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

[chris1515]

http://www.gameblog.fr/news/56450-bon-plan-la-xbox-one-vendue-a-prix-casse-chez-auchan-pour-un

Xbox One at 165 euros in France in a shop called Auchan for 6 days.

 

[chris1515]

Yeah my mistake, 'forecast' would be a better word for EA's earlier numbers.

There are definitely quite a few Sony 'fanboys' at GAF so you'll see the odd lowball estimate. The lowest that I saw was like 16M though. Most were reasonable estimates... in the 17-20M range.

Minimum is at least 17,6 millions and maximum 20 millions. I think it is a correct estimation...

 

[chris1515]

Sony shipped 8.4 millions PS4 October to December 2015...

PS4 shipment is 37,7 millions PS4 and forecast for fiscal year is 17,5 millions.

 

[chris1515]

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/15q3_sony.pdf

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/fr/15q3_sonypre.pdf

The report

 

[chris1515]

http://www.microsoft.com/Investor/E...gs/SegmentResults/P3/FY16/Q2/Performance.aspx

Gaming revenue increased $192 million or 5%, primarily due to higher revenue from Xbox Live and video games, offset in part by lower Xbox hardware revenue. Xbox Live revenue increased 24%, driven by both higher volumes of transactions and higher revenue per transaction. Video games revenue grew 47%, driven by the Halo 5 launch in October 2015 and sales of Minecraft. We acquired Mojang AB, the Swedish video game developer of the Minecraft gaming franchise, in November 2014. Xbox hardware revenue decreased 9%, mainly due to a decline in Xbox 360 console volume. Xbox One revenue decreased slightly, due to higher console volume, offset by lower prices of consoles sold.

 

[DieH@rd]

Great results for Sony. Interesting that they did not change the forecast for PS4 sales [they probably would if U4 was still slated for Q1].

https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/692978254274281472
https://twitter.com/ZhugeEX/status/692979547520765952

 

[Arwin]

From these results and taking into account that the Xbox One sales are equivalent to the 360's, you'd almost get the impression that Nintendo is a bigger competitor to Sony than Microsoft, and that Nintendo's failure is what's skewing the results. But it definitely also just helps that they started with the correct price this time.

 

[function]

The first two years were difficult for the 360. It started with manufacturing issues, turned into RRoD, led to manufacturing almost stopping for a few months and had to face lots of people waiting for the PS3. Its predecessor - the OG Boxen - was not well received and the 360 initially had to work against that.

X1 has none of these disadvantages, and it should be doing better than this. If MS hadn't bungled on so many fronts it would be.

 

[goonergaz]

I don't understand function...well, maybe I do but I disagree to a point.

X360 was the first true nextgen console, after a long wait from PS2/XBO. It had a year head start on PS3 and was substantially cheaper. XBO had none of those advantages.

 

[mrcorbo]

The first two years were difficult for the 360. It started with manufacturing issues, turned into RRoD, led to manufacturing almost stopping for a few months and had to face lots of people waiting for the PS3. Its predecessor - the OG Boxen - was not well received and the 360 initially had to work against that.

X1 has none of these disadvantages, and it should be doing better than this. If MS hadn't bungled on so many fronts it would be.

Why should the X1 be selling better? It doesn't have the disadvantages the 360 had, true, but it has replaced these with other disadvantages. The main disadvantage it has is that its competition has a product that is objectively better for most people looking for a gaming console. Selling like the PS3 (which it is currently doing, even almost perfectly mirroring the launch-aligned 4Q performance of that console) seems pretty reasonable to me.

 

[function]

Why should the X1 be selling better? It doesn't have the disadvantages the 360 had, true, but it has replaced these with other disadvantages.

Which is entirely the point!

The disadvantages aren't process or defect or predecessor related, they're design and market decisions that were specifically chosen. It's strategy and a fundamental misunderstanding of the market on multiple fronts that hurt them. Spencer has done a truly admirable job to shore up the X1 but the damage has been significant and will be lasting.

Selling the same as the 360 or PS3 was never the goal: MS were anticipating huge demand and massive growth. Their share of the market outside of North America has cratered. This is not where they intended to be and not where they wanted to be. It's also not where they told shareholders they'd be - and that actually matters.

Edit: over the course of the generation I think they'll fall behind PS360 and their market share of games sales will likely be far behind. Front loading sales in America and shifting the goalposts to being "matching the 360" over the short term is a substantial failure in itself.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The first two years were difficult for the 360. It started with manufacturing issues, turned into RRoD, led to manufacturing almost stopping for a few months and had to face lots of people waiting for the PS3. Its predecessor - the OG Boxen - was not well received and the 360 initially had to work against that.

RRoD took some time to emerge in significant numbers. The console launched in 2005 and for quite a while Microsoft's position was that the failure rate was within the electronic industry's norm of 3-5%. Wider speculation about a systematic design flaw really only began to gain traction in 2007.

The first couple of years were golden for 360 and this is how Microsoft managed to establish their lead which took Sony six years to eliminate - 360/PS3 worldwide sales were neck and neck in Fall 2013.

 

[mrcorbo]

Which is entirely the point!

The disadvantages aren't process or defect or predecessor related, they're design and market decisions that were specifically chosen. It's strategy and a fundamental misunderstanding of the market on multiple fronts that hurt them. Spencer has done a truly admirable job to shore up the X1 but the damage has been significant and will be lasting.

Selling the same as the 360 or PS3 was never the goal: MS were anticipating huge demand and massive growth. Their share of the market outside of North America has cratered. This is not where they intended to be and not where they wanted to be. It's also not where they told shareholders they'd be - and that actually matters.

Edit: over the course of the generation I think they'll fall behind PS360 and their market share of games sales will likely be far behind. Front loading sales in America and shifting the goalposts to being "matching the 360" over the short term is a substantial failure in itself.

MS created a product aimed primarily at a market that didn't exist. That was where the failure occurred. Their current sales don't represent a failure, though. They are salvaging what they can from a bad situation and, again, I see the PS3 comparison as apt. If you apply the standard of what the PS2 was and what Kutaragi's vision was for the PS3 (and Cell) when it was conceived, PS3 was a colossal failure. However, by the end it ended up selling more units than the 360, enabled some great games and was the catalyst for the change in approach that led to the phenomenally successful PS4.

Taking the long view and considering the way people (including me) viewed the PS3 at this point in it's life last-gen, I don't see it being useful to judge the XBOne's sales performance based on the product it should have been instead of judging it based on the product that it is.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Take an even longer view and chart the acceptance of "XBOX" over the course of the 3 platforms, given the macro dynamics of each platform.

 

[function]

RRoD took some time to emerge in significant numbers. The console launched in 2005 and for quite a while Microsoft's position was that the failure rate was within the electronic industry's norm of 3-5%. Wider speculation about a systematic design flaw really only began to gain traction in 2007.

The first couple of years were golden for 360 and this is how Microsoft managed to establish their lead which took Sony six years to eliminate - 360/PS3 worldwide sales were neck and neck in Fall 2013.

I definitely wouldn't agree with this.

Speculation on the internet amongst gamers was of a systematic flaw causing RRoD was within months of release. A cottage industry selling "X-clamp fixes" (the clamps weren't actually the cause, but changing them could band aid the problem) was already in rude health by the end of 2006. MS caved in and extended the guarantee to three years in July 2007 - some 20 - ish months after launch but this was after months of pressure and questioning by the gaming press.

Lets not forget the disk scratching, overheating, noise, vibration, overheating memory problems ....

This article is interesting as it demonstrates just how bad the 360s MS were making were (and they knew it).

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2008/nov/13/xbox-truth

The warning signs were present even before Microsoft shipped any machines. In August 2005, as Microsoft was gearing up production, an engineer said: "Stop. You have to shut down the line." When production results are really off-kilter, stopping a line and tracing a problem back to its roots is the answer. But in this case, the decision was made to carry on

By the end of March 2006, Microsoft said it had shipped more than 3.3m consoles to retailers. But there was a growing "bone pile" of more than 500,000 defective consoles in a warehouse at Wistron and a repair centre in Texas - either duds off the factory line or returned boxes, according to sources. Production yield was climbing, but far too slowly. Meantime, Microsoft stood by its statement that returns were within "normal rates".

MS knew day one that they were in trouble, and by the end of March 2006 - less than 6 months after launch - then already had half a million (repair candidate) duds. The first two years were anything but golden! The X1 seems to be a fantastically made piece of kit. They just didn't make the right piece of kit, plus reveal tent etc ...

Taking the long view and considering the way people (including me) viewed the PS3 at this point in it's life last-gen, I don't see it being useful to judge the XBOne's sales performance based on the product it should have been instead of judging it based on the product that it is.

That's how MS and MS's shareholders will be judging it. That's how the PS3 was judged too. That has to be a part of any industry discussion that goes on in a sales thread.

From a personal POV most X1 owners seem to be happy with it. That's good.

 

[zed]

Speculation on the internet amongst gamers was of a systematic flaw causing RRoD was within months of release

I remember over a year after the 360 launched here on these forums, quite a few members here were still claiming its only 3-4% failures, even though to most others it was apparent there was a problem with articles from eg IGN where >50% of there 100 of launch xboxs having failed it was major.

 

[function]

I remember over a year after the 360 launched here on these forums, quite a few members here were still claiming its only 3-4% failures, even though to most others it was apparent there was a problem with articles from eg IGN where >50% of there 100 of launch xboxs having failed it was major.

Yeah, I was one of the ones that didn't really believe how bad things were at first. "Surely MS wouldn't lie about this!?". Hoo boy.

This line from the above article really tickled my funny bone.

"There were so many problems, you didn't know what was wrong," says a source. "The [test engineers] didn't have enough time to get up and running."

And they launched with this.

 

[AlNom]

Halo is dead. etc etc.

 

[function]

Halo is dead. etc etc.

No.

Sgt. Johnson was flash cloned prior to the events of Halo 3. OG Johnson is in statis, and when he finds out Cortana is missing he'll get his friend Arby and they'll go a mission to retrieve the essence of Cortana from ... somewhere.

Game will be based on the Forza Horizon engine, with Shipmaster taking them between planets (courses) to retrieve clues and beat rivals at drifting.

 

[Rangers]

The disadvantages aren't process or defect or predecessor related, they're design and market decisions that were specifically chosen. It's strategy and a fundamental misunderstanding of the market on multiple fronts that hurt them. Spencer has done a truly admirable job to shore up the X1 but the damage has been significant and will be lasting.

Been through this before, but I think if every single decision had been the same, and X1 simply had 2X the GPU it currently does, it would be cleaning up.

If you go to buy a console and they're the same price (or even close, really), most are just going to buy the one with more perceived power, that's it. Because mostly people play the exact same third party games on these boxes, not exclusives. Exclusives tend to be very overhyped on forums, but they cant hold a candle to big third party franchises in sales (especially now with Halo and Gran Turismo apparently falling off).