No More Xbox?

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi Guys:

 

I was reading a issue of GamePro magazine the other day, I read a brief article in which that there is some discussion inside Microsoft saying that they have no desire about making a successor for the Xbox 360 & that they haven't made plans yet for its 2009 game lineup as well!! Is this a false rumor brewed up by Gamepro, or is the statement true in their Static-Shock section? Please report for those who are aware!

 

Anthony....

[Atari5200]

was it the April issue? If Gamepro is anything like EGM, they will have an april fools story then say in a future magazine what the story was. I can't imagine this would be true.

[Gregory DG]

While I doubt MS is getting out this soon, there was a time when I never would have thought that Atari or Sega would get out of the console business, but they did. And they had already released several profitable consoles. So far, the Xbox 1 was a money loser and the 360 is just now making a few bucks. You never know, MS could be looking at the numbers and deciding they've lost far more than they've gained (monetarily and otherwise) with the video game biz.

[Lord Helmet]

MS isn't going anywhere. There are plenty of articles going all the way back to 2006 about the third MS console being in development.

[Hyper_Eye]

MS has said from the beginning that the first console to make their XBox division profitable would be the third console. MS knows how to push into a market and they know how to look at the big picture. They expected the first XBox to lose them money and it lost them a lot of money (despite the greatness that was the first XBox.) The purpose of it was to get their feet wet in the market, get their name out there, and build a fanbase. The purpose of the second machine is to solidify a permanent spot in the market, break down the barriers that stand in the way of a US console maker (Japan being a big one that is still proving difficult to crack), and start to recoup some of the losses from the first unit. With the third generation of XBox they intend to dominate. This is pretty much what they have been saying since the early XBox days. Will it work out that way? I don't know. I don't think they could have ever anticipated the Wii.

[moycon]

I don't know. I don't think they could have ever anticipated the Wii.

 

Or that the 360 would be so unreliable millions of gamers would be turned off by it. As it stands the 360 has led the other consoles in game and accessory sales (In spite of having less units in consumers houses than Wii) , can you imagine if they had released a console that didn't have such an outrageous failure rate? MS screwed themselves on that one.

[Atariboy]

MS has said from the beginning that the first console to make their XBox division profitable would be the third console.

 

That's not what I've seen, happen to know where you've read that off hand? What I've always seen was MS knowing that the original Xbox wasn't going to be profitable and was purely tasked with establishing a beachhead in this marketplace for MS, with the profits coming with what is now the Xbox 360.

[ninjarabbit]

I could honestly see Microsoft ditching the 360 in 2009 for its next generation console

[godslabrat]

While I doubt MS is getting out this soon, there was a time when I never would have thought that Atari or Sega would get out of the console business, but they did. And they had already released several profitable consoles. So far, the Xbox 1 was a money loser and the 360 is just now making a few bucks. You never know, MS could be looking at the numbers and deciding they've lost far more than they've gained (monetarily and otherwise) with the video game biz.

 

I personally don't see them leaving so soon either, but I can't say an argument couldn't be made. The 360 was a solid contender, moreso after the PS3 proved to be a nonstarter until a year after its launch. However, the Wii and the hardware failures have taken their toll on the console, and the PS3 is starting to seem like a reasonable alternative. If the 360 hadn't built a large install base, I could easily see MS saying "Uh, this just isn't working for us, time to bail. Or sell off the xbox division to someone else." Let's add in that Microsoft's flagship product (Windows) had a very poorly-received successor released last year, and they have their hands full dealing with that.

 

History has shown that MS is more than willing to drop something once they decide it's not worth pursuing. Has that day come for the 360? I don't think so, but I can't rule it out either.

[DJTekid]

It IS true that a company's first console usually is not profitable, but it usually paves the way for the next one to bring in the money. The only exceptions I can really think of are Atari's 2600 (which dominated the market quickly, being the first mainstream console to enjoy widespread success) and the NES (which, aside from skyrocketing the already-successful Nintendo's revenue, also is considered the savior of the console market, bringing an end to the Great Crash). When you look at the Sega Master System, Playstation, XboX, and any other first console from any company, they almost always lost at least a tiny bit of money. Now, although I am a devoted retrogamer, I also enjoy the modern consoles, and aside from my current favorite, the Wii, the 360 is also one of my most-played consoles. Plus, I'm pretty sure that the PS3 has probably ruined Sony's Playstation brand. I would say it's a safe bet that Microsoft will be in the mix for awhile.

Edited April 20, 2008 by DJTekid

[ninjarabbit]

The PS3 hasn't ruined the Playstation brand, in fact the PS2 has been doing pretty well in the last 2 years and was even the best selling console of 2006 and will continue to go strong for awhile as long as the next cheapest console is $120 more.

 

The 360 pretty much shot its load last year and I don't see too many more exclusive killer aps coming out for it now that Bungie has left.

[Atari5200]

The 360 pretty much shot its load last year and I don't see too many more exclusive killer aps coming out for it now that Bungie has left.

 

i'm pretty sure GOW 2 and 3 and Mass Effect 2 and 3 will be 360 exclusives, there's 4 right there that will probably sell millions upon millions of copies.

[Shawn]

The PS3 hasn't ruined the Playstation brand, in fact the PS2 has been doing pretty well in the last 2 years and was even the best selling console of 2006 and will continue to go strong for awhile as long as the next cheapest console is $120 more.

 

The 360 pretty much shot its load last year and I don't see too many more exclusive killer aps coming out for it now that Bungie has left.

 

It's only $99.99 in Canada for a PS2 slim now.

[DJTekid]

The PS3 hasn't ruined the Playstation brand, in fact the PS2 has been doing pretty well in the last 2 years and was even the best selling console of 2006 and will continue to go strong for awhile as long as the next cheapest console is $120 more.

 

The 360 pretty much shot its load last year and I don't see too many more exclusive killer aps coming out for it now that Bungie has left.

 

I was actually referring to the future of the Playstation brand. I am still a rather devoted PS2 user, and do see the console lasting for awhile longer.

[Red 5]

The 360 pretty much shot its load last year and I don't see too many more exclusive killer aps coming out for it now that Bungie has left.

 

Just to name a few games that weren't shot out in that load of exclusives ...

 

Gears of War 2

Fable 2

Ninja Gaiden II

Too Human

Mass Effect sequels

Halo Wars

Halo Chronicles

Dead Rising sequels

Blue Dragon sequels

Banjo Kazooie 3 ! !

PGR Series

Viva Pinata Series

[Lord Helmet]

We need a Crackdown 2

[Red 5]

We need a Crackdown 2

 

Unfortunately, they announced that there is no plans to make Crackdown 2.

 

However, here are a few more exclusives that I didn't list in the previous post...

 

Alan Wake

Splinter Cell

BioShock 2 (as of right now, but there are rumours this could go multi-platform.)

Edited April 21, 2008 by therealred5

[Atari5200]

We need a Crackdown 2

 

 

BioShock 2 (as of right now, but there are rumours this could go multi-platform.)

 

Gamespot had an article that the developer of Bioshock was thinking of introducing the series to the Wii. If that's the case, I hope they don't skimp on quality to make the game just a port for all 3 systems, and do a separate 360/ps3 version and a separate Wii version.

[Hyper_Eye]

MS has said from the beginning that the first console to make their XBox division profitable would be the third console.

 

That's not what I've seen, happen to know where you've read that off hand? What I've always seen was MS knowing that the original Xbox wasn't going to be profitable and was purely tasked with establishing a beachhead in this marketplace for MS, with the profits coming with what is now the Xbox 360.

 

It's hard to figure out good search terms to find things that I have read on this but I am talking about stuff from way back before the 360 when MS was still explaining why it was worth it to make the original XBox. I did find the text to an article I read before the launch of the 360 here:

 

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.po...3a9a4de1d886e55

 

The original reuters link is no longer available but the comments in the discussion are funny anyway.

 

Alan Wake

Splinter Cell

 

:drool:

[FastRobPlus]

I could honestly see Microsoft ditching the 360 in 2009 for its next generation console

 

 

Rev. Rob and the other console historians aren't on this thread so let me assuage all your fears;

 

The v1 Xbox fell out of the market so quickly because the console was financially unfavorable to produce.

As many of you know, a console’s price tends to drop as the technology becomes cheaper to produce or to source as a commodity.

The “big cost” items such as the CPU, GPU, RAM, etc all follow a cost curve that is baked into the console’s lifetime roadmap.

With Xbox 1, MS did not control the cost of 3 critical items: the coppermine CPU, the nVidia GPU, and the 8GB HDD.

This was significant in that the other 6th gen consoles *did* control the cost of their CPU, GPU, and did not even use an HDD.

 

Now in the 7th generation, Xbox 360 has an MS-produced CPU, and MS produced GPU, and maybe most importantly, they do not require an HDD in their core console.

 

Because of the far greater production cost control and lifetime roadmap, we should expect the Xbox 360 to be around a long time, even into the 8th gen.

[Seob]

i think, if microsoft is planning to release a new console next year, it could be bad for their business. Releasing a new console so soon after the previous console can people go to a other console. Like sega did with they're genesis add-on and saturn. People lose confided in a company if it doesn't support a console longer. A lot of people invest a lot of money to buy a console and hope they can use it long, so that it will be real value for there cash.

What the console market really doesn't need is that people are forced to buy a new console every 3 years. If it will go that way it will be the same as with the pc market where you have to invest a lot of money every year to keep up playing the new titles.

This was my main reason to drop pc gaming for console gaming. I just don't like to spent a zillion euro's every year to keep playing new pc games with full options available, and having to download a million patches to get a game to work. I want to spend my money on games and my time on playing games.

[moycon]

Unfortunately, they announced that there is no plans to make Crackdown 2.

 

There's always APB though...

 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/818/818544p1.html