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[Bgamer90]

I don't understand why people are cheerleading Microsoft's high sales.

Because more people have come to current gen which will thus hopefully help further push less cross gen games.

They got there the same way they always do: vacant library all year until the holidays, and then end-load it with marketing, bundles, and a few exclusives.

Vacant library? Titanfall doesn't count?

This behavior was a little more bearable later in the 360's life when 360 was getting superior multiplats, a ton of indie exclusives, and had a massive library. None of those aspects apply to the Xbox One, yet they're still using the same methodology.

Holiday season has always been bigger than Q1 for video gaming/game releases as a whole. It's nothing new. The same was true of the 360's early years.

If 2015 is a repeat of 2014 between the X1 and PS4 (i.e. PS4 has a steady stream of games throughout the year but X1 does not) that would be sad. If Holiday 2015 is a repeat of 2014 (i.e. Microsoft gets great sales due to steep price cuts, bundling, and advertising) that would also be sad because Microsoft will likely continue that behavior.

I agree that early 2015 seems a bit slow for the system in terms of huge releases but early 2014 wasn't that way thanks to Titanfall alone. Overall, the Holiday season is always more packed than Q1. The "behavior" will continue simply because it works for seeing huge sales alongside the time of year in which people buy games & games consoles the most. Some years may see 1 or 2 big "AAA" exclusives during the first half of the year but 3 or more (which is usually the case around Holiday time)? Yeah, highly doubt that will ever happen.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Amusing how fast this thread is still going.!

Based on the amazon data posted earlier, are we looking at another big win for the XBone in December then? It was at the top position for Amazon Usa, and the nearest ps4 bundle was at 38 or something depressing.

Shame to think Somys lead in the USA over the entire year could potentially be wiped out in two months.

Dunno man; just checked and PS4's at #16**. That's a pretty giant jump. Could be a lot closer this month between the two!

**That's the standard edition, not the bundle.

It provides a stable data structure for reporting and in particular LFL analysis as well as forward sales projection.

Normal calendar shifts around and makes comparing sales tricky so retailers use this artificial calendar to solve that.

The NPD Group internally refers to it as 4-5-4 (as do others), but if you go by the calendar year (January - December), it's 4-4-5.

It's done by lots of retail and merchandising companies throughout the industry as historic precedent.

A key advantage of it is that it maintains the same amount of weekends each month...and since weekends are important in retail, it's important to keep them aligned when looking at monthly comparisons.


Another reason is that businesses report quarterly financial statements.

There are 52 weeks in a year, but 1 quarter = 13 weeks.

So, 4-4-5 / 4-5-4 is a reasonable way to break up each quarter because it's consistent.


Accounting benefits:

· The ability to forecast and plan sales in standard weekly buckets of data.

· A consistent 13 week, 91 day quarter to measure quarter over quarter financial and operating results.

· Within manufacturing companies, it aligns operational forecasts and production schedules to the accounting period thereby facilitating the planning process.

· Accounting for Payroll becomes predictably easier, assuming that the pay week begins on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday.

· Generally, accounting for prepaid and accrual transactions becomes easier and less likely to record accounting errors in the general ledger.

· Assembly of annual sales plan and financial budget becomes easier with consistent predictable periods.

· HR in Accounting departments enjoy a more predictable schedule, month over month, year over year.


Accounting disadvantages:

· One disadvantage of the 4-4-5 calendar is that it has 364 days (7 days * 52 weeks), so approximately every 5 years there will be a 53 week year, which can make YOY comparison difficult.

· To change your year end from an IRS standpoint requires filing the appropriate paper work.

· If you have operations around the globe that need to consolidate into your overall financial results, consideration must be given to the impact of the calendar change for operations in other countries. This will likely cause minor closing adjustments for the 4-4-5 periods versus the statutory reporting periods for these other country operations.

Thanks EGM for a short-and-sweet and Aqua for that very detailed response. I have to admit tho that some of that is just quite beyond my area of expertise xD, hench why there are experts who do it as a profession.

I'm just glad you guys contribute to these discussions even if I can't follow some of the technical business aspects; it does help give a lot of clarification and clearer picture on how this side of the industry works. Tho I do get the fiscal quarter aspect (even if some companies begin and close their fiscal quarters differently).

Quite informative stuff; hopefully I can decipher it with multiple reads x3.

 

[CouldBeWorse]

I don't understand why people are cheerleading Microsoft's high sales. They got there the same way they always do: vacant library all year until the holidays, and then end-load it with marketing, bundles, and a few exclusives. This behavior was a little more bearable later in the 360's life when 360 was getting superior multiplats, a ton of indie exclusives, and had a massive library. None of those aspects apply to the Xbox One, yet they're still using the same methodology.

If 2015 is a repeat of 2014 between the X1 and PS4 (i.e. PS4 has a steady stream of games throughout the year but X1 does not) that would be sad. If Holiday 2015 is a repeat of 2014 (i.e. Microsoft gets great sales due to steep price cuts, bundling, and advertising) that would also be sad because Microsoft will likely continue that behavior.

I like that the competition is resulting in more free games, quicker system updates, and games being financed that otherwise wouldn't.

Also, MS had a decent year for exclusive games and they were decently spread out. Arguably a better year for them than it was for Sony when it comes to full packaged releases.

 

[Syrus]

I like that the competition is resulting in more free games, quicker system updates, and games being financed that otherwise wouldn't.

Also, MS had a decent year for exclusive games and they were decently spread out. Arguably a better year for them than it was for Sony when it comes to full packaged releases.

I agree, MS exclusives this year IMHO beat PS4s easily. Next year is looking like a good PS4 exclusive year

sunset has been amazing, shame it didn't sell more

 

[Aquamarine]

NPD thread... studios purchased/internally built listwars...

Anyway, in the more recent years while December is still normally larger than November, I think the weekly average has moved towards favouring Nov. But I don't know if this was somewhat cyclical and to do with end of gen Black Friday bargains being better than early gen for instance.

But I could see that occurring this Dec, where absolute numbers are higher but weekly averages are slightly lower.

Also, that PSV number... so it was essentially flat from October with the holiday season and Black Friday... if there was any more need of a sign that it's dead.

Last November PSV + PSP sold 108K (in 2012 PSV + PSP sold 240K) ...the MASSIVE drop this year signifies that maybe SCEA is giving up handhelds for good in 2015.

I can't see PSV sales growing in November 2015...not when sell-through is this low.

This November feels like the Vita's death knell, at least for PSV hardware availability in stores.

 

[ZSaberLink]

Last November PSV + PSP sold 108K (in 2012 PSV + PSP sold 240K) ...the MASSIVE drop this year signifies that maybe SCEA is giving up handhelds for good in 2015.

I can't see PSV sales growing in November 2015...not when sell-through is this low.

This November feels like the Vita's death knell, at least for PSV hardware availability in stores.

Out of curiosity, is this year's drop worse than last year's drop %age wise?

 

[Salex_]

Also, MS had a decent year for exclusive games and they were decently spread out. Arguably a better year for them than it was for Sony when it comes to full packaged releases.

Yeah...I can't agree with that. Do you remember what retail exclusives came out from January 1st to September 29th?

Who cares about exclusives in today's market? If it was all about exclusives, the Wii U would be king, wouldn't it? It's all about the third party games. That's where the sales are for now.

I was replying to the bolded section. I don't see how their year lineup was "decently spread out" at all.

 

[ZSaberLink]

Yeah...I can't agree with that. Do you remember what retail exclusives came out from January 1st to September 29th?

Who cares about exclusives in today's market? If it was all about exclusives, the Wii U would be king, wouldn't it? It's all about the third party games. That's where the sales are for now.

 

[shinra-bansho]

@ZSaber, bigger drop last year percentage-wise, Nov to Nov.

Last November PSV + PSP sold 108K (in 2012 PSV + PSP sold 240K) ...the MASSIVE drop this year signifies that maybe SCEA is giving up handhelds for good in 2015.

I can't see PSV sales growing in November 2015...not when sell-through is this low.

This November feels like the Vita's death knell, at least for PSV hardware availability in stores.

I'm kind of curious at what point the system will cease production. (assuming it's still in production)

US sales this year likely won't even top 300K. I can't imagine it's doing fantastically in Europe.

It's saving grace is Japan, but it's only going to do a little over a million there this year, and I'm guessing drop off next year.

So it probably won't top a million WW next year, with further drop offs subsequently.

 

[florin3k3]

Nice win for MS. Now, as far as I see it, Sony is it a tough spot. They are now stuck being reactive to MS. they have to see if MS keeps the price drop, which most would assume they will. Even still, Sony has to see if this trend continues or if it was just one big spurt. Makes no sense to do a price drop or something like that if MS can't sustain sales or if price cut was temporary. If they are stuck waiting in December then you run into the issue of January. If they don't drop the price by then, sales are naturally going to be lower because most everybody who wanted a console got it during holidays. Then they will have some AAA titles hitting the market and again, will they boost sales or is a price cut still needed. Time will tell but MS definitely has to keep this momentum going. Raising price would negate all they achieved this month. Will be interesting to see how both companies move forward

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

Because more people have come to current gen which will thus hopefully help further push less cross gen games.

Seems like a pretty far-off reason to specifically be praising X1 sales, especially when NPD reports that hardware sales were down this month.

Vacant library? Titanfall doesn't count?

When your (single) retort is a game from March, I think you're proving my point for me.

Holiday season has always been bigger than Q1 for video gaming/game releases as a whole. It's nothing new. The same was true of the 360's early years.

Sure, for 360. What I'm highlighting is Microsoft's behavior as a whole compared to other game developers. They cram what they have into Q4 Holiday and the rest of the year is pretty sparse. In the past, this was kinda okay because by the time this started happening every year later on in the 360's life, 360 owners had a huge library, the best multiplats, and a ton of indies. Today Xbox One has inferior multiplats, fewer exclusives, a smaller library, and a smaller pool of indies.

And even back in 2009 to present (around the time Natal was first showcased) people started complaining about the yearly Halo, Forza, Gears, Fable cycle.

I agree that early 2015 seems a bit slow for the system in terms of huge releases but early 2014 wasn't that way thanks to Titanfall alone. Overall, the Holiday season is always more packed than Q1. The "behavior" will continue simply because it works for seeing huge sales alongside the time of year in which people buy games & games consoles the most. Some years may see 1 or 2 big "AAA" exclusives during the first half of the year but 3 or more (which is usually the case around Holiday time)? Yeah, highly doubt that will ever happen.

It's not that way for all the console manufacturers, though, so why is it something that Xbox One gamers have to accept? Moreso, why is it something that non-Xbox One gamers are supposed to ignore?

I like that the competition is resulting in more free games, quicker system updates, and games being financed that otherwise wouldn't.

The ol' "competition is thriving" schtick. Huh. You realize that - other than system updates which were necessary to completely revamp the original X1 vision - those other two things you mentioned aren't exactly competitive, right? "Free games" is just throwing money away to entice a few buyers. That isn't a viable long-term competitive move. "Games being fincanced that otherwise wouldn't"....not really sure what giant list of games you think fills that category up. Last I checked, Microsoft was buying up stuff (Tomb Raider, Mojang) but not really "funding" anything in the way we'd call it "funding".

Also, MS had a decent year for exclusive games and they were decently spread out. Arguably a better year for them than it was for Sony when it comes to full packaged releases.

What came out after Titanfall at the beginning of March but before Sunset Overdrive at the end of October?

 

[AniHawk]

@ZSaber, bigger drop last year percentage-wise, Nov to Nov.
I'm kind of curious at what point the system will cease production. (assuming it's still in production)

US sales this year likely won't even top 300K. I can't imagine it's doing fantastically in Europe.

It's saving grace is Japan, but it's only going to do a little over a million there this year, and I'm guessing drop off next year.

So it probably won't top a million WW next year, with further drop offs subsequently.

the vita market will mostly go to mobile in japan, and with it, the remainder of its support in the west. i think the writing's been on the wall for a while, but xseed, nisa, and atlus will wring out a few last drops from the platform in 2015 and stop giving it exclusives afterwards. if the vita gets any games in 2016 and onward, it'll be due to a ps4 or mobile version happening as well.

 

[CouldBeWorse]

Yeah...I can't agree with that. Do you remember what retail exclusives came out from January 1st to September 29th?

Nice arbitrary end point to exclude Forza Horizon 2!

It's the year after a launch. It's always like this. None of the big three had more than a few exclusives in Q1-Q3, as usual.

 

[Maxwell House]

Sony will be fine with their 2015 lineup. Especially with Bloodborne and The Order coming out when X1 has nothing coming

Wouldn't be surprised by a holiday 2015 price drop with Uncharted 4 coming out

X1 has nothing in 2015?

Halo 5
Quantum Break
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Scalebound
Fable Legends
Crackdown 5
Gears of War Xbone (whatever the next Gears will be called)

Halo 5 alone would be enough to compete with the entire PS4 2015 lineup by itself.

 

[Welfare]

X1 has nothing in 2015?

Halo 5
Quantum Break
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Scalebound
Fable Legends
Crackdown 5
Gears of War Xbone (whatever the next Gears will be called)

Halo 5 alone would be enough to compete with the entire PS4 2015 lineup by itself.

Crackdown is 2016, also they will most likely announce a lot more exclusives this E3 and Gamescom.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

List wars have taken over.

 

[Domcorleone]

X1 has nothing in 2015?

Halo 5
Quantum Break
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Scalebound
Fable Legends
Crackdown 5
Gears of War Xbone (whatever the next Gears will be called)

Halo 5 alone would be enough to compete with the entire PS4 2015 lineup by itself.

Lol you really think all those games are coming 2015? Or are you just listing shit?

Gears and Halo 5 and Quantum Break all in 2015. Lmao

 

[Steverulez]

Lol you really think all those games are coming 2015? Or are you just listing shit?

Gears and Halo 5 and Quantum Break all in 2015. Lmao

Gears will be 1-3 Collection on XB1.

 

[theprodigy]

list wars in a god damn NPD thread

seriously

 

[Bgamer90]

Seems like a pretty far-off reason to specifically be praising X1 sales, especially when NPD reports that hardware sales were down this month.

Down this month in comparison to what? 1.2 million for Xbox One is much better than what many expected. That along with PS4 is 2 million new people for this gen in North America alone. That's pretty huge.

When your (single) retort is a game from March, I think you're proving my point for me.

How? Titanfall was one of the biggest games of 2014. How is that the same as "vacant"? Doesn't make any sense.

Sure, for 360. What I'm highlighting is Microsoft's behavior as a whole compared to other game developers. They cram what they have into Q4 Holiday and the rest of the year is pretty sparse. In the past, this was kinda okay because by the time this started happening every year later on in the 360's life, 360 owners had a huge library, the best multiplats, and a ton of indies.

Compared to who else? Many companies put more focus on Q4 than Q1.

Today Xbox One has inferior multiplats, fewer exclusives, a smaller library, and a smaller pool of indies.

The Xbox One is still fairly new so of course there's a smaller library. The 360 was the same way in 2006-2007. There really wasn't any "AAA" exclusive games on the system after the very first Gears of War released until almost the second half of 2007 (e.g.: Forza 2, Project Gotham Racing 4, Halo 3).

Edit: Forgot about Crackdown coming in early 2007; many got it for Halo 3 though. Believe it came out in February. Forza 2 came out in May. Overall, the amount of games being released on the Xbox One now is very similar to the 360 back in 2006-2007.

It's not that way for all the console manufacturers, though, so why is it something that Xbox One gamers have to accept?

I never said you had to accept it. I simply said why it works and why other companies do it. The PS4 would be similar in terms of big games if it wasn't for The Order getting delayed. If anything, the Wii U has more in terms of first party exclusives being spread out in comparison to the XB1 and PS4 but that isn't going to help the system much (if at all).

Moreso, why is it something that non-Xbox One gamers are supposed to ignore?

When did I say people have to ignore it? Me saying it's true that MS puts a lot of focus on the Holiday season wouldn't go with that.

Edit: Ahh... thread derailed. Oh boy.

 

[Welfare]

Lol you really think all those games are coming 2015? Or are you just listing shit?

Gears and Halo 5 and Quantum Break all in 2015. Lmao

Halo 5 and Quantum Break are confirmed 2015, and nothing stops a Gears collection coming out.

But enough with the lists. Plenty of games are coming out next year. Just chill.

 

[Elios83]

X1 has nothing in 2015?

Halo 5
Quantum Break
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Scalebound
Fable Legends
Crackdown 5
Gears of War Xbone (whatever the next Gears will be called)

Halo 5 alone would be enough to compete with the entire PS4 2015 lineup by itself.

Gears of War is certainly not a 2015 title, development started not long ago.
Crackdown 5 is 2016.
And no date for Scalebound either at this point.
Right now Microsoft 2015 lineup is based on three titles, Halo 5, timed exclusive for holiday 2015 Tomb Raider and Quantum Break.
All of them stacked at the end of next year.

And no Halo 5 is not enough to compete alone with the PS4 lineup.

 

[Domcorleone]

Gears will be 1-3 Collection on XB1.

He clearly meant the game Black Tusk is working on.

 

[Nightengale]

List wars.

*shakes head*

 

[A Human Becoming]

Last November PSV + PSP sold 108K (in 2012 PSV + PSP sold 240K)

Hmmm, that's interesting. Vita sold <75k last November, putting the PSP >33k. No way the PSP sold less in 2012, so the 210-225k range we had in Nov 2012 for Vita must have been wrong, meaning it sold below 210k.

Thanks for the tidbit.

 

[CouldBeWorse]

When your (single) retort is a game from March, I think you're proving my point for me.

Sure, for 360. What I'm highlighting is Microsoft's behavior as a whole compared to other game developers. They cram what they have into Q4 Holiday and the rest of the year is pretty sparse. In the past, this was kinda okay because by the time this started happening every year later on in the 360's life, 360 owners had a huge library, the best multiplats, and a ton of indies. Today Xbox One has inferior multiplats, fewer exclusives, a smaller library, and a smaller pool of indies.

All 3 have release lists like this. It's not exclusive to Xbox One.

The ol' "competition is thriving" schtick. Huh. You realize that - other than system updates which were necessary to completely revamp the original X1 vision - those other two things you mentioned aren't exactly competitive, right? "Free games" is just throwing money away to entice a few buyers. That isn't a viable long-term competitive move. "Games being fincanced that otherwise wouldn't"....not really sure what giant list of games you think fills that category up. Last I checked, Microsoft was buying up stuff (Tomb Raider, Mojang) but not really "funding" anything in the way we'd call it "funding".

That's not actually correct. Most of the changes were enhancements that have nothing to do with always online, though some of the smart improvements are oriented around improving non-Kinect navigation. Sony was actually the one working on meeting their vision. And we're still waiting on suspend/resume.

And why would I give a shit if MS is giving away something if I benefit with free stuff? Sony did the same last gen with Plus and we all benefitted.

And why do you assume I'm taking about MS when it comes to financing games? I was actually referring to Bayonetta 2, SF5, all of the PS4/Vita ports, Sunset Overdrive, and more.

I'm firmly a PS4 guy this time around but the benefits of competition are very tangible for all of us on all platforms.

What came out after Titanfall at the beginning of March but before Sunset Overdrive at the end of October?

Forza Horizon 2. Same question to you about PS4/Wii U.

 

[Salex_]

list wars in a god damn NPD thread

seriously

Seems like it started from the last page lol. Studio lists --> comment about MS' strategy --> full blown list wars.

All 3 have release lists like this. It's not exclusive to Xbox One.

I'm not sure why you keep repeating this. Nintendo and Sony aren't just putting out games during the holidays. They didn't do that this year and they aren't doing that next year.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

I don't understand why people are cheerleading Microsoft's high sales. They got there the same way they always do: vacant library all year until the holidays, and then end-load it with marketing, bundles, and a few exclusives. This behavior was a little more bearable later in the 360's life when 360 was getting superior multiplats, a ton of indie exclusives, and had a massive library. None of those aspects apply to the Xbox One, yet they're still using the same methodology.

If 2015 is a repeat of 2014 between the X1 and PS4 (i.e. PS4 has a steady stream of games throughout the year but X1 does not) that would be sad. If Holiday 2015 is a repeat of 2014 (i.e. Microsoft gets great sales due to steep price cuts, bundling, and advertising) that would also be sad because Microsoft will likely continue that behavior.

Sony won't be in that situation again.

They kinda got fucked because The Order was their big holiday game that was supposed to push units. They delayed it, so they were left with absolutely jack shit, while MS had an exclusive Halo game.

I think The Order would have probably pushed the PS4 to 1 million for November. Thats my guess anyways.

Uncharted 4 is their holiday game.

 

[IndoAssassin]

Gears of War is certainly not a 2015 title, development started not long ago.
Crackdown 5 is 2016.
And no date for Scalebound either at this point.
Right now Microsoft 2015 lineup is based on three titles, Halo 5, timed exclusive for holiday 2015 Tomb Raider and Quantum Break.
All of them stacked at the end of next year.

And no Halo 5 is not enough to compete alone with the PS4 lineup.

You gorgot Forza 6 and Fable

 

[JayhawkerStL]

I don't understand why people are cheerleading Microsoft's high sales. They got there the same way they always do: vacant library all year until the holidays, and then end-load it with marketing, bundles, and a few exclusives. This behavior was a little more bearable later in the 360's life when 360 was getting superior multiplats, a ton of indie exclusives, and had a massive library. None of those aspects apply to the Xbox One, yet they're still using the same methodology.

If 2015 is a repeat of 2014 between the X1 and PS4 (i.e. PS4 has a steady stream of games throughout the year but X1 does not) that would be sad. If Holiday 2015 is a repeat of 2014 (i.e. Microsoft gets great sales due to steep price cuts, bundling, and advertising) that would also be sad because Microsoft will likely continue that behavior.

As an Xbox One owner, I absolutely loved the launch games, and found that I really liked the games that came out this fall. It doesn't look like I am going to be short on games to play this spring, either.

I'm less worried about when the games come than the quality of them. So far, Microsoft has really hit a lot of home runs with their exclusives.

 

[anexanhume]

You gorgot Forza 6 and Fable

The original list creator didn't. He was responding to the ones that didn't make sense.

And who thinks Fable Legends will be good or sell well?

 

[Disaster Nebraska]

Down this month in comparison to what? 1.2 million for Xbox One is much better than what many expected. That along with PS4 is 2 million new people for this gen in North America alone. That's pretty huge.

Yeah it isn't bad, but the OP of this thread indicated that hardware sales were down compared to last year. Is that not the case?

How? Titanfall was one of the biggest games of 2014. How is that the same as "vacant"? Doesn't make any sense.

Is it so big that it filled the gap between March and Forza Horizons 2 mid-October? 7-8 months (75% of the year) with no big exclusive is pretty vacant, especially while PS4 and Wii-U were both getting their own exclusive AAAs as well as mid-tier games.

Compared to who else? Many companies put more focus on Q4 than Q1.

Compared to Microsoft's direct competitors - Sony and Nintendo - who managed to have a decent output all year long and also a decent holiday output, comparable to what the Xbox One delivered in Q4.

The Xbox One is still fairly new so of course there's a smaller library. The 360 was the same way in 2006-2007.

No it wasn't. The 360 had a HUGE first year, on the merit of.....

There really wasn't any "AAA" exclusive games on the system after the very first Gears of War released until the second half of 2007 (e.g.: Project Gotham Racing 4, Halo 3).

When did the 360's competitors launch? By my calendar, 360 had no competition for its first year, so if you really wanna get sticky, all of the 360's first-year games could be considered exclusive.

Setting that aside, 360 had a few games its first year: Dead Rising, Perfect Dark, CoD2, DoA4, Condemned, Chromehounds, Kameo, Prey, Oblivion (not exclusive, but pretty much exclusive until PS3 got its version a year later) , Saints Row, am I missing anything else?

The narrative of "it's very common to have no games throughout the year" is false, even taken from the Xbox brand's own history. Don't see why Microsoft gets to slide on by with fewer games and fewer exclusives than they had in the past.

 

[IndoAssassin]

The original list creator didn't. He was responding to the ones that didn't make sense.

And who thinks Fable Legends will be good or sell well?

You can say the same about The Order with the negativity it's generating

 

[anexanhume]

You can say the same about The Order with the negativity it's generating

A matter irrelevant to my question.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

2007 for 360 also had Lost Planet and Crackdown.

2014 for Xbox One had Plants vs Zombies (timed exclusive), Kinect Sports Rivals, KI Season 2, and Dance Central Spotlight.

Let's not rewrite history to make points.

 

[CouldBeWorse]

I'm not sure why you keep repeating this. Nintendo and Sony aren't just putting out games during the holidays. They didn't do that this year and they aren't doing that next year.

What did they put out first half besides inFamous, Mario Kart, and Donkey Kong? Or The Show if you like baseball. You're being disingenuous.

This year sucked for exclusives unless you had multiple consoles or a backlog. Or a gaming PC of course.

 

[CosmicQueso]

We have the best console launches ever happening right now and people are arguing why everything is terrible with them.

Okay, I guess?

 

[airmangataosenai]

@ZSaber, bigger drop last year percentage-wise, Nov to Nov.
I'm kind of curious at what point the system will cease production. (assuming it's still in production)

US sales this year likely won't even top 300K. I can't imagine it's doing fantastically in Europe.

It's saving grace is Japan, but it's only going to do a little over a million there this year, and I'm guessing drop off next year.

So it probably won't top a million WW next year, with further drop offs subsequently.

PSP/Vita moved 700k units last quarter somewhere despite the PSP not really being sold in any noteworthy quantities anywhere we have trackers so someone outside of Japan is buying it. I think you're going to be surprised by the end total for the platform. The final total will be aided rather ironically by Sony not particularly caring about the brand and introducing a successor, and will sell in emerging markets for a long time when it hits bargain prices. I see the final tally clocking in between 15-20 million by 2020. It will end up being the most successful failed system ever, if nothing else.

 

[catmario]

Whoa... This thread is already megaton!!!!!

 

[jrDev]

Where is my $100 Vita fire sale?

 

[Bgamer90]

Yeah it isn't bad, but the OP of this thread indicated that hardware sales were down compared to last year. Is that not the case?

Shouldn't be surprising considering last year saw the launches of two new consoles + 360/PS3 were more relevant than they are now.

Is it so big that it filled the gap between March and Forza Horizons 2 mid-October? 7-8 months (75% of the year) with no big exclusive is pretty vacant, especially while PS4 and Wii-U were both getting their own exclusive AAAs as well as mid-tier games.

Xbox One got some games outside of the AAA space too during that period. Kinect Sports Rivals as well as some digital only titles like Super Time Force. Also, it isn't like there was a lock on the system that made it impossible to play all of the launch titles after Titanfall released. Edit: Sho_Nuff mentioned PvZ which I forgot about too.

Compared to Microsoft's direct competitors - Sony and Nintendo - who managed to have a decent output all year long and also a decent holiday output, comparable to what the Xbox One delivered in Q4.

Getting in list war territory now and I don't want to do that but MS had more for Holiday 2014 than Sony and Nintendo had. If Holiday 2014 for Sony & Nintendo was "comparable" then I don't see how early 2014 wasn't "comparable" for MS.

No it wasn't. The 360 had a HUGE first year, on the merit of.....

2006-2007 wasn't the 360's first year.

When did the 360's competitors launch? By my calendar, 360 had no competition for its first year, so if you really wanna get sticky, all of the 360's first-year games could be considered exclusive.

Setting that aside, 360 had a few games its first year: Dead Rising, Perfect Dark, CoD2, DoA4, Condemned, Chromehounds, Kameo, Prey, Oblivion (not exclusive, but pretty much exclusive until PS3 got its version a year later) , Saints Row, am I missing anything else?

Haha, really? This is very silly. Xbox One didn't release before the same gen competition. I don't see though how that has any impact on number of games. The number of games being released are similar. You mentioned a few exclusive launch games that released in late 2005 for the 360 when yet our discussion didn't make mention of any late 2013 Xbox One games (the launch games). It's a silly, flawed comparison.

The narrative of "it's very common to have no games throughout the year" is false, even taken from the Xbox brand's own history. Don't see why Microsoft gets to slide on by with fewer games and fewer exclusives than they had in the past.

I never said "no games throughout the year". I see that you like twisting what people say on top of making flawed comparisons to try and prove a point. Really no point in debating if you are going to do that.

 

[CosmicQueso]

Where is my $100 Vita fire sale?

Only happens when there's a bunch of inventory retail has to sell through. Tough to even find a Vita at full price at retail these days.

 

[A Human Becoming]

We have the best console launches ever happening right now and people are arguing why everything is terrible with them.

Okay, I guess?

Where is my $100 Vita fire sale?

That's what I'm waiting for. I bought my friend a Playstation TV yesterday for an early birthday present since it was down to $70. It will probably be discontinued next year and he'll mainly use it as a Persona 4 Golden machine. I'd rather just get the real system.

 

[speculawyer]

But Vita means life.

 

[allan-bh]

Vita: 32,750

I wonder if creamsugar has included Playstation TV.

 

[A Human Becoming]

But Vita means life.

When I was looking back at NPDs from 2012 and 2013 the last two days each had posts saying the Vita would be discontinued the next year. Will it finally happen in 2015?

 

[Nightengale]

But Vita means life.

And Four is death.

 

[Chris1]

Am I the only one glad MS doesn't have a ton of exclusives coming out in the next 6 months?

I already have a hue backlog of games as it is, then with MGS, Batman and MM3d if you have a 3ds due out too just makes it worse, I'm stacked for games for a couple of months at least.

 

[casiopao]

PSP/Vita moved 700k units last quarter somewhere despite the PSP not really being sold in any noteworthy quantities anywhere we have trackers so someone outside of Japan is buying it. I think you're going to be surprised by the end total for the platform. The final total will be aided rather ironically by Sony not particularly caring about the brand and introducing a successor, and will sell in emerging markets for a long time when it hits bargain prices. I see the final tally clocking in between 15-20 million by 2020. It will end up being the most successful failed system ever, if nothing else.

PSP is still a huge seller in Asia, not Vita for sure as it can not be pirated just like how ps3 started to sell better in SEA right now as it is easier to pirate now.

If Vita memory card get cheaper and of course it can be pirate, I believe it will be able to reach maybe around 10 million.(15 million will be a huge stretch.)

 

[Biker19]

I don't understand why people are cheerleading Microsoft's high sales. They got there the same way they always do: vacant library all year until the holidays, and then end-load it with marketing, bundles, and a few exclusives. This behavior was a little more bearable later in the 360's life when 360 was getting superior multiplats, a ton of indie exclusives, and had a massive library. None of those aspects apply to the Xbox One, yet they're still using the same methodology.

If 2015 is a repeat of 2014 between the X1 and PS4 (i.e. PS4 has a steady stream of games throughout the year but X1 does not) that would be sad. If Holiday 2015 is a repeat of 2014 (i.e. Microsoft gets great sales due to steep price cuts, bundling, and advertising) that would also be sad because Microsoft will likely continue that behavior.

I agree. And jhmtehgamr20xx's pretty much said the same thing of what Microsoft's been doing in another thread (Link), & has said that Microsoft should spread out their releases of their games throughout the year like Sony is doing, & not just depend on November & December to carry them through. And I would also have to agree with him as well about it.