• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Will this be the defining holiday season for Xbox One?

Well, as long as the next COD, Assassin's Creed(??), NBA2K, Madden and major third party game come to PS4 as well, I don't think Sony will have anything to worry about. Exclusives generally do not sell systems anymore. The third party games are what most casual gamers buy consoles for nowadays.

Here in Germany the X1 is so dead, even if MS makes a bundle for 100€, I think PS4 gets sold more.
I have spent the last November in the US though and over there X1 seems way bigger.
And yeah all those countless X1 commercials I saw on TV showed CoD:AW like it was an exclusive (during football games, might be different in other slots).
So yeah even MS thinks its better to associate X1 with CoD than Halo, you are right.

But I believe casuals have gravitated to 3rd party this gen, because exclusives have been disappointing or weren't as big.
If MS sells a 350$ bundle incl. Halo and Forza that will turn some heads.
 

Stare-Bear

Banned
So with you logic the next Last of Us won't boost the PS4 sales since there has already been a Last of Us on next gen to drive Last of Us sales? ...

If they were releasing Halo 2(!!) yes, not Halo 5... And if Last of Us sequel was made by a completely different team with no ties to Naughty Dog...
 

RBK

Banned
We had similar topics around that time. Will titanfall boost hardware sales...

Honestly don't know, but if it did in the month of March, its job has been done.

The TF bundle really wouldn't have much impact a month into release, anyone else saying otherwise was being delusional.

This is a lot easier to say after the fact.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
Everybody said Titanfall would move massive amounts of hardware... Everybody said, no people are just waiting for a titanfall bundle... Titanfall came and that month they sold less consoles.

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

Not a really good comparison.
 

allan-bh

Member
In America definitely, Xbox One will have a excellent holiday. Worldwide is another question, but probably will do better than in 2014.
 

Prine

Banned
I suspect there more to come from ms at e3, they're goong all on. Scalebound and fingers crossed Banjo Threeie reveal will tip a bunch of gamers into a purchase
 

Achire

Member
The effect of Halo on the sales is going to be hard to separate from the general uptake in Holiday sales of a console. And those sales are going to depend a lot on the bundles and price cuts, and what Sony's doing to counter. If Halo 5 releases in September, then we might see a very clear Destiny-like effect on the sales. Or was September still "pre-season"?
 

Asd202

Member
Will it matter though? From the looks of it in early 2016 it's going to get outsold again and after Halo they don't really have a franchise capable of pushing the hardware as much.
 

Bgamer90

Banned
First point, it's spin because they make it seem like they won the holidays, they did not...

How is simply saying they had the top selling console during the Holiday months in North America spin? Them making it seem like they "won" the Holidays is your interpretation (though I'm not really sure what "winning" is suppose to mean in this case).

...I'm not saying MS spin is new or somehow different from other companies, just saying that people who actually do the business knows that the PS4 world wide won every month and might actually be 2-1 sales currently.

Of course. But we are talking about NPD sales.

second point, You say here it's important for pr and 3rd parties, 3rd parties know who actually sold more consoles overall during that time.

My point about third parties was for a console being #1 in NA overall (whole user base) -- not just for a few months.

Last point, sure some people hold out, but lets not pretend a majority of the hardcore halo fan base did not pick up an xbox one before this point.

Really wouldn't say majority. There are many Halo fans that are currently still playing on 360 that are waiting to get an Xbox One when Halo 5 releases (if it's good). Some of these people were going to get an Xbox One for MCC but didn't due to the game's issues.
 

Docflem

Member
So with you logic the next Last of Us won't boost the PS4 sales since there has already been a Last of Us on next gen to drive Last of Us sales? ...

What? Last of us 2 hasn't even been announced, and is years away, MCC was out less than a year ago.
 
Defining in what way? MS certainly has some titles to bring to bear for the XB1's 2015 holiday season, but it is not very reasonable to assume that Nintendo and Sony will bring nothing to the table for the biggest sales season of the year.

The biggest problem that the XB1 faces is that Microsoft is devaluing it. Shaving $150 off the asking price and removing features a mere year into the system are not generally things that increase consumer confidence. The tactic of dropping price and giving away games did boost sales number in the USA, but what is the long term cost? MS can certainly afford to subsidize their box, but they've also made it unlikely that the average person will be willing to pay a higher price again. Meanwhile, the PS4 is still perceived as maintaining its value and has no trouble selling well even when it has no major titles to crow about. IMO, whar MS needs the most is to boost the value of their product again and make it the console of choice all year around. That's a tough row to hoe, but not impossible.
 
Man I hope this E3 is going to be chockfull of new game announcements, there needs to be some more heavy weights coming because the fact that right now, UC4 Zelda and halo 5 are the big ones for their respective consoles is disheartening, 1 game per console? I want more heavy hitters that has everyone completely hyped! ( Just to be clear I'm talking about games that only get the hype that UC4 and Halo can acheive, I am well aware that there are other games that are coming that people are excited for)

3rd party games are still king currently and with the fact that PS4 runs them better and the public knows this makes me think the X1 still has ways to go before it can start encroaching on PS4's success.

Sony I think has some potential big reveals considering we know that some of their devs are working on unannounced games (Robot Dinos for one) but what is rumoured for X1? Rare is looking to announce Banjo I think and Crackdown 3 might still make it before the end of the year but are they big crowd pleasers?
 
Defining in what way? MS certainly has some titles to bring to bear for the XB1's 2015 holiday season, but it is not very reasonable to assume that Nintendo and Sony will bring nothing to the table for the biggest sales season of the year.

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

See Kinect isn't really a "feature" in the eyes of the public. And anybody who visits a store will get, that the No-Kinect X1 is cheaper because there is no Kinect that comes with it.
The different boxes sit right next to each other.
I also think that maintaining value is an argument if you compare cars (Audi vs Hyundai) but for consoles.... idk

MS strategy should be to get as many ppl as possible on XBL and recoup the money lost by price cutting thru digital distribution and build a customer base for the next console.
Xbox brand < PS brand has already been confirmed, so getting back to the perception of the 360 (cheaper, better OS, games, online infrastructure) is the only way to remedy this massive launch screw up.
 
In what sense?

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

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

Samsung will learn the same lesson, when the S6 is really more expensive than the IPhone 6.
 
That people (who aren't fans of either system) will buy an Xbox system if it's priced the same as or below the PS equivalent and offers the same or better services.
But if the Xbox is more expensive than the PS it won't sell as much.
360 sold so well/ X1 so badly for that reason.

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

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

It is already priced below PS4 and selling less. It was selling much less when it was the same price. No way is brand the Xbox brand stronger than PlayStation. This shouldn't even be an argument. Xbox One has to cost less to be competitive. This is just in the U.S. Worldwide PlayStation is indisputably the more popular brand and always has been.
 

Docflem

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

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

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

The last couple of months, and probably the next 5-7 show that the bolded is wrong, Xone is cheaper than the PS4 and it's still not outselling it. So it seems like PS brand>MS brand. No kinect and no drm would be just a weaker PS4. 360 sold well for a number of reasons but "brand strength" was not one of them.
 
This is my issue with the XB1, it's basically a holiday console.

Yeah I dont get what good outselling ps4 during the holidays in the us does if the ps4 destroys it sales wise for the other 9 or so months.
I mean right now on the amazon best seller charts ps4 is #6 xbox one is #53 - and thats a bundle thats $50 cheaper with a game.
 

Nintenyearold

Neo Member
I'm assuming you mean in terms of forum console wars mindshare, and not sales, right? The Zelda delay won't have any impact on xbone sales one way or the other
 

Cavalier

Banned
This holiday season is going to be insane for X1.

I'm afraid I won't have enough time to enjoy all the games. That and work are my concern rather than worrying about if Xbox One has enough games for the holiday.

All I need is Halo 5.
 

Ushay

Member
No, Sony will do a price cut and announce 2-5 AAA games during E3, Tokyo game show and Gamescom. Sony will not sit back this holiday like last holiday....

The thing is, Sony can actually just sit back on a marketing deal and ride 3rd parties through the holidays and still do well. They simply have that kind of advantage. That being said, adopting that stance can be dangerous long term and lose steam for them. They surely will have something ready for E3.
 
How awesome would a Halo universe MOBA be? From the creators of Halo Wars (wasn't that the name of the RTS?), Halo W.A.R.S.!

I'm not sure that'd be a good idea. MOBAs generally need a large cast of unique characters to play. Halo, while it has a deep lore, doesn't have a lot of big name characters who are unique enough to be playable. Look at Heroes of the Storm for example: Thrall, Kerrigan and Azmodan are all characters with a very unique playstyle and wildly different looks. For Halo you'd really have to scrape the barrel and stretch to create abilities for someone like Johnson or Chief, it's harder to translate an FPS universe into a moba than it is to translate more fantasy-like universes into a moba. I think MS would be much better suited doing the Super Smash style and using characters from a bunch of their IPs if they wanted to go the moba route.
 

Mikey Jr.

Member
Its so strange that we only talk about Holiday season for X1. Whats MS excuse for not releasing any major titles during the other 8-10 months in a year? Serious question, and I don't know why its never brought up..It would be nice if they spread out major releases throughout the year, so I can have something to play between Jan-Sept.

Im just hoping for Halo 5(Don't see it getting delayed, and I would be devastated) and Tomb raider this holiday, could honestly careless about an annual Forza game. QB would be a great post holiday game Q1/Q2 2016 especially If they don't have any plans for a major release post holiday. Just my opinion clearly.

They sold 600k more than the ps4 in those 2 months.

Thats their excuse.
 

GnawtyDog

Banned
That people (who aren't fans of either system) will buy an Xbox system if it's priced the same as or below the PS equivalent and offers the same or better services.

It's already priced lower.

Have you played Halo 5?

People forget how well reviewed Halo 4 was and how well it sold --- despite what a hardcore audience believes about the direction of the series. The casuals will flock like always - specially when big marketing dollars are thrown at it. It's however unclear how well it will do on a console that's currently not the market leader. Also I don't see a Halo game reviewing badly.
 

Wynnebeck

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

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

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

I think the fact the PS4 is still outselling the Xbone with the higher price refutes that.
 
Predictions: Halo 5 to pay for the crimes of the MCC and horribly undersell. I'd put my money on Tomb Raider to be the best selling Xbone game this coming holiday season. Forza will continue to do far better in the EU than in NA.

Honestly, I don't think Sony is particularly worried about not having any (known) exclusives for this holiday season. I half suspect the Destiny expansion pack will carry the PS4 in the US, assuming nobody does fire sales. So, expect more Xbone fire sales.
 

GnawtyDog

Banned
Predictions: Halo 5 to pay for the crimes of the MCC and horribly undersell. I'd put my money on Tomb Raider to be the best selling Xbone game this coming holiday season. Forza will continue to do far better in the EU than in NA.

Honestly, I don't think Sony is particularly worried about not having any (known) exclusives for this holiday season. I half suspect the Destiny expansion pack will carry the PS4 in the US, assuming nobody does fire sales. So, expect more Xbone fire sales.

House of Wolves releases in May I think. Sony has stuff, although not necessarily considered "huge" (give Teraway to Nintendo and watch Splatoon-like marketing magic happen) and they'll also announce stuff - I don't see them skipping the "holidays" - which again, people use ambiguously on purpose. September is not the Holidays and that's highly likely when Halo 5 ships.
 

nynt9

Member
While they have more exclusives and pseudo-exclusives announced for he holidays so far, I don't think anything other than Halo 5 will be a huge seller. I think people are underplaying Halo 5, the average consumer probably doesn't care too much that MCC was a mess and they'll hop on for the brand name, but Forza and TR don't have that same power (am I missing another game?)

If they had QB and something else, maybe, but right now it's looking "not too bad" at best. And it doesn't really make up for the rest of the year being rather barren.
 
While they have more exclusives and pseudo-exclusives announced for he holidays so far, I don't think anything other than Halo 5 will be a huge seller. I think people are underplaying Halo 5, the average consumer probably doesn't care too much that MCC was a mess and they'll hop on for the brand name, but Forza and TR don't have that same power (am I missing another game?)
I disagree. The sales of sequels are typically highly dependant on the quality of the previous game, and Halo has had two duds in a row. I don't expect Microsoft to be able to advertise their way out of the hole the franchise is in.
 

BigDug13

Member
Halo 5 is going to sell a shitload of copies. But I feel like most true halo fans have already bought the XBO. It's not like theyre waiting for Halo 5 before jumping in.
 
It is already priced below PS4 and selling less. It was selling much less when it was the same price. No way is brand the Xbox brand stronger than PlayStation. This shouldn't even be an argument. Xbox One has to cost less to be competitive. This is just in the U.S. Worldwide PlayStation is indisputably the more popular brand and always has been.

The last couple of months, and probably the next 5-7 show that the bolded is wrong, Xone is cheaper than the PS4 and it's still not outselling it. So it seems like PS brand>MS brand. No kinect and no drm would be just a weaker PS4. 360 sold well for a number of reasons but "brand strength" was not one of them.

It's already priced lower.

I think the fact the PS4 is still outselling the Xbone with the higher price refutes that.

Please don't take may words out of context. Would have taken you guys like 10 secs. of scrolling to get the context.

I have stated that
Xbox brand > PS brand has already been confirmed

Then I got asked in what sense I meant that and stated my opinion.
And yes I believe that MS screwing up their launch is a much bigger factor than you guys believe. Hard to recover from a bad launch, these hot fixes they do know won't really change the picture.
And I am from Germany, where we have a 4:1 sales ratio in favor of PS4.

So I agree with all of you.
For MS to be competitive they have to be ~100&#8364; cheaper than Sony AT LAUNCH.

EDIT: before anybody misunderstands. I think Forza, Halo and Lara can't change that either.
It is like a ChampionsLeague KO round matchup, Sony won the first leg 5-0, so even if MS wins the second leg 2-0. They still lost on aggregate.

EDIT: Everbody I had a bad typo mixed up > and <. Has been corrected
 

Docflem

Member
They sold 600k more than the ps4 in those 2 months.

Thats their excuse.

This is getting old, they sold less than the ps4, period. They did everything they could and only outsold in a single area, and not enough to even overtake the competition WW. MS needs to have a strong holiday, and the first half of 2016 which will be their last shot at a "defining" year. If they get outsold all year again they will be stuck at minimum 2-1.

Please don't take may words out of context. Would have taken you guys like 10 secs. of scrolling to get the context.

I have stated that


Then I got asked in what sense I meant that and stated my opinion.
And yes I believe that MS screwing up their launch is a much bigger factor than you guys believe. Hard to recover from a bad launch, these hot fixes they do know won't really change the picture.
And I am from Germany, where we have a 4:1 sales ratio in favor of PS4.

So I agree with all of you.
For MS to be competitive they have to be ~100&#8364; cheaper than Sony AT LAUNCH.

EDIT: before anybody misunderstands. I think Forza, Halo and Lara can't change that either.
It is like a ChampionsLeague KO round matchup, Sony won the first leg 5-0, so even if MS wins the second leg 2-0. They still lost on aggregate.

I quoted the post you just suggested I read, in that you specifically say that at the same or lower price Xone will out sell ps4, that is not true. That is the context of your words as you wrote them. Hell if you take half a second of scrolling up and read YOUR whole post you literately say "at same price." You stated that like a fact, we refuted that with actual facts and NOW you say it needs to be atleast 100&#8364; at launch? Like a year and a half ago?
 

amar212

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

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

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

If you come to any country in the world aside the US, you would see the crazyness of your assumption.

And even US is shifting from what I can see.

I wonder where are you pulling your assumpsions from.
 
If you come to any country in the world aside the US, you would see the crazyness of your assumption.

And even US is shifting from what I can see.

I wonder where are you pulling your assumpsions from.

Please read my post above.
My assumption is based on 360 being cheaper than PS3 and it did OK even in Europe, while X1 was more expensive than PS4 and did terrible even in the US.
And with "people will buy" I don't mean "100% of all people will buy for sure", more like "will consider buying". People will pay more for brands like PS, iPhone or Audi.
Brands like Skoda, Xbox or Samsung have to be cheaper.
 

Serenity

Member
They sold 600k more than the ps4 in those 2 months.

Thats their excuse.

With most of that coming in November with the gap declining in December as well as Ps4 now leading again in Jan and Feb so far. Do people really not count consoles sold Jan through October? MS didn't win the year just because they won Nov and Dec only in the US. Does this happen in any other field no team wins a game because they scored more points in the 4th quarter or the second half. You win by having the most over all points. All those consoles sold before the holidays are people buying games earlier and subscribing to services that much longer. Their great strategy left MS with a console gap of 550K for 2014 and growing in 2015 when the lead was only 100K in 2013. No matter how you spin it Sony increased their lead in NA over XB1 in comparison to 2013 and thats with out a price drop.
 

Rymuth

Member
Please don't take may words out of context. Would have taken you guys like 10 secs. of scrolling to get the context.
I think your problem is that you're not using '>' correctly. It's the only logical explanation and why so many guys are calling you out on it.
 

Hyunashi

Member
In the US, I could see it.
The rest of the world, no way in hell.

The more interesting thing will be to see the impact MCC has on Halo 5 and whether 343i 'kill' the franchise more or restore it.
 
I quoted the post you just suggested I read, in that you specifically say that at the same or lower price Xone will out sell ps4, that is not true. That is the context of your words as you wrote them. Hell if you take half a second of scrolling up and read YOUR whole post you literately say "at same price." You stated that like a fact, we refuted that with actual facts and NOW you say it needs to be atleast 100€ at launch? Like a year and a half ago?

Here is that post. There are two variables cheaper/same price and better/equal services, one of them has to be in MS favor.
And believe and stating as a fact are really different to me.


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

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