The legal dispute between Epic and Apple over a possible abuse of power in connection with the App Store brings more and more interesting details of the industry to light. After Sony's Cross Play on the PlayStation and Epic's success with its own games store, it's now about Microsoft's success with the Xbox.
Microsoft was also heard as a witness in the recent negotiations, and Lori Wright, Xbox Business Development Vice President of the Xbox division at Microsoft, was asked by Epic's attorney Wes Earnhardt how much Microsoft was making from selling the Xbox consoles. Lori Wright's answer was simply that Microsoft didn't make any money on the consoles because they were being sold at a loss. It is no secret that new generations of consoles are initially being sold at a loss in order to create the broadest possible user base in order to then realize profits through games and accessories. But when Earnhardt asked whether Microsoft had ever made a profit from the sale of the Xbox consoles, Wright answered with a clear “no”.
PS5 and Series X/S should still generate profit
The PlayStation 5 from Sony and Microsoft's Xbox Series X/S are currently being sold at a loss, but should become profitable over the product life cycle. It is believed that with the PlayStation 4, Sony first launched a console that did not sell at a loss across its entire availability, with Sony holding a price of $ 299 for years, while the PlayStation 2, for example was massively reduced in price and offered for less than 100 US dollars.
Microsoft assumes in the published and blackened documents (PDF), for example, that Sony will launch a Made $ 1.7 billion in loss on console sales, while games and services generated $ 4.1 billion in profits, ultimately turning out to be $ 2.4 billion.
Only Nintendo makes profit with a console
The only exception in the field of game consoles represents Nintendo. Because the Nintendo Switch, which with its hybrid approach pursues a different model with less powerful hardware than Sony and Microsoft, is being sold at a profit.