Pachter says this console generation is the last

Nintendo is really the only one making money at the moment.

"lasersanchez @ Mar 25th 2009 9:41AM
Nintendo is really the only one making money at the moment."

What?

i dont know about sony, but microsoft started profiting from the xbox sometime in early 07 i believe

I'm trying to find the article I recently looked at, but Microsoft is only now starting to turn a profit in games, and is about 2 billion in the hole still since they entered the realm in 2001. Nintendo has remained profitable in the past 10 years. Sony is losing money on the PS3, even 2.5ish years after the system launched. I can't imagine new consoles coming out within the next 2 or 3 years.

i found the article on joystiq, and they started profiting in january of last year, and were still doing so at the next fiscal quarter.

They're still in the hole, correct?

"but Microsoft is only now starting to turn a profit in games"

If by "only now" you mean late '07.

no,if they were still in the hole they wouldn't be profiting....

Aw how cute. A Nintendo fanboy. I tough they had all died from starvation.

Oh jesus...

They're turning a profit currently, but they were so in the hole that they're still in the hole even after being profitable for a year or so. Give me a link to the article so I can look at it again.

@ lasersanchez

"Son, have you been drinking n' waggling?"
"I'd like for you to step out of the Kart please..."

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Inconceivable!

"Aw how cute. A Nintendo fanboy. I tough they had all died from starvation."

Not really. My Wii collects dust and I play my PSP more than my DS. I play my 360 more than anything.

You don't have to be a fanboy to be able to count money, and even though MS may be turning a profit, they'll want to keep doing so for as long as possible since the whole RRoD replacing thing has (true facts!) cost them at least $1.2 billion.

You're gonna see this generation being longer so that the big three can ride the wave of profit, and probably next-gen Sony (maybe even MS) will try to emulate the Wii's success.

As I recall, I heard a story last year that said Microsoft's Entertainment Department gave them a HUGE revenue. It kept them out of the red that year (2008) that was caused by the recession.

lasersanchez, being in the hole years ago has nothing to do with being profitable at this time. A year ends and then the books close on a division. MS as a whole was profitable anyway, when the XBox wasn't, so it isn't as though they were in the red because of it. The division has been profitable for a little while now and no matter how some may want to spin its prior profits (or lack of) - that has nothing to do with their current situation.

I realize they're on track now, but I firmly doubt they're ready to move onto the next console generation after finally getting to where they wanted to be a year ago. I'm not trying to badmouth the company that I prefer among the three, I just feel like they, along with Sony, should tread with caution before developing a new console, what this whole post was all about. I don't think they're going to close the division any time soon, I just advocate more of a "let it simmer" approach, especially when I'm not even sure if the Jasper model is immune to e74s and red rings. I just hope they have a few more good years in the making.

I thought the deal was that Microsoft as a whole was still in debt, but their game software/hardware development department was turning a nice profit.

@Wired

You must be confused, Microsoft as a whole in the red?

You are joking right?

Quetzacoatl, not aliens.

I thought it was a Chupacabra attack

MY "sources" tell me that it'll be in Jan 2013 and that's when the pirates will fight the ninjas in the battle that will end the world.

I thought it was an alignment of the planets with the galactic center and an awakening of psychic powers in all humans.

Yeah so, we're probably gonna have new consoles then

no but really, dont watch the history channel, nothing's gonna happen

clearly you know nothing about your Myan history...if you knew the first damn thing abou anything you'd know that myans predict that several of a species of hunter type creatures (who were the myans gods for a time and provided them with all technoligy needed in order for them to carryout their daily tasks (including shoulder mounted plasma rockets)) will return in our near future and visit a temple hidden beneith a mile of ice in order to battle an alien species in a ritualistic coming of age trial that will test their meddle and prove them as worthy warriors of their species...you people really need to learn your myan history...you risk sounding like idiots.

...that or they icecaps will melt covering all but the single higest point on earths surface with water and within a few short years humans will develop gills and dirt will be a valuable trade comodity (because there is less of it see?) ... or 10 foot tall huminoid life forms will come to our panet and concer us in 7 minutes and then build a big glass structure or something and then some guy will shoot a cow with a lazer pistol and then something about gold being really valuable to martians...and then there was like an explosion or something and something about leverage......oh wait...jokes over???!!! comeon! i was just getting warmed up!

I see what you did there joker

You guys really need to learn how to spell Mayan.

Why is everyone worried about Aliens and Mayans, its the Zombies that we should be worried about!

i think by 2015 all those things your denying that are going to happen probably will. internet is already changing again as CERN is creating the GRID which is 10,000 times faster than standard broadband.
developers and publishers are gonna soon get sick of gamestop and as you can see are moving as much stuff to downloadable content as possible, such as DLC or Steam.

He's like Marx, or Star Trek futurists.

"This is what I think could conceivably happen if everyone agreed with me, therefore it will."

Yeah, Crytek are looking into making engine tech for the next generation, and id's next one is supposed to be for that too.

The 360 and PS3 may feel young NOW, but they won't be feeling so young in another 2-3 years.

In 2011, the 360 will be 6 years old. That's about as old as it gets in the console business before a successor is released. Did the PS2 still feel young in 2006? Not to me it didn't, it felt like an antique that couldn't hold a candle to what my PC was doing at the time.

By 2011 for the 360 and 2012 for the PS3, gaming tech will have advanced so far that these old consoles will look like dusty old grandma systems, unable to keep up with PC games that are running on their lowest graphics settings.

"but for games there just doesn't feel like there's enough quality games for any system that's out right now."

Dude, are you nuts? Why do you hate video games?

@AkaMagi:

Yeah but that's not happening. The PC is not the driving force for graphics it was during the last generation of consoles - it's the law of diminishing returns. Making ever more graphically intense gaming experiences is killing the game industry because it costs an exponential amount of extra cash to make all those art assests at 2500x4600 resolution or whatever (btw, there's nothing really after HD... i suppose people are ready to upgrade their HDTVs in under 6 years for the new UHDTVs? Not likely...). So the current standard for graphics is the equivalent of what's possible on the 360 and PS3 - which is why the majority of games look about the same graphics-wise.... only Crysis has really pushed the graphical boundaries IMO and they were punished for it because everyone and their grandma runs a 7900 or lower with the more recent cards being slowly taken up (graphics cards sales numbers are dropping because there aren't the new games to require them) and thus it's a cycle of:

Consumer: Don't need to upgrade so can't play more graphically intense games
Developer: Can't make graphically intense games because of the ultra cost and no one can run them and so won't buy them.

The developers and publishers are just getting to the point where they have the systems down (well, okay, the 360 at any rate) and those resources mean that it's starting to cost less and is quicker to develop new games. It would be a shame to cut that off early. Like Pachter says, i can't see developers or publishers supporting another early push to a new gen of console. It'll cost too much and there currently is no 'next thing' to move to unless it's as standard 1080p for all games at 60fps... which i don't think will be a very noticeable change from the current gen on most set-ups.

@baby sea tuna

Haha, i don't hate them and i know there was a sea of crap on the PS2 i just had more titles on the PS2 by this point through the generation.... there's a lot of crap out there but even the 'better' stuff is mostly buggy and 'difficult to control' releases.... looking at Dark Sector, Alone in the Dark, Mirror's Edge (though i like that one) etc. There just aren't as many 'must buys' for me this gen.... and i *live* games so it's not for lack of wanting!

:)

@laser

It has nothing to do with that it has to do with:

A.) Everyone thinks Pachter's full of crap and anyone who justifies what he says is getting down voted;

B.) There is absolutely no market indications that show his prediction makes any sense;

C.) No one here wants to believe it if its true, what would we argue about then?

and most importantly...

D.) We already own a PC.