All purpose Sales and Sales Rumors and Anecdotes [2016 Edition]

[Rangers]

From Cosmo at GAF, XBO won the month, Xbox beat PS4 beat 3DS, Xbox had it's best August since 2011. He said it was a good month for hardware sales all around.

August 2011 360 did 308k. So that's an upper bound.

I'll make a thread later if nobody else does first.

 

[AzBat]

UK sales from MCV...

Xbox has stormed the UK console market following the launch of new Xbox One S models.

The release of the firm's new slim 500GB and 1TB SKUs saw Xbox One sales rise 989 per cent week-on-week.

The Xbox One had a 71 per cent share of the hardware market for the week ending September 24th, according to GfK data obtained by MCV. That’s an increase of 76 per cent year-on-year.

A new slimmed-down PS4 arrived earlier this month, but sales have so far been slow. PlayStation 4 had a market share of just 19 per cent last week, with unit sales declining 66 per cent year-on-year, although sales were up 22 per cent week-on-week. When the launch weeks for PS4 Slim and the 500GB/1TB Xbox One S are compared, Microsoft’s were stronger to the tune of 361 per cent.

Sony will be hoping that buyers are holding out for the launch of the high-spec £349 PS4 Pro in November.

The Xbox One S was announced on-stage at E3, and the 1TB and 500GB SKUs launched last week. Both were bundled with FIFA 17, which is officially released today (September 29th), meaning fans could play EA’s football title a week early, courtesy of the included EA Access trial membership.

The new S model offers a number of upgrades, such as 4K Blu-ray support.

A 2TB ‘pre-order edition’ of the Xbox One S was released on August 2nd, but the limited stock quickly vanished from shelves. Currently there do not seem to be any plans to restock the SKU.

“It’s great to see how popular both the Xbox One S and the FIFA 17 Xbox One S consoles are with fans, not just over the last week but since the Xbox One S was released in August. 4K video streaming and 4K UHD Blu-ray have been extremely well received and we believe there is no better value right now for those looking to upgrade their console,” Xbox UK marketing boss Harvey Eagle told MCV.

“It’s a fantastic time for gamers with the range of upcoming titles appealing to all audiences, from Gears of War 4 to Skyrim Special Edition and the release this week of the acclaimed Forza Horizon 3. There’s never been a better time to own an Xbox One.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/slim-release-sees-xbox-one-hardware-sales-rocket-1-000/0173127

Tommy McClain

 

[Esrever]

So why is xbox doing so well now?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

These are relative stats. Needs a bit of processing to interpret correctly. eg. 1000% growth means selling 10x as many as last week. Last week they could have sold 3 units and sold 300 this week. There are lots of relative stats there, but I'm not seeing an 'anchor point' to derive absolute sales. All we can really say is there's been a huge relative upsurge, with a 4:1 ratio for a week. That's a great spike, but we'll have to see what's fuelled it to see if XB1 is really doing 'so well now' or just benefiting from considerable short term interest. I think XB1 owners are more interested in upgrading to a slim than PS4 owners. XB1S adds more than just a resize including UHD.

 

[goonergaz]

Several factors, one being the old style XBO was on clearance, then we had the demand for the new S which had built up over a few months and another factor will be the bundled FIFA game. A hell of a lot of people bought the bundle @ £250 and sold the game @ £30 meaning console cost £220 and as shifty said there's more reason to upgrade to the S than slim

 

[iroboto]

So why is xbox doing so well now?

Just building on Shiftys point, but one or two points are considered outliers. Those tend to be related to price or some sort of event. If it continues for many data Points and becomes statistically valid, then we call it a trend. Then some additional analysis will need to be looked at.


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[BRiT]

So why is xbox doing so well now?

Inexpensive 4K UHD BluRay player?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

UK sales from MCV...



http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/slim-release-sees-xbox-one-hardware-sales-rocket-1-000/0173127

Tommy McClain

I think this illustrates something interesting.

When the launch weeks for PS4 Slim and the 500GB/1TB Xbox One S are compared, Microsoft’s were stronger to the tune of 361 per cent.

It's rather startling that first weeks sales of XBO-S were 361% higher than first week sales of PS4-S in the UK.

Part of the explanation is obviously that the PS4-S is nothing more than a smaller PS4. Outside of that, there's nothing to entice buyers to get it if they already have a PS4.

On other hand the XBO-S is a significant upgrade over the XBO supporting HDR for games which the XBO cannot do. Add to that its ability to serve as an inexpensive UHD BRD player and UHD 4K video streamer. That will appeal to both new buyers as well as current owners of the console.

So, it's not surprising that demand was high for the XBO-S relative to the PS4-S. However, it's still surprising that it did that much better than PS4-S. Especially when you consider that PS4-P will bleed off some buyers who would traditionally have upgraded their "Fat" for a "Slim" just for the smaller form factor.

I expect that XBO-S to do relatively better (when compared to the PS4-S) in Europe than the US as the US is relatively even between PS4/XBO relative to the huge discrepancy between the two in Europe.

Regards,
SB

 

[RobertR1]

There's a reason for people to get a Xbox S, 4K BluRay, HDR, slight bump in specs, 4k output. There's no such reason for PS Slim. Outside of form factor, it offers nothing over the "fat"

The PS Pro numbers are the important ones to watch. I expect those to be quite high.

 

[MrFox]

The numbers to watch are the sum of any PS4 variant, and the sum of any XB1 variant.

I don't see how picking them individually have any meaning. The percentage of "upgraders" will skew the result, but gamerstop will have some metrics to give about trade-ins which translates to used sales.

 

[bunge]

There's a reason for people to get a Xbox S, 4K BluRay, HDR, slight bump in specs, 4k output. There's no such reason for PS Slim. Outside of form factor, it offers nothing over the "fat"

Except for far better numbers than the Xbox S, of course....

 

[iroboto]

Except for far better numbers than the Xbox S, of course....

His post already takes this into account. If you wanted a PS4 over an Xbox that would have happened already. Hence the massive sales lead they have over xbox.

The tldr of his message is that the slim was an opportunity to deal another serious blow to Xbox but they didn't capitalize on it. There's no real advantage of slim over fat, especially when you consider the price differential. Everyone who wants a PS4 because it has better specs XBO didn't need to wait for a slim. They already got it with the 4.

And if you have a 4 or are converting over from XBox, you'd probably go with the Pro.


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[function]

I think it's also worth considering that X1 was being held back by it's remarkably large form factor - large and awkward even relative to the PS3 Phat and the Titanic - and also by it's Saturn Five sized power brick.

Original X1 form factor was about as appealing as elephantiasis in your arms, legs, and balls.

 

[DieH@rd]

I'm glad that Sony took the noise seriously when designing the PS4 Slim. DF measured it and it is a bit quieter than Xbox One S [original Xbone is a bit quieter than both of them].

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I think it's also worth considering that X1 was being held back by it's remarkably large form factor - large and awkward even relative to the PS3 Phat and the Titanic - and also by it's Saturn Five sized power brick.

Original X1 form factor was about as appealing as elephantiasis in your arms, legs, and balls.

Rose tinted glasses. http://gameswallpaperhd.com/xbox-vs-playstation-the-dimension-war-ps4-smaller-than-xbox-360-3.html

PS3 fat - 12.8" x 11.5" x 3.86" = 568.192 cubic inches (space it'll take up, not internal volume).
PS3 slim - 11.4" x 11.4" x 2.56" = 332.698 cubic inches
XBO fat - 13.5" x 10.4" x 3.2" = 449.28 cubic inches
Average of PS3 fat and PS3 slim = 450.445 cubic inches.

It's right in the middle between the PS3 fat and PS3 slim. Nowhere near as large as the relatively huge PS3.

Even adding in the PSU (32.229 cubic inches) doesn't bring it near the PS3 fat.

Doing this exercise made me realize just how huge the PS3 fat was. My memory had it being smaller than it actually was. Looking back at it. It actually makes the X360 fat look positively tiny (exaggeration).

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Decimalised inches - the bastard offspring of a backwards scientific culture and a simpler mathematical future.

 

[function]

Rose tinted glasses. http://gameswallpaperhd.com/xbox-vs-playstation-the-dimension-war-ps4-smaller-than-xbox-360-3.html

PS3 fat - 12.8" x 11.5" x 3.86" = 568.192 cubic inches (space it'll take up, not internal volume).
PS3 slim - 11.4" x 11.4" x 2.56" = 332.698 cubic inches
XBO fat - 13.5" x 10.4" x 3.2" = 449.28 cubic inches
Average of PS3 fat and PS3 slim = 450.445 cubic inches.

It's right in the middle between the PS3 fat and PS3 slim. Nowhere near as large as the relatively huge PS3.

Even adding in the PSU (32.229 cubic inches) doesn't bring it near the PS3 fat.

Doing this exercise made me realize just how huge the PS3 fat was. My memory had it being smaller than it actually was. Looking back at it. It actually makes the X360 fat look positively tiny (exaggeration).

Regards,
SB

I stand by my comments!

"Space it'll take up" based on a bounding box is only way of looking at it, and the reality of being faced by the monster is affected by other and more significant things.

For example, in a typical "under the TV setup" the depth won't be apparent while the width will - and width is the limiting factor for front facing, none stackable devices. And the PS3 phat was curved on top, softening its bulk, while the X1 is a brick!

The external PSU can't be accounted for by simply adding its bounding box volume to that of the main unit either. It needs to be positioned independently - ideally with clearance around it - and you can't stack things on top of the PSU either. My 360S PSU sits at the side of my 360, with its constantly on LED and ugly "wrapped back" cable arrangement meaning it takes up far more space in practice than a simple addition of bounding box volumes would imply.

The usable space that X1 takes up under your tv is unprecedented - greater even than the PS3 phat - and external PSUs are ugly to boot. X1S reduces usable space consumed significantly, and the design breaks up the brick like appearance. It's a much better design and will on balance draw people to it rather than push them away - as I contend the original X1 design did.

 

[BRiT]

If you think the Xbox One original is a brick, what do you think of the Audio Video Receivers from Onkyo or Denon? Many of those are wider and deeper and over 3x taller the the XO original. Or are those alright because they're standard rack size items that can be stacked?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I stand by my comments!

"Space it'll take up" based on a bounding box is only way of looking at it, and the reality of being faced by the monster is affected by other and more significant things.

For example, in a typical "under the TV setup" the depth won't be apparent while the width will - and width is the limiting factor for front facing, none stackable devices. And the PS3 phat was curved on top, softening its bulk, while the X1 is a brick!

In any space you put it, you'll still need 12.8" x 11.5" x 3.86" regardless of whether it has a curved top. Hence, internal volume is meaningless.

The external PSU can't be accounted for by simply adding its bounding box volume to that of the main unit either. It needs to be positioned independently - ideally with clearance around it - and you can't stack things on top of the PSU either. My 360S PSU sits at the side of my 360, with its constantly on LED and ugly "wrapped back" cable arrangement meaning it takes up far more space in practice than a simple addition of bounding box volumes would imply.

Both my X360 and XBO PSUs are just stuffed behind my entertainment center with no regards to clutter or placement. Heck there are cords piled on top of the PSUs. They aren't delicate little flowers.

The usable space that X1 takes up under your tv is unprecedented - greater even than the PS3 phat - and external PSUs are ugly to boot. X1S reduces usable space consumed significantly, and the design breaks up the brick like appearance. It's a much better design and will on balance draw people to it rather than push them away - as I contend the original X1 design did.

And that is patently false. As stated you must still reseve at least 12.8" x 11.5" x 3.86" for the PS4 fat regardless of whether it has a curved top, divots, or any other physical characteristics. In other words, that space is unusable by any other device and is reserved for the sole purpose of housing the huge PS4.

Just like you must reserve at least 13.5" x 10.4" x 3.2" for the XBO. Although I suppose if you lived in quantum space or some such, and managed to hide half of the PS3 FAT in a wormhole or something, it may take up less immediate space in your entertainment center.

BTW - how is the external PSU ugly when nobody ever sees it? I suppose if you leave it out in front of your TV for some god awful reason? Then again if I left all the cables behind my entertainment center out in the open that would be an incredibly ugly mess as well.

Regards,
SB

 

[function]

If you think the Xbox One original is a brick, what do you think of the Audio Video Receivers from Onkyo or Denon? Many of those are wider and deeper and over 3x taller the the XO original. Or are those alright because they're standard rack size items that can be stacked?

I don't think it was a good move for MS to model its "half a billion units" console on big, high end AV units that only a relatively tiny number of people own, and that most people simply don't aspire to.

In terms of practicality, stackable helps, though not all tv stands can accommodate stacked components of any great size. I'm guessing that these AV receivers don't have external power bricks either.