All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2021 Edition]

Look at Minecraft...

As games evolve into metaverse economies, we are building new tools to help anyone sell creations on our platforms. Minecraft had nearly 140 million monthly active users, up 30 percent year over year, making it one of the leading platforms in the creator economy. Creators have generated over $350 million from more than one billion downloads of mods, add-ons, and other experiences in Minecraft. This is not including activity outside our own marketplace. We’re also seeing a vibrant marketplace emerge in Flight Simulator, with partners now able to sell content directly within the game.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/events/FY-2021/earnings-fy-2021-q3.aspx

Tommy McClain
 
Had hoped for better times for sony, i like their phones.
In what way did you hope for better times? They've just had a record breaking fiscal year, what more could they wish for? Or are you saying you had hoped they would have and, plainly have had,a great year and now you are overjoyed that your wishes have come true? I like their phones too, I just bought an Xperia 1 ii. Fantastic camera and sound with a lovely faux 4k screen. So long though that it has its own curvature...
 
In what way did you hope for better times? They've just had a record breaking fiscal year, what more could they wish for? Or are you saying you had hoped they would have and, plainly have had,a great year and now you are overjoyed that your wishes have come true? I like their phones too, I just bought an Xperia 1 ii. Fantastic camera and sound with a lovely faux 4k screen. So long though that it has its own curvature...

Not Playstation, but their TV's, phones, etc, its like LG/samsung are taking away much of the market. Always had xperia phones, from mid/late 2000's and then with the start of the z1 compact.
Biggest problem is software/OS updates (2 years now?). Otherwise, heavily under-rated phones, which for the good help second-hand pricings.
 
Not Playstation, but their TV's, phones, etc, its like LG/samsung are taking away much of the market. Always had xperia phones, from mid/late 2000's and then with the start of the z1 compact.
Biggest problem is software/OS updates (2 years now?). Otherwise, heavily under-rated phones, which for the good help second-hand pricings.
Sony's biggest problem in this market has been price. They always have, and always will, charge too much for their products. Not everything they produce has to have a premium price. It's like they need to take a long hard look at how they approach the market and press a reset button somewhere. Not saying that their products aren't premium of course, but sometimes to you just have to deflate your ego a bit for the greater good :D
 
@BoardBonobo I'd suggest Sony and Microsoft's problem is not being able to manufacture enough consoles to meet demand - which is a problem not limited to console manufacturers. When demand outstrips supply that is when you can keep prices high, when supply exceeds demand that is when you need to consider lowering your RRP.
 
@DSoup I assume hes talking about things other than consoles (as the consoles are actually cheap for what you get)
Yes Sony's things typically are more expensive and perhaps overpriced, but who knows what happens if they slashed the prices (by making lower quality things) they might do a philips, At one time Philips was similar to Sony, top of the Line but expensive, then on the hope of expanding their business they went the cheaper route and their brand became pretty shit (in 1995 it was the 58th biggest company in the world, in 2020 its not in the top 500, thats all the list went up to )
 
Yes the consoles arent so expensive, at around 500 dollars its quite acceptable, but still too much for many consumers which still like the 300 dollar price point the consoles once where.
Sony's phones had quite competitive pricing around 7 years ago btw, the Z1 series was half the price of an iphone (5s), while not being any 'lesser'. Today, they price their phones at the same price a 12 pro max goes for.
 
@DSoup I assume hes talking about things other than consoles (as the consoles are actually cheap for what you get)
I think it's an an economic principle that applies to all goods and services. Apple's profit margins are absurdly high but they don't need to lower prices because they're selling everything they can manufacture.
 
Looking at the number of Xbox series consoles sold across the world and it being sold out, even if MS started the production later it would not have that small amount. So I believe they mostly produce Azure server blades. We also know that they are in the internal testing for Series X blades.

Considering the scarcity of GPU, possible scarcity with hard drives due to mining etc. It might be a good decision.
 
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...47JhTgAYyuGdvmvGA3nT095QgBCfI3DsH8spWrz-993pU

Microsoft confirms it's never turned a profit on sale of Xbox consoles

This is mostly a matter of semantics and accounting, specifically of what “sold at a profit” means. Is that simply comparing the bill of material price against the retail price? Or are they amortizing all the other costs into it, like the time spent in Research and Development and also Upkeep and Maintenance of the core OS and feature sets into “the price of hardware”.

The other is the nature of console business market is it's setup to be loss leader or razor thin margins on hardware to get consumers into the ecco-systems and make the profit on games, accessory, and service sales.

Actual Court statements below:
---
“Has Microsoft ever earned a profit on the sale of an Xbox console?” lawyer asks. “No,” Wright says.

“If Microsoft sells consoles at a loss, why does it keep selling them?” lawyer asks.

Because the business model is set up to deliver an “end to end consumer experience,” and they make money in the long run over sales/subscriptions.

 
This is mostly a matter of semantics and accounting, specifically of what “sold at a profit” means. Is that simply comparing the bill of material price against the retail price? Or are they amortizing all the other costs into it, like the time spent in Research and Development and also Upkeep and Maintenance of the core OS and feature sets into “the price of hardware”.

The other is the nature of console business market is it's setup to be loss leader or razor thin margins on hardware to get consumers into the ecco-systems and make the profit on games, accessory, and service sales.

Actual Court statements below:
---




Amazon pays zero tax basically everywhere because they don't 'turn a profit'. It's all accounting BS.
 
Apple isn't too happy with Lori Wright's testimony. LOL They're trying to declare her as not credible. :)


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Good luck getting Microsoft to produce documents regarding whether their hardware is sold at a profit or loss. They're not on trial.

Tommy McClain
 
So, the Apple lawyers are attempting to imply that Lori Wright has committed perjury without actually accusing her of committing perjury. Interesting. Or just attempting to get her testimony thrown out on a technicality because they know she's telling the truth.

Regards,
SB
 
Good luck getting Microsoft to produce documents regarding whether their hardware is sold at a profit or loss. They're not on trial.

Nor were Valve and the court made them stump up data because it was perceived as relevant to Apple's argument. The American legal system is ludicrous in the latitude it will give to big companies.

I don't know what the situation is in the US but in most of Europe, the judiciary wards rights to the defendant, in particular it is required in almost all cases that all evidence that can be used against the defendant has to be disclosed to the defence attorney before court proceedings began. This is part of having a fair trial. The plaintive, of witnesses called by the plaintive, slipping in new evidence can result it in being dismissed, the witness being discredited or, in really egregious situation, considered a contempt of court.

I know the US is different I would assume it would adopt at least some of the principles of law as established over hundreds/thousands of years in other countries!

I still don't quite follow exactly what has happened here.
 
It shouldn't be hard for MS to provide documents showing they lose money on hardware. I would expect they would do a better job of not making it public.
 
It shouldn't be hard for MS to provide documents showing they lose money on hardware. I would expect they would do a better job of not making it public.
Well, you'd like to think so but given a bunch of documents intended to be sealed were inadvertently disclosed, I think my reaction would be similar to Microsoft's witness!! You want our super secret documents? Hmmm.. let me think about that given the bang up job the court has done protecting those so far.
 
Well, you'd like to think so but given a bunch of documents intended to be sealed were inadvertently disclosed, I think my reaction would be similar to Microsoft's witness!! You want our super secret documents? Hmmm.. let me think about that given the bang up job the court has done protecting those so far.

The court has ordered certain documents sealed. There's not much that they can do other than that to prevent that from being leaked to the public contrary to court orders.

I haven't been keeping track of all the leaked evidence, but at least the one here was marked as evidence for the Defense. So perhaps what needs to happen is some sort of punishment to the defense if the leaks were construed as attempting to manipulate public opinion in favor of the defense and thus put pressure on the court to reach a favorable judgement for Apple. Of course, if leaks are also happening with the prosecution team, then likewise for that.

Regardless, because of that it's understandable that MS might be reluctant to hand information to the Defense team that it does not want available to the public. In such a situation, there must be some mechanism where information can be presented to the presiding judge in order to determine accuracy.

However, this would be accompanied by an accusation of perjury (that the Witness has lied under oath), which the Defense hasn't accused the witness of. As such, considering the testimony is given under oath, it is assumed that they are being truthful in what they have said.

As to why the Defense wouldn't want to accuse the witness of perjury? If it ends up being a baseless accusation then the witness could in turn take them to court for libel.

So, the Defense likely knows the information that was given under oath is true, but is attempting to have it discarded as a technicality. It's up to the judge to then determine whether MS has violated any court rulings or if they were justified in not providing documents to the defense ahead of time (IE - are those documents actually part of any information the defense specifically requested).

Either way, it's a mess due to the leaks despite the court ordering said documents be sealed. But as often is the case, leaks happen on either the defense or prosecution teams either due to carelessness or outright attempts to sway public opinion with strategic leaks of information without accompanying context.

Regards,
SB
 
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The court has ordered certain documents sealed. There's not much that they can do other than that to prevent that from being leaked to the public contrary to court orders.

Agreed, whoever screwed up needs to be penalised in whatever way that professions deems appropriate. If that's Apple's attorneys then they need a mighty slapping.

The fact that no action was be seen to be taken is surely going to make any further witnesses reluctant to disclose documents. If documents are supposed to be sealed, are released anyway and the court seemingly doesn't care, what's the motivation to disclose in confidence? If the court so orders it then you have too legally, but you're surely going to hold up that process while you seek assurances.
 
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