Xbox Division Doubles Profit in Q1

Zune dragged the business down, Xbox the saviour of the EDD division.
Xbox profits way up due to lower manufacturing costs, Halo 3 ODST (and no real price cut I might add).
2.1 m units shipped in the quarter slightly down from 2.2m of last year.
Xbox 360 LTD shipments at 33.5m
E&D has an income of $312 million.

[Biggunz]

I can't wait to see next years profits after they double the price of Live.

Great job Microsoft!

[Feral Gamer]

I doubt they'll raise the price. Didn't that originate from Pachter?

[JokesOnYou]

Yeah and yet you have all these ps3 sites talking BS about 360 in decline, yet 360 is profitable and not losing tons like ps3 and whats even better is that 360 owners buy alot of games.

JOY

[sikbeta]

They are not stupid to raise the price for live knowing PS3 service is free

[SixZeroFour]

i honestly think that raising the price of live will turn off members and will cause a decrease in profits

[ReviewsArePolitics]

I wonder if Xbox fanboys will now start talking about profit, now that the PS3 is outselling the 360, that the PS3 has a lot more games, and that most multiplatform game companies are doing better thanks to PS3 than to 360 (regardless of few exceptions like MW2 and activision; most 3rd parties make more money on PS3 than 360).

"Yeah and yet you have all these ps3 sites talking BS about 360 in decline, yet 360 is profitable and not losing tons like ps3 and whats even better is that 360 owners buy alot of games."

So all the negative news about 360 are ps3 sites, lmao. But teh profitz

[Death]

Why would Xbox fans choose today to bring it up? Please back up your statement about most third parties making more on the PS3. Konami is one of the devs that made that statement and they also happen to have released their flagship game as a PS3 exclusive. If memory serves me right Ubi and EA also made similar statements at some point in time. This isn't uncommon and changes with each game release and by quarter. I wouldn't make a claim that any third party makes more on either system since this changes with time and goes back and forth.

-Death

[Anon1974]

When you think about it, the 360 probably wouldn't make a dime if it weren't for Xbox live. Think about it. Last year they made just over $100 million with the 360 seeing it's best sales year ever. If you figure they even have 10 million people paying $50 a year for live, that's half a billion in revenue. I know XBL costs money to run and that comes out of that - but half a billion!

Take half a billion in revenue away from $100 million and you've got a console that still after almost 4 years couldn't stand on it's own without subscription fees.

Microsoft even said in their release, "Xbox 360 platform and PC game revenue increased by $96 million or 8% due mainly to increased revenue from Xbox Live"

So, revenue is flat, 360 sales are down again - but thank god we have suckers willing to pay us $50 a year for the privileged of playing their games online!

Seriously, does no one else see a problem with this? It's been 4 years. Why isn't the 360 making any money without XBL?

[4Sh0w]

A few flaws there, this news is about 1 profitable quarter, so how can you use profits from ANNUAL subscription fees and apply them totally to 1 quarter?

Also you admit that it costs money to run Live, not only that but remember getting exclusive and time exclusive DLc that so many like to complain about just doesnt happen because devs like ms, no it costs money, early demos, services, huge updates, research and dev for bringing instant 1080p to 360, apps intergration, etc all cost money and it adds up, no doubt ms is still making a profit, but you have no idea how much profit comes purely from subscription fees, thus your simple analysis of Live fees being the sole reason ms for ms profits this quarter is terribly flawed, it sounds like your just guessing since y dont have the needed data to determine Lives revenue-total expenses=profit(you dont know). Fact is the hardware is alot cheaper to produce now and their game sales are very healthy.

Finally its sad that you resort to calling names people because they choose to pay for something they see value in. Yeah, you may not think theres not enough to warrant paying for, but how is that any different from buying a launch ps3 vs a 360, they both played games right?, but people did pay more simply because they thought it was worth it. Are they "suckers"? No matter how many reasons you give to jusify why you thought the price was justified, I know many who dont think it was, I know some choices people make in life are very foolish by any standard but a $50 annual fee for what imo is a superior service is hardly one of them, WOW players pay alot more for just one game, I wouldnt but then again I dont like it.

[evrfighter]

360 is teh doooooooomed!

[Golfcoachh]

In this economy, no matter what your revenue is, as a whole when you have profits of 3 billion for 1 quarter, I think you are doing OK.

[Captain Tuttle]

This story won't even make it to the front page.

[green]

The spin will come from darkrider66 site, smsgamer.com.I a sure he is reaping their financial report apart looking for loop holes in which to make an article out off.

Anyway, it's always good news to hear that companies recovering from the recession. I hope Sony will report similar profits as well.

[green]

Is seems i was right about darkrider66 http://www.n4g.com/industry... His spin sure made me dizzy.

[leila01]

Wow Green, spot on!

[Anon1974]

I challenge you to read that article and tell me where the spin is there. Show me an error in anything in that article.

Facts are facts. The 360 managed another profitable quarter after two back to back quarters of losses despite the revenue being almost exactly the same as the year before. Does that suddenly mean that it's ok that they will probably never break even on the 360 console?

I'm not saying that the PS3 is in any better shape at the moment, but it's certainly not all smiles and sunshine for the 360. Not by a long shot. Without XBL subscription fees they would have never posted a single cent in profits, and they still have 3.1 billion to go before they dig themselves out of the hole the 360 has dug.

But I'm sure in some people's world, that's a success. "Sure we lost billions, but damned if we didn't make enough for the bus ride home toward the end!" Give me a break...

[Golfcoachh]

Yes there is spin, if you try and spin the fact that they turned a profit in the electronics division as a bad thing. REvenue was down, as it will be for sony, but microsoft has figured out how to turn a profit, that is good business. Do you think the 360, selling more year over year, is declining. Just becuase the ps3 has exploded doesen't meean that the 360 is dying. Those 100+ million ps2 people are going to get ps3's eventually, it doesnt meant that 360's will stop selling. 2010 may be great, i dont know and neither do you. You claim to be a partial fan of the 360 in some articles then bash it in others, so I don't know if you are bi-polar or what.

[WenisWagon]

http://n4g.com/industrynews...

^Looks like someone is wrong

[randomwiz]

oh oh, i can reply to your comment, expect to be attacked now.

good to see both ms and sony making profit though

[Stryfeno2]

Haters will always be wrong.

[RememberThe357]

But that really doesn't matter when your profit margin nearly bubbles.

[green]

Not really true.Shipping less and selling less are two completely different things.Microsoft shipped 2.2 million this time last year but for all we know they might have sold only about 1.9 million of them.This time, they shipped 2.1 million but they might have sold 2 million consoles.

So unless we know how much they sold, we wont know if the less shipped means less or more sales or just a re adjustment to a more realistic forecast.

[Salvadore]

Good news for Microsoft, just hope the Zune can become a profitable platform for them aswell.

[SixZeroFour]

im sure with the zune marketplace integrating with 360 LIVE, theyll start to be a bit more profitable...being able to start a party (that i think youll be able to watch movies together in) is a cool feature...havent been able to test it out yet tho, so this is all speculation

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Xbox 360 = SUCCESS!!!

[RememberThe357]

Competition FTW!

[KingKionic]

Cool story bro .

[Stryfeno2]

But, but, but Uncharted 2.

[benjam]

And where are those people now?

[kaveti6616]

Probably enjoying Uncharted 2.

[benjam]

OMGZ, they doubled their profit.... talk about fail!1!!1!1

[BlackTar187]

good for them.

But lol at the people pointing fingers at the competitions fans as if one side is better then the others lol

[kaveti6616]

Very true. They're all doing the same thing to each other and then crying foul when it happens to them.

[BlackTar187]

What are they for the fact i said GJ MS or the fact i pointed out the hypocrisy of this thread and finger pointing.

By this thread i dint mean only this thread BTW

if your gonna disagree at least have the bollocks to respond lol im from California i just always wanted to use that word : )

Anyways this is nothing but good news for the industry

Game on people

[Cmoney]

So microsoft makes 3.57 billion NET PROFIT in only 3 months???

That is more than sony will make in 3 years.

GREAT JOB MICROSOFT!!!!

[bigrudowsky]

lmao very true.. It's good for ms hopefully we'll see some good out of this on the software side. more games 2010 is going to be a good year for them. I hope they announce a new console by the end of next year i cant wait to see where tech is going to take us..

[MajestieBeast]

Playing games while you discuss sales and wait for your only exclusive forza 3.

[All Time Greatness]

Halo ODST last month, Forza 3 and GTA Expansion(highest rated racing game this gen) this month, Left 4 Dead 2 next month, Mass Effect 2 is January, Splinter Cell in February, Alan Wake in March, Fable III, Halo Reach, Natals games, Crackdown 2 and more to be announced for 2010.

All on 360 and not PS3rd. :)

Gears 3 announced in 2010 FTW. ;D

[dustgavin]

"Fable III, Halo Reach, Natals games, Crackdown 2 and more to be announced for 2010."

Natals games?? OOOOk.

"Forza 3 and GTA Expansion(highest rated racing game this gen)"

PS3 owners have Uncharted 2(highest rated exclusive this gen)
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

[mynd]

Makes the article a few posts below look stupid (not that it needed help).
Appear Microsoft can talk the talk and walk the walk.

How's Sony balance sheet going to look next week?

[SixZeroFour]

im interested in seeing sony's balance sheet as well...i didnt think they would do a price drop cause i heard/read that they were losing money on ps3, and if they did a price drop that i would think that it would make it worse

but it may be able to equal out cause of cheaper parts(i think) and more units being sold...so there may be a profit being made

but i want to see comparison data of their balance sheet (and i dont mean a comparison between xbox and sony, i mean quarter-wise for sonys ps3 (or ps?) division)

[mynd]

I doubt Sony will bne anywhere near profit, probably aorund the same as usual, 150 million loss.

[Anon1974]

Did you read that article? Does one profitable quarter suddenly negate the slew of factual data presented in that article?

I'm not saying Sony is any better, but come on. Try using a little common sense. Read the article, get informed and then you'll be better equipped to have a discussion on these matters.

[ForROME]

Heres the deal SONY is a 10 yr cycle company what they dont make in the first 3, they make in the last if not more

Xbox is the opposite they are more of a (xbox was 4 yr cycle) now I would say they are a 5-7 yr cycle company

Wii=LAME

[kewlkat007]

I really hope MS invest some of that to some new studios..