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[zeopower6]

Its selling mediocrely. Not bad at all but not particularly well. Bearing in minds this is 1st month sales. If it has no legs then that would probably result in a bad LTD.

First week sales.

 

[T.O.P]

Haha, wow.

Yeah, he doesn't even try lol

 

[bombshell]

It's always good to start the day with a laugh from the MS PR Book of Spin.

 

[Welfare]

Answer me this
Which is better
1- MS playing catch up 2 month of the year and not even surpassing or catching up the PS4 in the US
2- Taking the initiative and start releasing games all year, reduce the price, and gaining the momentum or even start leading in that market.

Because what you are saying is that MS is satisfied with playing catch up for 2 month of the year, without stopping the momentum of the PS4. The Xbone will never leads the US market with the strategy that they are doing now.

Please listen.

They did lower the price. Twice*. $399*(unbundling of Kinect) and $349 this past January.

Second. I think if Halo 5 releases in September, that's MS starting to get out of the 2 month only mentality. However, you also have to look at it like this.

If MS did spread out their games, that's cool for gamers. However, what real benefit do they get releasing a big exclusive in say May then in November? Software sales will be big for the game, but the boost in hardware would be insignificant compared to what they would gain in the holidays.

We can see that even with the PS4 having "momentum" in the preseason (lol), when it comes to the holidays, bundles and being cheaper nullifies that momentum.

If MS are able to make gains in the US during the holidays, they aren't going to care much about the other months, and hey, maybe next time they'll be smart enough to not raise the price again after the holidays so they could actually keep any momentum they had in the holidays going into the slower months of the year.

 

[driver116]

So which sold more the 3DS or PS4? OP is confusing.

 

[stryke]

So which sold more the 3DS or PS4? OP is confusing.

3DS (all models)>PS4>n3DS

 

[Radec]

So which sold more the 3DS or PS4? OP is confusing.

3DS Bloodline > PS4 Single Status with no child.

 

[Chocolate & Vanilla]

That MS pr is quite something.

 

[Bgamer90]

Answer me this
Which is better
1- MS playing catch up 2 month of the year and not even surpassing or catching up the PS4 in the US
2- Taking the initiative and start releasing games all year, reduce the price, and gaining the momentum or even start leading in that market.

The problem with this is that you are stating that it's impossible to catch up via "November/December sales boost" when it's not. It's possible for the gap after those two months to be lower than where it was at the start of this year depending on how well the system does during those two months.

Getting fantastic sales during the Holiday season is great in terms of publicity and those months are usually the highest selling console months. On top of this, we don't know if they are mainly focusing on November/December. They seem to have many games to the point in which we may see some big games a few months before November. I definitely think it's possible for the Xbox One to take every month from August until the end of the year depending on when their big games release, the bundles they have, and price drops. If so, then the Xbox One can possibly make the gap lower than it was previously. We may see the Xbox One around 400-500K behind the PS4 in North America when 2016 starts which would be less than where it was during the start of this year (2015).

Because what you are saying is that MS is satisfied with playing catch up for 2 month of the year, without stopping the momentum of the PS4. The Xbone will never leads the US market with the strategy that they are doing now.

Not true. Pretty much depends on when the gen is over. The overall gap each year could possibly get lower depending on how much they catch up during the Holidays. On top of this, I really doubt they will only be playing "catch up" for two months per year (as I've said before). If that was the case then all of their big games would have to release in November (as they would never release after Black Friday mania). I think we'll definitely see "catch up" mode before November.

 

[barit]

You're glad that marketing has more of an influence on a game's sales than critical reception does?

I'm glad metacritic doesn't have the power that everyone thought it would have been. Sure i'm not that happy about The Order as a whole game. Was disappointed at the missed opportunity but still think it deserve another chance with a sequel. Would it have bombed hard cause of harsh critics we would never hear anything about it again I guess.

Most fanboish post of the thread?

Anyway, just because The Order charted doesn't mean it's selling well. Review scores usually affect a game's leg, not how much it sells in its opening week.

Okay a little over the top from my side. Still thinking that neither MS nor Nintendo represent the best place for gaming at the moment.

 

[driver116]

3DS (all models)>PS4>n3DS

OK, cheers.

That MS pr is quite something.

The know how to polish a turd, so to speak. They'll do anything to make it look less bad.

 

[Phoenician_Viking]

Please listen.

They did lower the price. Twice*. $399*(unbundling of Kinect) and $349 this past January.

Second. I think if Halo 5 releases in September, that's MS starting to get out of the 2 month only mentality. However, you also have to look at it like this.

If MS did spread out their games, that's cool for gamers. However, what real benefit do they get releasing a big exclusive in say May then in November? Software sales will be big for the game, but the boost in hardware would be insignificant compared to what they would gain in the holidays.

We can see that even with the PS4 having "momentum" in the preseason (lol), when it comes to the holidays, bundles and being cheaper nullifies that momentum.

If MS are able to make gains in the US during the holidays, they aren't going to care much about the other months, and hey, maybe next time they'll be smart enough to not raise the price again after the holidays so they could actually keep any momentum they had in the holidays going into the slower months of the year.

November is too crowded, besides we have evidence that games do well when released in June or March. TLOU and Watch Dogs are big examples. Batman is releasing in June as well. I am not saying it would only be great for gamers if MS releases games in different seasons of the year. I am saying it would also benefit MS software wise, and releasing big titles in June without competition gives them more exposure not to mention free advertising at E3 during conferences.

Also the image of MS will improve drastically when they spread out their release schedule.

 

[Amused]

Is this what we can expect going forwards this generation? PS4 slowly crawling up to a 1 million lead from january through october, and X1 slashing that lead in half during holiday season?

 

[ninjablade]

Hard to argue against that assessment. But it's also more than a little disingenuous. Neither PS4 nor One are as expensive as PS3 was last gen. While both are marginally more expensive than 360, and neither are selling against a phenom like Wii.

Both also have not been selling anywhere near the level of 360 in nonholiday months. This month is one of the rare few where they both are selling favorably in comparison.

Yep, which could just be sales consolidating around the holidays. Or the prices of the systems working against mass market adoption.

More data is necessary. By the end of this year we should have a much clearer picture of where they stand.

its gonna be very difficult for ps4 or XB1 to sell at 360 levels, we've never had 2 console sell so close to each other in there first 1 year in the US, as for the wii i believe it wasn't competing against 360/ps3. in terms of power it was so far behind the 360/ps3, that i don't believe the traditional market would choose it as there nextgen console, it was a blue ocean strategy by Nintendo cause they were desperate, each console they made made huge declines, the strategy never had a real future after that one gen, same thing with kinect which boosted 360 sales significantly.

 

[Frillen]

Okay a little over the top from my side. Still thinking that neither MS nor Nintendo represent the best place for gaming at the moment.

Completely subjective, so this post didn't really help much.

 

[Joni]

How does that make sense in any way? How can 16.7 % not be perceived as more than 12.5 %

How does it make sense that people mentally associate $299 more with $200 than with $300? Pricing is psychological.

 

[Kyoufu]

Is this what we can expect going forwards this generation? PS4 slowly crawling up to a 1 million lead from january through october, and X1 slashing that lead in half during holiday season?

Assuming that every November, Sony allows Microsoft to undercut them with price and value? Sure. I find it unlikely that Sony won't do more to counter in upcoming holiday seasons though.

 

[Phoenician_Viking]

The problem with this is that you are stating that it's impossible to catch up via "November/December sales boost" when it's not. It's possible for the gap after those two months to be lower than where it was at the start of this year depending on how well the system does during those two months.

We saw this holiday that the difference between the 2 was still around 500k even when MS won the holiday by a big margin. Now the gap is only increasing and will continue to increase. We don´t even know if Sony will lower the price of the PS4 this year and become much more competitive than last year and give MS a very serious competition this holiday. Sony has the price elasticity advantage here. PS4 hardware has been profitable since March of last year, and the margin have probably increased especially with the big demand for the PS4 last holiday.

Getting fantastic sales during the Holiday season is great in terms of publicity and those months are usually the highest selling console months. On top of this, we don't know if they are mainly focusing on November/December. They seem to have many games to the point in which we may see some big games a few months before November. I definitely think it's possible for the Xbox One to take every month from August until the end of the year depending on when their big games release, the bundles they have, and price drops. If so, then the Xbox One can possibly make the gap lower than it was previously. We may see the Xbox One around 400-500K behind the PS4 in North America when 2016 starts which would be less than where it was during the start of this year (2015).

Seriously, you are really not counting on Sony countering MS´s moves this holiday. They won´t be passive and will bundle games with the console like MS does. We will see if MS will close the gap much more than last year.

Not true. Pretty much depends on when the gen is over. The overall gap each year could possibly get lower depending on how much they catch up during the Holidays. On top of this, I really doubt they will only be playing "catch up" for two months per year (as I've said before). If that was the case then all of their big games would have to release in November (as they would never release after Black Friday mania). I think we'll definitely see "catch up" mode before November.

We will see.

 

[seady]

Congrats to Nintendo. Been a long time since we see a Nintendo game on the top spot.

 

[yazanov]

Sony won't make the same mistake this coming November and December of underestimating Microsoft by letting them undercut the PS4's price by a huge margin, and throwing in a few games as well.

The Xbox one simply can't compete with a $299 PS4 if Sony is serious this holiday, now that Uncharted 4 is delayed.

 

[Yoshi]

And PS4 back on track to dominate the living room for the whole year in Murica. Very good everything else would be disastrous for gaming overall.

So, if PS4 sold about the same, but Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS and PSV all increased a lot to make them on-par with PS4, it would be a disaster for gaming? Also, if PS4 sales halfed, but all competitor's sales halfed, too, would that be non-disastrous?

 

[driver116]

Assuming that every November, Sony allows Microsoft to undercut them with price and value? Sure. I find it unlikely that Sony won't do more to counter in upcoming holiday seasons though.

Depends if Sony manages to pull ahead significantly.

 

[DryvBy]

That MS pr is quite something.

What's the PR they're giving?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

So is it accepted that PS4 pulled out another 80k lead over Xbone in Feb? What's the latest?

Looking at the release schedule, this looks like continuing next month (Bloodborne) and all the way til September at least. I bet MS wishes these months didn't exist as they got no software advantage outside Holiday period.

 

[Bgamer90]

We saw this holiday that the difference between the 2 was still around 500k even when MS won the holiday by a big margin.

It was 600K I believe, but either way, this was because the gap was over one million before last year's Holiday season. We don't know if that will be the case this year yet.

Now the gap is only increasing and will continue to increase. We don´t even know if Sony will lower the price of the PS4 this year and become much more competitive than last year and give MS a very serious competition this holiday. Sony has the price elasticity advantage here. PS4 hardware has been profitable since March of last year, and the margin have probably increased especially with the big demand for the PS4 last holiday.


Seriously, you are really not counting on Sony countering MS´s moves this holiday. They won´t be passive and will bundle games with the console like MS does. We will see if MS will close the gap much more than last year.

No, I'm not counting Sony out. I don't know everything that MS has planned and the same is true for Sony too. I'm simply saying that the gap has a chance to be lower by the start of next year depending on how the systems do during the Holiday season (as well as how much the PS4 will outsell the Xbox One until the latter gets the top spot for a month this year).

 

[Rymuth]

Morning GAF, just catching up to where the pies are posted.

Looks like the gap will be back to 1 million in the US by the time we reach the holiday season.

 

[bombshell]

It was 600K I believe, but either way, this was because the gap was over one million before last year's Holiday season. We don't know if that will be the case this year yet.

With the current trend, it sure seems like it will.

 

[Diprosalic]

Sony won't make the same mistake this coming November and December of underestimating Microsoft by letting them undercut the PS4's price by a huge margin, and throwing in a few games as well.

what mistake?

 

[zomgbbqftw]

It was 600K I believe, but either way, this was because the gap was over one million before last year's Holiday season. We don't know if that will be the case this year yet.



No, I'm not counting Sony out. I don't know everything that MS has planned and the same is true for Sony too. I'm simply saying that the gap has a chance to be lower by the start of next year depending on how the systems do during the Holiday season (as well as how much the PS4 will outsell the Xbox One until the latter gets the top spot for a month this year).

The cost of the 8GB has gone down by around 40% with Samsung's new 8Gb chips. 20nm at TSMC has been useless so far for everyone so they are pushing AMD APUs onto it earlier than expected so the that will reduce the APU cost by around a third as well. Add in the contingent reduction on power and cooling and you have $299/£249/€329. I think both consoles will go into the holiday at $299 but Xbox will have more compelling bundles because they will be pushing RotTR especially now that Uncharted is a no show.

 

[driver116]

what mistake?

Probably not temporarily dropping the RRP as much. I think Xb had $30-40 more off.

 

[yazanov]

what mistake?

Mistake of letting Microsoft catch up (slightly) in the US, Microsoft biggest market where they should have destroyed them if they were serious.

 

[casiopao]

Interview with Reggie Fils-Aime at Forbes comes with other info:



http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2015/03/12/nintendo-3ds-best-selling-video-game-console-in-february/

3ds software is doing better and better. The legs is surely longer than Bayonetta legs lol.

 

[Diprosalic]

Probably not temporarily dropping the RRP as much. I think Xb had $30-40 more off.

why would they do that?

Mistake of letting Microsoft catch up (slightly) in the US, Microsoft biggest market where they should have destroyed them if they were serious.

unlike MS they want to make (or probably need to) make money of this. selling almost the same at a higher price point with no games = winning.

 

[Forkball]

I didn't expect the first Nintendo title to top the NPD in a long time to be a remake of a 15 year old game.

Save us Splatoon

 

[suedester]

Mistake of letting Microsoft catch up (slightly) in the US, Microsoft biggest market where they should have destroyed them if they were serious.

Sony are in this to make money, not to release a fluffy PR piece when NPD numbers are released claiming victory.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Sony won't make the same mistake this coming November and December of underestimating Microsoft by letting them undercut the PS4's price by a huge margin, and throwing in a few games as well.

They won't make the mistake of devaluing their console in the eyes of consumers, who then refused to pay the former retail price when the promo was over? Sony made a mistake by not copying that brilliant strategy?

Tell you what, let Sony continue making money on PS4, while Microsoft can drop the price of their system below the Xbox 360 to gain a two month lead in sales.

 

[Dynedom]

Mistake of letting Microsoft catch up (slightly) in the US, Microsoft biggest market where they should have destroyed them if they were serious.

Why does Sony have to destroy Microsoft?

Did I sleep through a war proclamation or something?

 

[crinale]

Yeah once you "temporally" drop the price and let the price go back up again we all know people who couldn't buy one for whatever reason would wait for the next sale. I mean look what happened to XB1 sales at January NPD..

 

[Neff]

Regarding Bloodborne expectations and the comparisons to Dark Souls II's performance, I don't think enough people are taking exposure/competition into account. Dark Souls II, while having plenty of pre-baked buyers, was competing with a massive library for both consoles at the time. Bloodborne has PS4 pretty much all to itself, a platform which is largely starved of high quality software, particularly exclusives. I can see the impulse buy factor becoming relevant among PS4's 20+ million owners, particularly if it reviews well (which it should). It'll beat The Order's initial sales handsomely I think.

 

[Curufinwe]

Sony won't make the same mistake this coming November and December of underestimating Microsoft by letting them undercut the PS4's price by a huge margin, and throwing in a few games as well.

The Xbox one simply can't compete with a $299 PS4 if Sony is serious this holiday, now that Uncharted 4 is delayed.

It wasn't a mistake to keep the price at $400. Profits are what matter.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Why does Sony have to destroy Microsoft?

Did I sleep through a war proclamation or something?

I think Sony could have delivered a brutal stomping on Xbone in the US like they have in the ROTW if they really wanted to. But as they are making lots of money with the PS4 atm, they didn't feel the need to go balls deep on their rival.

The downside to that is long-term, MS has so much money they can make a comeback in the US and following this hypothetical scenario, they'll be a serious threat again the following gen to this one.

I think the poster was trying to say put the lights out on them while you have the chance, as they'll only come back and bite you in the a$$. And Sony, given their financial situation, really can't afford to take any chances.

 

[xDUMPWEEDx]

Nintendo has been doing great, well deserved month.

 

[SnowFlakeCake]

The PS4 at this point is a console that is just selling itself, in that Sony seemingly don't need to release amazing exclusive games to keep the train going. They're pretty much in the position where MS was with multiplatform games, where they had advertising rights for multiplatform games and they were moving 360 consoles due to being the best version available. MGS V, Destiny expansion pack, supposedly Battlefront and Batman are going to carry them throughout the remainder of the year. Multiplatform games in general are consistently selling better on PS4 with the occasional blip which is where MS really fucked up in terms of XB1 specs.

MS still paying the price for their fuck ups before the console even launched, Sony however are still getting their dividends even though since launch, they haven't been so hot with their out first party software output. Uncharted, GT and God of War will eventually release which won't make life any easier for MS though.

 

[Dynedom]

I think Sony could have delivered a brutal stomping on Xbone in the US like they have in the ROTW if they really wanted to. But as they are making lots of money with the PS4 atm, they didn't feel the need to go balls deep on their rival.

The downside to that is long-term, MS has so much money they can make a comeback in the US and following this hypothetical scenario, they'll be a serious threat again the following gen to this one.

The longer that the PS4 stays in the black, the better it will be for Sony to safeguard. Theoretically, nothing can stop the Microsoft war chest. That doesn't mean you go all-in early, when you have a clear advantage and are actually making money in your financially troubled company. Sony shareholders may not be thoroughly impressed with Sony "stomping" Microsoft if the company is financially unhealthy. Hell, Microsoft shareholders supposedly weren't happy with the Xbox division bleeding money and they have a war chest.

The assumption that Microsoft "putting the foot down" will automatically mean Sony can do nothing is equally short-sighted.

 

[kitchenmotors]

Good that the Order chart. This was clearly not certain after the massive critics from every gaming site and journalist on this planet. I mean even FH2 and SO didn't chart in NPD and both games were the critic's darlings. Just shows again that all those scores means nothing to the average consumer and only the right marketing and platform matters. Hope RAD gets now a second chance with the sequel. And PS4 back on track to dominate the living room for the whole year in Murica. Very good everything else would be disastrous for gaming overall.

Not sure if serious...

 

[driver116]

I think Sony could have delivered a brutal stomping on Xbone in the US like they have in the ROTW if they really wanted to. But as they are making lots of money with the PS4 atm, they didn't feel the need to go balls deep on their rival.

The downside to that is long-term, MS has so much money they can make a comeback in the US and following this hypothetical scenario, they'll be a serious threat again the following gen to this one.

I think the poster was trying to say put the lights out on them while you have the chance, as they'll only come back and bite you in the a$$. And Sony, given their financial situation, really can't afford to take any chances.

Ah the hypothetical war chest makes a returning mention. All of Microsoft's money means nothing if they don't have a clear vision. I still believe they don't have a clear vision as to what they are trying to market.

 

[Tobor]

The Microsoft war chest is why the Zune beat the iPod, and why we all use Windows Phones, and...lol.

That argument needs to die.

 

[Mpl90]

3ds software is doing better and better. The legs is surely longer than Bayonetta legs lol.

Oh, right, about that...anyone, please give us an update on Bayonetta 2, please!

 

[RBK]

The Microsoft war chest is why the Zune beat the iPod, and why we all use Windows Phones, and...lol.

That argument needs to die.

That's not even comparable.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Ah the hypothetical war chest makes a returning mention. All of Microsoft's money means nothing if they don't have a clear vision. I still believe they don't have a clear vision as to what they are trying to market.

Also the "war chest" means nothing if stakeholders/shareholders don't feel at all confident in pushing money into a division that loses money hand over fist in a market that they can't see the ares of growth in. I'm sure tons of outsiders would like to see nothing more than the Xbox division destroyed and MS invested into the way bigger money makers like emulating apple or mobile phones or something like that