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[KraftSLU]

This was pulled off of planetxbox.com I figured since it was from there is would probably be pretty biased, but checking in on it it doesn't seem to be. It was written by a financial advisor and all of the facts seem to be correct. Anyways what does everyone else think about it?

Being a stockbroker and seeing some interesting comments on this board, I feel I must intervene.

Nintendo does not have 4 billion dollars in cash. It has 7.5 billion. But what must be focused on is not how much cash they have, but how much they are willing to use. Nintendo rarely takes cash out of their cash pile-- it is there as an emergency fund. Nintendo, like Sony, has chosen to pay dividends which are a portion of the profit that the company makes. Only Nintendo has promised to pay dividends in periods of no profit-- and that is why the cash reserves are as large as they are even though they aren't nearly as massive a company as the less-cash loaded Sony. Nintendo has money but it just doesn't use it in the way Microsoft uses it's own.

And the rest of you are correct in stating that Microsoft has a 40 billion dollar pile of cash. Interesting enough though, by the end of this fiscal year that same cash pile that Microsoft so freely uses will have ballooned to 50 billion dollars. Microsoft makes more money in 3 days than Sony does in 365.

And the Nintendo 64 did make money but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a financial success. In the most basic economics it was, but the money saved by not pursuing a successful console probably far outweighed the profits gained from having a console. Which is exactly why Nintendo IS dropping out of the console race.

I'm suprised not enough of you realize what Nintendo meant by it's last few major press releases. Although nothing was said literally about Nintendo leaving the console race (yet), if you use a bit of common sense and logic and read in between the lines you'll realize that Nintendo has already decided that GameCube is it for them in the console wars. And they most definitely won't get into a bidding war with Microsoft for Rare-- after all, Rare is going to be useless to Nintendo very soon. Why do you think Left Field left? Why do you think Rare has been so eager to leave? It is most obvious to those who have been under Nintendo's wing where Nintendo is going in the console race for the future-- nowhere. This isn't a biased Nintendo bashing. It is just simply Nintendo leaving the console race after GameCube and Nintendo's second parties don't want to sink with the titanic.

To be honest, i'm not all that big of a gamer. But i'm extremely interested in Microsoft's business tactics and their involvement with the industry and want you crazy Xbox fans to know this --- Microsoft is never going to leave the industry and Microsoft will eventually destroy it's competition. It's just not financially possible for Sony to compete with Microsoft in the long run. Money = Resources and if a country goes into a war with the most resources, they're going to win. Same applies in this case.

To make an analogy, think of Microsoft as the United States. 9.9 trillion dollar economy. Now remember that financially, Microsoft is about 25 times larger than Sony. Sony is like Australia, only a bit more weak. Now imagine for a second the United States invading Australia.

Poor analogy, I know, but it is at least partially accurate. Microsoft is just going to slowly but surely drain Sony and tear them to shreds

[jjmoohead]

your right that is very biased. You have to remember that if xbox does make more money in 2 or 3 days then sony does in 365 days then that must include the computer industry cause the facts still point out that sony is selling better then xbox. I can't see any of that comming true though. The idea of xbox spending so much money in order to kill sony has failed thus far. Everyone knows that Microsoft is willing to fork out alot of money, but until you get the 3rd party support xbox will still be 2nd. Well actually 3rd cause xbox is still behind Gamecube. Look it up, its true! I can see all that stuff happening to Nintendo, but I don't think its an issue for sony at least not for the next 15 years and by then consoles could be obsolete. Im sure xbox will be around for a while cause no mater how much money the lose bill is still going to fork out the cash.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Well yeah microsoft is very rich.But don't forget sony has a lot of funds to push around too.They manufacture a lot more than just gaming machines.Truthfully i don't see sony or microsoft going anywhere fast.Nintendo on the other hand might drop out.Back to sony.There not going to release there hold on the top spot just because a big company wants to push around the business.Sony knows the marketing techniques much better than MS which use dollar signs to entise consumers,which is just foul.But like JJ said its going to matter who gets the majority of the 3rd party.That is the trump card.If sony can keep promises and keep consumers happy the 3rd party will stay if they dont........hello MS goodbye sony.

[KraftSLU]

3rd party is the key for who buys more of the next systems, yes... But Im pretty sure that money figure was correct. Remember that the stats are taken corporation wise, not xbox vs. ps2 wise.

[Spank-A-Thon]

It simply doesn't matter what corporation has the most money. SONY or Microsoft could have oodles of cash, but that will not force consumers to buy their system.

If I want a GC I'll buy one. Ditto for XBox and ditto for PS2. Simple as that - the power or size of a company has no bearing on my purchases.

- S

[GaseousSnake]

Why do people believe that Nintendo is going 3rd party when it makes a hell lot more than M$ does(Xbox wise).M$ looses about $70 to $150 on every xbox.The reason i believe Nintendo is still in the race is cuz Nintendo is still the leader when it comes to handheld gaming and the GBA is the second most bought gaming unit in the world.Iwata said that Nintendo wount release a new console untill they have really gained alot from the GC($$ wise),thats what the guy said but it seems that alot of people just didnt understand what he said and for Gods sake Nintendo is yet to record a real loss in gaming unlike sega.

Kraftslu you forget that M$ still has a company to run and they take out profits that are supposed to be ploughed into the company.If they continue to take out profits to help the Xbox they will loose in the long run.

Sony is a large company........if M$ is to go into $$ war with Sony they will be able to out dollar sony but then again the money that will be left will be so small that they will have to sell their assets in order to maintane the company.

[BlackThornn]

All of this is dependant on wether or not Microsoft is ripped down by lawsuits and/or people rebelling against this Palladium stuff before they have a chance to use all of that cash.

[jjmoohead]

If MS is going to ever over take Sony, They need to get the over seas market. I personally don't ever saying that happen, but I gues one should never say never right.

MS might one day win the north america battle but realize that is not the entiere market. You can never forget that.

[macario]

you guys are wrong.MS aint making money on the xbox yet.on the other sony started to make money on the ps2 when they lowered the price to 200 dollars.ps2 sold more than 10 million system. xbox only sold about 2 million.big diffrence.now if ms cant make money on a system whats the use of having one
thier losing money on the xbox.

[Spank-A-Thon]

Originally posted by macario
you guys are wrong.MS aint making money on the xbox yet.on the other sony started to make money on the ps2 when they lowered the price to 200 dollars.ps2 sold more than 10 million system. xbox only sold about 2 million.big diffrence.now if ms cant make money on a system whats the use of having one
thier losing money on the xbox.

Macario, you are correct... to a certain degree...

Hardware manufacturers don't make consoles to make money from the hardware, they make consoles to make money from the software...

It is a well known fact that when a new console comes out it is sold as a loss leader. In other words, the company lose money because they know they can recooperate it in other ways - i.e the software.

All console manufacturer charge a licensing fee to develop games for their console. The more games are sold, the more money SONY, Nintendo or Microsoft make. Hence why MS are trying to buy as many game companies as possible - that's where the money is - software, not hardware.

- S

[macario]

are you sure

[GaseousSnake]

Originally posted by Spank-A-Thon
Macario, you are correct... to a certain degree...

Hardware manufacturers don't make consoles to make money from the hardware, they make consoles to make money from the software...

It is a well known fact that when a new console comes out it is sold as a loss leader. In other words, the company lose money because they know they can recooperate it in other ways - i.e the software.

All console manufacturer charge a licensing fee to develop games for their console. The more games are sold, the more money SONY, Nintendo or Microsoft make. Hence why MS are trying to buy as many game companies as possible - that's where the money is - software, not hardware.

- S

Your right but then again the best that the xbox can get is time a time exclusive right to most if not all its 3rd party games

[macario]

you r have right they do get money from soft ware but wouldent it be nice if you can gain money off the software. you see ms isnt gaining money from hardware
on the other hand sony is gaining money from hardware and software.