leeh, are you ok?
He's eating the crows he tried to serve a few days ago.
leeh, are you ok?
Xbox is not exactly taking off outside the US, and Sony could only carry so much on its back
Number seems reasonable
seems about right with XB1 at 13, wouldn't that mean 10 million more for the rest of the year?
which mostly would come from PS4.
Not sure if thats possible, wouldn't this undermine brick and mortar stores? Feels like its against competitive regulations...but this is my gut feeling, would be nice to find out.
As soon as you guys stop buying physical games it will happen.
When the expectation and norm in the past (in a less thriving PC market!) was to have parity pricing on PC, then that's when people like me get upset. The PC market is growing yet parity pricing convinently goes. If I pay for a good box with fancy crap then I'd swallow the full price but not when I'm not getting the same value with the easy and no distribution DD.Why would they when they know they don't have to?
Seriously, from a business perspective, why?
Because it's the "nice thing to do?"
Come on
People will still go to Best Buy and purchase physical games
I'm 100% digital on Xbox and Ps4, I'm apparently in the minority, so why cater to me
When was the last time Microsoft gave us a firm #?You guys think XB1 is as low as 13 million?
I'd thought they are at 15-16 million which would mean EA expects only 8 million consoles sold this winter.
This!!That's bullshit! All of my friends bought games digitally
Or digital could just be cheaper than physical.
When was the last time Microsoft gave us a firm #?
Being at 16 seems generous, if they were at 16 they would probably be console leaders in the US
Yeah. pretty much the reason why nobody cares about PC digital games and trading in.
digital games there are cheap enough that trade ins never cross your mind.
Unless europe suddenly get matched digital prices to retail store prices I can't see 40% being the norm.
ALso amazing that EA of all people say this because they charge £15 extra for their digital goods in the UK.
Don't sell them at same price then if margins are that much better.
No, it will not. Steam prices in EU regions
A lot can change in 6 or 7 yearsThis puts 2 group of people in their place
1. people who only look at raw number of consoles sold
2. people who think PS5/Xbox 4 might be digital only
You guys think XB1 is as low as 13 million?
I'd thought they are at 15-16 million which would mean EA expects only 8 million consoles sold this winter.
Parity existed in a less viable market years ago. Now it's been taken away because they can simply do it. Am I the only one who grew up with PC being cheaper digitally than physical? The expectation and convenience was there. I only played by the rules and now that's changed because "screw you give me money"? And in a growing market in the PC gaming sector.Would be silly not to. Companies exist to make money to the shareholders, basically.
Also, what's up with the tone in this thread?
That's only if you buy from alternative stores. Steam is a gigantic ripoff in Euro countries.
Would be silly not to. Companies exist to make money to the shareholders, basically.
Also, what's up with the tone in this thread?
Parity existed in a less viable market years ago. Now it's been taken away because they can simply do it. Am I the only one who grew up with PC being cheaper digitally than physical? The expectation and convenience was there. I only played by the rules and now that's changed because "screw you give me money"? And in a growing market in the PC gaming sector.
They might as well mark up physical and DD to 69.99USD since they can so what they want anyways.
The problem is we are stuck in this awkward in between period.
I think prices will drop, but only on paper, when console games go full digital. As inflation continues to rise games prices will too, but the price people are willing to pay for games has pretty much kept still at 50-60$. To counteract this and avoid sticker shock, the move to digital solves both problems up front. Increased revenue while buying time and keeping a nice cushion to protect against inflation screwing up what people think they are spending vs what they actually are, buying an extra gen or two before the enevitable rise to 70$ comes.Would be silly not to. Companies exist to make money to the shareholders, basically.
Also, what's up with the tone in this thread?
Double the margins just further illustrates how much of a rip off digital is. Higher margins, no resale or trade in, no physical art of case etc. The least they could do is price digital copies competitively, or on par with retail, instead they're generally always higher priced, sometimes by appreciable margins.
I'm not entirely disagreeing with you but the current 60/60 pricing for base game and SP is another decent but ultimately naive way for companies to make more money from us. And then you have micro-transactions and DLC for cosmetics.Hey, I don't disagree per se.
But the notion that the game companies should lower the prices, because they have higher margins is a bit naive. We all want cheaper games, but as long as people continuously pay 60$ for a digital copy and an additional 60$ for a season pass with all the content, the main game should've had, the prices will stick right where they are.
With regards to the tone I meant the usual suspects enjoying themselves and being dicks about someone else being wrong.
The problem is we are stuck in this awkward in between period.
EU and NA pricing isn't in the same spot. PC already got shitted on first so they moved to digital cause retail already gave no fucks. Console manufacturers still haven't figured out how to get around the conundrum of needing to sell the physical hardware itself in brick and mortar. Oh and this gen everything needs to be installed and patched so it's sorta like going digital.
The fact is nobody has any easy answers for any of these pressing questions coming for the next decade of gaming.
I think prices will drop, but only on paper, when console games go full digital. As inflation continues to rise games prices will too, but the price people are willing to pay for games has pretty much kept still at 50-60$. To counteract this and avoid sticker shock, the move to digital solves both problems up front. Increased revenue while buying time and keeping a nice cushion to protect against inflation screwing up what people think they are spending vs what they actually are, buying an extra gen or two before the enevitable rise to 70$ comes.
Win/win for the pubs, really. Especially in the days of mobile gaming screwing up perceived value of software all over the map in the industry for everyone, but that's another can of worms entirely.
- PS4\XB1 user-base on track to 50-51M at the end of 2015.
Don't sell them at same price then if margins are that much better.
If consoles last that long at all (which is up for debate), I for see them going the way of phones with subsidized pricing and contracts to tether you to the device while keeping retailers happy selling on huge margins.If consoles go all digital who's gonna sell the hardware? Shelf space is at a premium in big box retailers, and console hardware margins aren't exactly baller for the stores.
This is a joke post right? Do you even business?
Seriously though once these companies become addicted to these higher margins they won't go anywhere. Once they start having an even more significant impact on EPS Wall Street won't let them go anywhere either.
The only thing the higher margins will allow for are more steam like sales but even then those have slowly been pulled back.
High prices for digital content is here to stay. No one is going to give a better price on a digital product to consumers unless the sales go away.
That's only if you buy from alternative stores. Steam is a gigantic ripoff in Euro countries.
Maybe 13 mil. sold trough for now. But 15 mil. shipped highly possible.
With Sony likely to have sold 36m* by the end of the year, that leaves between 14-15m for the Xbone.Does that tally with GAF estimates?
Surely it's got to be approaching 20 m by now?
High prices for digital content is here to stay. No one is going to give a better price on a digital product to consumers unless the sales go away.
Active live users?Dude it's passed 15m by now.
If consoles last that long at all (which is up for debate), I for see them going the way of phones with subsidized pricing and contracts to tether you to the device while keeping retailers happy selling on huge margins.
That brings us to the 14-15 million in the above estimate..
Am I off?
EA's CFO, Blake Jorgensen, had a chat at yesterday's Global Technology Conference. You can hear it here: https://cc.talkpoint.com/ubsx001/111615a_ae/?entity=40_UQQX1EY
Aside from the news about EA making an open-world action game, the highlights are:
- PS4\XB1 user-base on track to 50-51M at the end of 2015.
- Attach-rate is about the same as the previous gen. However, extra content sales have gone up significantly.
- Digital copy margins are over x2 the margins of a physical copy.
- Last quarter for EA full-game downloads represented 20% of all XB1\PS4 copies. Expect the share to grow to 40% over the next 3-4 years.
20% right from a horse's mouth. But wow at the margin expansion. Extra content sales show how publishers are really monetizing core users. Pretty smart and maybe cynical. I'm not sure.
I think it would be smarter to cut down that margin per-unit and see a 10x increase in sales.
I think it would be smarter to cut down that margin per-unit and see a 10x increase in sales.
This is a joke post right? Do you even business?
Do you think sales would increase ten-fold, if the prices were cut by.. say 50%?
What kind of contract? Console pricing going where? Margins are slim on devices. You saying Sony, Nintendo, and MS are gonna raise pricing to give retailers more margins to sell on subsidies?
Who's gonna subsidize this? The stores? The console manufacturers?
What would the contract be? What would it be for? How much more would the price have to be raised just to make up for not getting all of the cash up front let alone increasing the actual margin?
D
I think EA are talking about sold through, and not shipped with the 50 million number. PS4 will not sell through 36 million by the end of the year, but yeah they will certainly ship that much.
This is a joke post right? Do you even business?
Seriously though once these companies become addicted to these higher margins they won't go anywhere. Once they start having an even more significant impact on EPS Wall Street won't let them go anywhere either.
The only thing the higher margins will allow for are more steam like sales but even then those have slowly been pulled back.
High prices for digital content is here to stay. No one is going to give a better price on a digital product to consumers unless the sales go away.
The U.K. Numbers are out of date for both consoles. It's hard to know how much they sell per month, but 6 months have passed so the 2/1.5 numbers should be higherWith Sony likely to have sold 36m* by the end of the year, that leaves between 14-15m for the Xbone.Does that tally with GAF estimates?
Surely it's got to be approaching 20 m by now?
Math: (bare with me!)
* Sonys hipped 29.3m by the end of September.
They predict sales of 17m or so by end of FY15
They had shipped 22.3m by end of FY14
They sold 2.4 m during Q4 (Jan-March 2015)..
22 + 17m = ~39
Deduct the 29.3 they already shipped at the end of Q2.
39 - 29.3 = 9.7
That's 9.7 m sales for Q3 and Q4.
Deduct Q4 likely sales, around ~3 (they sold 2.4m Q4 2014, with Uncharted 4 it's going to see a boost in march)
9.7 - 3 = 6.7
They sold 6.4 m during Q3 last year so this is achievable..
Finally,
29.3+6.7 = 36m
MS said it was 'due to have shipped' 10 million at some undisclosed point from the start of november last year. That could have included all pre-holiday stock orders, or could have meant imminent sales to consumers.
They have released virtually no information since.
GAF estimates put it at less than 1 million behind the PS4 in the US,where the PS4 has sold 9 million.
Therefore the Xbone is likely to be around 8 million in the US.
In the UK, the PS4 has 2 million sold as of May this year. Microsoft have not announced anything yet, but typically games are split 60:40 in favour of the PS4 in the Chart-track sales charts.
That would put it ~1.5 million
Add the two together, that leaves 9.5 million sold XBOX Ones.
We know that this represents the vast majority of Xbones WW, and it is anybody's guess what they could be.
It's inconceivable that the Xbone will sell less than 5 million during the holiday period, though. MS shipped 6.6 'Combined' xbox consoles during Q4 last year.
No breakdown on what that split was, but it could conceivably be majority Xbox Ones, with a couple of million 360s. Pure conjecture on my part.
Therefore, that'd mean ROW is around 1.5-2 million for Xbone. Realistic?
That brings us to the 14-15 million in the above estimate..
Am I off?
Citation:
http://www.kitguru.net/gaming/anton-shilov/microsoft-sold-6-6-million-xbox-consoles-in-q4-2014/
http://ps4daily.com/2015/10/ps4-sales-reach-9-million-in-the-us/
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-ships-22-3-million-units-worldwide/1100-6427007/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-10-29-huge-ps4-sales-continue
http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/05/ps4-passes-2-million-milestone-in-uk-sales-outpace-ps2-5182060/