4 ms·

It seems like I remember a lot of stories like this about Microsoft before the Xbox came out. Microsoft is going to compete against Sony and Nintendo? Yeah rig

It seems like I remember a lot of stories like this about Microsoft before the Xbox came out. Microsoft is going to compete against Sony and Nintendo? Yeah right! --Turns out they did OK. Maybe Bing will work out and maybe not but that's no reason not to try. I'm sure Microsoft is very aware of the risks involved and the other places it could have invested the money going into Bing. I'm also sure they're aware of the money and power that goes to whomever controls search.

Retric 17y ago
They are still billions in the red. MS subsidized the hell out of an expensive product for 8 years, spent insane amounts of money on advertizing, AND bought software companies to increase demand. Yet it's still fighting for the number 2 spot and are a long way from making back their sunk costs. Sony: 136 million (PS2) + 22.73 million (PS3) Nintendo: 21.74 million (GameCube) + 50.39 million (Wii) MS: 24 million (Xbox) + 30 million (Xbox 2) It looks like Sony traded 3rd place to win the HD movie format war so it's probably a huge win for Sony. And Nintendo is still printing money from the Wii system. It's hard to say what the long term trend is going to be.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  Ok, first of all, it's unfair to say that they're "fighting for the #2 spot" because the combined total console sales of last generation + this generation put them in #3. They're in the #2 slot for this generation, which is all that matters at this point. You don't gauge market position by looking at product sales over multiple generations. Second, the Xbox division is profitable. Does that mean they made back their sunk costs? No, but they're on their way, and I think the original point was the MS has so much money that they can enter a market big, pour the money, and wait for things to turn their way. The Xbox is a good example of that.
  - Retric 17y ago
    You can talk about "this generation" but I am just looking at sales / month. PS2 was still selling 100k / month in Feb/2009. And Sony still makes money from each PS2. http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067 http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067 (US numbers, worldwide the market is heavily in Sony's favor.) Dec/2008 Sony: 1,136,000 = (410,000 PS2 + 726,000 PS3) MS: 1,440,000 Nintendo: 2,150,000 Feb/2009 Sony: 407,000 = (131,000 PS2 + 276,000 PS3) MS: 391,000 Nintendo: 753,000 So Sony still has 2 consuls on the market right now. The same way they sold PS1's long after the PS2 came out. Walk into a game stop and you will see lot's of PS2 games on the shelf and PS2's for sale. Once they stop selling PS2's you will see a lot more PS3's as replacement's sell. Until then note how most cross platform tiles make games for 4 platforms PS2, PS3, XBox, and Wii. PS: Some people suggest you need to adjust the totals because the XBox is a year older and closer to being obsolete, but I think you need to look at company sales vs product sales. However, the total sales for PS3 and 360 have tracked fairly closely when you offset for a year so it's a reasonable argument when looking at totals.

Retric 17y ago

They are still billions in the red. MS subsidized the hell out of an expensive product for 8 years, spent insane amounts of money on advertizing, AND bought software companies to increase demand. Yet it's still fighting for the number 2 spot and are a long way from making back their sunk costs. Sony: 136 million (PS2) + 22.73 million (PS3) Nintendo: 21.74 million (GameCube) + 50.39 million (Wii) MS: 24 million (Xbox) + 30 million (Xbox 2) It looks like Sony traded 3rd place to win the HD movie format war so it's probably a huge win for Sony. And Nintendo is still printing money from the Wii system. It's hard to say what the long term trend is going to be.

ryanwaggoner 17y ago
Ok, first of all, it's unfair to say that they're "fighting for the #2 spot" because the combined total console sales of last generation + this generation put them in #3. They're in the #2 slot for this generation, which is all that matters at this point. You don't gauge market position by looking at product sales over multiple generations. Second, the Xbox division is profitable. Does that mean they made back their sunk costs? No, but they're on their way, and I think the original point was the MS has so much money that they can enter a market big, pour the money, and wait for things to turn their way. The Xbox is a good example of that.
- Retric 17y ago
  You can talk about "this generation" but I am just looking at sales / month. PS2 was still selling 100k / month in Feb/2009. And Sony still makes money from each PS2. http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067 http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=11067 (US numbers, worldwide the market is heavily in Sony's favor.) Dec/2008 Sony: 1,136,000 = (410,000 PS2 + 726,000 PS3) MS: 1,440,000 Nintendo: 2,150,000 Feb/2009 Sony: 407,000 = (131,000 PS2 + 276,000 PS3) MS: 391,000 Nintendo: 753,000 So Sony still has 2 consuls on the market right now. The same way they sold PS1's long after the PS2 came out. Walk into a game stop and you will see lot's of PS2 games on the shelf and PS2's for sale. Once they stop selling PS2's you will see a lot more PS3's as replacement's sell. Until then note how most cross platform tiles make games for 4 platforms PS2, PS3, XBox, and Wii. PS: Some people suggest you need to adjust the totals because the XBox is a year older and closer to being obsolete, but I think you need to look at company sales vs product sales. However, the total sales for PS3 and 360 have tracked fairly closely when you offset for a year so it's a reasonable argument when looking at totals.