I feel as if "a later date" is "when all the DLC's out and the game's been milked dry, we might release a GOTY edition on it".
I've been hoping that's the case. Maybe instead of coming out early and then saying "yeah, we won't be offering any support for any bugs found in the Wii U version and you're not getting any of the DLC either" they want to say "Here's your polished, better than the PS3/360 version of Watch_Dogs, bug free and all DLC included!"
0
Ov3rchargeR.I.P. Mass EffectYou were dead to me for yearsRegistered Userregular
Ubisoft is trying to quietly pull support from the Wii U, the writing has been on the wall for some time now.
I feel as if "a later date" is "when all the DLC's out and the game's been milked dry, we might release a GOTY edition on it".
I've been hoping that's the case. Maybe instead of coming out early and then saying "yeah, we won't be offering any support for any bugs found in the Wii U version and you're not getting any of the DLC either" they want to say "Here's your polished, better than the PS3/360 version of Watch_Dogs, bug free and all DLC included!"
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
bss on
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Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
Is it irony if prominent investors tell companies they shouldn't diversify?
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
Is it irony if prominent investors tell companies they shouldn't diversify?
Well, pretty much all their customer products over the last decade besides Xbox have failed, most of the company's money now comes from enterprise and Xbox barely registers in terms of revenue, so the idea isn't totally ludicrous.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
+4
reVerseAttack and Dethrone GodRegistered Userregular
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
Worst case scenario: the online functions would be down for indeterminable amount of time. When things get back online, the quality of the service is poor as the new company tries to build-up their network infastructure to match the needs. Account issues aplenty, some of which would make even single player gaming problematic. New system updates cause conflicts with old firmware, bricking a large number of consoles.
Again, worst case scenario. Realistically there'd probably be some minor account problems and spotty online performance for the first few months.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
Depends if the businesses were simply spun off together, separately, or if they were bought out.
Currently, Xbox as a piece of tech is pretty dependent on leveraging synergies blah blah - ie, it's dependent on using other MS services for lots of what it does. Does it keep cloud access? Would MS Account integration still function? Could you still Skype your mom while Bing-ing?
Without the huge umbrella of MS guiding things, running a single company dedicated to things as disparate (both in purpose and profitability) as console gaming, internet search, media, etc doesn't make a ton of sense. Split them apart, and suddenly those companies have very different goals that may or may not include cooperation with your former co-workers down the hall.
Family Guy of all things summed up MS's problems in other divisions years ago.
"Hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune oh wait I have an iPod like the rest of the world."
And you can replace Zune and iPod with virtually anything else and it still works.
Which reaction button were we using for "I don't understand the relevance of this post"?
Yeah, the Zune was a failure, but we're talking about the motherloving XBox.
They're also talking about their Surface and Bing divisions too. So:
Bing > Google
Surface > iPad
W8 phone > iPhone
Though to make it relevant, the Xbox division is the one thing they shouldn't get rid off. In fact, I'd say that's the one they should double down on and pitch out the rest.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
Does anyone have the Xbox division financials close at hand? We perceive success because of their market saturation with the 360, but what kind of profit were they actually making? Do we have any One reports yet?
Does anyone have the Xbox division financials close at hand? We perceive success because of their market saturation with the 360, but what kind of profit were they actually making? Do we have any One reports yet?
Well, there's this:
It's profitable, but it's such a tiny division of Microsoft the Xbox profit is barely more than a rounding error.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
Is it irony if prominent investors tell companies they shouldn't diversify?
Not really. Trying too many different things and losing focus is actually a big problem that companies have to be careful to avoid.
Diversifying is a good strategy for investors, but often not for companies.
Family Guy of all things summed up MS's problems in other divisions years ago.
"Hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune oh wait I have an iPod like the rest of the world."
And you can replace Zune and iPod with virtually anything else and it still works.
Which reaction button were we using for "I don't understand the relevance of this post"?
Yeah, the Zune was a failure, but we're talking about the motherloving XBox.
They're also talking about their Surface and Bing divisions too. So:
Bing > Google
Surface > iPad
W8 phone > iPhone
Though to make it relevant, the Xbox division is the one thing they shouldn't get rid off. In fact, I'd say that's the one they should double down on and pitch out the rest.
Bing apparently works really, really well for, like, internal search on company intranets and stuff, and they make a fair amount of money off it there. It's trying to push it on the consumer market that's killing it.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
Depends if the businesses were simply spun off together, separately, or if they were bought out.
Currently, Xbox as a piece of tech is pretty dependent on leveraging synergies blah blah - ie, it's dependent on using other MS services for lots of what it does. Does it keep cloud access? Would MS Account integration still function? Could you still Skype your mom while Bing-ing?
Without the huge umbrella of MS guiding things, running a single company dedicated to things as disparate (both in purpose and profitability) as console gaming, internet search, media, etc doesn't make a ton of sense. Split them apart, and suddenly those companies have very different goals that may or may not include cooperation with your former co-workers down the hall.
I'm also wondering what spinning off the Xbox, specifically the One, is going to do to the power of the Cloud. As far as I know, the One's cloud power is all coming from MS Azure isn't it? Are the Drivatars and similar things all going to still work? Does that mean whoever buys Xbox is now basically at the whim of Azure's terms and conditions to make sure this platform they have still works?
Not to mention all the fun that would ensue detangling your Xbox ID with a Microsoft Account.
0
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
How much sway do those shareholders actually have on this sort of matter?
Because really, for MS enterprise is their strongest hand. Xbox was never really a big thing for them, but what surprises me in that chart is Bing's lack of performance. Was 2012 the year that MS was buying and integrating a lot of stuff to a single platform? 'Cause that's the only explanation I can come up with for that huge dip.
0
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I mean it's worth noting that the consumer products division - XBox plus all the stuff nobody cares about even though they're really solid products, but not Bing - is still probably clearing more money than all of Sony combined.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
Depends if the businesses were simply spun off together, separately, or if they were bought out.
Currently, Xbox as a piece of tech is pretty dependent on leveraging synergies blah blah - ie, it's dependent on using other MS services for lots of what it does. Does it keep cloud access? Would MS Account integration still function? Could you still Skype your mom while Bing-ing?
Without the huge umbrella of MS guiding things, running a single company dedicated to things as disparate (both in purpose and profitability) as console gaming, internet search, media, etc doesn't make a ton of sense. Split them apart, and suddenly those companies have very different goals that may or may not include cooperation with your former co-workers down the hall.
I'm also wondering what spinning off the Xbox, specifically the One, is going to do to the power of the Cloud. As far as I know, the One's cloud power is all coming from MS Azure isn't it? Are the Drivatars and similar things all going to still work? Does that mean whoever buys Xbox is now basically at the whim of Azure's terms and conditions to make sure this platform they have still works?
Presumably the new company would just contract to use Azure like any other company...assuming they want to keep using Azure, that is.
The actual worst-case scenario is, like, the Online Services part of the new company wants to sell off Entertainment and Devices for a capital injection, and then Samsung or something buys Xbox and decides to do a complete firmware rewrite because they could give a shit about maintaining Skype support. Congratulations, all current Xboxes are now Steam-boxes, good luck everybody.
Every few weeks people go on about how MS are a pack of has beens and then they come out and say they're swimming in cash. Lots of investors will call for them to spin off chunks of their business - hoping for a quick stock boost and some short term profits, short term thinking seems to be the rule in the world of finance these days.
I tried using Bing for a bit myself, but it just wasn't there yet. That said, their market share is growing last I heard and IOS7 uses bing, Yahoo does (haha) and a few others.
Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. Nadella has spent the last seven months running Microsoft's $20 billion server and tools division, so he could be ideally suited to manage that transition.
...
Some investors have suggested that Microsoft spin off its money-losing consumer products and focus solely on the enterprise. Even the Xbox deserves to go, Paul Ghaffari, the wealth manager for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, said last year.
But Robert Bontempo, a management professor at Columbia Business School, is skeptical that Nadella will be able to chart his own course on the matter. "You're asking for Nadella to walk into a board meeting and look Ballmer and Gates in the eye and say, 'The decisions you've made over the past two decades are a mistake,'" said Bontempo. "That's going to take some serious strength of character."
Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
I would actually go as far to say selling off the Xbox line would streamline future xbox systems to be more, basic gamer focused system possibly even as far as without some of the microsoft enforced product/service syncing.
Considering Ubisoft have never made a big deal about the WiiU version despite it having a tablet BUILT IN for that hacking stuff they are selling the game on, it's always come off as a low priority to me.
This Thursday, The NPD Group will release its January 2014 video games sales report, which Wedbush Securities anticipates will reveal a software sales decline of 20 percent ($300 million compared to last year's $373 million). In addition to the current-gen (Xbox 360, PS3) showing continued weakness, Wedbush said that the new consoles are still supply constrained following the holidays, and that's causing many gamers to delay their purchases.
Wedbush is expecting hardware sales of 350,000 Xbox One units and 375,000 PS4 units in their third month of release, with the Wii U bringing up the rear at just 60,000 units (although that would still represent a five percent increase year-over-year).
Everyone said to hold off to see how numbers went after Xmas and the early-adopter rush. If these are even remotely accurate than it's going to be a solid year for MS and Sony. We might start seeing a steady clip of 500-600K a month for both next-gen consoles once production really gets cranking.
I would love to see Nintendo or Sony buy Xbox. Or Sega come out of no where and get back in the console game.
But seriously, who would be in the market for a console division? Amazon? Google?
Assuming that buying Xbox would be buying a console division in a box, basically, Amazon seems like a great candidate buyer.
Importantly, however, keep in mind that spinning off the Xbox business is different than selling it to someone else --- they could just choose to make the Xbox division its own entity, allocate shares to current Microsoft shareholders as appropriate, and have Xbox run as an independent business with the existing executive chain. What's being talked about in that article isn't necessarily a sale. Given how Xbox is currently doing, it'd make more sense for shareholders to push for a spinoff than a sale itself, I think. They'd get shares in a pretty successful business that they could invest/short at their leisure.
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It's the same 'later date' that Colonial Marines had. :P
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I feel like they're internally debating either not releasing at all or an eShop only release.
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I've been hoping that's the case. Maybe instead of coming out early and then saying "yeah, we won't be offering any support for any bugs found in the Wii U version and you're not getting any of the DLC either" they want to say "Here's your polished, better than the PS3/360 version of Watch_Dogs, bug free and all DLC included!"
A shame, really. Not much I can do about it though. Guess I'll just look forward to other things.
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Personally I think focusing solely on enterprise business is a pretty dumb idea, let alone selling off other stuff in order to do so, but here you go --- this story isn't going away.
Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e
Occasional words about games: my site
Is it irony if prominent investors tell companies they shouldn't diversify?
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Well, pretty much all their customer products over the last decade besides Xbox have failed, most of the company's money now comes from enterprise and Xbox barely registers in terms of revenue, so the idea isn't totally ludicrous.
What exactly would happen if Microsoft sold off the Xbox division? I can't imagine that would be a seamless transition for Xbox owners.
As much as I like to hate on Microsoft, I'd bet the transition would be fairly low-impact from the user experience side. Oh, sure, they're be some stories about lost accounts and Live downtimes, but all in all, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's not like they'd be changing out a bunch of technical infrastructure in the short-term, just changing management at the top end.
Worst case scenario: the online functions would be down for indeterminable amount of time. When things get back online, the quality of the service is poor as the new company tries to build-up their network infastructure to match the needs. Account issues aplenty, some of which would make even single player gaming problematic. New system updates cause conflicts with old firmware, bricking a large number of consoles.
Again, worst case scenario. Realistically there'd probably be some minor account problems and spotty online performance for the first few months.
"Hey Bill, can you help me program my Zune oh wait I have an iPod like the rest of the world."
And you can replace Zune and iPod with virtually anything else and it still works.
Which reaction button were we using for "I don't understand the relevance of this post"?
Yeah, the Zune was a failure, but we're talking about the motherloving XBox.
You mean the one where Ubi hamstringed their own product, delayed it, put it up against GTA5, and it STILL sold best on WiiU?
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Depends if the businesses were simply spun off together, separately, or if they were bought out.
Currently, Xbox as a piece of tech is pretty dependent on leveraging synergies blah blah - ie, it's dependent on using other MS services for lots of what it does. Does it keep cloud access? Would MS Account integration still function? Could you still Skype your mom while Bing-ing?
Without the huge umbrella of MS guiding things, running a single company dedicated to things as disparate (both in purpose and profitability) as console gaming, internet search, media, etc doesn't make a ton of sense. Split them apart, and suddenly those companies have very different goals that may or may not include cooperation with your former co-workers down the hall.
They're also talking about their Surface and Bing divisions too. So:
Bing > Google
Surface > iPad
W8 phone > iPhone
Though to make it relevant, the Xbox division is the one thing they shouldn't get rid off. In fact, I'd say that's the one they should double down on and pitch out the rest.
Well, there's this:
It's profitable, but it's such a tiny division of Microsoft the Xbox profit is barely more than a rounding error.
The XBox/Entertainment division is profitable, but it's miniscule compared to Office, Windows, their server business, etc.
Not really. Trying too many different things and losing focus is actually a big problem that companies have to be careful to avoid.
Diversifying is a good strategy for investors, but often not for companies.
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Bing apparently works really, really well for, like, internal search on company intranets and stuff, and they make a fair amount of money off it there. It's trying to push it on the consumer market that's killing it.
I'm also wondering what spinning off the Xbox, specifically the One, is going to do to the power of the Cloud. As far as I know, the One's cloud power is all coming from MS Azure isn't it? Are the Drivatars and similar things all going to still work? Does that mean whoever buys Xbox is now basically at the whim of Azure's terms and conditions to make sure this platform they have still works?
Because really, for MS enterprise is their strongest hand. Xbox was never really a big thing for them, but what surprises me in that chart is Bing's lack of performance. Was 2012 the year that MS was buying and integrating a lot of stuff to a single platform? 'Cause that's the only explanation I can come up with for that huge dip.
Yeah well you reap what you fucking sew when you integrate everything into a single account.
Presumably the new company would just contract to use Azure like any other company...assuming they want to keep using Azure, that is.
The actual worst-case scenario is, like, the Online Services part of the new company wants to sell off Entertainment and Devices for a capital injection, and then Samsung or something buys Xbox and decides to do a complete firmware rewrite because they could give a shit about maintaining Skype support. Congratulations, all current Xboxes are now Steam-boxes, good luck everybody.
I tried using Bing for a bit myself, but it just wasn't there yet. That said, their market share is growing last I heard and IOS7 uses bing, Yahoo does (haha) and a few others.
I would actually go as far to say selling off the Xbox line would streamline future xbox systems to be more, basic gamer focused system possibly even as far as without some of the microsoft enforced product/service syncing.
That's the question. Who are these shareholders? Do they actually matter?
Shareholders are just investors. They don't necessarily know wtf they are talking about.
But seriously, who would be in the market for a console division? Amazon? Google?
Everyone said to hold off to see how numbers went after Xmas and the early-adopter rush. If these are even remotely accurate than it's going to be a solid year for MS and Sony. We might start seeing a steady clip of 500-600K a month for both next-gen consoles once production really gets cranking.
Assuming that buying Xbox would be buying a console division in a box, basically, Amazon seems like a great candidate buyer.
Importantly, however, keep in mind that spinning off the Xbox business is different than selling it to someone else --- they could just choose to make the Xbox division its own entity, allocate shares to current Microsoft shareholders as appropriate, and have Xbox run as an independent business with the existing executive chain. What's being talked about in that article isn't necessarily a sale. Given how Xbox is currently doing, it'd make more sense for shareholders to push for a spinoff than a sale itself, I think. They'd get shares in a pretty successful business that they could invest/short at their leisure.
Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e
Occasional words about games: my site