Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

And it's as true now as it's always been. The big money is never in the hardware. It's in software and licensing. That strategy (along with some questionable business practices) is exactly why MS has been as succesful as it has been.

I never said the money was made in hardware sales... allthough the quote of hardware sales is "never" where the money is is a false statement but thats another story... I was responding to what you said in a previous thread...

You said this and I quote--

Market the console to the masses. Get as many out there as you can. The more consoles you sell, the more software you sell, and the more software you license

You see... MS should not be trying to "sell a console" they should be trying to sell games. When I said i`ve heard it before I was reffering to what people used to say about the xbox. Its the same stuff ... promote a "DO ALL" console "not" a game system. ... ZZZZzzz.. i`ve heard it before. But you might want to go back and re-read it from the beginning.

[dagger55]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Do I really have to list them?

The design of the xbx was a mistake, its too big.

The controller was a mistake, its also way to big.

Their original Xbox promotional advertisements were a mistake because they didn`t show any of the games and were easily forgetable.

The lack of effort to penetrate the Japanese market.... The center of the gaming world is in Japan. If you can penetrate this market you`re almost guranteed success. Perhaps MS figured they couldn`t do it and so they put more effort into the western and european market.

Why charge people for online gaming when they can get it for a small one time fee with PS2?

Why not make online gaming available on day one. Why wait around for it?

They should`ve ditched NFL FEVER, their is no way it could compete with Madden and the 2K series but they had an outside chance when it came to basketball.

They should have put more effort into NBA INSIDE DRIVE. Fever was just not good enough to compete but DRIVE had a lot of potential!

They needed more than one killer app at launch (Halo). You can`t bet the farm on one game. I`m sure almost everyone that owns an xbox has Halo but thats it for launch games.

Forza Motorsport shoud have been a launch game. I know it wasn`t in production at the time but their is no way PGR alone could compete with GT. But the two of them would have had a good chance.

Along with the buy out of Bungie, why not add one japanse company to that like Capcom or Konami.... or whatever.. Bungie is great but its not a Japanese developer. MS needed some kind of foothold on the japanese gaming community early in the life of the xbox. Perhaps none of them would have sold out but you know the old saying.... "everyone has a price."

i thought this thread was about xbox 360... and i thought you were saying MS made mistakes with the 360.

every single problem you listed has been fixed for the 360.

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

i thought this thread was about xbox 360... and i thought you were saying MS made mistakes with the 360.

every single problem you listed has been fixed for the 360.

Ohhh my god... dude, do not post anything else in this thread until you go back read everything.

[dagger55]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Ohhh my god... dude, do not post anything else in this thread until you go back read everything.

take a chill pill

i misread your post.

[ZB9]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

its the greatest video game system EVER, and there is nothing remotely close to it...

the menus...

xbox live and arcade...

THE CONTROLLER.....

every game in HD....

i could go on and on...

this system will not fail at all

...and it's mainly American made, at least by an American company

[LIGHTNING]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Miccrosoft is not losing anywhere near $126.00 per XBOX 360 unit. The CPU and the GPU are the most expensive parts in most consoles The CPU is a IBM Power PC with the Microsoft logo on it and they own this chip unlike the Intel Celeron in the XBOX. The cost is manufacturing this chip which should not very expensive at all since they took out the out-of order-execution logic transistors which decreases the size of the chip significantly. The overall cost per unit is significantly lower compared to the XBOX probably under $450.00 per unit.

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Miccrosoft is not losing anywhere near $126.00 per XBOX 360 unit. The CPU and the GPU are the most expensive parts in most consoles The CPU is a IBM Power PC with the Microsoft logo on it .

I think theirs more to it than just the CPU and GPU. You have to consider labor, manufacturing, shipping and other expenses that come up when making a new game console. So, I have no doubt that they lose money on every system sold but try to make up for it on the licensing fee.

[bkrich83]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Do I really have to list them?

The design of the xbx was a mistake, its too big.

The controller was a mistake, its also way to big.

Their original Xbox promotional advertisements were a mistake because they didn`t show any of the games and were easily forgetable.

The lack of effort to penetrate the Japanese market.... The center of the gaming world is in Japan. If you can penetrate this market you`re almost guranteed success. Perhaps MS figured they couldn`t do it and so they put more effort into the western and european market.

Why charge people for online gaming when they can get it for a small one time fee with PS2?

Why not make online gaming available on day one. Why wait around for it?

They should`ve ditched NFL FEVER, their is no way it could compete with Madden and the 2K series but they had an outside chance when it came to basketball.

They should have put more effort into NBA INSIDE DRIVE. Fever was just not good enough to compete but DRIVE had a lot of potential!

They needed more than one killer app at launch (Halo). You can`t bet the farm on one game. I`m sure almost everyone that owns an xbox has Halo but thats it for launch games.

Forza Motorsport shoud have been a launch game. I know it wasn`t in production at the time but their is no way PGR alone could compete with GT. But the two of them would have had a good chance.

Along with the buy out of Bungie, why not add one japanse company to that like Capcom or Konami.... or whatever.. Bungie is great but its not a Japanese developer. MS needed some kind of foothold on the japanese gaming community early in the life of the xbox. Perhaps none of them would have sold out but you know the old saying.... "everyone has a price."

I actually don't know. But what kind of market penetration did/does Nintendo have in the Japanese market?

As far as the online gaming thing goes. I believe you get what you pay for. The XBL features and infractructure is far superior to the PS2's. I think they are banking on people wanting to pay for better service. Not sure how that worked out. I had read that XBL subscriptions were up over a million subscriptions. But that sounds high to m. Not sure what the number is in reality. Not to mention in my experience, XBL performance compared to PS2 performance was far superior.

Don't know if these were all mistakes. I have a hard time believe the size of the Xbox contributed to less sales. Did MS not make significant headway in to the console market? Was it not a pretty good first effort, in to a market, that already had a well entrenched product?

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Yeah ok. If I thought you really knew what you were talking about I might.

I gurantee you I know more about it than you do....

[bkrich83]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

I gurantee you I know more about it than you do....

Yup haven't heard that before.

[aholbert32]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Do I really have to list them?


The design of the xbx was a mistake, its too big.

The controller was a mistake, its also way to big.

Their original Xbox promotional advertisements were a mistake because they didn`t show any of the games and were easily forgetable.

The lack of effort to penetrate the Japanese market.... The center of the gaming world is in Japan. If you can penetrate this market you`re almost guranteed success. Perhaps MS figured they couldn`t do it and so they put more effort into the western and european market.

Why charge people for online gaming when they can get it for a small one time fee with PS2?

Why not make online gaming available on day one. Why wait around for it?

They should`ve ditched NFL FEVER, their is no way it could compete with Madden and the 2K series but they had an outside chance when it came to basketball.

They should have put more effort into NBA INSIDE DRIVE. Fever was just not good enough to compete but DRIVE had a lot of potential!

They needed more than one killer app at launch (Halo). You can`t bet the farm on one game. I`m sure almost everyone that owns an xbox has Halo but thats it for launch games.

Forza Motorsport shoud have been a launch game. I know it wasn`t in production at the time but their is no way PGR alone could compete with GT. But the two of them would have had a good chance.

Along with the buy out of Bungie, why not add one japanse company to that like Capcom or Konami.... or whatever.. Bungie is great but its not a Japanese developer. MS needed some kind of foothold on the japanese gaming community early in the life of the xbox. Perhaps none of them would have sold out but you know the old saying.... "everyone has a price."

You are right about the controller, the lack of Japanese presence and the size of the box but the rest of this statement is crap.

I'll take your points one by one:

Initial launch advertisements NEVER show the games...see the ps2...ps1...and the gamecube. They are always weird artistic commercials to catch your attention so I dont think the ads hurt the Xbox. Those types of ads didnt hurt the ps2 or the 360.

In 2001, the only people who were online gaming were doing it on the computer and a small number on the Dreamcast so not having that at launch didnt hurt MS either. At the time the PS2 hadnt even released its online adapter so the competition didnt have online gaming either.

When it comes to online gaming its a matter of preference, I prefer the ease of Xbox live with the Friends list and other options, some prefer the free PS2 setup. Either way online gaming doesnt drive system sales.

Most systems are lucky to have one killer app at launch...the 360 doesnt have one....the ps2 didnt..so saying Xbox needed 2 at launch is BS. Killer apps typically happen later in a systems life cycle.

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

I actually don't know. But what kind of market penetration did/does Nintendo have in the Japanese market?

As far as the online gaming thing goes. I believe you get what you pay for. The XBL features and infractructure is far superior to the PS2's. I think they are banking on people wanting to pay for better service. Not sure how that worked out. I had read that XBL subscriptions were up over a million subscriptions. But that sounds high to m. Not sure what the number is in reality. Not to mention in my experience, XBL performance compared to PS2 performance was far superior.

Don't know if these were all mistakes. I have a hard time believe the size of the Xbox contributed to less sales. Did MS not make significant headway in to the console market? Was it not a pretty good first effort, in to a market, that already had a well entrenched product?

Ninetendo makes a lot of money off Japanese gamers and the hand helds. Ofcourse they have a long history in Japan so its not surprising. But I`m not sure what their penetration is but I would think its pretty big.

I agree to a certain extent that XBX LIVE is better than PS2 Online but to the average gamer, the extra cost is not worth it. Online console gamers still makes up a small portion of gamers. Its not as big as say online PC gaming. MS seems to have this goal to make it as big as PC online gaming is but I don`t think it will ever reach that plateau especially with the annual fee and the fact that most cable modems are located in the office not in the living room.

And LIVE is not perfect. I can`t say i`ve never expereinced any lag or freezing. Ofcourse online gaming is a science that really hasn`t been perfected yet.

The size of the box and the controller was not a good idea. People want small items in their house especially in Japan. If anything MS should have modeled the xbx controller after the PS 2 controller and used smaller parts for the xbx.

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

Initial launch advertisements NEVER show the games...see the ps2...ps1...and the gamecube. They are always weird artistic commercials to catch your attention so I dont think the ads hurt the Xbox. Those types of ads didnt hurt the ps2 or the 360.

I can remember adds that showed the games for the PS2. Perhaps one of us is reffering to some of the later adds?

In 2001, the only people who were online gaming were doing it on the computer and a small number on the Dreamcast so not having that at launch didnt hurt MS either. At the time the PS2 hadnt even released its online adapter so the competition didnt have online gaming either.

True.... but I still say it would have been a good feature to have on day one.

Either way online gaming doesnt drive system sales.

MS disagrees with you.... anyone remember those lame NFL FEVER xbx LIVE adds and a few others? Apparently MS wants to promote the online side of it. I think its a great feature that would`ve put more units in homes. But was it the deciding factor? probably not... but who can say it doesn`t matter now?

Obviously the xbx didn`t work out as planned. And by the time LIVE came out the PS2 was out... I say its better to get the jump on your opponent.

Most systems are lucky to have one killer app at launch...the 360 doesnt have one....the ps2 didnt..so saying Xbox needed 2 at launch is BS. Killer apps typically happen later in a systems life cycle.

Obviously it didn`t work out with the one killer app they had in Halo. they needed more than one.... PERIOD!

The PS2 didn`t really NEED a killer app because it has the name Sony written on the front.

But consider this for a moment... you`re new to the console business and you`re getting ready to release a new game system. Do you really think you have a chance to succeed if you release one game that people want and the other games just end up being shelf displays? I certainly wouldn`t. The first 6 months for a "NEW" console are EXTREMELY important. You need 2 or 3 killer apps to even have a chance of succeeding.

[CMH]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

The only problem I have with all this is that KillRoy is only looking to prove his opinion rather than view others with an open mind.

His antics are further heightened by the, "Heard that before" type comments that usually follow most children.

I know you'll likely jump on me for calling you a child, but just as you have demanded that others reread your post to understand them I do advise you do the same for yourself.

You are coming off as arrogant and argumentive rather than informative and wise.

[KillRoy]

Re: Microsoft losing $126 per Xbox 360 unit

The only problem I have with all this is that KillRoy is only looking to prove his opinion rather than view others with an open mind.

His antics are further heightened by the, "Heard that before" type comments that usually follow most children.

I know you'll likely jump on me for calling you a child, but just as you have demanded that others reread your post to understand them I do advise you do the same for yourself.

You are coming off as arrogant and argumentive rather than informative and wise.

The quote "heard that before" is just a fact. I`m not stating an opinion. I`m hearing the SAME things about 360 that I heard about xbx. Hardware, hardwre, hardware.... hmmmmm... what about the games?

And shut up with the open mind crap!! I`m not in here to prove anything or sound "wise." I wasted a few posts on a guy that mis-read my previous post (its also posible that he didn`t even read any previous posts) but no big deal. Stuff like that happens on the internet.

And if you think i`m going to jump on you for calling me a child... well, I should, I don`t take too kindly to namecalling which is something I haven`t done in this conversation. I suggest if you don`t have anything to say about the topic don`t post in this thread.