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[borghe]

So they are saying selling 1,000,000 is no different then 400K in a week? And then they are saying the Xbox 360 was THE MOST DOMINANT CONSOLE OF THE GENERATION?

No, they said "one of", which it was as long as you were talking UK or USA. More CYA.

A click bait piece if I've ever seen one (and apparently we've seen plenty over the past few months)

What is there to read into? It sold a million units in 24 hours, it will sell another million in Europe next week, and another million after restocks before the end of the year. That is a larger userbase in a month than the Wii U has accumulated in a year.

Are they trying to tell me mobile phones are going to replace my console still?

No, what they are trying to tell you is that

a) MS will (no matter by what metric) have a successful launch this week
b) MS could still lead the generation

This is honestly what they are trying to say here. Not quite sure why.... but yeah...

 

[haihoo]

It's definitely a very good indicator.

It's not, and that is what this article is all about.

 

[Muppet of a Man]

Pointless damage control article it's pointless damage control.

 

[maverick40]

What is with this obvious journalistic bias against Sony? This is getting ridiculous

 

[quest]

He's right in the sense that a lot of the celebrating and some of the crazy declarations people have made are way too premature.

A million in a day is an amazing number of units, Sony and its fans should be very happy about it. However, it doesn't guarantee anything moving forward. It doesn't mean that Sony can draw in the casual and non/gamer. It doesn't mean that mobile won't continue to eat away market share and dev share. It doesn't even mean that Sony will take back North America.

Its the first step in a long journey.

Pretty much this to many are ready to go George bush and get on a air craft carrier with the mission accomplished banner. The PS4 had a great launch but still long ways to go. I have no doubts the PS4 being the best selling console this generation. The question is can it sell enough to off set the 100+ million lost sales from Nintendo and MS tanking.

 

[funkystudent]

To the mass consumer? It doesn't.

To hardcore gamers who spend all day forums? Yes, but those people are in the minority.

Yeah probably.

But coming from a website like Ars Technica, a site that states as one of its goals is to inform the more knowledgeable readers and which has spent its entire existence saying specs and graphical quality matters its easy to see why people saw that article as fishy.

 

[viveks86]

Kyle Orland is the new Leadbetter.

I'm actually fond of the original now.

 

[x-Lundz-x]

No worry Ars, I'm not reading much into your integrity either.

 

[Claude Kenni]

People are criticizing it..I see nothing wrong with that. What's pathetic is the authors response on twitter

The response on Twitter is over the top but based on very real and justifiable frustration. Sure there are valid criticisms but there's also a mob rushing to accuse the site of bias, to say this article is absolutely intended to downplay the PS4 for console war-type reasons, to protect the Xbox One, and so on.

It happens constantly and it's pathetic. The article is very reasonable and many here think so. The problem is the mob of Sony fans putting any writer who doesn't write about the PS4 with an extremely positive tone on trial.

Articles like this are not meant to protect the Xbox One, it has almost nothing to do with it. It is not meant to discount what the PS4 has done. It's meant to give some context and a level-headed view of what exactly first day sales mean or don't mean.

Articles that don't ride the hype-train should be congratulated. Instead they're picked apart by fanboys who have developed an unwarranted persecution complex. It's sickening to see happen every day, the fans that are the majority throw their weight around often when it's not appropriate. This article is valid and completely innocent, yet there's a witch hunt because it doesn't congratulate the PS4 enough.

 

[CronoShot]

They aren't wrong, but it seems like a rather pointless article.

We can't see the future? No shit.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

That resolution piece coming from them was the first major eyebrow raiser for me. This is coming from the site that used to post brilliant tech articles like this

http://arstechnica.com/features/2005/06/xbox360-2/

It's absolutely baffling how low they seem to be sinking.

They need to stick to the tech and report the facts instead of injecting their own silly opinions into things and get all pissy when called out.

 

[TechnicPuppet]

I agree with them. I think both the new consoles will be struggling to sell early next year.

 

[Winterfang]

Let me get this straight, any site that looks at Sony/PS3/PS4 unfavorably is either trolling, doing it for the hits, have a hidden agenda or is just paid by Microsoft? I hate the Phrase persecution complex but that's borderline conspiracy theory shit.

 

[Instro]

I feel like this could be said of any big product launch.

 

[Fantasmo]

Man, I could have written that article.

 

[jmdajr]

360 and PS3 are pretty much even at this point. What I wonder is if they still can overtake the Wii?

Both still behind by 20 million.

 

[dreamer3kx]

Surprised Neowin didnt have this up.

 

[Spinluck]

One of the Ars staff is not happy with the opinions we're posing on their opinion article

Somebody call the wambulance.

 

[CoG]

Ars are becoming the biggest Xbox shill site on the net. Half their mods are MS employees and the other half are sycophants. I argued with those idiots for months about RRoD when the thread here became over 100 pages and none of them would admit it was a problem until the Peter Moore statement went out.

 

[miDnIghtEr20C]

isnt AC 900p right now? Quite possibly dropping it manually to 720p might look a lot worse than 900p.

Or 900p... ya sorry.. either one. Couldn't remember exactly. I just know he though he was playing in 1080p this whole time. So he said he went down... and then went back up to 1080p and could see the huge difference.

But he was playing in 900p the whole time. There is no patch yet. Ha ha ha. It was great.

 

[FinalStageBoss]

Sounding salty as fuck.

Shouldn't these people be happy the console did so well?

 

[StanTowers]

I just want to see what he is going to write when the Xbox launches.

 

[Sleeplessnights]

The downplaying is probably the worst thing we've seen recently since the whole resolution debacle. Apparently nothing matters.

That reminds me of the horrible Polygon stream of downplaying everything that's good about the PS4.

Just be fucking excited, holy shit. It's okay.

Unless of course they have a bias, then that's a different story.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

Arstechnica: Don’t read

Sound advice.

 

[Prince Vultan]

Sell out, record breaking launch? Meh, don't read too much into it.

Embarassing.

 

[weeeeezy]

It seems like the fact that sony DID ship 1 million consoles for launch in one territory is being overlooked. It seems like this gargantuan feat is being overlooked and now people are saying, "Yeah, any console could do it."

Yeah? Well why hasn't it been done before?

Supply issues, depending on what you are shipping it can be difficult to ship one million of anything. Don't be naive to think there are less than 1 million eager xbox fans willing to buy the one on launch.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

What is with this obvious journalistic bias against Sony? This is getting ridiculous

Sony = Japanese
Microsoft = American

gotta protect what's home grown, that's my guess.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Ars Technica has been 0/5 in all their next gen coverage so far, from everything I've read.

 

[Freki]

Some of the people in this thread are being ridiculous here thinking this is some Microsoft pr, get your head out of your ass please.

I don't think that the majority of people criticizing this article see it as direct PR from Microsoft and neither do I.
But this article comes from a tech website that tried to tell us that a resolution difference of 720p vs 1080p doesn't matter. Combine this with the article at hand trying to downplay a record breaking console launch and it can't be hard to see why people are left with an impression of damage control.

Let's be honest, if they ship 1 million Xboxes for launch they will sell all of them. It's not the launch window that determines how well you do in the console generation.

Of course the generation isn't decided in the first 24h but it's an impressive start in a single territory as Europe has to wait 11 more days...

 

[weekend_warrior]

Arstechnica, now the premier place to get sales forecasts.

 

[LowEndTorque]

From Ars:

The real question is whether a company can ride that early success to continued sales through the next spring and beyond

Exactly.

And the way to analyze the question is this: There are two fundamental factors that we know for a fact, dictates the long-term success of a console: price and software.

Price is massively in Sony's favour. They hit the next gen sweet spot and they are well positioned to cut the price even more if need be.

Software is also massively in Sony's favor because (a) Third party studios love the PS4 (b) PS4 will have the best console versions of multiplatform games and (c) Sony arguably has the best stable of 1st party devs in the industry for exclusives.

The article just looked at previous launch numbers and used them to pose a question. They just left the question hanging there and didn't do any analysis into it. The fact that the article ignored these two essential factors in their assessment of the topic, makes it an incomplete and therefore useless analysis. I don't have a problem with taking a sober look at what the launch numbers mean, in fact it's a good idea and what journos should be doing. But try to provide more than empty and meaningless fluff.

 

[Chuck]

That's it. Removing ars from rss for good. What a shitty bunch of clowns

 

[Zuhzuhzombie!!]

Troll~!!


First day sales don't mean anything in the long run? Well no shit.

 

[kyser73]

'Microsoft are so confident of their production capacity they say there won't be a need for pre-ordering' (paraphrase)

Well that's one way of looking at it...

 

[pants]

Sound advice.

Yeah this thread was the last time i'm giving them a click.

 

[EGM1966]

I don't have an issue with the basic thrust of the piece - that getting off to a good start doesn't mean it's all over bar the shouting.

What I do have a growing issue with is the clear and consistent "half full / half empty" skewing going on with most US / Western coverage of the consoles which pretty consistently downplays or cautions on PS4 good news while advising not to worry too much about XB1 bad news and give it more time.

It might be they are just reacting to the fact PS4 has mainly been good news blessed and the XB1 has been swamped by bad news and in each case they want to play devil's advocate - but it's getting just a bit silly now in how one note it all is.

 

[MMaRsu]

I'm actually quite upset at all these so called 'journalists' when it's clear they are nothing more than raving fanboys wanting to write about vidyagamez.

I mean why is there no fucking site where people who are meant to review stuff do it without bias and without any preconceived judgements?

 

[borghe]

I just want to see what he is going to write when the Xbox launches.

xbone sells less

even though not as many units as sony, it still can't be seen as anything other than a huge success selling significantly more units than 360 showing there are plenty of people who really do care about games and media over resolution and tech specs

xbone sells more (in 11 additional countries)

as successful as Sony's launch was, clearly the demand for the market leader is still there and a shows that people really do care about games and media over resolution and tech specs

 

[quest]

Let me get this straight, any site that looks at Sony/PS3/PS4 unfavorably is either trolling, doing it for the hits, have a hidden agenda or is just paid by Microsoft? I hate the Phrase persecution complex but that's borderline conspiracy theory shit.

Yes it has gotten to that point. People are even turning on each other here. Like those who got raked over the coals for the DS4 stick problems they had. Calling them out as making it up as MS shills ect. It is sad that unless a site does 100% positive articles on the PS4 it is in MS pocket. Sites can't even put factual numbers in perspective now I guess.

 

[Orlics]

What exactly is the issue with this post? I personally didn't know that there's little correlation between early sales and lifetime sales. I kind of just assumed that the PS2 easily outsold the Xbox and Gamecube's first week sales, but I learned that I was wrong after reading this.

Understanding how these sales numbers relate to each other is valuable information. Y'all have to stop reading this shit through the lens of "ok, does this make the PS4 look good, or does it make it look bad?" because that's just so stupid.

 

[BlazingDarkness]

Sell out, record breaking launch? Meh, don't read too much into it.

Embarassing.

They refer to Xbox sales (and potential sales) as 'healthy' twice in the OP, and then go on to compare possible PS4 sales drops to consoles that were not Sony's responsibility (Dreamcast, Wii U etc) shit is hilarious.

 

[Bor]

On the one hand what they are stating is true and everyone here knows that, but on the other hand the timing of the article imo gives me a damage control vibe

 

[kinoki]

One of the Ars staff is not happy with the opinions we're posing on their opinion article

Why are "journalists" attacking gamers? There's no reason to be rude.

So, we have a console that sells a record amount of units in a day. It completly eclipses all previous launches. And from what I could gather by the article Sony is pretty much having the same stock as the previous launches.

Of course we can't blame ice cream for boating accidents and of course a strong launch can lead to a slow life-cycle. But, and a big but, why are journalists even interested in a story like this unless they either 1) have an agenda, or 2) want clicks?

What I can't get my head around is why write an article and then attack the readers?

 

[Anticitizen One]

The reason Xbox and Gamecube didn't take off after initial launch is because they dropped the ball when it came to exclusives.

 

[dr_rus]

Still, we recommend a bit of caution before looking at those numbers and assuming that the PlayStation 4 will be a long-term, market-leading hit.

Sure. It's likely to crash and burn just like PS3 did while being in a much worse situation. Right?

 

[Skilletor]

Supply issues, depending on what you are shipping it can be difficult to ship one million of anything. Don't be naive to think there are less than 1 million eager xbox fans willing to buy the one on launch.

Did I say that? I'm saying why is the fact that Sony had their shit so together that they DID do it being downplayed. They did it. It has never been done before. This is fact. I don't care what other excuses you want to make up for consoles that haven't done it in the past.

 

[FairXchange]

Don't read too much into Arstechnica.

 

[MercuryLS]

GAF seriously needs to chill, every somewhat critical article about the PS4 turns into some sort of witch hunt where the writer as some sort of agenda. There are holes in his argument, why not point them out rather than just saying "LOL BIASED, ARSETECHNICA SHOULD BE BANNED!".

He makes a salient point but his supporting facts aren't strong enough to back up his hypothesis.

 

[alr1ght]

Or 900p... ya sorry.. either one. Couldn't remember exactly. I just know he though he was playing in 1080p this whole time. So he said he went down... and then went back up to 1080p and could see the huge difference.

But he was playing in 900p the whole time. There is no patch yet. Ha ha ha. It was great.

there's still a huge difference between 900p and 720p, so...

 

[badb0y]

Click bait?

Click bait.