You'll notice that all of the changes will be in things other than PS2 production. They aren't gonna take any money away from one of their strongest products.

MS has a record of pulling out of losing situations (like their set top box dream or the whole .NET changed). I read an article that stated many MS execs were already upset they were losing money on the consoles. If it doesn't start making a nice profit next generation I wouldn't put it past MS to just give up and move on. They are driven by quarterly reports to investors and it's hard to tell them to wait a few years to make money on this when they have many other goods to promote that make much more.

Yes I agree.


I didnt see any indication that the PS2 was actually the one losing money. The reference was more directed towards " Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company's movie unit, has been hammered by lackluster performance, and Sony Music".



Tyler!

I never said that SCEA was losing money
 

The fact is the SCEA or PS2 division can only keep Sony afloat for so long, if these investments don't pay off there screwed. I think that MS it won't matter how much they lose this round they went in planning on losing major amounts of cash. There planning a long haul they know the importance of this market and the fact that its still in its infantcey and will record growth for many years to come. If MS sees a weakness they will exploit it. Since SCEA is the ONLY place sony is making a profit they couldn't afford to lose money as MS can lose ALOT and ALOT more if it thought it could force SONY out.

MS needs to have this market and I think they will do whatever it takes, Sony needs to reorganize refocus and get there company out of the red, focusing to much on the console may make them a console only company.

But Like any company MS wants money now. A lot of investors are pissed about the huge loss of money and to be honest the only thing that even keeps MS loaded is the fact that almost ANY computer out there runs a windows OS. It's like a plague that spread to the whole universe. Americans get...Windows or Linux and guess what comes pre-installed on any store bought computer? Hell we probaly are all running windows of some format right now. That keeps MS's pocket rich. Anyway Micosoft also has the nasty habit of just buying itself out of any situation as well and in the console market it's a lot harder to do. They figured "grab RARE and we'll make a quick buck but so far Grabbed by the Ghoulies isn't flying off the shelves. Investors are gonna be the final fate of any future MS console and they way this one is turning out, I wouldn't be surprised that if Xbox Next suffers a money loss eqaul or worse to this then I think MS will pull the plug and call it a tax write off on a business venture. MS was hoping to pull a Sony PSX. First Round Knockout Winner which is wasn't....it became a sluggin match for with the PS2 and it lost. MS is a bit shaken no matter what Ed Fries says. But Gates does hate losing.....

As for Sony yes it is in trouble but you know what? They'll never collapse. They may not be as huge of a corperation here but in Japan it's a monolith. Hell they have everything from a Sony OS to about a billion other things like banks and such. Sony ain't going anywhere. From what my friend from Japan was telling me that if Sony ever went belly up the whole ecomonical structure of Japan would fall because Sony has so many busniess ventures. they're restructuring like every business does at some point to maximize efficentecy, minmizing departments to make a chain of command simpler. Their Movie dvision and Music Devision are the only things sucking Sony try and both industries in general are hurting due to various factors.

I agree to a certain extent
 

But the reason Sony is so huge is that they are world wide and that they had a excellent reputation in electronics. They cannot rely on there PS2 as that is not best source of income. Sure MS has investors but also has a piggy bank with over 10 billion dollars. Sony also has investors who are very discouraged at the company's position.

The fact is that the XBox has done better than they estimated so the investors can't be discouraged beacuse they didn't expect to sell as many consoles or that Live would be as big as it is. MS is still being introduced to countries like South Korea so theres many more markets to tap into.

From what I gather it seems to me that MS is right where it wants to be in fact is better than where they thought they would be. If there was a direct console war next generation I think that MS is in a better position to absorb temporary losses which will be off set by software.

I can guarentee when the nest reports come out after XMass that the XBox financial picture will be so much better. They have released alot of top notch software and those sales plus the royalties from the other software sales will really improve there financial position.

Sony isn't just relying on the PS2 for revenue, it's got about a billion sources of it, it's just taking real losses in Movies and Music, again where the all other industries involved are taking losses.

MS is all about the money, they always have been and always will. When they can't buy the competition out they figure some other way to completely under-mine the structure to get a piece of the cake. The xbox has NOT met MS's epectations. They wanted to be number one, they're number 2. XBL has actually done a bit better than expecting but they cannot rely on XBL to sell the system. The software has to do that and yes a lot of big titles aren't out for box yet but the console is already in it's mid-life....and games like Fable just keep getting pushed back. Figure the new next-gen systems will be out in 2006ish realistically which gives the xbox the next three years to try to attempt to esablish a bigger name for itself in the market. They need to appeal to a boarder market and they are running out of time. Until they do, Sony will rule the roost. This console generation have been broken down like this: (by the by this is all software related cuz it's software that gets game systems sold)


Xbox:
Pros: Mulitplayer games are the best here, Solid online play service

Cons: Almost no great platformers (they've got good ones but no great ones), scarce RPG appearences and the few that they have range from excellent to roadkill. Geared mainly for adults. MS's ability to cut off and ban anybody that wanted to actually explore the true limits of their xbox console via a mod chip (that really pisses me off)

Sony PS2
Pros: Largest variety for all ages. High Quality platformers (these things are like Candy to little kids, I get about 20 requests a day for Jak II alone) A large selcection of RPGs (which, love'em or hate'em seem to be big sellers for a lot of people) Having the only online EA titles (everybody who wnated to play Madden Online got the PS2 version, the only one with online ability and MOD: Rising Sun is online only for the ps2 and it connects to the allied assualt servers)

Cons: most delicate system ever! (for a note I want to say I have a gen one ps2 and have left it on my shelf since purchased. I have played it for hours on end and have not experienced ONE disc read error....I'm sick of people mis-treating their stuff and blaming the manufactor for their screw-ups) Some of the online games you have to play for (nothing I wanna play though).

Anyway I know there is more pros and cons to each system but the best thing I can say is this: Decide for yourself. Sony is in trouble yes but they'll be fine. Xbox isn't doing as amazing as MS hoped and they have let a number of people down. Still Both systems are doing exceptionally well in a market that barely exsisted 20 yearsd ago. ...too late...brain shutting down now...goodnight!

Not true
 

MS knew going in that Sony had 40 million PS2 units shipped BEFORE the release of there console. I know they did not expect to be number one not unless they had a pot smoking hippie doing there forecasts. They also knew that even with there release that Sony would continue selling units so becoming number 1 was not realistic. There main goal going in was trying to compete with Nintendo which they have outdone every expectation of forecasters I read most gave MS a year before clearing out some figured it would do this console then clear out. Well world wide the XBox has outsold GCN even with the ridiculous sales in Japan imagine if Japanese people bough imports.

MS has grabbed a share of this generations console even with the PS2 advantage of being released 1 1/2 years ahead of the XBox. And now not only that LIVE has surpassed all there expectations as well. They have it all the console the software the LIVE service now its time to sit back and reap the rewards of there investments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!