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Xbox One is selling exceptionally well, but...

wapplew

Member
Biggest disappointment is market share I think.
With multi platform perform better on PS4, it will likely to become platform of choice for many.
Since PS+ is require and most will not subscribe both, losing Xbox live subscription is the worst scenario for MS.
 

Paracelsus

Member
You're making a bigger deal than it is. They knew they couldn't do it outside the USA, because they saw what happened last gen and this time they were at a high disadvantage which made it all the more obvious. In the United States they're doing fine and it wouldn't be shocking if they were to overtake PS4 sooner or later, though not as strongly as last gen but I guess it's bound to happen.
 

rouken

Member
They want to gain marketshare so they don't lose when it comes to sales for the next big multiplatform game.

I know, but I'm trying to understand Microsoft's actions lately.

Lately as in all the 180's and fast updates to give the gamers what they want?
 

jayu26

Member
Isn't that a good thing though? They know they overpriced it and trying to make amends before the big price cut happen at E3.

Isn't that the premise of the thread? 4million for $500 system. Did they overprice it? In the hindsight you are going to say that: "yes they over priced because it is selling less than PS4". However, it did sell 4 million, which I did not think it was going to do.
 
It's the most successful launch for Xbox in history, hard to be upset with that. Remember people, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Once titles like Halo and Gears release, even the most die hard Halo 4 haters are going to buy an XB1 for Halo 5.
If MS was satisfied with the sales, then why are they bundling their big sellers for free, and why did they cut the price in the UK? I dont think its living up to MS's expectations, and MS's lose revenue from Live will be a huge blow for MS.
 

freefornow

Gold Member
Xbox 1 seems to be doing well sales wise considering it's only launched in 13? countries.
I have not followed this very closely, but are any of the other countries that they are yet to launch in considered "big" for sales?
 

rokkerkory

Member
Xbox 1 seems to be doing well sales wise considering it's only launched in 13? countries.
I have not followed this very closely, but are any of the other countries that they are yet to launch in considered "big" for sales?

I think it's fair to say the 13 countries are the biggest selling xbox countries tho?
 
They're not selling exceptionally well. At the moment they are attempting to sell to the previous install base, a recognised group of gamers who have previously bought MS consoles or at least know about them, and they are struggling to do that. Lets not pretend that the PS2 or Wii wouldn't have sold as much as the PS4, in a short time, if the stock was there, yet by all accounts MS had stock to spare in the USA in December.
 

GamerJM

Banned
I feel like when it was early in development Microsoft expected it to dominate the market in the US, but by the time both the PS4 and the Xbox One were unveiled and the Xbox One started to get so much bad press they readjusted their expectations.

EDIT: To clarify what I was trying to say here, I have a hard time believing that Microsoft is very unhappy with the current Xbox One sales given where they were just less than a year ago. I had never seen as much negative press for a console as I had seen for the Xbox One around E3 time. There's no way they didn't expect to be "beaten" by Sony on some level given how things were going for them. The Xbox One sales are very good overall in the grand scheme of things, and even if they can't keep up momentum I still see the console doing decently at the very least overall.
 

Chobel

Member
Xbox 1 seems to be doing well sales wise considering it's only launched in 13? countries.
I have not followed this very closely, but are any of the other countries that they are yet to launch in considered "big" for sales?

You should ask Phire Phox
Hardly. The Xbox One is doing fantastic sales wise and has yet the launch in several key territories.
Absolutely not. The Xbone had an amazing, record breaking launch and it outsold PS4 in Dec in North America. It still hasn't launched in many major countries. MS has nothing to worry about.

No, there aren't
 

freefornow

Gold Member
I think it's fair to say the 13 countries are the biggest selling xbox countries tho?

I wondered. Guess they did their analysis and saw that the 13 at launch were their best opportunity for sales, which I guess has kinda panned out (in the short term). Going forward is the unknown.
I imagine that the low UK launch sales have really stung (and shocked?) them.
 

Melchiah

Member
This is big problem for a them because so much of their business model relies on locking up third party content early on in the generation.

And this is exactly why it's good for the consumers, that they haven't managed to get a lion's share of the market this time. Locking up 3rd party content is only good for them, not the gamers.
 
The ~3.6M in four months number sounds impressive on its face. But context is everything. As others have already pointed out, production capacity and manufacturing yields are a lot different then they were in previous gens.

I thought I read somewhere that they shipped 3.9M xbones by the end of December. If that's correct and they're currently sitting at ~3.6M, that means they are still trying to sell their stock from last year. Not a great sign and the likely reason for the bundling of free games and price cut in the UK.

EDIT: Found the source. They did indeed ship 3.9 million xbones by the end of 2013, and apparently haven't sold through those yet 3 months later.
 

Lothars

Member
It's doing fine. Most people on this forum give it shit more than it deserves.

It gets as much shit as it deserves.

You're making a bigger deal than it is. They knew they couldn't do it outside the USA, because they saw what happened last gen and this time they were at a high disadvantage which made it all the more obvious. In the United States they're doing fine and it wouldn't be shocking if they were to overtake PS4 sooner or later, though not as strongly as last gen but I guess it's bound to happen.
They need several more big games than Titanfall to win in the US.
 
We'll have to see how the rest of the year pans out. It's all about momentum, selling short of the PS4 in its previously saturated areas is worrisome. As others have mentioned, the playstation brand has a much wider grip than the xbox brand, and now the arms are beefier.

Hopefully pulling the emergency boosters will gain it some traction, because it can't afford to lose too much ground so early on.
 

BigDug13

Member
They're not going to sell more than the 80 million the 360 sold at least not in 6-7 years. The only direction they will go is a lower number. They simply don't have the advantages over their competition that they enjoyed for this past entire generation. The 360 was THE place to play multiplat console games as demonstrated time and again in every DF comparison with rare exception.

This time it seems like the differences are even more pronounced and the Xbox, for the first time in their 3 generation history, is at the wrong end of those comparisons

They really had no idea Sony was going to come so strong this gen. I really think it took them by surprise and I don't see how they are equipped to overcome those advantages.
 

rokkerkory

Member
I wondered. Guess they did their analysis and saw that the 13 at launch were their best opportunity for sales, which I guess has kinda panned out (in the short term). Going forward is the unknown.
I imagine that the low UK launch sales have really stung (and shocked?) them.

Price drop in UK would affirm that notion.

Price is the #1 barrier for X1. $399 across world would be what's really needed.
 

Biker19

Banned
They need several more big games than Titanfall to win in the US.

Even TitanFall isn't doing too much for it, despite having tons of advertising. There are news that PS4, the PS4 version of MGS V: Ground Zeroes, & inFamous: Second Son are outpacing both TitanFall & the TitanFall bundle on Amazon's best sellers list. AND a unofficial inFamous: Second Son bundle & another PS4 bundle over at Gamestop is outselling both the Xbox One console & the TitanFall bundle.

Not too good.
 
I'm pretty sure it'll fall behind the 360's trajectory soon enough, so no, I doubt MS is happy with this. They're getting beat in the US where they absolutely dominated. Even if they maintain parity, their marketshare here in NA is going to shrink dramatically. And in Europe it's going to be a massive decline since the X1 is pretty much irrelevant outside the UK. Everywhere else, the X1 probably won't even launch and if it does it won't do much.

They'll be lucky to sell half of what they did with the 360.
xbox one will easily sell more than 40 million.
 

Olaf

Banned
MS projections for Xbox One sales are (were?) at 400 million to 1 billion lifetime. So says Yusuf Mehdi in May of last year.

Totally unlikely to ever happen. Ever.

Maybe read your own links

On the subject of Xbox One sales and the growth of the market with the herald of next-gen formats, Mehdi continued, “Every generation, as you’ve probably heard, has grown approximately 30%. So this generation is about 300 million units. Most industry experts think the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units. That’s if it’s a game console, over the next decade.

Clearly referring to next gen as a whole.
 

demolitio

Member
I wouldn't say it's selling exceptional by any means given the position they were in. It's selling better than expected though, especially for the price.

They'll always be on the losing side in terms of hardware, so they really have to step up their exclusives portfolio to entice people to pay that sort of price and a Halo/Gears rotation a few years from now isn't the answer. Sony turned the PS3 around thanks to their variety of exclusives that can appeal to a wide range of gamers. MS can do the same as long as they're willing to do what they need to do and admit their problems and change some of their messaging. I'll jump in when the price is right and they have enough exclusives to warrant it but not right now which is odd for me to say since I usually own all systems rather quickly but MS has pulled off the impossible with their approach so far...lol. Halo 5 will be the first major boost for them and they'd be smart to have an affordable bundle by then and if they don't drop Kinect, they sure as hell better develop games that make people feel like it's necessary instead of paying for something that does so little.

It's selling well, but I'm sure it's selling worse than they expected. I really don't think they expected to have consoles left on the shelves and to be in this position with their competition. The good news is both consoles are selling a lot better than most pessimists were expecting on here, especially considering how many "consoles are dead" and "mobile gaming is all that matters to people today" posts that made it sound like these companies would be lucky to sell 1,000 each.

It's not exceptional, but it's good.
 

jamiept

Banned
Exactly. They completely dominated the US and UK last gen. They've lost a lot of ground so far so they can't be too happy and it shows with how aggressively they're trying to make the XB1 attractive to consumers

It might sound foolish, but this is why I am happy for XO to be trailing the PS4 in sales.

If MS keep making things better to keep up, I'm all for it.

It happened with Sony. It's now happening with MS. That is why competition is great!
 
XB1 sales so far are fine. If they keep at this trajectory they will make money off of games and services.


The worry is, and I think it's legitimate, that it's hard to imagine the trajectory holding. They are only out in 13 territories but there's a reason they don't give a shit about tier 2 or tier 3, they aren't going to sell a lot there. The machine was designed for the US first, western EU second. They are behind in both. That is reason for concern.


I'm not ready to jump on the XB1 is doomed train yet. Titanfall, or really any game, can turn the fortunes, but as of now - yes, good start but valid concerns. The PS4 is above and beyond all projections and publishers are re-calibrating to this. I heard that activision is going to make a public announcement about COD changing to the PS4 as lead platform. I have no idea if this means DLC (I assume MS locked that down for multiple years) but COD was a XBOX 360 game that happened to be on the ps3 last gen. That will be a hugely symbolic move... and don't discount what that means to the masses.


Also, don't sleep on inFamous. It will be very, very, close to Titanfall XB1 this month. Sony is also doing far more digital sales than MS so far (which is a weird switch from the middle of last gen).
 

Sky Chief

Member
Maybe read your own links



Clearly referring to next gen as a whole.

Lol, read the next line:

“We think you can go broader than a game console, that’s our aim, and you can go from 400 million to potentially upwards of a billion units. That’s how we’re thinking of the Xbox opportunity as we go forward.”

Clearly not referring to the next gen as a whole but rather the "Xbox opportunity"
 

le.phat

Member
Xbone was always going to sell to the hardcore xbox fan. 4 Million is not bad, but so far the sales seemed incredibly frontloaded, slightly offset by the early Titanfall release. The console fell off the map in Europe, and has significantly lost marketshare in the two markets that largly sustained it in the last gen.

There is no way Ms anticipated this drop off, so in order to call its preformance anything but dissapointing it needs to sell consistantly well in the upcoming months, proving that its reaching beyond its most hardcore fanbase.
 

Chobel

Member
XB1 sales so far are fine. If they keep at this trajectory they will make money off of games and services.


The worry is, and I think it's legitimate, that it's hard to imagine the trajectory holding. They are only out in 13 territories but there's a reason they don't give a shit about tier 2 or tier 3, they aren't going to sell a lot there. The machine was designed for the US first, western EU second. They are behind in both. That is reason for concern.


I'm not ready to jump on the XB1 is doomed train yet. Titanfall, or really any game, can turn the fortunes, but as of now - yes, good start but valid concerns. The PS4 is above and beyond all projections and publishers are re-calibrating to this. I heard that activision is going to make a public announcement about COD changing to the PS4 as lead platform. I have no idea if this means DLC (I assume MS locked that down for multiple years) but COD was a XBOX 360 game that happened to be on the ps3 last gen. That will be a hugely symbolic move... and don't discount what that means to the masses.


Also, don't sleep on inFamous. It will be very, very, close to Titanfall XB1 this month. Sony is also doing far more digital sales than MS so far (which is a weird switch from the middle of last gen).

How will that work? advertising PS4 version and at the same time exclusive DLCs for Xbone?
 

Sakura

Member
xbox one will easily sell more than 40 million.

40 million? I'm not so sure. If it is a 7 year generation maybe, but if it's on trajectory to sell only 40 million in 7 years, then I could see Microsoft just dropping it after 4 or 5 and trying to get the heads up on Sony again.
 
XB1 sales so far are fine. If they keep at this trajectory they will make money off of games and services.


The worry is, and I think it's legitimate, that it's hard to imagine the trajectory holding. They are only out in 13 territories but there's a reason they don't give a shit about tier 2 or tier 3, they aren't going to sell a lot there. The machine was designed for the US first, western EU second. They are behind in both. That is reason for concern.


I'm not ready to jump on the XB1 is doomed train yet. Titanfall, or really any game, can turn the fortunes, but as of now - yes, good start but valid concerns. The PS4 is above and beyond all projections and publishers are re-calibrating to this. I heard that activision is going to make a public announcement about COD changing to the PS4 as lead platform. I have no idea if this means DLC (I assume MS locked that down for multiple years) but COD was a XBOX 360 game that happened to be on the ps3 last gen. That will be a hugely symbolic move... and don't discount what that means to the masses.


Also, don't sleep on inFamous. It will be very, very, close to Titanfall XB1 this month. Sony is also doing far more digital sales than MS so far (which is a weird switch from the middle of last gen).




I have predicted in some other threads, that in my opinion, I could see Infamous outselling the Xbox One version of Titanfall. Like you have said before, the metrics for Infamous are insane (just look at how Infamous is charting on Amazon's top March Sellers, above Titanfall, and how it is charting on Gamestop as well, with the bundle. Then add in YouTube metrics as you have pointed out in the past), the PS4 install base is already pretty large, and they are hungry for an exclusive built for the PS4 from the ground up.


I think the Xbox One is selling well, but has been pointed out before, it is still getting outsold. Microsoft is losing market share in their two biggest markets. Despite overall worldwide sales, losing market share has to be more worrisome.


The sales numbers for consoles, and even the big 2 exclusives Titanfall and Infamous are going to be so huge for both consoles. If Microsoft cannot start significantly making up ground in console sales with Titanfall, I don't know what their next big hitter this year will be that can help them start closing the gap. It may not be a game, but more pack in deals, price cuts, offering Live for 1 year free with a console, something.
 
I think the overall numbers are exceptional, but Microsoft obviously wanted higher numbers and they wanted XBox One to be the next big thing. Then again, for $500, I think they should be grateful to achieve as high as they did while the direct competition is $100 cheaper, more powerful and has most of the same major games available. If Microsoft losing a substantial amount of marketshare to SOny in the US and even the UK, they are in serious trouble imo. I mean it is PS3 all over again with their $500/$600 system. I think a price drop to $400 with a game pack in could give them a respectable push.
 

demolitio

Member
How will that work? advertising PS4 version and at the same time exclusive DLCs for Xbone?

I wonder if there's a clause to get out of the DLC deal with MS. If that did happen, that would be pretty huge considering I know so many casual gamers that only buy consoles for COD (I'll never understand it). It's been kind of funny seeing EA and Activision trade places when it comes to their console deals. EA went all-in on X1 (see what I did there?) while Sony went for Activision for Destiny. Obviously EA's deal is far more substantial and pretty damn stupid since it was so premature based off of assumptions made from the previous generation and MS's policies at the time, but it's still funny nonetheless to see these companies go back and forth like that. I'd love to know how much money those sorts of deals cost Sony and MS.

I hope what you guys are saying about inFAMOUS is correct though. Sucker Punch deserves some attention and the series has always been under-appreciated so Second Son being a huge success would make my day as well since I'm a huge fan of the series. I've been skeptical on its reviews but so far, the impressions have made me feel better about them.

I just never bought into the idea that Titanfall was going to change the game though. Hyping it up so much really helped, but it also caused some unrealistic expectations when it came to the gameplay though. It's going to be a big game no doubt since most COD players will love it, but I didn't see it as a HUGE system seller. It will move some systems, but for people that were likely to get an X1 anyway and were just waiting for a big MP game. I don't think it will sell the console to everyone on the fence and I don't think it will change the console competition nearly as much as people expected/hoped. I say this as an owner of Titanfall on PC who finds it a fun game, but nowhere near what the hype made it out to be.
 

Bitmap Frogs

Mr. Community
It is selling well for a 500$ box, but losing the US and the UK is gonna be catastrophic for them considering they did not make any inroads in the rest of the world (except New Zealand).

I am quite sure they are not happy at the moment since they are bundling their most hyped release for free with every console sold - not only they paid EA for the exclusivity, they're also buying copies themselves. I'd like to know the total cost of Titanfall for Microsoft - it is going to be expensive. There's also the UK pricecut, of course.

March and April are the months to watch. If they don't overtake the PS4 on these two key territories, I'd bet 10$ they're gonna do something drastic for the holiday season later in the year.
 

jayu26

Member
XB1 sales so far are fine. If they keep at this trajectory they will make money off of games and services.


The worry is, and I think it's legitimate, that it's hard to imagine the trajectory holding. They are only out in 13 territories but there's a reason they don't give a shit about tier 2 or tier 3, they aren't going to sell a lot there. The machine was designed for the US first, western EU second. They are behind in both. That is reason for concern.


I'm not ready to jump on the XB1 is doomed train yet. Titanfall, or really any game, can turn the fortunes, but as of now - yes, good start but valid concerns. The PS4 is above and beyond all projections and publishers are re-calibrating to this. I heard that activision is going to make a public announcement about COD changing to the PS4 as lead platform. I have no idea if this means DLC (I assume MS locked that down for multiple years) but COD was a XBOX 360 game that happened to be on the ps3 last gen. That will be a hugely symbolic move... and don't discount what that means to the masses.


Also, don't sleep on inFamous. It will be very, very, close to Titanfall XB1 this month. Sony is also doing far more digital sales than MS so far (which is a weird switch from the middle of last gen).

I would be very happy if inFamous was ahead of Titanfall XB1 this month, but it might be slower burner (like most Sony first party IP).

How confident are you about the Call of Duty stuff?
 
I don't think Microsoft will care much about hardware sales, it will all be about the xbox live numbers.

Are there any figures on how that side of it is going? The assumption with the "always online" model might have been near 1:1.

If they are not getting a good conversion rate given the "forced" changes and now Titanfall, they might be very concerned.
 
They should have launched with titanfall and Halo. Or titanfall and gears. The wait for a new halo and gears is gonna kill this console.



Honestly, I am not even sure if those titles are as important as they once were. Judgement to my knowledge didn't perform near as well as expected and it seems like most people were disappointed in Halo 4. I think they will perform exceptionally well especially Halo, but I am not sure if those are the XB1 saviors.
 

David___

Banned
It is selling well for a 500$ box, but losing the US and the UK is gonna be catastrophic for them considering they did not make any inroads in the rest of the world (except New Zealand).

I am quite sure they are not happy at the moment since they are bundling their most hyped release for free with every console sold - not only they paid EA for the exclusivity, they're also buying copies themselves.

Did I miss something here?

I'd like to know the total cost of Titanfall for Microsoft - it is going to be expensive. There's also the UK pricecut, of course.
It probably was a fraction of what they would've payed had they made the deal after sale numbers came in. MS got TF for a steal.

March and April are the months to watch. If they don't overtake the PS4 on these two key territories, I'd bet 10$ they're gonna do something drastic for the holiday season later in the year.
Agreed.
 

bebop242

Member
And this is exactly why it's good for the consumers, that they haven't managed to get a lion's share of the market this time. Locking up 3rd party content is only good for them, not the gamers.


This right here is the main reason I wanted a strong start for the ps4. The fact that its doing that with half of EA being rented out to MS, is amazing.
 
Their business plans are so different it gets hard to compare MS and Sony. Sony is selling hardware, MS is selling software, an OS for your TV, and cloud services. The way they bundle and price makes it hard to really see how each is doing.
 
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