In what way are MAU more conclusive? It's just a way to obfuscate the success of Xbox by lumping everyone with an outlook account as a potential purchaser of Xbox content. If it was kept to Xbox it would be fine but it isn't. The net is cast so wide that my grandma probably qualifies as a MAU to MS and she uses a fucking iPad.
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Pachter: Microsoft Has An Inferiority Complex Right Now
- Thread starter Rymuth
- Start date
Why would somebody that buys a console but now only uses it for media or less than a "normal" gamer in any capacity be a valuable metric?
Cheers.
Well for one anyone who is playing CoD once a month would also bring paying them for the privilege of doing so online so that seems like a pretty valid metric in that instance. When you start getting into them counting people who simply log into Xbox Live be it on PC or XB1 though that's a whole other story.
Basically it's a metric for engagement which is valuable for them in selling ad space and determining potential profit margins for post release content and micro transactions. So yea it's basically for the same reasons it's used for mobile developers.
ScientificPizza
Banned
"Pachter:" should be randomised in the same way that "PSA" is
I don't know, would it be? Just post hardware and software sales, maybe throw in Gold sub #'s. Why would any other numbers matter for their bottom line?
Yeah the gold subs are one thing, but I thought MAUs were just on Xbox, edited to reflect that. There's no flipping way the shareholders hear MAUs and are like "OK sounds good thanks"
Shareholders by and large are not really concerned with the Xbox business at all except in so much as it impacts or influences MS' core profit drivers OS &a productivity software development. It's just a remarkably small part of the overall business. It's not as if there are people specially buying stocks in Xbox itself.
That's precisely why they are able to get away with obky reporting MAU: their investors simply don't care enough about it to press them on it for more detailed figures.
Nobody is saying it's more conclusive but it is a valid metric just for entirely different things than platform sales which is why their replacing sales with said metric has been met with such consternation.
It's basically like somebody asking a doctor what a patients fever is and then the doctor telling them their blood pressure. Both measurement have value and are tangentially related but have totally different uses/implications for diagnosis.
Mass_Pincup
Banned
Yes, I personally tried it for both since I need it.
The Vita can too, apparently the 360 could too, I even made a thread about it.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
You don't luck into a position like that. He's very smart.
Outrun
Member
At least the games are not too shabby....
CrispyBoar
Banned
That's false with PS4. We didn't have to have an internet connection in order to play games from day one with PS4 like with Xbox One.
There are also plenty of games on PS4 that we can play without requiring an internet connection as a whole.
Chiggs
Gold Member
Your point with the UI is spot on, and the game installs are still strangely slow, but I've been impressed with the One S in the two months I've had it.
I imagine Scorpio will be a substantial improvement.
Bits N Pieces
Member
Pachter's always right.
Yeah that one had to hurt. "We've decided to not require an online connection for using the console. You just have to download the patch that removes the requirement"
Mass_Pincup
Banned
I could start TW3 and Bloodborne without a internet connection for the first boot, I couldn't start ReCore without an internet connection for the first time.
Thats a pretty significant difference.
WARNING: FUEGO TAKE BELOW
Microsoft does not have an inferiority complex because they're Microsoft.
Behind is all relative as Microsoft can solve this by leveraging a lot of their in-house services. They need to pour more money into differentiating Xbox from PS4 while fighting for customer dollars.
They have the infrastructure
They have superior software expertise
They have cloud platforms and the biggest OS in the world.
They have HoloLens.
Push services that differ from what Sony or anyone else offers. Stop confusing customers as well.
I've never owned a Microsoft console directly at any point and am a Sony/Sega/Nintendo lifer so this is not a shill post. I want better competition from Microsoft in or order to convince me to join their platform.
Microsoft does not have an inferiority complex because they're Microsoft.
Behind is all relative as Microsoft can solve this by leveraging a lot of their in-house services. They need to pour more money into differentiating Xbox from PS4 while fighting for customer dollars.
They have the infrastructure
They have superior software expertise
They have cloud platforms and the biggest OS in the world.
They have HoloLens.
Push services that differ from what Sony or anyone else offers. Stop confusing customers as well.
I've never owned a Microsoft console directly at any point and am a Sony/Sega/Nintendo lifer so this is not a shill post. I want better competition from Microsoft in or order to convince me to join their platform.
Dee Dah Dave
Member
Their fate was sealed before the generation started, due to all the fuck ups. Gifting Sony the victory.
All they can do now is keep chipping away with good stuff and claw their way back in key markets. It's going to take a while though, if it happens at all.
I'm pretty sure they know the severity of the fuck ups though, and what it cost them. I doubt they need Pachter to tell them.
All they can do now is keep chipping away with good stuff and claw their way back in key markets. It's going to take a while though, if it happens at all.
I'm pretty sure they know the severity of the fuck ups though, and what it cost them. I doubt they need Pachter to tell them.
Crooked16th
Banned
Should they have just rolled over and died?
Poimandres
Member
I don't own one, but stories like these make it seem like the Xbox One has issues on a fundamental level. The added features are really great but it's ridiculous that the OS and UI aren't as good as the 360 which was pretty damn smooth. If MS engineers can't solve the issues by now, they will likely never be solved!
Hopefully the Scorpio isn't hamstrung by the Xbox One.
Lion Heart
Banned
No he didnt.
I agree, but it's the way people assume that because of the W10 store MAU are a useful replacement for sales figures which is just utter FUD.
Firstly, hardcore consumption on that storefront is negligible and there is only a very thin crossover of users. The two markets shouldn't be accumulated into a single number because they're not the same thing. I don't think MAU as it stands helps us understand user engagement with Xbox products that aren't called Bejeweled or whatever.
Secondly, hardware sales and attach ratio pretty much get us to the same conclusion as MAU in the console space - we're looking at how active he user base is so we don't really need to just look at people that log in once a month. As said above, subscription numbers are an additional figure that is helpful.
The question then is, why avoid these figures and rely on MAU? And the answer is simply to inflate the figures far beyond they ever could do by just using Xbox consoles.
Anyway, I have a feeling we actually agree to the larger point so no worries man.
Hockeymac18
Member
Like I said the PS4 is better there, and the day 1 patch is an illustration of that (which I agree sucks for anyone without Internet).
But The PS4 is still a console designed for an Internet connection, and I find most of the offline differences between them to be not very significant. Like I said, the PS4 might be a bit less useless than the XB1 without an Internet connection, but I personality wouldn't want to use it that way. You'd miss out on a ton of features, not to mention patches for most games out.
You can play some XB1 games offline, too, by the way...
Badlucktroll
Member
How many units worldwide is Xbox One to Ps4?
FinaruDensetsu
Member
Don't think anyone can answer that with any degree of certainty. Only ps4 and mau numbers.
Eh I don't agree about attach ratio being the same. This could be argued in previous genes perhaps but in this current landscape dominated by post purchase micro and macro transactions MAU offers a dataset more useful in determining the potential profit margins of those sorts of things. Clearly this sort of strategy is one that MS has placed high importance on as nearly all of their first party content has made ample use of micro transactions in some form or another so it makes sense that MAU would be an important metric for them to measure.
However, I do agree that it is not a replacement for sales data since, as I previously mentioned, sales data provides an entirely different view of platform health and is used as a metric when evaluating different factors than what one could derive from MAU. So, yes, the idea that MAU could somehow be a replacement for the reporting of sales data is absurd but it's important to also recognize that while MAU can't replace sales it does have some value as a metric in its own right.
SolarMystic
Banned
It's grossly over exaggerated. I have both systems and the difference is negligible in most cases, minimal in others.
Ps4 UI is incredibly more simple for newcomers though.
Pathfinder
Member
Hey, you guys.
Pachter needs some attention.
Pachter needs some attention.
Nocturno999
Member
He didn't gave a reason why there's an inferiority complex. "They are losing" it's not a valid reason.
Head.spawn
Junior Member
Wasn't the Wii ahead for a long time?
bitbydeath
Member
Pachter doesn't follow the industry, the industry follows him.
LurkFish17
Member
Some of the super hardcore fanboys do for sure.
Final Verdict
Member
If having an Inferiority complex compels them to make a more powerful console than the competition for the same or better price, then I'm ok with it.
Kind of ridiculous Pachter saying that Xbox has never been behind in the US. But I guess it makes for a more dramatic story.
Kind of ridiculous Pachter saying that Xbox has never been behind in the US. But I guess it makes for a more dramatic story.
bitbydeath
Member
CrispyBoar
Banned
What I'm trying to say is, is that the PS4 is made much more differently from Xbox One in which it never requires online to boot up a game (unless a game is online only), as PS4 doesn't have mandatory DRM inside of the console like Xbox One does.
These threads below are examples of trying to use Xbox One when you don't have an internet connection:
The issue of using Xbox One as an "semi" offline console.
What The Hell Is Wrong With Microsoft (offline play issues)?
The only reason this happens with games, is because that 3rd party publishers have purposely made games incomplete so that it would be required to download patches online just to make games feel complete.
Hockeymac18
Member
Well I agree with you that it sucks.
professor_t
Member
This is yet another definitive sign of Microsoft's resurgence.
The PS4 is a superior console, but I actually and perhaps insanely think that Microsoft has at least tried to do better things with their library. Games like Sunset Overdrive, Killer Instinct, Rare Replay, Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break, and Halo 5 (especially MP) are fairly diverse and enjoyable entries in their catalogue (and Gears appears to be headed in that direction).
This is a humorous observation based on a professional analyst's alleged penchant for baseless statements.
The PS4 is a superior console, but I actually and perhaps insanely think that Microsoft has at least tried to do better things with their library. Games like Sunset Overdrive, Killer Instinct, Rare Replay, Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break, and Halo 5 (especially MP) are fairly diverse and enjoyable entries in their catalogue (and Gears appears to be headed in that direction).
EASTC0AST_GH05T
Member
Tired of looking forward to, wish I could get a good Xbox now.
They probably should. They really fucked up hard with the XB1. So hard that despite having waaaay more ties to the Xbox ecosystem I almost opted for PS4 out the gate (and honestly probably should have). Good to see them with their backs against the wall because launch era Xbox was the worst.
Dash_Riprock
Member
A company can feel emotions? What's next? Companies treated as people? No court is that stupid!
But seriously, Xbox division maybe, but I doubt MS as a whole gives a damn. They have far bigger markets to worry about.
Man reading this thread you'd think Xbox was going the way of the Zune (and maybe it is? idk I was kind of hoping Amazon was going to buy Xbox back in 2014). I mean I'm not wild about my Xbox and I'm certainty not going to go out of my way to try and defend it by any means but people seem to harbor some sort of resentment towards that box. Was it the reveal? Or is it just MS in general?
johnnydrama
Banned
If this so called inferiority complex means Microsoft keep coming up with good products such as Xbox One S, and great games like Forza Horizon 3 and Gears 4, then I don't mind.
Crayon
Member
It actually is. When they're in the zone, it's mandatory spy camera and online check in.
Omnistalgic
Member
Meh...
This is interesting why?
This is interesting why?
VincentMatts
Member
Cause NeoGAF hangs on his every word. They're obsessed with him