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[RexNovis]

Is Black Friday big enough to trump the results for entirety of the rest of November?

That weekend is yea. It usually accounts for more than half of the sales for the entire month over the course of those 3 days.

 

[Brakke]

Remember when we had that thread about how Microsoft weren't going to report Xbox One numbers any more.

lol

 

[Welfare]

Remember when we had that thread about how Microsoft weren't going to report Xbox One numbers any more.

lol

What? Did something happen or is this in reference to this thread?

 

[CosmicQueso]

I decided to pipe up in another, non-NPD sales thread.

Why would I do that. I should not have done that. I'm not going to do that again.

There be dragons out there.

 

[Blackleg-sanji1]

I decided to pipe up in another, non-NPD sales thread.

Why would I do that. I should not have done that. I'm not going to do that again.

There be dragons out there.

Hehe i could've told you that cosmic. You missed most of the good stuff tho

 

[Boombloxer]

Hey now, you threw red meat to lions. You saw logic, they tasted salt.

People even complaining to Nirolak about the thread.
People saying GS is lying on investment calls.
People saying why would MS share data with the largest game retailer.

Comedy gold.

 

[JeffZero]

I decided to pipe up in another, non-NPD sales thread.

Why would I do that. I should not have done that. I'm not going to do that again.

There be dragons out there.

You and me both. Damn that was ugly.

I haven't had a chance to catch up in here, but if anyone has asked me how well my store seems to have fared with Battlefront relative to other metrics, I'd have to say pretty well indeed. Our stock is moving nicely. People are enthusiastic. Our midnight was strong. I was chatting with a coworker about what the CEO said today and she was surprised. I wasn't, but she definitely was.

And yeah, it'll keep doing well here throughout December.

 

[RexNovis]

I decided to pipe up in another, non-NPD sales thread.

Why would I do that. I should not have done that. I'm not going to do that again.

There be dragons out there.

You tried. It was a valiant effort.

I hereby nominate you for the title of Patron Saint of Sales for your unending patience and self restraint in the face of idiocy.

 

[samar11]

In Australia MS have been advertising the shit out of Tomb raider, I never saw this much for Halo 5 though, odd

 

[Imru’ al-Qays]

That's not locking in, that is competing for customers.

I'm having trouble seeing how they create a walled garden on pc, with customers forced to use their ecosystem, like with xbox. If that is not their endgame, then I don't understand why Xbox is supposed become part of windows. Why jeopardize the Xbox ecosystem, where they get a cut of everything that goes through it (movies, software, music, ad revenue, etc.). I guess it might make sense if they are going to exit the console hardware business and they want to do it in the most profitable way they can. But I haven't seen anything to suggest that they are exiting.

Yeah. And furthermore, if they're going to exit the console hardware business why would they stay in the games business at all? Maintaining a games business just to produce a handful of flagship titles in the hopes that that will keep people from switching to OS X and Linux seems a bit silly. Microsoft is in the games business because they want to be in the hardware business, they're not in the hardware business because they want to be in the games business.

 

[AniHawk]

Yeah. And furthermore, if they're going to exit the console hardware business why would they stay in the games business at all? Maintaining a games business just to produce a handful of flagship titles in the hopes that that will keep people from switching to OS X and Linux seems a bit silly. Microsoft is in the games business because they want to be in the hardware business, they're not in the hardware business because they want to be in the games business.

that's the point of them turning xbox into a catch-all of their entertainment center. and they would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for the everything that went horribly wrong in may 2013.

 

[slavesnyder]

Yeah. And furthermore, if they're going to exit the console hardware business why would they stay in the games business at all? Maintaining a games business just to produce a handful of flagship titles in the hopes that that will keep people from switching to OS X and Linux seems a bit silly. Microsoft is in the games business because they want to be in the hardware business, they're not in the hardware business because they want to be in the games business.

But if the hardware makes no profit after 3 generations it might go the way of the Zune.
They seem to change priorities and strategy. I don't say it's the right choice.
Creating exclusive flagship titles to get people into locked systems is exactly what Netflix, Amazon are doing with TV series.
And it seems that Amazon bought gaming studios for the same purpose. Those will not create games for PC, Xbox or Playstation...

Imagine Steam starting a subscription-based prime service with Half Life 3 exclusivity.

 

[Ryng_tolu]

What? Did something happen or is this in reference to this thread?

MS has confirmed The 90% of Halo 5 digital sales.

Spoiler

lololololol

 

[RexNovis]

THIS IS NOT TRUE. IT IS A JOKE.

Don't even joke about that. Someone will take you seriously. See Benny's post in the digital split thread.

 

[slavesnyder]

Don't even joke about that. Someone will take you seriously. See Benny's post in the digital split thread.

Could you link this, I want a guide through the minefield, please.

 

[RexNovis]

Could you link this, I want a guide through the minefield, please.

Benny posted

Of course GameStop would say this. Follow the money.

As a joke. Which then resulted in the following people quoting him as if he was being serious.

Exactly. I don't know what you would ever expect them to say.

Exactly what I was thinking. How would they even know?. And what do they have to say about EA's forecasts of digital increasing to 40% in 2016?

Yeah, the fact that it's Gamestop saying it makes me immediately question them, even though on the face of it I'd accept that suggestion that H5 didn't have significantly higher digital downloads than other comparable titles.

Frankly while Microsoft massaged the press release to give Halo 5 the biggest sales launch for the franchise, I don't think there was much an an option to reword "best selling digital title ever". The two statements aren't prima facie immediately contradictory, but this statement doesn't pass the bullshit test for me.

This continued for pages. It would've been funny if it wasn't so depressingly predictable.

 

[Fat4all]

Silly ole geF.

 

[slavesnyder]

Benny posted


As a joke. Which then resulted in the following people quoting him as if he was being serious.


This continued for pages. It would've been funny if it wasn't so depressingly predictable.

Beautiful
Thanks, Rexy

Spoiler

don't kill me, i'm joking

 

[jryi]

Tracking MAUs alone isn't great, because those get created with every new Xbox user. It's better that they're using active Live users.

No, you can play your Xbox (at least 360, might be even One) without creating a Live account.

As a consequence, it is likely that Xbox owners without an active Live account generate more revenue for Microsoft than active Live account holders without an Xbox.

So, MAU is less useful metric than console sales.

 

[RexNovis]

Oh and looks here what argument is being brought up YET AGAIN.

They're a software and services company moving to a unified platform, active monthly users provides a better metric because it shows how many active customers you essentially have. Customers which browse your store, are more likely to follow products on your ecosystem and have subscriptions (XBL, Office365, Onedrive).

The guy is a developer, doesn't mean he knows exact reasons for the shift of metrics for MS PR. No offence to him. Although from Sataya's focus, it's bloody clear and just makes sense.

I swear to god it's like dejavu in every single MS related sales thread. It's enough to drive you insane.

 

[serversurfer]

Yeah but Live members who don't pay a subscription and who aren't locked into paying Microsoft 30% of every game they buy are pretty much worthless, aren't they?

You should ask Valve how worthless they think their shackle-less Steam users are. You know, the transients who stumbled in and spent about $1.5B in their store last year. Yes, Valve sold $1.5B worth of Windows software last year. And now they're actively encouraging people to use operating systems that aren't Windows! The fuck?? People aren't even supposed to know there are operating systems that aren't Windows, and not only are they hearing that shit from Valve, but also Apple and Google. Now Microsoft's CEO is saying he hopes people will try Windows and choose to use it? Windows as an option?? What a fucking embarrassment.

Spoiler

… for them, I mean. I'm actually rather pleased.

Right. That's why it's an understandable and obvious move. That's why I find it odd that some would try to argue otherwise. The context and timing surrounding business decisions tells us a lot about their motivations. Dismissing the whole picture because of some nice PR and restructuring is disingenuous at best. These plans they are executing are clearly long term with very little in the way of execution currently. Like I said the timing of these reporting changes just doesn't make sense were these plans to be the primary driving factor. It doesn't add up when you consider everything at okay currently.

Since I've managed to stumble in to the role of Devil's Advocate here, I can't entirely agree with you on that point. I think it's clear the restructuring was happening regardless. One could argue that the money they spent fairly recently on stuff like AssCreed and Tomb Raider serves as evidence that consoles actually stood a shot at surviving the restructure, and the fact that they no longer report console numbers tells us that they simply didn't. On the other hand, perhaps that spending spree was simply to help insure it could even survive the generation as a legacy product, and it was never really going to survive the restructure. /shrug

Now, I agree that they could be more straightforward about declaring the Bone to be a legacy product like Sony were with the Vita, but still being the DA here, Vita is just a small, mostly unnoticed aspect of the PlayStation brand, but I think for a lot of XBox fans, XBox is the console. Yes, the idea is to migrate those users more fully to Windows, but I think most will require a more gentle transition than an email stating, "By the way, you're a PC gamer now."

But like I said, to their credit, I feel like MS have been fairly clear without being unreasonably blunt. The only thing I've really heard Nadella say about XBox is that it's still useful because gaming is big on mobile, and mobile is important. It seems like every time somebody tries to talk to Phil about XBox lately, the first words out of his mouth are invariably, "And don't forget about Windows! I've got lots of users on there!!"

Anyway, I guess my point is this. You're arguing that they're hiding how poorly their console business is doing, and I'm saying it's more that they're not really being explicit about the fact that they're pretty much done with the console business. From a reporting standpoint, they may as well have already exited the business; so they've sorta said so without actually saying so.

Now that said there is something to be said of impending changes to subscriptions and live mean for their future plans as Obliterator pointed out. One that could mean big changes for the way they handle their game software. But that isn't the dialogue Paco was putting forward. I do think it is a conversation worth having though.

Really, I get the idea that Nadella is mostly focused on mobile right now, and concedes that gaming is important to the mobile market, and Phil is campaigning backstage, arguing that XBox can also be useful in taking some of that revenue back from Valve and helping to shore up Windows-proper on the gaming front, since that's still a fairly significant segment WRT consumer usage of Windows.

And what good do these games do Microsoft once they're on PC? They do nothing to lock people into Microsoft's ecosystem, since "Live users" can still make all the extracurricular purchases they want on Steam. They don't really do anything to lock people into Microsoft's OS anyway, since anyone who cares about PC gaming already runs Windows.

As I said, Valve are actively trying to lure gamers away from Windows. Mostly to Linux, but also to Mac, which already has a huge foot in the door in terms of iOS. Apple get their lock-in through their mobile devices, and MS hope to do the same.

Remember, Nadella says we're living in a mobile-first world, and he's right about that. Once you've selected your primary device — your phone — you're kind of locked in to that ecosystem, and that being the case, when shopping for a computer, it makes sense to choose one that compliments your phone, wouldn't you say? Remember the iPod halo effect? iPhones are way cooler than iPods.

No, there's nothing preventing you from buying your Windows software from Valve or anyone else and you can always buy your MS software anywhere, buy hey, if you buy your software from the MS store, you get a free copy for your phone* so you may as well do all of your shopping there, right?

*with supported applications

I mean, surely there's more to it than that. 100% profit on every Microsoft-published PC game is tiny compared to a 30% cut of every third-party game sold on an Xbox, which Microsoft will no longer have access to unless people actually have a reason to buy third-party games on their store as opposed to on Steam or anywhere else.

Live is the reason to get your games from MS. At least, that's the plan. And there's a lot more games being sold for Windows than XBone. Nadella wants to focus on Windows.

Do you see where this is going? Exclusive titles are not moving these consoles. 3rd party are.

That's not what's selling Bones. The number one reason is the brand. Oh, and "faster processing power," was number three so again, "the brand." lol People buy XBox because it says XBox on it. Why would they buy it for 3rd-party games? Those are better on PS4. Someone helpfully posted a chart, actually.

Oh, look. It was you.

So yeah, the brand is what has value. XBox supporters mostly don't care about what you slap that label on; just tell them it's better and they'll believe you, because they don't pay attention to details. MS are banking on a lot of those fans following the logo back to the mothership.

Their PC gaming revenue will be chump change compared to even this generation's greatly-reduced Xbox licensing revenues.

Are you sure about that? Even if that's true, games aren't the only applications people buy. MS want to be the best place to get all of your apps, including games.

And there's no long-term strategic advantage for Microsoft in being in the game development business unless it helps them lock customers into some sort of ecosystem, which as far as I can tell this won't.

It has the potential to draw people in to their Windows ecosystem, which reaches across multiple device types. See above for where lock-in is typically introduced within the ecosystem.

Id be inclined to think they'll be using "Games with Gold" and other Xbox features as a hard sell for Gold subs on PC.

I'm sure they're thinking about all sorts of subscriptions they can offer to Windows users. GwG would be a good start, yes.

If they are serious about creating a cross platform ecosystem they will need to bring all of their software output to all relevant platforms. What will be interesting is seeing whether or not the Xbox games platform will be locked to Windows 10 only or whether they will allow it to be used on OS X, IOS, SteamOS and Linux. I'd assume they would lock to Windows 10 but if they really want universal coverage it's a possibility they expand it to other OSs.

Well, yes, but relevant platforms are Windows Phone, Surface, and W10 itself. Those are the platforms they need to shore up support for, and that's likely the priority Nadella would assign them.

I'm also not sure about how their timeline timeline will unfold. Will the make a big push starting at E3 or GDC this year or will they do a slow roll out followed by a full push towards the end of the console gen? The latter could allow them to rollout all their first party content without hindering the potential profitability of XB1.

WRT gaming, they'll just quietly shift their focus away from consoles, and more towards computers and then phones, most likely.

Now, here's a tricky thing: you cannot only measure people who have access to your service, you also have to understand stickyness. Xbox console owners are far more likely to spend money on your service than people who have an Xbox application on their mobile phones or Windows PC (NB: this is purely my own assumption). Therefore an "active Xbox Live user" is not a meaningful concept in and of itself, because the ARPPU of a console owner can be upwards of $10/month, whereas on Windows and mobile it may struggle to reach $1.

True, but keep in mind that while there are fifteen million Bone owners they can monetize to the tune of $10/month, there's like fifteen billion Windows users they can collect a dollar from, and if any of those 15 billion happen to be gamers, they'll just take $5-$10 from them instead. And they'd rather collect that bonus gaming money on Windows for free, or on Windows phone where you pay them for the device, instead of on XBox where they have to pay you to take the device from them.

The only reason Microsoft makes Halo is to get people to buy Xboxes.

Soon, they'll be making Halo to encourage people to try Windows 10, in hopes they'll continue using it.

Honestly I think the only companies that understand the living room are Google and, ironically enough, Sony: at the low end there's no point in doing anything but streaming from people's smartphones and at the high end there's no point in focusing on anything but gaming.

Hard to argue with that, though I'm interested to see where Apple are headed. They don't seem to be in any particular hurry to get there though, so it may be a while before we see their plans fully bear fruit.

The hardware space isn't shrinking. Hardware is how you lock people into your ecosystem. Apple is the most successful company on the planet because it uses hardware to lock people into its ecosystem. This is why Google got into smartphones and laptops and Amazon got into tablets and smartphones and Microsoft got into everything and why Valve wants to make consoles: if you don't control the hardware someone else can come along and eat your lunch.

MS haven't had much luck with locking people in with their consoles, and Sony really only lock people in to their consoles and nothing else. Meanwhile, Apple and Google have been locking people in to their phones quite effectively and in massive numbers, which has the effect of making non-Windows operating systems seem like options. Again, "mobile first." That's where Nadella's real focus is, because if it's not the most important segment currently, it's right up there with the traditional computer, and it's also the segment where MS are arguably weakest. You think Sony are making them look bad in the console space, but they're getting absolutely spanked in mobile, which is probably about 1000x more important to the global computing industry than video game machines.

Right now, Microsoft's top concern is getting in your pocket. That's the place to be in 2015 and probably in 2025. If they make another real attempt to get back under your TV, it will probably come in the form of something more like a Chromecast or Apple TV, and/or licensing XBox-branded HTPCs a la Steam Machines.

So what do people expect and when. A unified store? All software compatible across all devices?

That's what MS are driving for, yes. As I understand it, all development will take place on W10, and developers will be able to tick a box that magically builds additional targets for "Windows devices," such as phones, tablets, and consoles. Then when you buy from MS, you're entitled to all available versions of the app.

Now we even have it worse than last time. We have a remaster and a spin off series and people are expecting a unified platform. When? This gen? Next gen?

Well, technically everything including the Bone is now unified under W10. That said, I don't expect the Bone to become a generic HTPC, but I also don't expect them to bother with another console. It's just a lot of resources to tie up for very little real gain. You can play casual games on your Windows phone and serious games on your Windows computer, or do a little of both on your Surface. You can even plug them in to your TV if you want. MS have you covered.

There is and always has been a financial reason to release on multiple platforms if a small game would not be funded otherwise because a small install base in the early years of a console make funding those games a little more difficult.

Don't forget, Phil said those games were coming to Windows because Bone couldn't support them in its own, and also remember that Windows is the platform Phil's boss actually gives a shit about. But anyway, this isn't growing pains. See above; they're moving past consoles, and focusing on things that actually matter to them. Those games are coming to Windows because Windows is what matters most to MS.

 

[RexNovis]

Since I've managed to stumble in to the role of Devil's Advocate here, I can't entirely agree with you on that point. I think it's clear the restructuring was happening regardless. One could argue that the money they spent fairly recently on stuff like AssCreed and Tomb Raider serves as evidence that consoles actually stood a shot at surviving the restructure, and the fact that they no longer report console numbers tells us that they simply didn't. On the other hand, perhaps that spending spree was simply to help insure it could even survive the generation as a legacy product, and it was never really going to survive the restructure. /shrug

Now, I agree that they could be more straightforward about declaring the Bone to be a legacy product like Sony were with the Vita, but still being the DA here, Vita is just a small, mostly unnoticed aspect of the PlayStation brand, but I think for a lot of XBox fans, XBox isthe console. Yes, the idea is to migrate those users more fully to Windows, but I think most will require a more gentle transition than an email stating, "By the way, you're a PC gamer now."

But like I said, to their credit, I feel like MS have been fairly clear without being unreasonably blunt. The only thing I've really heard Nadella say about XBox is that it's still useful because gaming is big on mobile, and mobile is important. It seems like every time somebody tries to talk to Phil about XBox lately, the first words out of his mouth are invariably, "And don't forget about Windows! I've got lots of users on there!!"

Anyway, I guess my point is this. You're arguing that they're hiding how poorly their console business is doing, and I'm saying it's more that they're not really being explicit about the fact that they're pretty much done with the console business. From a reporting standpoint, they may as well have already exited the business; so they've sorta said so without actually saying so.

There's a lot they've done to try to remain competitive in the console business though. If this was the case we would be seeing first party titles releasing day and date across console and PC. This hasn't happened yet. I also don't think we'd be seeing their heavy investment in third party exclusive content (i.e. Scalebound, Tomb Raider, etc). These deals tell me they definitely want people choosing their console not their ecosystem (PC, mobile etc) as a whole.

Really, I get the idea that Nadella is mostly focused on mobile right now, and concedes that gaming is important to the mobile market, and Phil is campaigning backstage, arguing that XBox can also be useful in taking some of that revenue back from Valve and helping to shore up Windows-proper on the gaming front, since that's still a fairly significant segment WRT consumer usage of Windows.

I absolutely agree that Nadella is overwhelmingly focused on mobile. I think his policy changes have shown as much with the push for office and other MS software on iOS. I do also think he is aware that Xbox is their only "cool" branding right now and that has played into their rebranding of MS Store on Windows. I think he's well aware of the value the brand could have when it comes to gaining or retaining a very lucrative market in gaming across all windows devices. I am not sold on the idea that he will attempt to combat steam though. I think it's far more likely that they will seek to coexist with steam and instead utilize the Xbox store to grow and profit specifically from that brand by way of largely exclusive content and features.

I'm sure they're thinking about all sorts of subscriptions they can offer to Windows users. GwG would be a good start, yes.

It's the obvious choice if their goal is to sell OC gamers in the benefit of subscription based gaming. It will still be an uphill battle though.

Well, yes, but relevant platforms are Windows Phone, Surface, and W10 itself. Those are the platforms they need to shore up support for, and that's likely the priority Nadella would assign them.

Nadella is also making a push to get their software in as many devices and OS as possible. I can see thusvalsingeubg true for a small subset of games as a sort of taste of what can be had from the full Windows experience. To lure gamers currently in other platforms to their new ecosystem so to speak.

WRT gaming, they'll just quietly shift their focus away from consoles, and more towards computers and then phones, most likely.

So you're of the mind that it will be a slower more gradual shift than a blowout. I'm inclined to agree. I think it will start becoming more and more obvious as this console gen winds down. But there is also a possibility they'll go big with the move and position it as a shift to "the real next gen experience". I don't think it's as likely but it's certainly possible.

 

[CosmicQueso]

October is still interesting.

Like, November will be interesting. But October is still interesting.

So much interesting. Interesting overload. If MS had Live accounts like October has interesting, they'd have 140 share of the market!

 

[Sydle]

No, you can play your Xbox (at least 360, might be even One) without creating a Live account.

As a consequence, it is likely that Xbox owners without an active Live account generate more revenue for Microsoft than active Live account holders without an Xbox.

So, MAU is less useful metric than console sales.

You can't get on Live without a Live account though.

Recall when Phil Spencer said at GDC earlier this year that he wants Xbox customers to start to think of themselves as customers of Xbox Live, and that they want gamers to be able to play their games where they want to play them. Also consider how Nadella said he thinks mobile gaming (taking the experience with you across screens) is what he believes they can accomplish with Xbox.

If Phil is being charged with trying to grow active Live users who must login into Live to access their games, no matter the device, then it makes sense.

There's a lot they've done to try to remain competitive in the console business though. If this was the case we would be seeing first party titles releasing day and date across console and PC. This hasn't happened yet. I also don't think we'd be seeing their heavy investment in third party exclusive content (i.e. Scalebound, Tomb Raider, etc). These deals tell me they definitely want people choosing their console not their ecosystem (PC, mobile etc) as a whole.

Phil explained earlier this year that A) the decision to make Xbox a Windows 10 platform was recent and B) there were games already in development for quite some time where it didn't make sense to disrupt the production schedule. He and another Xbox exec have more recently said the goal is to have 100% of the games available on Windows 10 devices eventually. It makes sense seeing as how games typically take 2-3 years to make.

I also wish they were being more transparent with their timeline, but it's not unusual for a game company to keep things close to their chest. It may even be fair to say they're probably still trying to figure out how to do it.

I absolutely agree that Nadella is overwhelmingly focused on mobile. I think his policy changes have shown as much with the push for office and other MS software on iOS. I do also think he is aware that Xbox is their only "cool" branding right now and that has played into their rebranding of MS Store on Windows. I think he's well aware of the value the brand could have when it comes to gaining or retaining a very lucrative market in gaming across all windows devices. I am not sold on the idea that he will attempt to combat steam though. I think it's far more likely that they will seek to coexist with steam and instead utilize the Xbox store to grow and profit specifically from that brand by way of largely exclusive content and features.

Agreed. I think from Nadella's point of view as long as Windows is the primary OS for game development then it's another way to ensure Windows stays competitive in the marketplace. A few major exclusives that have audiences of millions every year only on Windows 10 may help reinforce Windows as a preferred gaming OS, in turn keeping Windows development top of mind for game developers, publishers, and marketplaces like Steam. I don't think Nadella or Spencer want to piss off anyone and give them reasons to want to to a growing OS like iOS/OSX or Android one day.

So you're of the mind that it will be a slower more gradual shift than a blowout. I'm inclined to agree. I think it will start becoming more and more obvious as this console gen winds down. But there is also a possibility they'll go big with the move and position it as a shift to "the real next gen experience". I don't think it's as likely but it's certainly possible.

I think it's fair to say they have the smallest in-house team for game development, so it makes sense it will take them time to put resources in place to take on game and service development for multiple devices. They're starting small with things like KI, Gears Ultimate, Fable Legends, Sea of Thieves, and Halo Wars 2. I won't be surprised if most of next year's E3 announcements say Windows 10 and Xbox on them. I believe they will try to have everything in place in time for the next gen cycle and standardize on simultaneous releases across Windows devices.

 

[slavesnyder]

October is still interesting.

Like, November will be interesting. But October is still interesting.

So much interesting. Interesting overload. If MS had Live accounts like October has interesting, they'd have 140 share of the market!

we have a metric for people who can't stand sales numbers, it's called Live subscriptions.

 

[jryi]

You can't get on Live without a Live account though.

Recall when Phil Spencer said at GDC earlier this year that he wants Xbox customers to start to think of themselves as customers of Xbox Live, and that they want gamers to be able to play their games where they want to play them. Also consider how Nadella said he thinks mobile gaming (taking the experience with you across screens) is what he believes they can accomplish with Xbox.

If Phil is being charged with trying to grow active Live users who must login into Live to access their games, no matter the device, then it makes sense.

Are you saying that Microsoft has decided to not sell games to Xbox owners who do not have a Live account?

 

[Sydle]

Are you saying that Microsoft has decided to not sell games to Xbox owners who do not have a Live account?

That's an odd interpretation of what I wrote. I suppose that's a possibility, but I'm not sure that's conclusive based on what they've said thus far.

The way I interpret is they're going to focus (read: not only, just make a concentrated effort) on making games that encourage gamers to use Live. If you take what they've said about the Live business being high-margin then it would make sense that they try to get more customers into it.

 

[Metalingus5150]

And yet when consumer's are polled exclusives are not in the top of any of the list.

What is? How well they play 3rd party games and brand recognition

Whoever made that chart is stupid.

 

[Thebeardofknowledge]

Whoever made that chart is stupid.

The chart was made based on a consumer poll

 

[Talax]

Whoever made that chart is stupid.

I think that's based on survey.

 

[Metalingus5150]

I think that's based on survey.

Those people are stupid. How is fun factor not number 1 on all of them?

 

[FranXico]

The chart was made based on a consumer poll

Either most people who chose Xbox One are, according to the reasons listed in the poll results table, fanboys, or the survey was poorly designed.

 

[Eferim]

October is still interesting.

Like, November will be interesting. But October is still interesting.

So much interesting. Interesting overload. If MS had Live accounts like October has interesting, they'd have 140 share of the market!

November: "The most interesting NPD in the world."

December: "It's like, how much more interesting can this be? And the answer is none. None more interesting."

January: "Brokeback NPD: I wish I knew how to interest you."

February: "Cool Hand NPD: What we got here is... failure to interest."

March: "King NPD: It was sales killed the interest."

etc.

 

[Mindlog]

Retail Sales Impression Thread from the Distant Past: According to Amazon rankings BANNED
NPD Threads of Today: Amazon rankings.

NPDs just aren't that interesting anymore.

 

[slavesnyder]

 

[GamerJM]

I don't get the point of these interesting jokes.

November/December are legitimately interesting NPD months. When people say "next month will be interesting," it's not like they're wrong.

 

[CosmicQueso]

November: "The most interesting NPD in the world."

December: "It's like, how much more interesting can this be? And the answer is none. None more interesting."

January: "Brokeback NPD: I wish I knew how to interest you."

February: "Cool Hand NPD: What we got here is... failure to interest."

March: "King NPD: It was sales killed the interest."

etc.

I can get behind this. I like you.

I don't get the point of these interesting jokes.

November/December are legitimately interesting NPD months. When people say "next month will be interesting," it's not like they're wrong.

Interesting perspective.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

November: "The most interesting NPD in the world."

December: "It's like, how much more interesting can this be? And the answer is none. None more interesting."

January: "Brokeback NPD: I wish I knew how to interest you."

February: "Cool Hand NPD: What we got here is... failure to interest."

March: "King NPD: It was sales killed the interest."

etc.

Lol, these should be in in the thread titles just for the hilarity xD

 

[tattooed_dwarf]

we have a metric for people who can't stand sales numbers, it's called Live subscriptions.

Huooh, War never changes.

 

[Obliterator]

Haha its pretty funny how there are people on Sales GAF that think the Xbox PC thing isn't coming. That's nice.

 

[tattooed_dwarf]

Haha its pretty funny how there are people on Sales GAF that think the Xbox PC thing isn't coming. That's nice.

Xbox PC thing? I'm not sure what you mean?

 

[Eferim]

I don't get the point of these interesting jokes.

November/December are legitimately interesting NPD months. When people say "next month will be interesting," it's not like they're wrong.

Sure, but when every post starts off or ends with some variation of "next month will be interesting" it gets kind of ridiculous. We're just poking fun at the trend.

Interesting perspective.

Haha

 

[Obliterator]

Xbox PC thing? I'm not sure what you mean?

Xbox Live becoming an actual presence on PC.

 

[Sydle]

Haha its pretty funny how there are people on Sales GAF that think the Xbox PC thing isn't coming. That's nice.

To be fair, unless you've been closely following Xbox developments via bits and pieces from various interviews and conference keynotes with Spencer and Nadella it's not likely you'll be aware of what they've said over the last 9 months regarding their plans. They haven't put it into a clear communication plan to promote, but that's fair seeing as how they don't quite have a single game available yet to illustrate what they're talking about.

 

[Stanng243]

Xbox Live becoming an actual presence on PC.

In what way? Do you think they will start charging users to play multiplayer on PC? Or do you simply think they'll carry the games from your live account over?

 

[Welfare]

In what way? Do you think they will start charging users to play multiplayer on PC? Or do you simply think they'll carry the games from your live account over?

The store could be open to anyone like Steam, but with Xbox Live you get bonuses.

They can't just have Xbox on PC be behind a paywall because then the only customers you would have would be the already existing XBL user base.

 

[Hockeymac18]

Xbox Live becoming an actual presence on PC.

"Steam machines" for W10 is something I see happening eventually. Look at the Surface model. MS will still make hardware - they'll try to create something that is leading - but I see it becoming more open, and other vendors getting in on the game.

I do agree that the Xbox Live issue will exist (i.e. how do they charge for online in this environment?)...and to be honest, I don't know how that will be addressed. If I had to guess, I'd think that they would try to leverage things with the subscription model - maybe offering servers, cross-play, cross-buy, ability to play your games anywhere, etc as part of that package. But I don't know how this would all work out. I'm sure there are people at MS trying to figure this out.

I don't know if it'll be next generation (I imagine the generation after next) - but I see this happening.

And for what it's worth, I see Playstation eventually going to a services/subscription model.

And I look forward to this day. I can't wait to basically be able to play all games on a single machine - want to play PS games? Load up the Playstation App...Xbox? Xbox App - and so on.

 

[2thepoint]

So, November will be interesting.

Are trends pointing to a PS4 or Xbox One win?

 

[Hockeymac18]

So, November will be interesting.

Are trends pointing to a PS4 or Xbox One win?

Black Friday could of course change things (since this weekend apparently accounts for about half of all November sales), but currently: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/2015-11/videogames/

I expect both to sell a ton, with PS4 coming out on top.

I'll be curious to see where the "bomb" that is Halo 5 ends up after this weekend, too, as it's sitting at #15 currently (only Fallout 4, COD, and Battlefront are above it) - indicating, to me at least, that it could (edit: removed should safely) chart in November (unless this weekend has something weird happen with sales for other/older games).

Edit: apparently Amazon is a terrible predictor of software sales - so ignore the above about Halo 5.

 

[Stanng243]

So, November will be interesting.

Are trends pointing to a PS4 or Xbox One win?

The Wii U by a nose.