Microsoft's Revenues Up Except for Games Division

Gamasutra reports on Microsoft's announcement that their revenues are up, but the games division has seen a sharp decrease in profitability. From the article: "Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which overall includes the Microsoft Xbox video game console system, PC games, the Home Products Division, and TV platform products for the interactive television industry, saw revenue of $1.56 billion in the 3 months to the end of December and a significant loss of $293 million, compared to $1.37 billion revenues and a small profit of $55 million in the same period last year."

Misleading headline

[ThisIsForReal]

...except for game division?

FTA: Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which overall includes the Microsoft Xbox video game console system, PC games, the Home Products Division, and TV platform products for the interactive television industry, saw revenue of $1.56 billion in the 3 months to the end of December and a significant loss of $293 million, compared to $1.37 billion revenues and a small profit of $55 million in the same period last year.

Grrr, the headline made it sound like revenue for the game division was down, but it was up, too. Please keep the headlines accurate for those of us who don't want to read the synopsis, let alone the actual article!

In other words..

[Mr_Tulip]

TO put it more simply, Microsoft's total income from games, XBOX and, Home PC is higher by around $190 million, and profit is down by about $230 million from last year. That's only around a $40 million net difference from last year, and I expect a lot of that is the cost of launching a new console.

Re:In other words..

[Anonymous Coward]

TO put it more simply, Microsoft's total income from games, XBOX and, Home PC is higher by around $190 million, and profit is down by about $230 million from last year. That's only around a $40 million net difference from last year, and I expect a lot of that is the cost of launching a new console.

You must be using the new math. Revenue has increased by about $190M, while profit is down around $230M. You can't subtract these numbers. Indeed, if you add them, you see that their expenses increased by $420M.

Re:Misleading headline

[MBraynard]

Actually the headline was accurate this time. The division of Microsoft that includes its games lost almost $300M in the last quarter.

Actually, the headline is inaccurate. The games division revenue IS up. And the amount of money 'lost' is irrelevant to revenue.

REAL journalists make these mistakes regularly - Slashdot makes these mistakes contantly as it is run by individuals who are ignorant of all matters not related to hentia and linux.

Re:In other words..

[moosesocks]

and I expect a lot of that is the cost of launching a new console.

I expect that a lot of that is the cost of launching a new console unsuccessfully.

The demand for the 360 seems tiny compared to the demand for the original xbox not to mention all the wasted money on the hype microsoft built up for the 360 which was completely destroyed by the fact that there wasn't enough of them to supply what little demand they did have.

The dreamcast had a more successful launch than the 360. I have a pretty good feeling that the 360 is going to be the Sega Saturn of this generation of consoles (which as a whole I also think will fizzle compared to the last. My money's on the Nintendo Revolution for being the most likely to succeed this time around unless Microsoft scrapes Halo 3 together quickly (the brand loyalty gamers have to halo is astonishing. halo 3 could be complete crap, and it would sell millions of copies in the first week)

Home & Entertainment Division

[R3d M3rcury]

"Microsoft's Home and Entertainment division, which overall includes the Microsoft Xbox video game console system, PC games, the Home Products Division, and TV platform products for the interactive television industry [...]"

...and the Macintosh Business Unit.

Hurry, before the price goes down

[Animats]

I don't feel sorry for those shmucks who somehow sold them at a loss (they should learn to use the reserve price feature).

If you watch the XBox 360 core system auctions on eBay, anything priced over $350 just does not sell. The auctions with high reserves just scroll off, unsold. You can usually get $300, and you might be able to get $325. Above that, forget it. If you've got a garage full of the things, it's time to take what you can get.

Re:In other words..

[Anonymous Coward]

"Toy Story-rendering anyone?"

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-250632.html [com.com]

"One of the basic premises of the Xbox is to put the power in the hands of the artist," Blackley said, which is why Xbox developers "are achieving a level of visual detail you really get in 'Toy Story.'"

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,40970, 00.html?tw=wn_story_related [wired.com]

"Gates said the 3-D chips in the Xbox would be three times faster than anything on the market and offer nearly unlimited graphical visuals. "We're approaching the level of detail seen in Toy Story 2," he said, referring to the computer-generated kids film from Disney/Pixar."

Sony has never in any public statement claimed anything having to do with "Toy Story" level graphics.

Microsoft has. Multiple times.

Time to shutup idiot.