Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's XBox Group Still Operates at a Loss, XBox Director Quits

Rusty ships
XBox is still hanging in there



Summary: More depressing news for XBox 360 as it swings back to losses and the strategy chief jumps ship

A LOT of people are being misled by Microsoft's PR, which makes it seem like XBox 360 is actually succeeding. In reality -- truth be told -- several years after the launch Microsoft is still losing money.

The loss comes after two consecutive quarters of profit for the division, which had long been notorious as an overall money-loser for Microsoft.


This is scarcely covered by the press, but more disturbingly, the usual fan sites were yapping about XBox results being great when the last report came out (with overall earnings down 32%). It was a lie. Here is more information:

The news was similarly scattered for Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division, which includes the Xbox 360 business. Total revenues for the gaming segment were down less than 2 percent to $1.57 billion, and where the division posted an operating profit of $106 million during last year's second quarter, this year it ran a $31 million loss.


A year or so ago, Information Week revealed that Microsoft had lost about $7 billion in its XBox business alone. It seems to be one of the best-guarded secrets of Microsoft.

How can so much money be lost other than by selling units at a loss? Well, with an enormous failure rate (claimed to be around 67%), this whole business has become painful and almost suicidal. Even the editor of EDN has just published an article about those Red Rings of Death he has been getting on his XBox 360. It's not a resolved issue; it's a design flaw.

Back on Wednesday the 15th, I told you that my first-generation Xbox 360 game console had experienced the Red Ring of Death the prior Friday evening. I also shipped it off on the 15th, and the UPS tracking website reported that it was delivered to Microsoft's Mesquite, TX service facility at 10:15AM on the 21st.


Microsoft fired its more responsible employee for saying he truth about the failure rates. He was called a "whistleblower" rather than a knowledgeable person who wanted to mitigate the risk of death (XBox 360s are reportedly catching on fire sometimes).

The situation in XBox is so miserable that even its strategy chief has just quit Microsoft.

MICROSOFT’s Xbox strategy boss Richard Teversham has quit the firm to join arch rival Apple, MCV can reveal.


This is also covered in:



Speaking of an XBox director who departs, here is another XBox director who recently departed in anger. He's a film director though, not an executive director. We wrote about it some days ago and here's more information:



Other XBox employees had similarly bad experiences. Over the past 2 years, many key employees of the XBox group simply ditched the company. We have some examples here.

"If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
 
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Links 11/06/2025: More Vulnerabilities Found in 'Smart' Phones, China Extends Reach in the Pacific
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2025: Grain and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Links 11/06/2025: "Quantum" Hype From IBM, US Closer to Martial Law, and “The Nation” Celebrates Milestone
Links for the day
IBM's CEO Roasted, Sizzled and Grilled for Dumb and Inconsistent Vapourware Promises
It looks like being a chronic liar is what it takes to lead the company once synonymous with computing
IBM's Goal Is Not (and Never Was) Computer Users' Freedom
More than 1.5 decades ago I found IBM to be an "ally of convenience" because of OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Wayland Shows the IBM/Red Hat Way of Doing Things
IBM is trying to 'kill' X
GitHub is Proprietary, Controlled by Microsoft, and GPL Violation Warehouse
"IRS tax filing software [will be] released to the people as free software" ... In general this is good news
Slopfarm Catastrophe
Seems like BetaNews (or BetaNoise) has just suffered a major data loss and restored the site from a week-old backup
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part VIII: Illegal Working Conditions
How many people need to die for these people to get their massive salaries?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 10, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 10, 2025