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[TomShoe]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

I would even venture a guess and say the people that work at these companies own the competition consoles too. Unlike most commenters in this thread.

:^)

Spencer knows that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will continue to be compared. "We shipped at the same time and we're in direct competition with the PS4," he admits. "I'm not going to duck that. I want to win. I want to win this generation, but I want to win more than I want the other guy to lose. I own a PS4, and it's not like I want it to get dusty or not have games. But I do want to sell a lot of Xbox Ones, and for many people that's a direct competition with the PS4. As the Xbox team, we are the underdog."

Source

 

[El-Pistolero]

Last year it was for Xbox One, this season could be Xbox's too

In the US, you mean. Worldwide, the PS4 continued its domination.

 

[Sjefen]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

I would even venture a guess and say the people that work at these companies own the competition consoles too. Unlike most commenters in this thread.

That is wrong on so many levels. Of course MS cares about their competetion: why did they drop the kinect? Why did they undercut PS4 with 50$ last holiday? And so on and so on....

 

[Jomjom]

That people (who aren't fans of either system) will buy an Xbox system if it's priced the same as or below the PS equivalent and offers the same or better services.
But if the Xbox is more expensive than the PS it won't sell as much.
360 sold so well/ X1 so badly for that reason.

I really believe a no kinect, no DRM X1 would have been extremly close to the PS4 in sales if it launched that way.

Samsung will learn the same lesson, when the S6 is really more expensive than the IPhone 6.

Can you show me how to travel to the alternate Earth that you live on?

 

[Docflem]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

I would even venture a guess and say the people that work at these companies own the competition consoles too. Unlike most commenters in this thread.

I wonder where this idea that Microsoft, of all companies (you know the one that was nearly destroyed for trying to become a monopoly), no longer cares about market share. Even if they are making a profit (which I have my doubts) that's not good enough for a company as big as MS, they need major return on their money eventually. I guarantee that there are people who's entire jobs are to study sales and the market overall everyday.

Edit:

Can you show me how to travel to the alternate Earth that you live on?

We covered this, it was a language barrier/misunderstanding, read the posts above you.

 

[Rymuth]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

Phil Spencer moved to suddenly money-hat Tomb Raider as a direct response to Uncharted 4 (in his own words)

I'd classify that as giving more than 'zero shit'

 

[Biker19]

New IP that wasn't exclusive -vs.- exclusive that's part of the Xbox brand's biggest series with it being that series true debut on current gen

Not a really good comparison.

While Halo's still popular, it's no longer "Halo 1/2/3 popular," in a sense.

Defining in what way? MS certainly has some titles to bring to bear for the XB1's 2015 holiday season, but it is not very reasonable to assume that Nintendo and Sony will bring nothing to the table for the biggest sales season of the year.

The biggest problem that the XB1 faces is that Microsoft is devaluing it. Shaving $150 off the asking price and removing features a mere year into the system are not generally things that increase consumer confidence. The tactic of dropping price and giving away games did boost sales number in the USA, but what is the long term cost? MS can certainly afford to subsidize their box, but they've also made it unlikely that the average person will be willing to pay a higher price again. Meanwhile, the PS4 is still perceived as maintaining its value and has no trouble selling well even when it has no major titles to crow about. IMO, whar MS needs the most is to boost the value of their product again and make it the console of choice all year around. That's a tough row to hoe, but not impossible.

That's exactly what people like myself have been saying all along.

 

[Ushay]

Holiday is already looking incredible. E3 can only make it better.

 

[Smutpeddler]

For everyone replying to me, you are giving too much mindspace to competition. Exclusives are differentiators. Not emotional chess pieces for fanboys. It's childish and naive to think that way. They want to sell as many consoles as possible. Period.

 

[Final Verdict]

But how low can they keep going though? They've already lowered the price to as low as ~$300 in the first year, and most of us can reasonable assume that Sony will be lowering the PS4 to $300 sometime this year. Is MS really going to go to $250 to counter? $200? It would be absolutely crazy to see the Xbox receive a 50% (or more) price reduction in two years, especially when the 360's price had only been cut $50 from it's original price in that same time span.

I mean I know Microsoft can afford it, but continuous fire sales are not a good way to build momentum (they're actually counter-productive), it's not sustainable.

Oh and Scalebound, like ALL Platinum games not named Metal Gear Rising, isn't going to do anything. It will be a great supplemental niche title that does add value, but it's not going to move consoles by any great amount.

It only reached $350/$450 last year, or $330/$430 if you count Black Friday which means that they cut the price by around $50/$70 in the first year. They will go to $299 this year for sure, but it will likely be a WW price reduction.

Anyways, I think that if Sony does not cut to $299, then they will be fine. I don't think they are going to react and go lower though if Sony does cut to $299....they will just add value bundles like they have in the past....I think they want to stay at the $299 price point for a while.

But the point of this thread is if this will be X1's defining year, and from a exclusive games standpoint, I think it has to be as Halo 5 is coming out alongside a bunch of other big games like Tomb Raider, Forza 6, a Rare game, Fable Legends, a possible Gears remaster of some sort, and more...

I don't think they will top this year (in terms of games) for quite a while.

 

[EGM1966]

I see it as defining in the sense I believe these holidays are last sensible chance for XB1 to overtake PS4 in US and maybe UK.

If by Feb/March 2016 PS4 is still ahead then I reckon PS4 will lead in every region until end of gen.

The XB1 will sell well of course, it'll be priced aggressively with lots of bundles and a mix of exclusives.

 

[Chobel]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

I would even venture a guess and say the people that work at these companies own the competition consoles too. Unlike most commenters in this thread.

Except that when a person purchase a PS4, there's a big chance this person won't ever purchase a XB1, because most people only own one console. The more PS4 sells the more the potential audience for XB1 decreases.

 

[10k]

"Rise of the Tomb Raider" is a multi-platform game, also out for the Xbox 360, so the Xbox One doesn't have that game "all to itself".

All the money ends up in microsofts pocket anyway so the Xbox brand still has a holiday season to itself and it will sell more on the Xbox one.

 

[wapplew]

I wonder where the idea that Forza is a big game came from? If Forza is big then nearly every game is big and sells well. We know this not to be the case.

It sell well enough to sustain 300 staffs studio. No layoff at Turn10.

 

[SmoothRunningGun]

Only system with a big exclusive (Halo) at this point. Sony must have something for E3, right?

 

[Steverulez]

Not MS but the Studio Head of the Black Tusk developers.
There will be sth Gears-related announced at E3.
But NO Collection. And no date confirmed whatsoever.
Everything info is pure speculation.

My bet: Gears 4 in 2016

source:
https://twitter.com/intent/retweet?...6025/&tw_i=578553820344545281&tw_p=tweetembed

He said no Marcus Fenix collection, there are 4 games in the Gears of War franchise, one of which he isn't actually in (well, except for a bit over the coms). Shinobi has hinted at a Gears of War game this year, they definitely have something planned.

I wouldn't personally use indie games in a "list warz", they are certainly nice games and first on Xbox/exclusive whatever but they aren't major releases that will sell consoles and not MS published.

I feel very happy with what we know about so far: Halo 5 Guardians, Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends and Gigantic is a big holiday for them, as yet QB isn't delayed, although I think it is likely, for a couple of reasons.

And they have unannounced stuff too, Press Play have hinted at another game for this year, there are other games that could be announced and released this year (Twisted Pixel, Rare Unity game etc) but could also be next...

It will definitely be their best holiday so far, E3 will be great.

 

[Docflem]

For everyone replying to me, you are giving too much mindspace to competition. Exclusives are differentiators. Not emotional chess pieces for fanboys. It's childish and naive to think that way. They want to sell as many consoles as possible. Period.

Why such a childish response to everyone who took your post at face level and to the time to post well thought out, and sometimes sourced, responses? Business IS competition, and while exclusives, price cuts, etc are not "emotional" they are indeed "chess pieces."

He said no Marcus Fenix collection, there are 4 games in the Gears of War franchise, one of which he isn't actually in (well, except for a bit over the coms). Shinobi has hinted at a Gears of War game this year, they definitely have something planned.

I wouldn't personally use indie games in a "list warz", they are certainly nice games and first on Xbox/exclusive whatever but they aren't major releases that will sell consoles and not MS published.

I feel very happy with what we know about so far: Halo 5 Guardians, Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends and Gigantic is a big holiday for them, as yet QB isn't delayed, although I think it is likely, for a couple of reasons.

And they have unannounced stuff too, Press Play have hinted at another game for this year, there are other games that could be announced and released this year (Twisted Pixel, Rare Unity game etc) but could also be next...

It will definitely be their best holiday so far, E3 will be great.

I don't think there's a collection coming out this year, that whole "no Marcus in judgment" thing seems like it's just trying to hard to twist it into something, I'd be happy to be wrong, cause I havn't finished any of them and I'd buy an xbone bundle with one.

 

[Final Verdict]

Phil Spencer moved to suddenly money-hat Tomb Raider as a direct response to Uncharted 4 (in his own words)

I'd classify that as giving more than 'zero shit'

I agree. They aren't selling in a bubble, and they know that.

I also think though that they are trying to fill 1st party gaps though.
They know they don't have a big action/adventure franchise on for xbox, and this is to try and fill that gap (temporary)
Of coarse Crystal saw this as a good Idea at the time as it would keep them from going head to head with UC4 when they launched on PS4, but now with UC4 delayed, that seems to have backfired on them.
(I'm sure Microsoft is thrilled though)

 

[Dog nose]

It's the best selling Xbox console at this stage of its life ever, point being while it probably will never catch up to PS4 for consoles sold after the initial bad press....it's a huge success

 

[Chobel]

It only reached $350/$450 last year, or $330/$430 if you count Black Friday which means that they cut the price by around $50/$70 in the first year. They will go to $299 this year for sure, but it will likely be a WW price reduction.

Anyways, I think that if Sony does not cut to $299, then they will be fine. I don't think they are going to react and go lower though if Sony does cut to $299....they will just add value bundles like they have in the past....I think they want to stay at the $299 price point for a while.

But the point of this thread is if this will be X1's defining year, and from a exclusive games standpoint, I think it has to be as Halo 5 is coming out alongside a bunch of other big games like Tomb Raider, Forza 6, a Rare game, Fable Legends, a possible Gears remaster of some sort, and more...

I don't think they will top this year (in terms of games) for quite a while.

Next year they'll have the real Rare game (This year it's just Battletoads), Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break (possibly delayed to next year), Forza Horizon 3 (Or another new IP racer game), The real next-gen Gears (pretty big chance it's 2016), and possibly one or two moneyhatted games (They're aggressively shopping for them).
I say 2016 lineup will top this year lineup.

 

[Steverulez]

It's the best selling Xbox console at this stage of its life ever, point being while it probably will never catch up to PS4 for consoles sold after the initial bad press....it's a huge success

I wouldn't call it a "huge success", but I wouldn't call it a failure at this point, they are on a much better path than they were on when it was announced, relative to the Xbox 360 I think it has failed in some things but its good, they need to keep going.

 

[Catatafish]

I wonder where this idea that Microsoft, of all companies (you know the one that was nearly destroyed for trying to become a monopoly), no longer cares about market share. Even if they are making a profit (which I have my doubts) that's not good enough for a company as big as MS, they need major return on their money eventually. I guarantee that there are people who's entire jobs are to study sales and the market overall everyday.

Edit:
We covered this, it was a language barrier/misunderstanding, read the posts above you.

I think what people like yourself is failling to realize is that MS is not in the console business for pure profit. it's mostly about integrating you as a consumer in their ecosystem. Think about it, for every Xbox one sold, ideally the profit margin on the hardware is relatively small, I am guessing around $25, but in return you are using Onedrive to upload photos and videos, Bing to search, Xbox live for multiplayer gaming, Xbox store for purchases, Xbox music, internet explorer for browsing, Azure servers that powers everything, and most importantly, real time user activity analysis that could be used to explore other profitable software development avenues. Not only that, MS is using the platform to integrate other business applications from 3rd party developers. This helps in expanding MS relations with software companies, which is vital in the success for Windows, since it's an open source operating system that thrives on 3rd party support.

When it comes to pure gaming development, MS sees the universal application idea an excellent opportunity to encourage developers to adopt windows platform as the most effective approach to reach wider audience. This in theory should reduce risk of development greatly, again not just for gaming, but for other software applications.

Sony on the other hand is mainly a hardware company, their main goal is to profit from selling PS4, (again profit margin on the hardware is low), and with this generation profit from PlayStation+ subscription. That's it, no more possible profit generating avenues to explore, they are stuck. That's one of the reasons they are unable to reduce the price of PS4, since they cannot afford to lose the profit margin so early in the new generation. MS on the other hand is able to competitively price the bone and the best window of opportunity to do so is during holidays.

 

[SgtCobra]

It sell well enough to sustain 300 staffs studio. No layoff at Turn10.

Damn

 

[Roo]

Microsoft would be incredibly stupid to not take advantage of the current situation.
Until E3, we won't know if Nintendo/Sony will have something "big" to offer this holiday season but in case they didn't, Microsoft should go after that weakness, similar to what Sony did after the Microsoft DRM/always online/can't share games fiasco.

These small opportunities are what make or break a console's strenghts.

I don't know, release a big IP this holiday, announce a significant price drop, a huge sale for all games, etc etc.

 

[Steverulez]

I don't think there's a collection coming out this year, that whole "no Marcus in judgment" thing seems like it's just trying to hard to twist it into something, I'd be happy to be wrong, cause I havn't finished any of them and I'd buy an xbone bundle with one.

Microsoft are very specific with their wording and they love to be misleading without actually outright lying. Halo MCC despite its big fuck-ups was still likely financial success despite whatever other issues it may have caused.

They made a point of saying that they are bought all the previous games too when they acquired the Gears of War IP, they will have seen the fan reaction to MCC (or, the response to the hype for what it should have been) and they will not sit on Gears on War until 2016, fans are clamouring and begging for it, its unfathomable, they are going to milk that locust cow until there is nothing left.

Something is assured, its the Xbox 360s 10 year anniversary this year, perhaps they will do their slightly off-timed Anniversary thing to something, but they aren't going to let it sit there.

Next year they'll have the real Rare game (This year it's just Battletoads), Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break (possible delayed to next year), Forza Horizon 3 (Or another new IP racer game), The real next-gen Gears (pretty big chance it's 2016), and possibly one or two moneyhatted games (They're aggressively shopping for them).
I say 2016 lineup will top this year lineup.

Do we even know the bolded is actually true? Theres been rumours for games being exclusive to both systems... Im not expecting MS (or Sony) to have multiple money hats come E3 or Gamescom, they might have 1 each I guess but MS seem to be focusing on their owned IP.

 

[Chobel]

Microsoft are very specific with their wording and they love to be misleading without actually outright lying. Halo MCC despite its big fuck-ups was still likely financial success despite whatever other issues it may have caused.

They made a point of saying that they are bought all the previous games too when they acquired the Gears of War IP, they will have seen the fan reaction to MCC (or, the response to the hype for what it should have been) and they will not sit on Gears on War until 2016, its unfathomable, they are going to milk that locust cow until there is nothing left.

Something is assured, its the Xbox 360s 10 year anniversary this year, perhaps they will do their slightly off-timed Anniversary thing to something, but they aren't going to let it sit there.



Do we even know the bolded is actually true? Theres been rumours for games being exclusive to both systems... Im not expecting MS (or Sony) to have multiple money hats come E3 or Gamescom, they might have 1 each I guess but MS seem to be focusing on their owned IP.

Source is Verendus.

 

[Docflem]

I think what people like yourself is failling to realize is that MS is not in the console business for pure profit. it's mostly about integrating you as a consumer in their ecosystem. Think about it, for every Xbox one sold, ideally the profit margin on the hardware is relatively small, I am guessing around $25, but in return you are using Onedrive to upload photos and videos, Bing to search, Xbox live for multiplayer gaming, Xbox store for purchases, Xbox music, internet explorer for browsing, Azure servers that powers everything, and most importantly, real time user activity analysis that could be used to explore other profitable software development avenues. Not only that, MS is using the platform to integrate other business applications from 3rd party developers. This helps in expanding MS relations with software companies, which is vital in the success for Windows, since it's an open source operating system that thrives on 3rd party support.

When it comes to pure gaming development, MS sees the universal application idea an excellent opportunity to encourage developers to adopt windows platform as the most effective approach to reach wider audience. This in theory should reduce risk of development greatly, again not just for gaming, but for other software applications.

Sony on the other hand is mainly a hardware company, their main goal is to profit from selling PS4, (again profit margin on the hardware is low), and with this generation profit from PlayStation+ subscription. That's it, no more possible profit generating avenues to explore, they are stuck. That's one of the reasons they are unable to reduce the price of PS4, since they cannot afford to lose the profit margin so early in the new generation. MS on the other hand is able to competitively price the bone and the best window of opportunity to do so is during holidays.

No, I've heard that before and I understand the idea of it, how ever all the billions invested still need to be recouped, plus much more. It doesn't matter if it's though gaming, or though windows software sale, they need to make money. In the long run xbox's greatest threat isn't Sony or Nintendo it's the vast amount of investment MS has put into it.

 

[Steverulez]

Source is Verendus.

Im not saying they aren't going to get anything, but as I said, I'm not expecting much, seems like an expensive endeavour for both MS and Sony, they will pick up something that makes sense but I don't think we are going to come to E3 or Gamescom and see them come up with a whole slate of money hats.

This proves that Microsoft has quite a good number of exclusives lined-up for 2015 and beyond !! The only thing is that I'd like them to spread out the games a little bit more throughout the year. Maybe in 2016.

Whilst there is nothing to defend regarding them focusing more on holidays (they obviously do it) I think going forwards we will see them spread things out a bit more, I think both Microsoft and Sony will be wary of launching new IPs in the holidays as well, if QB is delayed to 2016 then I think we will see that and Scalebound in the first half of the year.

 

[truth411]

It's the best selling Xbox console at this stage of its life ever, point being while it probably will never catch up to PS4 for consoles sold after the initial bad press....it's a huge success

That's because this console generation launch was very front loaded, the X1 has no chance whatsoever (not even remotely) to match or exceed the 360's 85+ million sales worldwide. They are not the market leader in U.S. and even if they were they would need to completely DOMINANT U.S. for respectable worldwide sales, ain't happening. It's only a matter of time before the X1 falls behind the 360, again not if but when.

 

[2thepoint]

I think MS is quite happy to keep selling every month. For the most part they don't give a shit what Sony sells. Their job is to maximize their sales and then have each one of those units keep generating more sales and revenue. The mentality in here that they are watching the sales like we do is wrong.

They have internal sales numbers and trends. They can watch the market change real time. They also have to plan these holiday seasons years in advance. They give almost zero shits what Sony or Nintendo do.

I would even venture a guess and say the people that work at these companies own the competition consoles too. Unlike most commenters in this thread.

Oh yeah, explains why they have released countless bundles, offers, and promotions that are borderline desperation just to become competition to PS4 (which only applies to US, as Europe has gone PS4), and it's still wiping the floor with Xbox One.

Dropping Kinect - which was supposedly an integral part of the system.

Money-hatting FIFA features in Europe, along with offering the game free at launch in 2013 did nothing.

Their profit margins were probably obliterated from bundling full releases (at the time) of Assassin's Creed Unity, and also Black Flag, along with a $50 price cut, and free games, free Xbox Live, and retailer promotions during Holiday 2014, and even now, that bundle, which includes 2 games and is $50 cheaper than the base PS4 is at 50 something on the Amazon charts and dropping, along with the MCC bundle.

What are they going to do next, because alarm bells are definitely ringing at Microsoft?

They definitely care what Sony is selling, as any corporation would, when the competition is exterminating them on a worldwide basis, and even on their home turf where they only seem to get a bit of marketshare during the Holiday season, only for it to be taken back again during the 9-10 months it's outsold by a console raking in profit and marketshare.

 

[Pristine_Condition]

But MCC came with an exclusive beta of Halo 5... So their big holiday 2014 push was Halo, this year will be Halo again.

Which begs the question "How many Halo fans haven't already bought their XBone?"

Anecdotal, but everyone I know who would go out and buy a console for Halo, already bought a console for MCC.

 

[Biker19]

I think what people like yourself is failling to realize is that MS is not in the console business for pure profit.

You're naive if you really believe that.

If that were true, than Microsoft would have no problem lowering the price of the Xbox One to $300 instead of $350 back a while ago.

 

[blakep267]

Which begs the question "How many Halo fans haven't already bought their XBone?"

Anecdotal, but everyone I know who would go out and buy a console for Halo, already bought a console for MCC.

You could say that for every high profile game though. But when those big games come out people still buy consoles for them.

 

[Final Verdict]

Next year they'll have the real Rare game (This year it's just Battletoads), Scalebound, Crackdown, Quantum Break (possibly delayed to next year), Forza Horizon 3 (Or another new IP racer game), The real next-gen Gears (pretty big chance it's 2016), and possibly one or two moneyhatted games (They're aggressively shopping for them).
I say 2016 lineup will top this year lineup.

I don't know....Forza Horizon is not as big as Forza Motorsport...
Gears is big, but not as big as Halo...
Crackdown is not a popular as Tomb Raider
And we still don't know what Rare is doing, just that they will likely release a game this year.

Scalebound is a wildcard, but even if it is great, I don't know that it will sale good cause Platinum...

In anycase, I think we know that 2016 should be really good, but it is hard to say if it will top 2015 at this point. Especially if Halo 5 ends up being good.

 

[Final Verdict]

Source is Verendus.

You have a source? (thought you were just speculating)

Link plz? And who is Verendus?

 

[bidguy]

You have a source? (thought you were just speculating)

Link plz? And who is Verendus?

hes an insider, dont know is hes reliable but i think he got a lot of stuff right when bloodborne wasnt out yet

 

[Catatafish]

You're naive if you really believe that.

If that were true, than Microsoft would have no problem lowering the price of the Xbox One to $300 instead of $350 back a while ago.

What I meant is pure hardware profit. They are competitively pricing their hardware less than one year from it's release, do not get caught up with the exact numbers here.

 

[Hans.Gruber]

He said no Marcus Fenix collection, there are 4 games in the Gears of War franchise, one of which he isn't actually in (well, except for a bit over the coms). Shinobi has hinted at a Gears of War game this year, they definitely have something planned.

I wouldn't personally use indie games in a "list warz", they are certainly nice games and first on Xbox/exclusive whatever but they aren't major releases that will sell consoles and not MS published.

I feel very happy with what we know about so far: Halo 5 Guardians, Quantum Break, Forza Motorsport 6, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends and Gigantic is a big holiday for them, as yet QB isn't delayed, although I think it is likely, for a couple of reasons.

And they have unannounced stuff too, Press Play have hinted at another game for this year, there are other games that could be announced and released this year (Twisted Pixel, Rare Unity game etc) but could also be next...

It will definitely be their best holiday so far, E3 will be great.

I think so, too. Even if nothing besides Lara, Forza 6 and Halo 5 drops.
That is still an amazing lineup. As far as games go, MS really delivered so far.
Right now I'm playing that free Fast and Furoius FH2 tie in.

Oh and yes I played Judgement, but IIRC it was not called Gears 4.
If they get a new Gears done in time for a 2015 launch I will be even happier, but I don't wanna set myself up for disappointment so my bet is mainline Gears in 2016.
I hope Shinobi is right tho.
It is also interesting that the developer tweeted about "projects".
But as I said that's speculation.

 

[DarthWalden]

You guys should be more concerned about Q1 2016 as Sony will have Uncharted 4 and what will MS have?

 

[Nightengale]

Just because MS is (possibly) 'aggresively shopping' for them doesn't mean MS will actually get big scoops.

I recall it being mentioned somewhere that MS tried to get the next Mass Effect, and EA this time said "nah."

 

[Catatafish]

You guys should be more concerned about Q1 2016 as Sony will have Uncharted 4 and what will MS have?

Quantum Break?

 

[Final Verdict]

hes an insider, dont know is hes reliable but i think he got a lot of stuff right when bloodborne wasnt out yet

Interesting.
I'v never heard of him. Is he old, or new?

I'v only heard of Shinobi, CBOAT, ntkrnl.

 

[Nightengale]

You guys should be more concerned about Q1 2016 as Sony will have Uncharted 4 and what will MS have?

Spring isn't necessarily Q1. Could be, but not necessarily.

Anyway, Spring 2016 is pretty much Sony's "Holiday" anyway, with UC4, SFV, and Morpheus.

 

[D4Danger]

You guys should be more concerned about Q1 2016 as Sony will have Uncharted 4 and what will MS have?

Timed Raider DLC

you know it

 

[onQ123]

The Sarcastic Dude

 

[AgentP]

Which begs the question "How many Halo fans haven't already bought their XBone?"

Anecdotal, but everyone I know who would go out and buy a console for Halo, already bought a console for MCC.

And the new bundle is selling like shit on Amazon, behind the Unity bundle at #64 right now.

 

[Chobel]

I don't know....Forza Horizon is not as big as Forza Motorsport...
Gears is big, but not as big as Halo...
Crackdown is not a popular as Tomb Raider
And we still don't know what Rare is doing, just that they will likely release a game this year.

Scalebound is a wildcard, but even if it is great, I don't know that it will sale good cause Platinum...

In anycase, I think we know that 2016 should be really good, but it is hard to say if it will top 2015 at this point. Especially if Halo 5 ends up being good.

You said in terms of games, not in terms of sale potential. Also Tomb Raider is timed exclusive, any true exclusive is better than it.

 

[Omnistalgic]

I think MS actually look the strongest right now and I don't plan on getting one, so trying to be as unbiased as possible, but Tomb Raider debuting on X1, Halo 5, Forza 6, and possible Gears collection is a great f'n Holiday IMO. Not good, but great. 3 out of 4 are possible big time sellers. And Forza still sells extremely well, just doesn't reach numbers as high as the other 3. This dismissing of re-masters is just utter nonsense. The Last of Us Remastered is absolutely the best way to experience the game. If Gears of War collection happens and improves the graphics/frame-rate etc...it will be a great reason to own X1 IMO, games are games, I don't really care if they existed before on other platforms.

Now, having said that, it is a bit premature. Big games for Nintendo and Sony were delayed, but we still know hardly anything about a lot of WWS at Sony, and it isn't like Nintendo is the Zelda factory. Tbh though, a nice chunk of the best games on WiiU have already been released IMO, I'm thinking next year is when we'll start seeing WiiU go budget prices. If you are just jumping into next-gen, X1 looking strong for a western audience atm.

 

[Hans.Gruber]

Oh yeah, explains why they have released countless bundles, offers, and promotions that are borderline desperation just to become competition to PS4 (which only applies to US, as Europe has gone PS4), and it's still wiping the floor with Xbox One.

Dropping Kinect - which was supposedly an integral part of the system.

Money-hatting FIFA features in Europe, along with offering the game free at launch in 2013 did nothing.

Their profit margins were probably obliterated from bundling full releases (at the time) of Assassin's Creed Unity, and also Black Flag, along with a $50 price cut, and free games, free Xbox Live, and retailer promotions during Holiday 2014, and even now, that bundle, which includes 2 games and is $50 cheaper than the base PS4 is at 50 something on the Amazon charts and dropping, along with the MCC bundle.

What are they going to do next, because alarm bells are definitely ringing at Microsoft?

They definitely care what Sony is selling, as any corporation would, when the competition is exterminating them on a worldwide basis, and even on their home turf where they only seem to get a bit of marketshare during the Holiday season, only for it to be taken back again during the 9-10 months it's outsold by a console raking in profit and marketshare.

Two points I might add:

1) These FIFA features you are talking about have been "only on xbox" on 360, too.
And to call them features is also exaggerating too much. There are certain FIFA Legends (old players) who are only on Xbox. 99% percent of FIFA users probably don't know about them. I don't even know how to utilise them.

2) "Exterminating" is something you might read in an old Nazi Propaganda Book, but we are talking about one company selling more units of a similar product than the competition. Both companies still exist, so it's even factually wrong.
You probably don't mean it this way, but its still a very ugly word.

 

[Chemical Rampancy]

Unlikely.

Nintendo and Sony are competent, thus their delayed games will turn out excellent. Judging by Halo 4, I expect halo 5 to be met with a lukewarm reception. It may even turn people off the series for the whole generation.