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MS Earnings Call - FY23Q3 | 4% decline for MS Gaming, Xbox HW down 30%

If investors were really going to push for Microsoft to divest Xbox, they would have done that during either the Xbox One launch clusterfuck or when Nadella took the helm a few months after the bungled launch. He's very strongly a "software and services" guy and probably could have been receptive to spinning off Xbox hardware. Hell, Nadella voted against the NOKIA acquisition and then wrote the whole damn thing off after he was at the helm.

But he clearly sees value in maintaining the Xbox hardware brand and if investors didn't push then, I don't see why they'd push now when Game Pass and software is still returning value on their investment.
As with anything there are levels. They don't need to divest the hardware now, but maybe they cut spending on 3rd party Game Pass or more layoffs. They can't just stand pat and bank everything on the merger I would think.
 

feynoob

Banned
They already made Jim Ryan cry and it is only a matter of time before MS buys out Ubisoft, Take 2 or EA next.
Go Away Reaction GIF
 

Spyxos

Member
Am I reading this wrong? I thought Gamepass went up slightly? But yes without games it can only go down. Redfall will hardly attract anyone it's only up to Starfield.
 
And the series s routinely being discounted in the - 30%-ish range
The fun thing with revenue accounting is that those discounted consoles are very likely being counted as full revenue, with the discount being a separate accounting entry.

The other fun thing is that when someone pays $1 for a month of Gamepass, to Microsoft it is likely $10 (or whatever the monthly price is) of revenue with a $9 discount or marketing cost.

And now you know why they only ever talk about revenue.
 
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nial

Member
They already made Jim Ryan cry and it is only a matter of time before MS buys out Ubisoft, Take 2 or EA next.
Xbox series consoles is still MS fastest selling console. All MS has to do is get the constraint issue fix (lord knows how long) and make big purchases. I may have to call up my daddy Phil Spencer to buy out From Software. You want that? I think you do.
nice parody account, fooled me at first
 

GHG

Member
If what you are saying was true, the PS3 being priced at $600 would’ve had no impact on sales.

Of course pricing and availability plays a factor in purchase decisions. Let’s not play dumb.

Comparing the current situation (and pricing) to the PS3 is one of the most disingenuous takes/excuses I've seen yet for the Series consoles not selling.

The console is available. It includes a game. If someone really wants the hardware they are getting it regardless of whether or not the game is included. It's the "really wants" part that is missing.
 
so the gaming division revenue grew, some internal metrics of said devison declined?

I remember when a gaming division of a megacorporation went from a massive profit to a massive loss.

Imagine if said company had just threw in the towel then...


"The games division posted a quarterly operating loss of ¥54.2 billion, down from a ¥67.8 billion profit in the quarter a year earlier."
 
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OOOOOOOF! That 30% hardware decline is not good, those big AAA exclusives are needed ASAP. Microsoft need Call of Duty to go "Xbox only" just to have chance at this rate, this is like Xbox One all over again and it seems like only a matter of time until the ratio reaches 2 to 1 in favor of PS5. Also Vgchartz estimates were pretty close, they estimated a 25% decline in units from their numbers. For comparison they estimated 1.52 million for Xbox Series and 5.28 million for PS5 for the 1st Jan to 31st March quarter, we will find out how close the PS5 estimate is on Friday. Here is their data, tabulated by calendar year:

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Nydius

Member
I may have to call up my daddy Phil Spencer to buy out From Software.
If you're gonna do that, could you give him a ring and ask him to double down on Microsoft's prior attempt to acquire Nintendo?

It would be nice to play Splatoon, Smash, and Mario Kart on a decent network infrastructure.

Thanks.
 

analog_future

Resident Crybaby
Comparing the current situation (and pricing) to the PS3 is one of the most disingenuous takes/excuses I've seen yet for the Series consoles not selling.

The console is available. It includes a game. If someone really wants the hardware they are getting it regardless of whether or not the game is included. It's the "really wants" part that is missing.

You're making my point for me.

Yes, if someone is deadset on buying a Series X, they're going to get one. Just like if someone was dead set on buying a PS3, they were going to get one, $600 be damned.

That doesn't mean that the millions of potential consumers that are on the fence or haven't decided on a console of choice won't be swayed by one console not being on store shelves while the other is sitting right in front of them at their local Target. That doesn't mean that the millions of potential consumers that are on the fence or haven't decided on a console of choice won't be swayed by one console being $60-$70 more than the other, bundled with a game they don't want.

Again, it's not an end-all-be-all factor, but it's unquestionably a factor. Take your blinders off and you'll see that.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
oo5wjoa.gif

"Supply constraints"
Did they not buy any chip supply because they knew their sales would suck? This is really baffling that they could have fucked up in any way to see a decline in HW sales this early into the HW cycle. Has MS had any big first party game since Halo?

I can buy a forced bundle on Amazon and Best buy and can preorder the Diablo one. Or I can pay newegg 20 shipping and get a system there without a game. Not as easy as a PS5
 
I feel like these are the natural consequences of the xbox one generation. Microsoft literally did fuck all during the whole gen and now we are seeing the effects. They are losing so many customers to sony. People are just fed up. Gamepass isn't as enticing as some people made it out to be either. Good for the hardcore but the casuals don't care. They only play 1 or 2 games per year.
 
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GHG

Member
You're making my point for me.

Yes, if someone is deadset on buying a Series X, they're going to get one. Just like if someone was dead set on buying a PS3, they were going to get one, $600 be damned.

That doesn't mean that the millions of potential consumers that are on the fence or haven't decided on a console of choice won't be swayed by one console not being on store shelves while the other is sitting right in front of them at their local Target. That doesn't mean that the millions of potential consumers that are on the fence or haven't decided on a console of choice won't be swayed by one console being $60-$70 more than the other, bundled with a game they don't want.

Again, it's not an end-all-be-all factor, but it's unquestionably a factor. Take your blinders off and you'll see that.

A game is included. Arguably the best game available on the platform that isn't also available on a competing platform.

That will not dissuade someone who wants a Series X from getting one. Again, emphasis on the "someone who wants".

It seems that you're willing to go to the ends of the earth to not admit the product isn't seen as desirable at the moment. Not my problem.
 
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ReBurn

Gold Member
I am curious what percentage of xbox series x consoles are being sold through their payment plan? they always seem to be available to purchase that way, that's how I got mine two years ago because it was the only way to get one then. You are forced into a 2 years GP sub when you go that route. I'm not renewing because they don't offer enough new content for me to pay them for 12 months. Maybe after starfield comes out I'll do a one month sub to give it a try, if I like it I'll buy the game and cancel again and if not, I'll just cancel again anyway lol.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Last July


Probably not so much this quarter.

Yeah, I knew they had stated it previously but this guy was saying it was still the case. Not so sure about that at this point.
 
Software and services seem fine. Hardware down but probably more S sold than X. I still don’t see X in stock anywhere around here. It’s also been seemingly forever since they have had a big console exclusive game to make some people go out and buy hardware.
 

onQ123

Member
When has a console ever declined so early? When the decline starts, it only gets worse. Not better. Not to mention that it hasn't only been a month or two but from late last year. Last November was the worst for xbox in over 10 years. Since then, it's continued to be in decline. Either xbox is having very bad supply issues or demand has sharply dropped off. It can't be a coincidence that it all started the moment PS5 supply drastically improved.
I'm not denying that this is really bad but I feel Microsoft isn't trying hard to turn the console side around, they have options they can take to complete before it's too late. They knew PS5 was about to go Super Saiyan months ago everyone knew but MS didn't even try to put up a fight .

Even Switch in it's 6th year is going to have a really big May & had big moves leading up to this point.
 

feynoob

Banned
Software and services seem fine. Hardware down but probably more S sold than X. I still don’t see X in stock anywhere around here. It’s also been seemingly forever since they have had a big console exclusive game to make some people go out and buy hardware.
That seems to be the case. 508m was from hardware revenue. 1M to xss and 400k to xsx. The numbers however will be bad if they were to sell more xsx, as the 500$ takes more revenue, compared to the xss 300$ revenue.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Software and services seem fine. Hardware down but probably more S sold than X. I still don’t see X in stock anywhere around here. It’s also been seemingly forever since they have had a big console exclusive game to make some people go out and buy hardware.
Lack of major releases is probably one of the main issues with hardware moving. Microsoft needs to release more games.
 
I'm not denying that this is really bad but I feel Microsoft isn't trying hard to turn the console side around, they have options they can take to complete before it's too late. They knew PS5 was about to go Super Saiyan months ago everyone knew but MS didn't even try to put up a fight .

Even Switch in it's 6th year is going to have a really big May & had big moves leading up to this point.

Why though? It feels like they a giving up already or are they just waiting to complete the acquisition of Activision? The lack of marketing is baffling aswell. Where are the xbox ads? Microsoft Don't have the money to market their own product? None of it makes sense. Meanwhile i see PS and switch ads all the time. The way Microsoft run xbox is strange for such a massive wealthy corporation.
 
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