Xbox 360 Losing Money, Soft Console Market Blamed
Microsoft released its financial results for the latest quarter, which ended March 31st, and it’s looking like sales are finally slowing down for the Xbox 360. Despite the fact that it’s been the best-selling console for 15 straight months, the Entertainment and Devices Division, which the Xbox 360 is a part of, had a quarterly operating loss of $260 million. It posted $1.62 billion in sales, down 16%. Ouch!
However, it’s not necessarily all bad news. The gaming group in general has earned $7.8 billion so far this fiscal year (which ends on July 30th). This is up from $7.4 billion from this point last year.
Microsoft has blamed the shortfall to “a soft gaming console market”. If I had to make a guess, though, I would have to say that it has to do with the fact that people are aware that at some point this year Microsoft is likely to announce its next console. Why buy a new console now when in a year or two it’s going to be trumped by the latest and greatest thing?
