__/ [ Jerry McBride ] on Saturday 09 September 2006 14:58 \__
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> Game Sales Jump, Despite Xbox Slump
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Regardless of what happens this holiday season, August represented yet
>> | another month of disappointing sales for Microsoft's Xbox 360. Pachter
>> | for one had predicted that the company would sell between 200,000 and
>> | 300,000 consoles last month, but the sales came in at the bottom of
>> | that range, according to the NPD data he cited.
>> `----
>>
>>
>
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/newsanalysis/techstockupdate/10308023.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
>>
>> The XBox 360 has accumulated losses that must be approaching 10 billion
>> dollars. The XBox division was recently merged with another (for financial
>> business aspects) in order to hide/mitigate the impact. Also see:
>>
>> Gamers Say Microsoft Understates Xbox Problems
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | "30-50 percent of them (Xbox 360's) have failed."
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/xbox_gamers02.html
>>
>> Nintendo and Sony will soon release their high-powered, Linux-based
>> consoles.
>
> 10 BILLION in accumulated losses. Wow! No wondeer Bill Gates and company
> are jumping ship...
No, not ten (as yet). This was merely an estimate w.r.t. where it's all
headed. I believe it currently stands at 5 million in losses. And each sale
is still a loss, especially if they can't mass-produce (low demand, as
proven above). The price of the unit in Japan has just gone down, to makes
matters (financially) worse.
Microsoft to Release Cheaper Xbox 360
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Co. is set to release a cheaper, bare-bones version of the Xbox
| 360 video game console in Japan to boost flagging sales ahead of the
| arrival of new machines from rivals later in the year.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060908/japan_microsoft_xbox.html?.v=2
They are nervous about the arrival of the upcoming Wii and the PS3. it's
important to be big in Japan because that's where many of the best games
come from. But the Japanese can patiently wait.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4517362.stm
"Microsoft has launched its Xbox 360 games console in Japan to what
seems like a more subdued response than it received in Europe and North
America.
[...]
Sales of the first Microsoft Xbox in Japan have always lagged behind
Sony PlayStation 2, which was launched two years before it."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051210/tc_afp/afplifestyleusjapancomputermicrosoftxbox
"It's not going to be a big hit in Japan," said 26-year-old Kentaro Okamoto,
one of the first Xbox 360 buyers. "I buy every new game console... but
normally Japanese customers only buy a machine when it's made by Sony or
Nintendo."
I read somewhere that the PS3 /already/ has 37 games, IIRC. Its arrival was
postponed -- March next year rather than this November. The sales of the PS2
are still higher (even in America) than sales of the Xbox 360. That alone
can make Ballmer pee in his diapers. He put some big investment (loss) in
the XBox 360, realising that his stronghold on software is breaking, so
Microsoft must evolve to dominate games, hardware (XBox), service (the Live
brand), and media (Zune and online shops). Maybe they can still milk some
money out of the industry they created -- security (notably OneCare, a
Windows 'bug fixer').
> May they can re-release the first xbox under a new name and make a few
> bucks that way.
That's why they renamed Longhorn. At the time of the name change, I opined
that it was aimed to bin all the harsh criticisms that had accumulated on
the Web (Google searches being a a concern). Hypothetical MS: "Longhorn is
bad? But, hey, this is not Longhorn, it's Vista. That's a whole separate
world and an entirely fresh /vision/". In due time, despite the fact that
Longhorn has been scraped, to be replaced by Windows Server 2003 (a close XP
sibling), Vista criticisms have emerged too. So both the name Vista _and_
longhorn became synonymous with "miserable failure" (fragmenting criticism
to be shared among the server O/S and the desktop O/S), almost knocking
George Bush's off his number one spot! (Google anchor text)
Name changes are about deceit through (re-)branding and connotation. But when
900 million dollars are spent on the "Vista" brand name, it may be too late
to reverse. And XBox 360 is no exception. If only more people realised how
disastrous it truly has become. Microsoft has a grip on the media, so the
truth is often silenced or toned down. I'm just glad that Google emerged
because, despite its recent censorship moves, it promotes free speech and
makes the commercially-funded, non-independent 'media' very frail.
Ultimately, it's people voice that counts. People like you and me...
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | Have you hugged your penguin today?
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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