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Xbox Arm of Microsoft Posts Profit
GameDailyBiz is reporting that Microsoft has posted a rare profit for their games business. As you might imagine, the good news is courtesy of high game and console sales thanks to Halo 3. "[Entertainment Division] revenue increased primarily due to increased Xbox 360 console and game sales. Xbox and PC game revenue increased $895 million or 148% as a result of increased Xbox 360 console sales, video game sales led by Halo 3, and Xbox 360 accessory sales. We shipped 1.8 million Xbox 360 consoles in the current quarter as compared to 0.9 million consoles in the first quarter of fiscal year 2007. Halo 3 was launched in September 2007 and generated approximately $330 million of revenue during the quarter."
Given the popularity of WoW and Counterstrike type games, my thinking is that on-line games are the killer app. Human players are *so much more interesting* than AI. Halo just offers a taste of that. I believe Microsoft is well-positioned in this regard relative to Nintendo and Sony due to XBox Live. PS3 is pretty much tanking all around as far as I can tell. Also, isn't Grand Theft Auto one of the most serious console-movers in history? According to Wikipedia, M$ is a step ahead of sony there and there is not GTA planned for the Wii is there? "It has been confirmed that episodic content will be released on the Xbox 360 exclusively. Microsoft officially announced a strategic alliance with Rockstar Games over the rights to episodic content through their Xbox Live service at their X06 event. An announcement regarding the release of episodic content for the PS3, however, is still expected, whilst fans speculate that each console will receive its own exclusive episodic content via their respective download services (Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3)."