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[Kill3r7]

I don't believe that to necessarily be true. If you take a regional approach to your product's offering along with any branding/marketing that goes along with that then you risk backing yourself into a corner. What you can end up with is a product that is so specific and focused towards a particular region that it then becomes a huge undertaking to adapt it in order for it to be suitable for other markets.

Whereas is you take a "global first" approach to your product creation then it becomes seemless when you end up transitioning across to other markets, which allows you to have a far stronger and more consistent brand identity. That way it's less work in the long run and your product ends up being more robust. If you want a prime example of this look into the thinking behind the design philosophies and branding that went into the iPhone.

That's just my take on it.

I think it is safe to say that most of Europe/rest of the world has no interest in the X1. There were different times over the last few years where MS were practically giving the console away and they couldn't really move the needle. The US and UK markets have been much more receptive to the console. It is important at the very least for MS to close the gap in the US market moving forward the rest of the generation. It is a tough hurdle as the Pro will always have the price advantage moving forward over the Scorpio which is something that MS will have to sell in a large volume in order to turn the tides. That is not to say that MS should not focus on the rest of the world but at this juncture they probably need to consolidate their efforts into a few markets where they can succeed.

 

[Floody]

What an embarrassing post. If it's not satire I genuinely feel pity for you.

I'm like 99% sure he's made similar posts in other threads, so I think he's being serious. You'd think the fact that the PS4 is around 30m ahead would kinda kill any thought of the US being so much bigger than everywhere else for sales myth though.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

It makes sense for MS to focus on NA first, it's their core market and they have a solid ground to grow unlike the rest of theworld where they basically have to start from from the bottom. Their best strategy is retaking NA, then expand worldwide.

The approach is good in theory, and I'm sure MS would like to do it as well, but so far it hasn't worked. Their misgivings this generation have certainly moved them backward and not forward in that regard.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Okay, but the rest of the world isn't anything to shout about, marketwise. It's always weird to me when people bring this up. The US alone is the biggest market (not counting China, but we're talking console sales, and most of China's money is mobile/PC iirc) by a huge margin. The other markets combined barely make a dent in that.

"But it didn't do well in the rest of the world" is literally a meaningless statement.

Is it really meaningless? If you looked at the US Market, you'd think it's a close race when in total PS4 is almost double the sales of XB1

Same last gen. You'd think the 360 was dominating if you looked at the US market alone but it was actually very close globally

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

I disagree...

Just like 80+ million for PS3 was bad, this is bad for MS. Sony was coming off of PS2, and let a ton of market share go to a rival box when all they had to do was make PS4 back in 2005 and keep the momentum going. Instead, they through the kitchen sink into PS3 architecture and alienated developers with the design, and consumers with the price.

MS, outsold Sony like crazy in the U.S, and could have sustained that momentum in the U.S/UK at least and perhaps grown it, and royally jacked up the brand. It's bad, PS3 selling equal to 360 is bad, WiiU is bad, etc...

How bad it is, that's a debate to have, but I'm not going to say "considering all the circumstances" this is decent. It's a huge lost of potential sales.

Loss of potential sales or the market reached a high and will now contract and normalize.

 

[nampad]

Okay, but the rest of the world isn't anything to shout about, marketwise. It's always weird to me when people bring this up. The US alone is the biggest market (not counting China, but we're talking console sales, and most of China's money is mobile/PC iirc) by a huge margin. The other markets combined barely make a dent in that.

"But it didn't do well in the rest of the world" is literally a meaningless statement.



So... where is it?

Believe whatever makes you happy, the real numbers show it's otherwise.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Believe whatever makes you happy, the real numbers show it's otherwise.

Yup

 

[Cyberia]

Mistake #1: Reading a DocSeuss post
Mistake #2: Taking the time to actually respond to his posts.

I mean...

The number of exclusively W10 Xbox-only, non-Xbox-playing users is extremely low to the point of being a rounding error. People using the ecosystems are using both.



That's all you need. If you won in North America, you have literally won worldwide.

 

[Kaako]

Scorpio will change things for them once they price it at $299 launch.

 

[Aceofspades]

With PS4 numbers, Sony has established "Playstation" as the most dominant gaming brand in history.

PS2: 155m
PS1: 104m
(Wii): 101m
PS3: ~ 87m

hell even PSP was 82m and now PS4 at 55m. only failure is VITA. that is one hell of a crazy record.

 

[Tallshortman]

Are people writing sales fanfiction now?

 

[black070]

Mistake #1: Reading a DocSeuss post
Mistake #2: Taking the time to actually respond to his posts.

I mean...

True, I remember him repeatedly saying Sony first party titles are objectively bad in another thread.

 

[Chobel]

Mistake #1: Reading a DocSeuss post
Mistake #2: Taking the time to actually respond to his posts.

I mean...

LMAO!

 

[SenjutsuSage]

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Scorpio will change things for them once they price it at $299 launch.

 

[onemanasylum]

It makes sense for MS to focus on NA first, it's their core market and they have a solid ground to grow unlike the rest of theworld where they basically have to start from from the bottom. Their best strategy is retaking NA, then expand worldwide.

Don't think I agree, it was their US focus that led to DRM, always online, TV, TV, SPORTS reveal. If they had cared about growing markets were internet is spotty and even absent in many areas would they have even tried that? A global approach is the only way you are going to succeed Worldwide.

 

[Kill3r7]

Don't think I agree, it was their US focus that led to DRM, always online, TV, TV, SPORTS reveal. If they had cared about growing markets were internet is spotty and even absent in many areas would they have even tried that? A global approach is the only way you are going to succeed Worldwide.

That sounds good in theory but there is little MS can do at this juncture to change their strategy. They have a product that holds little appeal outside of the US and UK. So focusing on those two regions for the time being is not a bad approach. Any money spend in Europe and Japan at this juncture will do little to help them close the gap. In other words they will get the most bang for their buck short term by focusing on the US and UK. I guess with Scorpio it might make sense to take a global branding approach but then again you are fighting an uphill battle with probably a console that will cost upwards of $400.

 

[vonStirlitz]

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[FinaruDensetsu]

I don't really understand what you're saying here. But I'm talking i think what I replied to Tbiddy is my point. I don't see sales improving much from here on out and it's already behind X360.

It's just my snark at a few people trying to tell everyone that Microsoft doesn't care about selling globally and their goal all along was just to sell in UK/US and that they're satisfied with that.

 

[zewone]

scorpio may change things

Is this a real post or sarcasm?

The Scorpio is a niche, likely expensive product going up against the Slim and Pro at reduced prices by the time it launches.

Hell, the Scorpio is also competing with XB1S which will also see it's own price cuts to keep pace with Sony.

Scorpio will not change the tides for Microsoft and people should stop kidding themselves if they actually believe it.

 

[hanspampel]

not sure if he is willing to do that
maybe japan will bring up a 50% tax on xbox.

that trade war would be a huge fight for both sides!

Scorpio will not change the tides for Microsoft and people should stop kidding themselves if they actually believe it.

maybe you guys should discuss first what "changing the tides" means for both of you

 

[DSN2K]

They never got over the drama pre launch or the first year in general. Perhaps with Scorpio they can get back to what they did so well with the 360.

 

[GHG]

I think it is safe to say that most of Europe/rest of the world has no interest in the X1. There were different times over the last few years where MS were practically giving the console away and they couldn't really move the needle. The US and UK markets have been much more receptive to the console. It is important at the very least for MS to close the gap in the US market moving forward the rest of the generation. It is a tough hurdle as the Pro will always have the price advantage moving forward over the Scorpio which is something that MS will have to sell in a large volume in order to turn the tides. That is not to say that MS should not focus on the rest of the world but at this juncture they probably need to consolidate their efforts into a few markets where they can succeed.

Oh I know that they face a huge uphill task outside of the US/UK but they have to start somewhere. It's a huge ask to do something about it mid generation but product launches are the perfect time to attempt to make significant headway. Their biggest mistake was with the first Xbox in terms of how the product looked along with how it was marketed but they then made some significant progress with the Xbox 360 and looked to be on the right track.

Then the Xbox One happened and they took significant steps backwards in this regard when you look at how they launched the product. NFL, TV features, Kinect, always online. If you look at it on paper it's worse than the original Xbox from a global marketability standpoint. They had the right idea with the 360 and needed to continue down that path with the Xbox one. I have no doubt that if they did so they would be in a much better position than they are today and things would have continued to improve for them in terms of shaking free the ghost of the original Xbox and what it stood for. If they further double down and focus on the UK/US going forwards then they are only going to make things worse for themselves in the long run from a global standpoint.

 

[zewone]

I feel like I'm missing some sort of meme/joke about the Scorpio.

 

[Stanng243]

Maybe if Doc Suess would read his own book. "Oh the places you go", he'd realize there is more to the earth than the US. Will he ever actually come aback to the thread to comment, or does he just post make believe like his books?

 

[Raylan]

there is more to the earth than the US.

Haven't you heard? Indie games, niche games, japanese games, sports games, especially MLB games, 'anime' games, everything outside the US don't count.

 

[Krakin]

I don't get it. What am I missing?

Did Dr. Seuss stories ever make sense when you were a kid?

 

[Kill3r7]

Oh I know that they face a huge uphill task outside of the US/UK but they have to start somewhere. It's a huge ask to do something about it mid generation but product launches are the perfect time to attempt to make significant headway. Their biggest mistake was with the first Xbox in terms of how the product looked along with how it was marketed but they then made some significant progress with the Xbox 360 and looked to be on the right track.

Then the Xbox One happened and they took significant steps backwards in this regard when you look at how they launched the product. NFL, TV features, Kinect, always online. If you look at it on paper it's worse than the original Xbox from a global marketability standpoint. They had the right idea with the 360 and needed to continue down that path with the Xbox one. I have no doubt that if they did so they would be in a much better position than they are today and things would have continued to improve for them in terms of shaking free the ghost of the original Xbox and what it stood for. If they further double down and focus on the UK/US going forwards then they are only going to make things worse for themselves in the long run.

Agreed. I still think that one of the most fascinating idea MS/Xbox team ever had, which never came to fruition, was the idea to give the consoles away for free. I think that is an model that might eventually come to pass especially as we move closer to a GaaS model that requires a paid subscription. At the end of the day the Xbox store/Xbox live is their most marketable asset.

 

[DBT85]

Exactly. No one would ever say the 360 did badly. The one is doing about this same. It just looks like it's getting slaughtered because the PS4 is doing PS2 style numbers. No one, not even Sony, would have predicted that. Even in their wildest, wettest dreams.

If the numbers are accurate then sales are 2m less than its predecessor, despite shifting what, a million in the opening weekend, something the 360 couldn't dream of because of supply.

360 would have been further ahead if they could get units out fast enough.

 

[Fox_Mulder]

That Scorpio though

 

[bitbydeath]

Agreed. I still think that one of the most fascinating idea MS/Xbox team ever had, which never came to fruition, was the idea to give the consoles away for free. I think that is an model that might eventually come to pass especially as we move closer to a GaaS model that requires a paid subscription. At the end of the day the Xbox store/Xbox live is their most marketable asset.

Wouldn't people just take them and resell it as parts for profit?

MS has a lot of money but they'll go broke in no time with that model.

 

[ethomaz]

28m sold through? do you have a source for that?
because that number is news to me. in that case xbox one is maybe down ww over 360 after 38 months


but i find it hard to believe xb360 had only 500k units on shelf at the end of 2008 .
that is sold out territory
ps4 had 1.8m units on shelfs at the end of 2015

I already linked you dozen of times about that... it is from MS.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/28-million-xbox-360s-sold-17-million-on-xbox-live/1100-6202733/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-360-sales-hit-28-million-worldwide
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/360-hardware-sales-top-28-million
http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/05/microsoft-says-xbox-360-sales-top-28-million-to-date/
http://kotaku.com/5124107/microsoft-weve-sold-28-million-xbox-360s

They even said they sold way more than expected on holidays.

 

[xxracerxx]

Okay, but the rest of the world isn't anything to shout about, marketwise. It's always weird to me when people bring this up. The US alone is the biggest market (not counting China, but we're talking console sales, and most of China's money is mobile/PC iirc) by a huge margin. The other markets combined barely make a dent in that.

This word vomit is the equivalent of this gif:

Sure the US is a huge market, but all markets is where console makers want to sell. MS can't be happy just selling in two markets.

 

[Wagram]

Okay, but the rest of the world isn't anything to shout about, marketwise. It's always weird to me when people bring this up. The US alone is the biggest market (not counting China, but we're talking console sales, and most of China's money is mobile/PC iirc) by a huge margin. The other markets combined barely make a dent in that.

"But it didn't do well in the rest of the world" is literally a meaningless statement.



So... where is it?

Stop hitting play on the Crapgamer videos.

 

[joecanada]

Okay, but the rest of the world isn't anything to shout about, marketwise. It's always weird to me when people bring this up. The US alone is the biggest market (not counting China, but we're talking console sales, and most of China's money is mobile/PC iirc) by a huge margin. The other markets combined barely make a dent in that.

"But it didn't do well in the rest of the world" is literally a meaningless statement.

Lol this is basically not only wrong but obviously and demonstrably false. If MS didn't care about other countries why would they set up operations in other countries, work on localizing content, spend all that money on translation for Kinect, staff costs, leases on buildings, etc..... Why would they go into Japan at all with their 300 individual units sold per week?
When instead they could easily consolidate all their strengths into one market like NA and shave off tons of overhead. In business expansion is considered a high risk proposition so why would they bother to do this?

It's pretty clear what the answer to those questions are.

 

[Kathian]

They need a price cut this year unless their line up is secretly great. PS4 bundles are quite competitive.

 

[Kill3r7]

Wouldn't people just take them and resell it as parts for profit?

MS has a lot of money but they'll go broke in no time with that model.

It would be a similar model to how phone plans work. You would be signing a multi-year contract for the service.

 

[Hockeymac18]

that... seems like the wrong takeaway from this info

Probably better in another thread, but one could make an argument of that based on total consoles sold so far this generation vs. last (unless of course we're doing the "wii doesn't count" thing...which could be argued either way).

 

[Humdinger]

Pretty easy to see what Dr. Seuss is doing. If you negate the importance of every country outside the US, then Xbox looks like it's doing a lot better than it really is. Transparent agenda.

 

[hanspampel]

I already linked you dozen of times about that... it is from MS.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/28-million-xbox-360s-sold-17-million-on-xbox-live/1100-6202733/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/xbox-360-sales-hit-28-million-worldwide
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/360-hardware-sales-top-28-million
http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/05/microsoft-says-xbox-360-sales-top-28-million-to-date/
http://kotaku.com/5124107/microsoft-weve-sold-28-million-xbox-360s

They even said they sold way more than expected on holidays.

okay thanks.
to bad it's from greenberg and he never clarified if that sold is sold through or sold in
the "more than" phrase leads me to believe it is rather sold in. because that would result in less than 500k units on shelf end of 2008 just after the holiday shopping period


also didn't MS always talk about sold in (sold to their customer, aka retail), when they talked about a new milestone!?
just like the 80m and 84m announcement
those numbers also matched the shipped numbers from the quarterly earnings

79.4m shipped at the end of September 2013
80m sold announcement early November 2013
83.7m shipped at the end of march 2014
84m sold announcement early June 2014



yeah thanks. I am now 100% convinced he was talking about sold in numbers!

 

[chromatic9]

What makes it worse if you look at Jan 2006 to end of 2008 and compare Jan 2014 to end of 2016.

The Xbox One launch masks the reality a bit more as 360 had a very slow launch in 2005

 

[Dash_Riprock]

This is what happens when you focus all your resources on only one market and still manage to fuck up your console's launch.

 

[Dre3001]

So being realistic here would MS be better off starting the next gen early with the Scorpio?

Best case scenario for the X1 I'm gonna guess is 40 million lifetime sales.

I think there is a strong chance MS repeats what they did with the original Xbox and 360 where they pushed out there new system early to get a head start on the competition.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

okay thanks.
to bad it's from greenberg and he never clarified if that sold is sold through or sold in
the "more than" phrase leads me to believe it is rather sold in. because that would result in less than 500k units on shelf end of 2008 just after the holiday shopping period


also didn't MS always talk about sold in (sold to their customer, aka retail), when they talked about a new milestone!?
just like the 80m and 84m announcement
those numbers also matched the shipped numbers from the quarterly earnings

79.4m shipped at the end of September 2013
80m sold announcement early November 2013
83.7m shipped at the end of march 2014
84m sold announcement early June 2014



yeah thanks. I am now 100% convinced he was talking about sold in numbers!

Being 100% convinced =/= Proof beyond reasonable doubt, especially when your conclusion is based on subjective opinion. It is also an Appeal to the Stone fallacy. You need to prove that 500K units in the channels is an impossible situation.

 

[Fisty]

Pretty easy to see what Dr. Seuss is doing. If you negate the importance of every country outside the US, then Xbox looks like it's doing a lot better than it really is. Transparent agenda.

Yep, when NPD numbers are close: "Xbox is back on top! I always believed in Phil!"

 

[ethomaz]

okay thanks.
to bad it's from greenberg and he never clarified if that sold is sold through or sold in
the "more than" phrase leads me to believe it is rather sold in. because that would result in less than 500k units on shelf end of 2008 just after the holiday shopping period


also didn't MS always talk about sold in (sold to their customer, aka retail), when they talked about a new milestone!?
just like the 80m and 84m announcement
those numbers also matched the shipped numbers from the quarterly earnings

79.4m shipped at the end of September 2013
80m sold announcement early November 2013
83.7m shipped at the end of march 2014
84m sold announcement early June 2014



yeah thanks. I am now 100% convinced he was talking about sold in numbers!

What? MS Q2 earnings happened in late January when they shared the sold in numbers.

 

[pswii60]

Oh wow.


I presume these are correct numbers?

It's the double double

 

[Anticol]

Yep, when NPD numbers are close: "Xbox is back on top! I always believed in Phil!"

Well he is not the only one who reacts that way, a lot of game journalists reacted the same way with the Xbone S during the months it outsold PS4 in the US

 

[orthodoxy1095]

I see Doc derailed the thread with his usual dumb bullshit.

Pretty easy to see what Dr. Seuss is doing. If you negate the importance of every country outside the US, then Xbox looks like it's doing a lot better than it really is. Transparent agenda.

It's dumb as hell.

 

[Omnistalgic]

Doesn't that happen already?

lol I dunno, I try and stay to my subscribed threads and stay off of Gaf main page, but recently its just been Nintendo news so it's ok...