5 ms·

Pretty terrible title considering Xbox 360 had taken off in 2006. Not one mention of Xbox in the whole post, indicating how much PG is out of touch. Xbox took g

Pretty terrible title considering Xbox 360 had taken off in 2006. Not one mention of Xbox in the whole post, indicating how much PG is out of touch. Xbox took gaming to next level, especially online gaming and managed to build a great ecosystem for games. The younger ones, in the last line, are all actually playing on Xbox. Microsoft has greater identification among younger people as brand than say, Apple given their decade long presence in console and PC gaming.

coldtea 13y ago
>Pretty terrible title considering Xbox 360 had taken off in 2006. Not one mention of Xbox in the whole post, indicating how much PG is out of touch. Yes, clearly he's not a 17-something gamer. He also focused on things that matter. In Microsoft's bottom lime, the Xbox is marginal at best. For ages it has not even be profitable. Every gamer could as well only use an Xbox, and it still wouldn't matter much for the kind of discussion we're having about Microsoft. To put it in another way. Gaming (put together): not much of an industry, compared to IT/mobile sales.
- ksk 13y ago
  >To put it in another way. Gaming (put together): not much of an industry, compared to IT/mobile sales. Why are you comparing gaming to IT/mobile? It should be compared to other entertainment industries. It has already surpassed Hollywood in terms of revenue in the US ($17bil vs $9bil in 2011). Having a dominant product in the gaming industry begets a lot of influence. Worldwide, The VG industry generates around $70 billion in revenue (excluding mobile gaming). In comparison the movie industry - (all countries combined, not just hollywood releases) generates around 120 billion. >Every gamer could as well only use an Xbox, and it still wouldn't matter much for the kind of discussion we're having about Microsoft. Please explain what you mean..
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >Why are you comparing gaming to IT/mobile? It should be compared to other entertainment industries. Because we're discussing a company, Microsoft, that has most of its business and revenues in the IT/mobile space and a small part of it in gaming. And I want to see if the gaming market is as large and important as the main market the company is involved in. >Please explain what you mean.. I mean that even if Microsoft was the most succesful and relevant gaming company in the world, it would still not mean its relevant in the IT space. And MS's relevance in the IT space (compared to the nineties) is what Paul Graham's post we're discussing is all about.
- sz4kerto 13y ago
  > In Microsoft's bottom lime, the Xbox is marginal at best. In other comments people argue that Microsoft is dead despite their bottom line, because bottom line is not what matters. (pg essentially says the same) Now you say Xbox does not matter because it produces marginal income only?
  - coldtea 13y ago
    First, that was said "in other comments" by people other than me. I, for one, think bottom line is part of what matters (just not the most important metric). Second, no I say Xbox does not matter because not only it produces only marginal income, it belongs to a marginal industry itself.
72deluxe 13y ago
Gamers are fickle. Enterprise not so much. Pulling out all of your infrastructure and software systems and logical processes and replacing it is hard. Swapping your console and signing up to another service is not. Just an observation.
sharemywin 13y ago
The XBOX also cannibalized PC sales. Pre-XBox you bought a PC to play the latest games every 2 years. Now you buy an Xbox.
- ygra 13y ago
  There are also a lot console-exclusive games which you would otherwise play on a PlayStation.

coldtea 13y ago

>Pretty terrible title considering Xbox 360 had taken off in 2006. Not one mention of Xbox in the whole post, indicating how much PG is out of touch. Yes, clearly he's not a 17-something gamer. He also focused on things that matter. In Microsoft's bottom lime, the Xbox is marginal at best. For ages it has not even be profitable. Every gamer could as well only use an Xbox, and it still wouldn't matter much for the kind of discussion we're having about Microsoft. To put it in another way. Gaming (put together): not much of an industry, compared to IT/mobile sales.

ksk 13y ago
>To put it in another way. Gaming (put together): not much of an industry, compared to IT/mobile sales. Why are you comparing gaming to IT/mobile? It should be compared to other entertainment industries. It has already surpassed Hollywood in terms of revenue in the US ($17bil vs $9bil in 2011). Having a dominant product in the gaming industry begets a lot of influence. Worldwide, The VG industry generates around $70 billion in revenue (excluding mobile gaming). In comparison the movie industry - (all countries combined, not just hollywood releases) generates around 120 billion. >Every gamer could as well only use an Xbox, and it still wouldn't matter much for the kind of discussion we're having about Microsoft. Please explain what you mean..
- coldtea 13y ago
  >Why are you comparing gaming to IT/mobile? It should be compared to other entertainment industries. Because we're discussing a company, Microsoft, that has most of its business and revenues in the IT/mobile space and a small part of it in gaming. And I want to see if the gaming market is as large and important as the main market the company is involved in. >Please explain what you mean.. I mean that even if Microsoft was the most succesful and relevant gaming company in the world, it would still not mean its relevant in the IT space. And MS's relevance in the IT space (compared to the nineties) is what Paul Graham's post we're discussing is all about.
sz4kerto 13y ago
> In Microsoft's bottom lime, the Xbox is marginal at best. In other comments people argue that Microsoft is dead despite their bottom line, because bottom line is not what matters. (pg essentially says the same) Now you say Xbox does not matter because it produces marginal income only?
- coldtea 13y ago
  First, that was said "in other comments" by people other than me. I, for one, think bottom line is part of what matters (just not the most important metric). Second, no I say Xbox does not matter because not only it produces only marginal income, it belongs to a marginal industry itself.

72deluxe 13y ago

Gamers are fickle. Enterprise not so much. Pulling out all of your infrastructure and software systems and logical processes and replacing it is hard. Swapping your console and signing up to another service is not. Just an observation.

sharemywin 13y ago

The XBOX also cannibalized PC sales. Pre-XBox you bought a PC to play the latest games every 2 years. Now you buy an Xbox.

ygra 13y ago
There are also a lot console-exclusive games which you would otherwise play on a PlayStation.