Microsoft’s Video Game Market Looking Towards the Future

Microsoft Corp. is one of the three big players in the video game market along with Sony and Nintendo. Their console, the Xbox 360, has been on the market for seven years but still continues to sell and was bolstered by the introduction of their new Kinect, a motion-sensor accessory. It had its’ best year of sales in 2011. Even with this success however, they are still looking to unveil the next version of their Xbox console in 2013 or early 2014.

Releasing a new console into the market is something that has to be timed perfectly. According to Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc., “Theyre still selling a lot of Xbox 360, and they’re making money…I don’t think the world needs them to put a new console out just because we’re bored.” The last fiscal year showed a 45% sales gain to $8.91 billion and outsold both Nintendo Co.’s Wii and Sony Corp.’s Playstation 3. Nintendo is releasing its’ new console, the Wii U later this year but its’ once extremely popular console has been having dwindling sales for years now.

Microsoft is in a very strong position so they must be careful about which route they take. New consoles are inevitable but new consoles tend to lose money at first and it isn’t worth the hit if their current console is doing so well. Also, people may be turned off from buying a new console if their purchase of their current console was made in the past year or past couple years.

The full article can be found at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-15/microsoft-says-it-won-t-be-discussing-new-xbox-at-e3-conference.html