All purpose sales and sales rumors/anecdotes thread next gen+

[Bigus Dickus]

Just had a thought...

What's the smarter move... 3 million xb1 this holiday season at 399 and another 3 million at 399 next holidays.... Or 3 million now at 499 and a price of 299 next holidays?

Obviously a simplistic what if, but the point is that by charging the extra hundred now to early purchasers while the situation is essentially supply limited, MS can be more aggressive later with pricing with similar average price over the first year. Of course I know they don't want to drop that much in the first year and hamstring themselves for the life of the console, but still...

 

[blakjedi]

Even I - who don't think at all that the xbone was "foward, innovative and bold" in its market approach but a direct attack to consumers' interests and rights along with a completely disparate notion of what their target audience wants (i.e. - not TV and sports), and that Microsoft should hurt bad for even trying to pull that bullshit on gamers - don't think even for a bit that the difference in sales has something to do with policies or pricing.

You think that about nearly all MS products so at least you are consistent. :shrug:

I happen to disagree with you in every way on Xbox One, but since there are more members of the "not MS" set than "MS" set i can see why you believe more people agree with you.

 

[djskribbles]

It's not sitting on shelves in every store. I've yet to see one available in retail in my area. Just because you can find one doesn't mean supply limits aren't affecting their sales.

The point is that it hasn't been hard to find one for the past few weeks. Many shops have plenty of stock; bestbuy.com, futureshop.ca, gamestop.com/co.uk/de, thesource.ca, amazon.com/de/co,uk, walmart.com, game.co.uk, Microsoft store to name a few. You can even buy one on ebay for below cost. Many reports of people seeing them on shelves, too. Even Walmart in my small city have them in stock. If supply is affecting sales, then it barely is.

http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/xboxone/
http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/ps4/

 

[steveOrino]

Any idea how many PS-EYEs were sold?

 

[temesgen]

Any idea how many PS-EYEs were sold?

Its a good question, I can say I went to 3 different stores to find one. I bought it so my daughter could play Just Dance 2014 and she loves it. I am not very impressed by the actual camera integration in that game but Play Room does show that camera has pretty good potential, I hope we get a new version of Eye Pet or something from Media Molecule or even a Singstar game soon.

 

[Rangers]

It's not sitting on shelves in every store. I've yet to see one available in retail in my area. Just because you can find one doesn't mean supply limits aren't affecting their sales.

That may be true, but you can go on America's biggest websites and get one. Like Amazon.com.

Maybe there is some spotty brick and mortar availability (no idea, as I can only speak to the store or two I frequent and havent even seen those in weeks, but I did see XBO's at Wal Mart the morning after Black Friday, which is pretty much the hardest possible time to not sell out) but anybody who really cares can get one. Maybe it's costing them some tiny amount of impulse buys, at most, again assuming there is any brick and mortar shortage.

 

[manux]

Checked out bestbuys around my area(94086). 9 Best buys have xbox one available for pickup today. One doesn't. Seems like supply around here is plentiful.

 

[Eolirin]

That is not what MS said.

It totally was: “People assume there's a volume issue which in fact there isn't. You're actually seeing pre-orders pop back up now because we're able allocate the countries' volumes back in. It's there, the problem is localisation" http://www.oxm.co.uk/60960/xbox-one...-no-manufacturing-problems-insists-microsoft/

And then reasserted just recently: "I stood on stage and talked about 21 markets... there were things around the voice models and other things we needed to make sure were right in order to really build a box that felt native to the markets we were shipping in." http://www.oxm.co.uk/68876/phil-spe...s-it-never-feels-good-to-miss-launch-markets/

 

[Strange]

(reading at E3 about how everything they did was a reaction to MS, how it was rumored they scrambled like crazy to hit 399 hours after MS announced 499, etc).

I dont see PS4 price coming down until 2015 really. For one thing half-drops are rare, so the next logical step for PS4 is 299, which is way too low this early, PS3 is still $249, and there is still 8GB GDDR5 onboard...

Hitting 399 at the last minute is complete bullocks. I don't think I ever saw a single piece of credible evidence to suggest so. Lots of speculation, but again nothing concrete to suggest they were trying to sell at anything above.

At the current rate PS4 doesn't even NEED a price cut for quite some time.

 

[Eolirin]

It doesn't...the extra territories are small in terms of console market and wont account for much sales.

When you have 40 more markets, even small quantities add up quickly though. It's not a small disparity in markets. If they sold 30k units on average in those markets, and that was it, that'd account for the 1.2 million in sales. I doubt that's the case, I'm sure the numbers are lower than that, but 15k units on average over the extra 40 markets accounts for half the disparity. How small is small here?

 

[Eolirin]

Sorry in Switzerland, no problem of language... They launch in the biggest territory or where the Xbox brand is strong...

It will be interesting to see the Xbox One sales in January, February and March... Sony will sell every PS4 in stock until march or April in some country. In France preordering a PS4 now and the availability is March or April depending of the retailer...

My brother want a PS4 and just preorder...

Dialects and accents are different; the voice recognition libraries have to be done on a per region basis, even if the language spoken is the same, or it won't work consistently.

 

[djskribbles]

When you have 40 more markets, even small quantities add up quickly though. It's not a small disparity in markets. If they sold 30k units on average in those markets, and that was it, that'd account for the 1.2 million in sales. I doubt that's the case, I'm sure the numbers are lower than that, but 15k units on average over the extra 40 markets accounts for half the disparity. How small is small here?

Again, I'm sure Sony is diverting shipments to larger markets too... it just makes good business sense. And MS doesn't have nearly as much brand presence outside of the US/UK... they're probably better off shipping them to the US or UK instead. Even if MS shipped more consoles to these small markets, it would barely make a difference in sales. The whole point is moot because Sony would outsell them if they decided to ship more units to these small markets anyway because everywhere is bone dry.

 

[Xalion]

It's not sitting on shelves in every store. I've yet to see one available in retail in my area. Just because you can find one doesn't mean supply limits aren't affecting their sales.

Local anecdotal evidence is generally hard to put much stock in. However, at least in this case the major e-tailers have had them in stock for some time (Amazon, Best Buy, etc). That I believe is probably a more accurate nation wide indicator than what you or I see in our local Best Buys. That being said, when you combine the online e-tailers having them with anecdotal reports and the prices falling on secondary sales locations (like Ebay), it is hard to argue that Microsoft has had a supply problem for at least the last 2 weeks. So basically the last week in December.

One million consoles don't come from one week though, so I would say that this number is primarily an indicator of what shipped.

(note - I checked on this after someone told me they had been in stock for a while earlier in the thread. I had assumed they just sold out everything as well. That does not appear to be the case when you check into it though.)

 

[temesgen]

You don't see how MS could reduce the cost of kinect to less than $100?

I'm sure they can lower the price but I don't think they can cut 100 dollars out of the cost to reach parity with PS4 which is what keeps being suggested. And I don't think MS is willing to sell XB1 at a loss to gain market share, I think they are more likely to include a game at point of sale or try to increase the value proposition thru their services like IP TV.

 

[Eolirin]

Again, I'm sure Sony is diverting shipments to larger markets too... it just makes good business sense. And MS doesn't have nearly as much brand presence outside of the US/UK... they're probably better off shipping them to the US or UK instead. Even if MS shipped more consoles to these small markets, it would barely make a difference in sales. The whole point is moot because Sony would outsell them if they decided to ship more units to these small markets anyway because everywhere is bone dry.

It's more about trying to determine what the disparity in sales for the US and major EU markets is. If those additional 40 markets represent a significant part of the disparity in total sales, that means the US/EU numbers are closer than the 33% gap would suggest, and it does put a greater burden on Sony being able to reach enough supply to meet demand, which makes that harder to judge.

And Marketshare matters for a lot in terms of competitive advantage. So Sony selling more units is obviously great for Sony's bottom line, but Sony locking MS out of the UK market, for instance, by selling in greater enough volumes to create difficult to overcome networking effects is something else. Or as an example of something from last gen, MS's inability to compete in Japan had consequences for the 360, even though the 360 sold about as well as the PS3 overall; third party PS3 exclusives were more often Japanese made than US made.

 

[dobwal]

I'm sure they can lower the price but I don't think they can cut 100 dollars out of the cost to reach parity with PS4 which is what keeps being suggested. And I don't think MS is willing to sell XB1 at a loss to gain market share, I think they are more likely to include a game at point of sale or try to increase the value proposition thru their services like IP TV.

Agreed. When the Wii was selling like hotcakes, MS didn't blink an eye and maintained the original price until the following summer. With the Wii u out of play for at least the time being, there is plenty opportunity for healthy sales. Second or third place doesn't mean being held to 10-25 million units sold anymore.

The console market has grown and matured to the point its possible for a console to be viable without a monopolistic like hold on the market.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ok, didn't see that coming.

Sold 4.2 million PS4s sold in 2013 alone.

Which is pretty much inline with the production lead that Sony presumably had on PS4's.

3 million Xbox Ones (~1 million manufactured per month) and 4.2 million PS4's (~1 million manufactured per month with a month lead in manufacturing). Sony may be manufacturing slightly more consoles per month, but if so it isn't likely to be that much more.

Basically as most people predicted, both Sony and MS sold every console they could make for the Holiday season.

Now comes the interesting part. How soon will supply catch up to and/or surpass demand for each respective console? I'm not making any predictions on this one.

Regards,
SB

 

[Strange]

Which is pretty much inline with the production lead that Sony presumably had on PS4's.

3 million Xbox Ones (~1 million manufactured per month) and 4.2 million PS4's (~1 million manufactured per month with a month lead in manufacturing). Sony may be manufacturing slightly more consoles per month, but if so it isn't likely to be that much more.

Basically as most people predicted, both Sony and MS sold every console they could make for the Holiday season.

Now comes the interesting part. How soon will supply catch up to and/or surpass demand for each respective console? I'm not making any predictions on this one.

Regards,
SB

We're pretty sure Xbox supply has caught up with demand, at least in US

http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/xboxone/
http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/ps4/

 

[Shortbread]

We're pretty sure Xbox supply has caught up with demand, at least in US

http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/xboxone/
http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/ps4/

It has, weeks ago. Why some members have a problem believing this, baffles me. A decrease in demand, doesn't mean XB1 is failing... it just means demand is no longer outstripping supply. I, and most websites have mentioned the reasons why, those who want to entertain other ideas, feel free to do so... it still doesn't negate the truth.

Sounds like you want a monopoly......

No. It sounds like Brad wants company "x" or "y" to bring out a better product next time, not to be rewarded for mediocrity, that breeds more mediocrity.

 

[djskribbles]

More anecdotal evidence of plenty of XB1s in stock, probably the largest piles I've seen.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=96411272#post96411272
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=96446564&postcount=2516