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Rare Spike in Microsoft Console Profits

Posted by Zonk on from the a-little-goes-a-long-way dept.

PLMIV writes "Microsoft said the company's home and entertainment division, which includes games and the Xbox video game console system, posted its first profitable quarter on sales of its hit game Halo 2. But the company said the division probably would be back in the red for the rest of the fiscal year and would not achieve sustained profitability until sometime in fiscal 2007."

5 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. "Micro$oft is losing money with my Xbox purchase" by FriedTurkey · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Are people still telling themselves that they are sticking it to Microsoft by buying an Xbox? Microsoft is making money on every unit sold now. Not that I am against Microsoft making money on a console, it just seems these people are lying to themselves. It doesn't bother me if you want a Xbox but stop lying to yourself that you aren't supporting Microsoft.

  2. Not a Rare spike by EddieBurkett · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bungie made Halo 2 and therefore is responsible for this spike. The Rare spike will occur when the new Conker game is released.

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    The only thing I hate more than hypocrites are people who hate hypocrites.
  3. Re:Massaging the books? by DreadPiratePizz · · Score: 2

    Or could be that Halo 2 was one of the biggest selling video games ever?

  4. Re:Massaging the books? by buffer-overflowed · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It umm... doesn't even make the top 10 last I checked.

    I think it's sold 6.7 million copies worldwide atm. Nothing to sneeze at, and very respectable...

    But the thing is there are a LOT of huge sellers in previous console generations.

    Mario Kart 64 for example sold something stupid like 12 million units worldwide. Mario 64 sold 10 million units in Japan and the US alone.

    And that's just Nintendo, last generation.

    I guess it depends upon your definition of biggest.

    --
    The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
  5. Re:Massaging the books? by Bill+Walker · · Score: 2, Informative
    They could do it by recognizing expenses late (or early), or failing to account for inter-division expenses in the console segment's books, or by cross-ownership of other businesses (eg. like Circuit City does with CarMax). All of these, incidentally, are pretty obvious. The SEC's pretty strict, so it's hard to cook the books legally.

    However, they're not doing anything of the kind. Their press release says this is a blip because of Halo 2, and that they don't expect sustained profitability in consoles until 2007.

    Why would they 'throw a bone to xbox supporters', anyway? You can't just buy the console group; you have to buy the whole company.

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    Please, for the love of God, no more car analogies.