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

[Rangers]

In order for a $50 price difference alone to warrant higher sales for the XBOne consumers would have to view the consoles as having (roughly) equivalent value otherwise. In other words; the PS4, despite its hardware and software performance advantages, isn't worth $50 more than the XBOne to console buyers. I think that's at least remarkable.

Yes, this will be what MS depends on, the "good enough" factor to laypeople.

If Joe Schmoe can only see 5% difference between 900P and 1080P, it probably wont greatly sway his console purchase decision. At least that's what MS will like to bank on, and I think explains X1's recent good sales in USA.

BTW now a slew of X1 with $50 gift card deals have sprung up in the last day or whatever. Often these deals become a chain reaction as large retailers match each other. Target is going even further and throwing in a $70 GC instead of 50.

So I guess it just shows MS is still gunning to ensure a December NPD win.

 

[DrJay24]

Price conscience people are generally less technical (less core). There are people that just buy what is on sale. These are the same folks who buy COD and Madden each year and don't care what else is out.

And LOL at someone thinking Unity is only a mess on one system. How did that 50GB patch work out? why was it needed?

 

[eastmen]

Err, did you read the gamers impression...or maybe you have an idea why Ubi gives free stuff to compensate?!

The game is fubar, and your X1 version is just a bit less fubar than the PS4. Apparently the patch improves performance, especially on PS4, but there are again numerous threads in www where the update itself seems to be buggy again.

I can only tell you what I've heard. I got the game free and already beat it on the xbox one. The play through on my end was actually fine and I didn't have any game breaking problems like drive club or halo master chief. The frame rates stayed constant for a lot of the game with only a few drops.

 

[east of eastside]

MS has always been aiming beyond gaming which it internally regards the console market as dead and irrelevant, and a mere Trojan horse in a highly integrated plan. What you are seeing now is MS willing to subsidize the strategy with aggressive discounting that is at the same time hurting Sony's margins.

 

[patsu]

In order for a $50 price difference alone to warrant higher sales for the XBOne consumers would have to view the consoles as having (roughly) equivalent value otherwise. In other words; the PS4, despite its hardware and software performance advantages, isn't worth $50 more than the XBOne to console buyers. I think that's at least remarkable.

I don't consider that remarkable. We all know there's lots more to buying a console than just power. XBLive including one's existing friends. MS exclusives. Media services. Even just brand name, something which pretty much was the only justification for people buying a far more pricey console last gen in the beginning. Plenty of reasons to choose one over the other for some folk.

The only point of importance, and one we could probably never ascertain, is whether those $50 cheaper XB1 bundle buyers are buying it instead of a PS4, or are they people who were always going to buy an XB1 and now it's offering just the right price value? If the latter, PS4's will shift more when the value proposition improves (lower price tag).

What stats are you looking at ? Is it "just" amazon ranking ? If so, amazon is a site for value shoppers.

The data will likely skew more towards price.

 

[mrcorbo]

What stats are you looking at ? Is it "just" amazon ranking ? If so, amazon is a site for value shoppers.

The data will likely skew more towards price.

I disagree with that characterization. Amazon has become a site for every shopper. It's about convenience more than price.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Well, not a lot of time so a hit and run update on Weekend update for Amazon's December ranking + mid week update of December's monthly rankings. First parenthesis is this weekend compared to midweek, second parenthesis is mid-week, compared to last weekend.

02 - Xbox: Unity bundle (up 1 spot) (down 2 spots, mid-week was 03 compared to weekend 01)
28 - PS4 (up 2 spots) (up 8 spots, mid-week was 30 compared to weekend 38)
79 - PS4: Destiny bundle (down 2 spots) (down 21 spots, mid-week was 77 compared to weekend 56)

So basically, each console appears to be holding relatively steady. PS4 demand is going up at the expense of PS4: Destiny demand. In other words, without knowing absolute numbers, my guess is PS4 sales are holding steady relative to XBO sales (neither gaining nor losing ground much).

Basically the good deal on PS4 (2 free games + free 1 day shipping) have shifted demand away from PS4: Destiny to PS4. End result is that one drops while the other rises. So likely indicating no significant momentum for the console as a whole on Amazon. At this rate, it is entirely possible, albeit unlikely, that PS4: Destiny might drop out of the top 100 on Amazon by end of month. I don't think it will, just stating the possibility exists.

So, unless something changes between now and the end of the month. XBO is likely to take a significant lead in Dec. sales similar to Nov. sales. Remember this is just for the USA as reflected in NPD numbers.

Split changes to 10 Microsoft (+1), 6 Nintendo (unchanged), 4 Sony (-1) products in the top 20. Surprisingly all gift cards again dropped out of the top 20. I was expecting the gift cards to do better as we got closer to Christmas, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Also surprised that Microsoft gained another product in the top 20 versus losing another product in the top 20.

First Sony title comes in a 10. For some reason Sony just doesn't do as well during the Holiday season in the USA as Microsoft and Nintendo. This was the case last gen as well until the Wii lost its fad status and dropped like a rock. And even then it generally outperformed the PS3 during the holiday months while losing horribly all other months outside of the Holiday shopping months.

Regards,
SB

 

[Silent_Buddha]

I disagree with that characterization. Amazon has become a site for every shopper. It's about convenience more than price.

This is very true, especially with regards to consoles. As evidenced by the XBO: COD bundle selling on Amazon at a 100-150 USD price premium over Best Buy. And remaining in the top 100 on Amazon for most of the month even with the extreme price gouging due to limited supply. Same thing happened with the XBO: SO bundle. People bought from more expensive sellers on Amazon versus Best Buy where the price remained constant.

Also Amazon has little to no price advantage on console hardware.

Regards,
SB

 

[DrJay24]

Basically the good deal on PS4 (2 free games + free 1 day shipping) have shifted demand away from PS4: Destiny to PS4. End result is that one drops while the other rises. So likely indicating no significant momentum for the console as a whole on Amazon.

This is not supported by evidence. Climbing 20 spots in the top 40 is not the same number of unit sales as dropping 20 spots somewhere else. We have said it again and again, you can make no conclusion of units sold by the relative position on the list. All you know is one thing is selling more than another. If one console is at #10 and another #20, there is no data to say one is selling 1.1% better or 500% better.

The hour to hour movement of consoles is basically dictated to the current deal, which is changing daily it seems. The other day the PS4 was on top because it had a camera and two games. Now the XB1 is on top due to the two game bundle and $70 GC. Currently Destiny bundle is above MSRP and not sold by Amazon like the XB1 COD bundle and both are out of the top 200, which means in the noise.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

This is not supported by evidence. Climbing 20 spots in the top 40 is not the same number of unit sales as dropping 20 spots somewhere else. We have said it again and again, you can make no conclusion of units sold by the relative position on the list. All you know is one thing is selling more than another. If one console is at #10 and another #20, there is no data to say one is selling 1.1% better or 500% better.

The hour to hour movement of consoles is basically dictated to the current deal, which is changing daily it seems. The other day the PS4 was on top because it had a camera and two games. Now the XB1 is on top due to the two game bundle and $70 GC. Currently Destiny bundle is above MSRP and not sold by Amazon like the XB1 COD bundle and both are out of the top 200, which means in the noise.

Hence why I used words like "likely indicating " rather than any absolute terms. Also while one rose 10 spots (PS4) in one week the other dropped 23 spots (PS4: Destiny) in one week. Coinciding quite well with the introduction of the new PS4 free games deal.

It is NOT an equal up and down ranking, as you were implying (10 up/23 down versus 20 up/20 down). Again, denoting that I was taking note of the fact that volume in the upper half is more than volume in the lower half.

And as to your second paragraph, that is why we completely ignore the hourly charts. They are absolutely and completely useless. I only pay attention to the monthly chart as it's a cumulative running total.

Regards,
SB

 

[bbot]

PS4 is at #2, while XB1 is at #1 (hourly updated, Amazon).

 

[patsu]

I disagree with that characterization. Amazon has become a site for every shopper. It's about convenience more than price.

Yes and no. Many shoppers use it. But Amazon thrives on its pricing strategy. Compared to other retailers, it's userbase will show more price sensitivity (They will be "trained" by amazon's price and customer service).

 

[mrcorbo]

Yes and no. Many shoppers use it. But Amazon thrives on its pricing strategy. Compared to other retailers, it's userbase will show more price sensitivity (They will be "trained" by amazon's price and customer service).

I think this was true two years ago. I don't think it's true today. Like all online retailers Amazon had to convince buyers who had been "trained" to go to a store to buy goods to try online shopping. They did this by being very aggressive with pricing. This had the desired effect and now it is the brick and mortar stores who have had to get aggressive with pricing in order to overcome the advantages of the online shopping experience.

Amazon's pricing is now typically comparable to any other major retailer, especially now that its competitors will often price match.

 

[Jwm]

The verse is returning to normal, PSN cards #1, #2, and #4 - Crysis 3 is at #3 for $4.00 (9:00pm CST).

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Wasn't planning to do a mid-week, but there's been a big surge in PS4 popularity. Number is compared to previous week-end update.

01 - XBO: AC bundle (up 1 spot)
18 - PS4 (up 10 spots)
89 - PS4: Destiny (down 10 spots)

XBO regains the top spot. PS4 base console has gotten a nice boost with the free games. And it's looking more likely that PS4: Destiny is going to drop out of the top 100 by the end of the month.

10 Microsoft (unchanged), 5 Nintendo (-1), 5 Sony (+1) titles in the top 20. So Sony gained a bit there. But the top selling Sony product is now at number 14 versus number 10 last week. But that's not all bad. As Sony leads the next 20 (21-40) with 10 titles versus Microsoft with 8 titles and Nintendo with 2 titles.

PSN gift card (20 USD) regains a spot in the top 20 at 17.

Regards,
SB

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Given XB1's utter dominance of December's Amazon ranking, NPD should be interesting!

 

[Rangers]

Sony has suddenly had some PS4 Destiny bundle for 349 deal (Best Buy) http://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-pl...D=1&siteID=FKSJxY2VJAk-E0gl7nbSGn4mVSYys81ziA lately along with 2 free games for 399 at Amazon. But kind of weird those came so late in the game, and probably too late to save December.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Given XB1's utter dominance of December's Amazon ranking, NPD should be interesting!

Yeah. I think XBO - PS4 sales will be a bit closer for Dec. than Nov., but it's hard to tell. It could go either way, honestly.

What's going to be really interesting is to see how Jan. turns out. PS4 is likely to hold steady. But is XBO going to completely peter out? Or did Nov. and Dec. give it enough of a boost to keep interest higher for the non-holiday months?

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

Yeah. I think XBO - PS4 sales will be a bit closer for Dec. than Nov., but it's hard to tell. It could go either way, honestly.

What's going to be really interesting is to see how Jan. turns out. PS4 is likely to hold steady. But is XBO going to completely peter out? Or did Nov. and Dec. give it enough of a boost to keep interest higher for the non-holiday months?

Regards,
SB

I believe the discounted price holds for a bit into January, but I don't recall for how long.

 

[temesgen]

Yeah. I think XBO - PS4 sales will be a bit closer for Dec. than Nov., but it's hard to tell. It could go either way, honestly.

What's going to be really interesting is to see how Jan. turns out. PS4 is likely to hold steady. But is XBO going to completely peter out? Or did Nov. and Dec. give it enough of a boost to keep interest higher for the non-holiday months?

Regards,
SB

I think its reasonable to conclude that XB1 got a boost due to price but also the release of MCC likely also helped. Between the reduced cost of entry and MCC MS was really well positioned for the holiday shopping. It will be interesting to see how well both platforms do in December.