3 ms·
Microsoft remembered it sells (mostly) console, not (mostly) games. pleasing the pirates sells wonders. If you only lived your teenager years in the US or Jap
by gcb0 13y ago
Microsoft remembered it sells (mostly) console, not (mostly) games.
pleasing the pirates sells wonders.
If you only lived your teenager years in the US or Japan, then you will not understand. But Sony et al sold millions of consoles to other countries where the market probably bought 1 game per 10 consoles sold (numbers vaguely remembered from a playstation1 analysis i read a long time ago)
- jerf 13y ago"market probably bought 1 game per 10 consoles sold" You seem to have reciprocated your fraction there: http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/Global/ http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/G... Globally, the PS1 sold about 9 games per console. I don't necessarily fully trust that site or that number, but it's probably at least within a factor of two, which still leaves it a great distance from your number.
- teamonkey 13y agoMicrosoft and Sony get a cut of every game sold for their platforms, while the consoles themselves are sold for a loss, at least at launch. That's how it has worked for the last two generations and I think it's the same this time around. The exception is Nintendo, who sold the Wii (and presumably the Wii-U) for a small profit.
- nemothekid 13y agoI'm pretty sure for MS and Sony, they were selling software. Sony was selling every PS3 for a loss 6 years into its product life cycle.
- gcb0 13y agoSony and microsoft consoles at a loss not to profit from game sales, that's just silly. They did sold consoles at a loss to be the number one console and then make money on the next one after they cornered the market and can extract real profits. Microsoft always did that with windows/office file format lock-in. Sony always did that with media formats lock-in. They would love to sell you at a loss for the chance to corner a market of betamax, minidisc, laserdisc, memorystick, blue-ray... oh wait, see the relation to PS3 there?
- forrestthewoods 13y agoHistorically speaking MS and Sony hardware is sold for a loss which is covered by the cut they get per game sold. I'm not sure how big of a loss, if any, the PS4 and XB1 are being sold for. It could be close to even.
- gcb0 13y agoThat's true for US and Japan. Maybe Europe nowadays.
- workbench 13y agoWorked out great for the PSP… oh hang on