@abe_hikura are you comparing it with Cyberpunk at release or one of the latest versions after patch 2.0? Just curious as I played it a year after release after they supposedly fixed many bugs and it was barely playable.
@Fiendish-Beaver Sony selling the PS5 Pro with profit is pretty much imposible. Consoles take a very long time to develop before they hit the shops and Sony stated recently that it took almost 10 years for the PS5 pro. That process involves paying for research, engineering, testing different types of hardware, manufacturing, creating dev kits, advertising etc. Console manufacturing is very different to phones or laptops where a company like Dell or HP will take last years laptop, put a newer graphics card and sell is as a brand new laptop.
I'm not a PC expert but I think you would struggle to make a PC with a similar spec for £700 and for Sony to make a profit they would have to cover all those costs, which are probably in the hundreds of millions, and then make some money on top of it.
As for Xbox staying in the hardware business, I think they kind of have to. And I think they know this very well.
Videogame sales are mostly on consoles, with PC not even coming close when it comes to sales. A few titles sell well on PC but the high majority are massively pirated and not really worth the bother if PC were the main platform. It's also due to the high effort of optimising a game for so many different types of hardware. And I'm not just pulling this out of my a**e I've worked in game dev for over 10 years.
Currently, both Sony and Ms take 20% of all the sales on their platform. I think MS have changed it recently to 15% but might have been just a rumour. MS are now after the acquisitions one, if not the biggest games publisher in the world. If they were to pull out from the hardware market it will give Sony monopoly over the console space which will most likely result in them putting the fees up. Ms need the hardware business to regulate the market and ultimately their investment which is why it makes sense for them to release a handheld and get in Nintendo's territory too.
I think they'll either be around for a very long time or implode by the end of this generation
@Fiendish-Beaver it depends. Sony and MS have always sold consoles at a loss to increase the user base and got the return from charging a percentage per sale on their platform.
With the PS5 pro Sony didn't take as much of a loss when it came to selling the console as the price was closer to gaming laptop with similar specs. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good deal compared to a pc but it's not as good compared to previous consoles.
This move makes sense since they don't have any competition on the Pro console market and since they didn't get the expected return on some (if not most) of their PS5 first party titles.
MS on the other hand would have a very good reason to knock the price down next gen. If they release a cheaper console with similar specs it's very likely to outsell Sony.
If that's going to be their strategy (which was during the 360 generation when the Xbox was considerably cheeper at release) they would also have the resources to do it. But judging by how they managed the brand this generation I doubt they have a plan for next month.
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Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of Stalker 2 On Xbox Game Pass So Far?
@abe_hikura are you comparing it with Cyberpunk at release or one of the latest versions after patch 2.0?
Just curious as I played it a year after release after they supposedly fixed many bugs and it was barely playable.
Re: Site News: Where's Our Stalker 2 Review?
I've read a couple of reviews so far and it sounds to be a great game once the bugs are fixed.
I was really looking forward to it so I'll wait a bit till the game breaking bugs are fixed but sounds like the type of game Xbox needed.
Re: Microsoft Is Now Advertising Pretty Much Every Gaming Device As An Xbox
I'm all for it. Makes a lot more sense nowadays than the old strategy.
I hope they won't do a complete u-turn in a years time though
Re: Phil Spencer Thinks Stalker 2 Could Be An Xbox Game Of The Year Contender
@Balaam_ HAHA. Yeah he seems to be blown away every time he switches on his Xbox.
Easily impressed Phill ( adds gif of Phil Dumphy)
Re: Phil Spencer Thinks Stalker 2 Could Be An Xbox Game Of The Year Contender
@themightyant my thoughts exactly. I really hope they don't fumble this one too.
Re: Is Xbox Successful Right Now? Phil Spencer Shares His Thoughts
@Fiendish-Beaver Sony selling the PS5 Pro with profit is pretty much imposible. Consoles take a very long time to develop before they hit the shops and Sony stated recently that it took almost 10 years for the PS5 pro. That process involves paying for research, engineering, testing different types of hardware, manufacturing, creating dev kits, advertising etc. Console manufacturing is very different to phones or laptops where a company like Dell or HP will take last years laptop, put a newer graphics card and sell is as a brand new laptop.
I'm not a PC expert but I think you would struggle to make a PC with a similar spec for £700 and for Sony to make a profit they would have to cover all those costs, which are probably in the hundreds of millions, and then make some money on top of it.
As for Xbox staying in the hardware business, I think they kind of have to. And I think they know this very well.
Videogame sales are mostly on consoles, with PC not even coming close when it comes to sales. A few titles sell well on PC but the high majority are massively pirated and not really worth the bother if PC were the main platform. It's also due to the high effort of optimising a game for so many different types of hardware. And I'm not just pulling this out of my a**e I've worked in game dev for over 10 years.
Currently, both Sony and Ms take 20% of all the sales on their platform. I think MS have changed it recently to 15% but might have been just a rumour. MS are now after the acquisitions one, if not the biggest games publisher in the world. If they were to pull out from the hardware market it will give Sony monopoly over the console space which will most likely result in them putting the fees up. Ms need the hardware business to regulate the market and ultimately their investment which is why it makes sense for them to release a handheld and get in Nintendo's territory too.
I think they'll either be around for a very long time or implode by the end of this generation
Re: Is Xbox Successful Right Now? Phil Spencer Shares His Thoughts
@Fiendish-Beaver it depends. Sony and MS have always sold consoles at a loss to increase the user base and got the return from charging a percentage per sale on their platform.
With the PS5 pro Sony didn't take as much of a loss when it came to selling the console as the price was closer to gaming laptop with similar specs. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good deal compared to a pc but it's not as good compared to previous consoles.
This move makes sense since they don't have any competition on the Pro console market and since they didn't get the expected return on some (if not most) of their PS5 first party titles.
MS on the other hand would have a very good reason to knock the price down next gen. If they release a cheaper console with similar specs it's very likely to outsell Sony.
If that's going to be their strategy (which was during the 360 generation when the Xbox was considerably cheeper at release) they would also have the resources to do it. But judging by how they managed the brand this generation I doubt they have a plan for next month.