job debunking all of your claims yourself. Free entertainment for everyone else here.

I'd love, for once, to see a debate on here between two opposing opinions without it getting personal.

i highlighted the part for you that cites that sony has lost somewhere between a 2-4% share of the market in 2022. here it is bolded:
Elsewhere in his analysis, Harding-Rolls claims that Microsoft’s share of the gaming market – combining sales of hardware, game content and subscriptions – grew from 25.5% in 2021 to 27.3% in 2022, while Sony’s dropped from 46.3% to 45%.

i'd expect this trend to continue as microsoft continues to buy up gaming studios and expand it's eco system.

the ps4 only recently passing up the ps2 is not the feat you think that it is considering the time it took to do so, but yeah.. more signs of decay

imagine basing your entire thesis for why the xbox is a failure on an off the cuff remark in 2010 regarding console sales, the part of the equation that is NOT profitable


6m play COD 70% of the time, 1m play it 100% of the time. extrapolate this to other games and it's hard to believe that playstation owners are buying the amount of games you seem to think they are

Imagine ignoring an entire article that admits that Sony hardware and software sales are surging and will continue to surge just to cherry pick a 1.3% drop in marketshare (not 2-4%, so not only can you not read, you cannot do basic math) just to try to falsely claim that Sony is "decaying."

When in fact the article says that they expect the gap between the two companies will continue to widen, meaning that Sony will continue to increase its lead and Microsoft will continue to fall behind.

Again, free entertainment. Fanboys are great.