… I asked Circana analyst Mat Piscatella if the drop in unit sales against the increase in dollar sales meant that price hikes were working out for Xbox. “Xbox also recorded its lowest May hardware unit sales ever,” he reminded me. “So, I guess we could call the results, uh, mixed? “Xbox is currently… …
… The second is to subsidize hardware prices more aggressively. …
… Hardware spending overall was down 62 percent year-over-year in June, to $383 million. It’s a big drop, but not a surprising one: last year was the Switch 2 launch, and that launch helped set a record for most hardware spending in a June month with a whopping $1 billion. …
… AI companies are ordering out more chips than the games industry could ever hope to ask for, sucking up all the inventory for years out, and sending the people in the backrooms making these console pricing discussions into a spiral. “Chips are now priceless,” Moore says. “These are gems.” I spoke t… …
… Microsoft has been hiking prices on its gaming hardware in reaction to the rest of the company, along with AI hyperscalers, investing billions in a datacenter race that’s driven unprecedented shortages for components like RAM and storage. …
… In its pricing announcement, it also shared that it would revamp its Buy Now Pay Later program so you can pay for your console in chunks. …
… The company is currently working on bringing its next-gen Project Helix hardware to market . …
… Subscription subsidized next-gen hardware upgrades like Microsoft previously did with its all-access program? Less powerful hardware that leverages cloud streaming and AI to deliver cutting-edge performance without needing expensive components inside the box to do it locally? …
… Does that apply to hardware as well as things like Game Pass, which just got its first price cut ever? “I think, historically, our pricing hasn’t been as flexible,” she told Game File . “And I think that’s the big thing we want to go work on.” Sharma continued, “I want to continue to make sure, as … …
… Going forward, we’ll evolve and rebuild our stack and look at capabilities across all of XBOX and potential M&A to help us win in hardware, PC, mobile, and streaming.” Though they did not address the reported coming layoffs in their letter, some would argue the writing has been on the wall since Sh… …