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#xbox#don#games#microsoft#gaming#prices#game#more#inflation#going
Discussion (79 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews
It's such a shame how far things have fallen since. The Switch 2 is an amicable modern day effort, but still, the industry has gotten much pricklier for the average consumer. Not to mention prices that will irreparably damage the scene.
Any consumer or customer would look at this behavior pattern and think they are far too unstable to put their trust into.
At this point it's time to call it for Xbox. I don't think they'll be around in six months time.
They were also dealt a pretty bad hand with the humongous Activision acquisition and a pretty poor slate of games year over year basically since the start of Covid.
Okay. Vent over.
Now they don’t even let you have that.
Now the politicians don't even have that excuse. I suppose they'll have to add AI tokens to CPI. Used to cost $1000 each, now $0.000002 each, average inflation is 2%.
Except they don't even have that because the recent FOMC meeting pretty much admitted inflation is 4% and they don't feel like doing anything to reduce it, but they're definitely committed to reducing it, they swear.
It's going to hurt when agriculture does not see the efficiency gains it has been receiving for the last century or so. We might be at the inflection or leveling off now.
Once they are, they all need to be more and more profitable.
Finally when it’s no longer profitable fire half the people and strip it for parts.
They’re already dead, they just don’t know it yet.
Overall gaming is a dying business. Everyone has a pretty powerful smartphone in their pockets, and there are so many platform vying for attention. AAA gaming is becoming a smaller fraction of the overall gaming pie, so I would expect prices to go up. Mobile gaming usage is up from 42% -> 55% from 2017. Even based on analysis from Steam's data, Indie games are 48% of sales, vs 24% in 2018.
What? Both PC and mobile markets are growing by any reasonable metric, and consoles are propelled by stellar Switch 2 sales.
The gaming market is ripe with money, it is total failure on Microsoft side that they failed to capture any of that. Xbox is on life support, and Windows platform tax is captured by Steam, where Valve funnels it into Linux to make its own platform.
Sure, if one has millions and millions in capital. Because why would an investor put a money in my company that works the way it “should” according to me if it produces lower profits as compared to my competitors?
Bachelor of Science in Management from University of Minnesota
Marketing role at Microsoft 2011-2013 out of college, standard average college grad role.
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There are thousands of more intelligent, harder working, better credentialed, better achieving college grads alone at this point.
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COO of Porch ~2013-2017 - how does one go from a standard marketing role to COO, ok whatever maybe its a smol startup
"After departing Porch, she joined Facebook as VP Product & Engineering for their Messenger and Instagram Direct products."
lmfao - more credence to the fact that most "Product" roles are leeches. VP Product and Engineering at Meta is absolutely crazy at this point in anyones career.
Management Degree -> Marketing Role -> COO of startup (lolwut) -> VP Product/Eng at Meta (cough nepotism? cough)
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COO of Instacart in 2021 LMAO
President of Core AI at Microsoft in February 2024 LMAO
insert "i have no technical ability whatsoever"
Seems to me the one focusing on the gender is you.
I bought a used Xbox one a few years back. I’m not a heavy gamer anymore so I usually buy the previous generation or even two generations ago hardware, get the games I want from eBay and I’m good. And I was looking forward to getting a Series X, but at this point it looks unlikely unless the brand completely tanks and they’re selling them off to get rid of inventory. Otherwise, my Xbox one is going to be worth more in the future than what I paid, and I don’t want that situation for anyone.
M2 expansion is the prime driver of prices, after supply & demand. Normalize SPX, gold/silver, etc, to M2 and see that they all run in fairly horizontal channels. You can even see nominal GDP normalized to M2 having been flat initially and then transitioning into a downward sloped curve for the last few decades.
By normalizing, I mean [in TradingView] doing SYMBOL*23.16*10^12/M2SL (conceptually SYMBOL*M2SL[0]/M2SL). Most important items track close to M2's roughly 6.5%-7% annualized force of interest inflation rate (the quotient of the natural log of the ratio of price now to historical price, over the elapsed time between the prices).
7% inflation (FoI) -> wealth halflife of cash ≈ 10 years.
Also implying that inflation is under-measured, perhaps deliberately. Which definitely seems true for anyone who's experienced inflation.
"Prices double every 10 years" is a fairly standard economics benchmark.
Rule 72 is nominal prices.
Inflation accounts for a 2026 xbox being significantly more advanced technology than a PS1
512GB Series S consoles in NZ are now retailing for close to $1,000. Might have an appreciating asset on my hands!
Firstly, yes PC is mostly digital only, but there is at least competition between PC gaming marketplaces, which helps to restrict anti-consumer practices like deleting content that gamers have paid for.
Secondly, some of the competitors in the PC gaming space allow for physical backups of installation media, which helps with game preservation. For example, if a game is bought on GOG, the installer is mostly/always one that can be backed up onto physical media.
Thirdly, while it's true most gamers have moved away from physical media, it still has value. For example, second hand games allow for more people to take part in gaming than could otherwise (legally) do so. Taking away physical games won't stop people on low incomes from wanting to game, and is likely to lead to a resurgence in game piracy. Not exactly the outcome game industry leaders are likely to welcome.
(price is what you pay, value is what you get)
Microsoft buys something great, optimizes all the good out of it, and then pulls the plug.
Skype, Nokia, GitHub...
Now it's happening to video games.
The thing everyone needs to realize is that Microsoft fundamentally doesn't make anything, they never have.
All they can do is buy low and sell high. Or buy high and sell higher.
They certainly can't lovingly craft games, the way gamers expect.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that executives hate artists. Go out of their way to fire them.
Look at what's happening to Blizzard & Bethesda under Microsoft. Arguably Blizzard was ruined the moment Activision sunk their claws in. Quality went down, creativity went down, and all so Bobby could buy a new yacht and sail to Epstein's Island.
"Do you guys not have phones?" That's something a manager who was totally out of touch with his audience would say. Not of an artist creating experiences for gamers.
Microsoft wedge micro-transactions into everything, changes game play to emulate games like Candy Crush where gamers have to pay every 30 seconds. Really more slot machines than video games, but to the ghouls running the show they can't tell the difference.
Players like to be amazed, entertained, and it's not a formulaic process. A gamer will never say, "Oh good, I love feeling pressure and being rushed and all I wanted to do was put in more money all along!"
Microsoft has killed support for all these games. Which kills community.
They add things that nobody wants, because they saw someone else doing it. And they keep adding more of these pay to win and collection "buy a new skin" type mechanics.
Anyway this is a straight up rant at this point, but Microsoft buying something is always a sign doom will follow. Just a matter of time. Xbox held out pretty well. But in the last year or three Microsoft has set its sights on ruining every game it has, so it's just a matter of time now before gamers abandon it. I have zero faith Microsoft will find a way to bring an audience back, because they have no idea how to connect with said audience. It's always just going to be, "How much ARR does that game produce? Wow what a great game!"