Xbox has tried very hard to convince you to play their games on anything but the Xbox. Cloud? Sure. PC? Sure. PS5? Sure. Switch? Most definitely.
Now Sony is starting to do the same. You just can't sustain multiple gazillion dollar games with only one platform.
Unless you're Nintendo of course.
Of course they have. Consoles are a loss-leading model. They literally lose money every time they sell you a video game console. If you can get somebody in your ecosystem on a separate system, why wouldn't you?
Then why sell them?
To sell games
They might stop. The rumor is they are swapping to premium Steam Deck style, Xbox Branded PCs next gen.
They could sell a niches product like that at at profit if they wanted.
Nintendo for example, has always avoided the loss leading model, and makes like $50 off each unit sold. (Those figures were from launch, its Likely more now that production costs have inevitably gone down over time)
Nintendo exist because of their IP, we all love Mario and Zelda and Metroid. They put a fairly low quality product out on the market knowing it will be consumed for the purpose of playing mario.
It has a low build quality, low spec and has very little in the way of partnerships and such. Its basic.
It was also at the time a pitch perfect execution of a home/handheld console hybrid. They launched a new class of hardware effectively.
From the article:
Xbox has no plans to abandon hardware, despite what these sales trends may start to suggest.
But if we’re talking about console sales, Microsoft has been downplaying its need to sell hardware for years now, pushing the idea that you can experience Xbox anywhere, namely on PC with day and date Game Pass releases, and on other devices through cloud gaming, which remains a niche market. The path to cash has been Game Pass subscriptions, as it’s more valuable to have players paying a monthly/yearly fee that will end up being far more money than a single console would be
Xbox has tried very hard to convince you to play their games on anything but the Xbox. Cloud? Sure. PC? Sure. PS5? Sure. Switch? Most definitely.
Now Sony is starting to do the same. You just can't sustain multiple gazillion dollar games with only one platform.
Unless you're Nintendo of course.
Of course they have. Consoles are a loss-leading model. They literally lose money every time they sell you a video game console. If you can get somebody in your ecosystem on a separate system, why wouldn't you?
Then why sell them?
To sell games
They might stop. The rumor is they are swapping to premium Steam Deck style, Xbox Branded PCs next gen.
They could sell a niches product like that at at profit if they wanted.
Nintendo for example, has always avoided the loss leading model, and makes like $50 off each unit sold. (Those figures were from launch, its Likely more now that production costs have inevitably gone down over time)
Nintendo exist because of their IP, we all love Mario and Zelda and Metroid. They put a fairly low quality product out on the market knowing it will be consumed for the purpose of playing mario.
It has a low build quality, low spec and has very little in the way of partnerships and such. Its basic.
It was also at the time a pitch perfect execution of a home/handheld console hybrid. They launched a new class of hardware effectively.
From the article: