All purpose Sales and Sales Rumours and Anecdotes [2021 Edition]

[Silent_Buddha]

Right, so why not just eat the subscription of GamePass?

I know a few people that have a Game Pass subscription but play Sea of Thieves on Steam. Basically they just don't like the Windows Store (which is what Game Pass uses) and prefer the conveniences that come with gaming on Steam. They primarily use Game Pass for games that they normally wouldn't buy. However, if they end up really liking the game, they end up buying the game on Steam anyway.

I'm managed to get some of my friends hooked on indie games by getting them to get a Game Pass subscription to play some AAA games. Now they play more indie games than they do AAA games. Although they are still somewhat hesitant to buy an indie game unless they've tried it first or played a game by a developer that's made a game they've played before, and that's where Game Pass comes in really handy for them still.

I'm in the middle ground of that. If I really enjoy a game, I'll occasionally buy a game that is on Game Pass just to throw some more money the developers way. For example, I did this with Ori and the Will of the Wisp.

Regards,
SB

 

[eastmen]

I know a few people that have a Game Pass subscription but play Sea of Thieves on Steam. Basically they just don't like the Windows Store (which is what Game Pass uses) and prefer the conveniences that come with gaming on Steam. They primarily use Game Pass for games that they normally wouldn't buy. However, if they end up really liking the game, they end up buying the game on Steam anyway.

I'm managed to get some of my friends hooked on indie games by getting them to get a Game Pass subscription to play some AAA games. Now they play more indie games than they do AAA games. Although they are still somewhat hesitant to buy an indie game unless they've tried it first or played a game by a developer that's made a game they've played before, and that's where Game Pass comes in really handy for them still.

I'm in the middle ground of that. If I really enjoy a game, I'll occasionally buy a game that is on Game Pass just to throw some more money the developers way. For example, I did this with Ori and the Will of the Wisp.

Regards,
SB

there are few games i would purchase that are on game pass. The few I would buy are so I wouldn't have to install windows on the steam deck.

 

[see colon]

It's a trick, first you get sea of thieves for free and then it's halo infinite and next thing you know you're stuck with a subscription and you can't get rid of it.

That sounds terrible. First Sea and then Halo? What's next.... Forza and Gears? Oh the humanity!

 

[BRiT]

That sounds terrible. First Sea and then Halo? What's next.... Forza and Gears? Oh the humanity!

Then It Takes Two and FlightSim and Psychonauts 2 and Hades and Ori. Too many GOTY games. Also other fun games like The Ascent and Back 4 Blood and MLB The Show and Doom Eternal and Skyrim. Oh the humanity.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I know a few people that have a Game Pass subscription but play Sea of Thieves on Steam. Basically they just don't like the Windows Store (which is what Game Pass uses) and prefer the conveniences that come with gaming on Steam. They primarily use Game Pass for games that they normally wouldn't buy. However, if they end up really liking the game, they end up buying the game on Steam anyway.

I use Steam as a front-end for a bunch of games I didn't buy on Steam and it works fine, including streaming. Can't you do that with games bought from the Windows store?

 

[see colon]

I use Steam as a front-end for a bunch of games I didn't buy on Steam and it works fine, including streaming. Can't you do that with games bought from the Windows store?

I think it depends if they are UWP or not.

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I'm in a dilemma where my son has GamePass so I can play everything for free, but MS just offered me 5 months of GP for free before 1/22/22 or something like that (All-Star Live Gold member). I basically don't buy games anymore. There may come a day when I run out of AAA content, but I'm doubting it now with all the studios MS has. Sorry Take Two, Ubi etc...

 

[RobertR1]

So we finally picked up a Switch as the kids have gotten a bit past diaper stage. Overall, I have to say it still feels like a console. Easy to setup, quick loading of games and not a lot of hassle. The variety between different game types between mario kart some adventure game etc is also nice.

While I personally don't see much use for it, I can totally understand why it sells so well. I build the eldest son a PC instead of getting a new console (we still have X1X) because new consoles are ghetto pc's anyway and act accordingly. Also with gamepass ultimate for 3yrs, makes little sense to get a console when a PC is a better investment and he can use it for homework, research etc

 

[Silent_Buddha]

So, what do you do if your game is selling incredibly well?

‘Final Fantasy 14’ Is So Popular, Square Enix Has To Stop Selling It (forbes.com)

Well, you end up having to stop selling it.

Kudos to the FFXIV team for creating such an incredible experience and I'm glad they are now reaping the rewards. This game is pretty much the only reason that Square-Enix didn't either go bankrupt or get sold to another publisher. Back before the game was rebooted (FFXIV 2.0) Square-Enix weren't doing so well and were in danger of financial collapse. Now, it's by far the largest revenue generator of Square-Enix's entire catalog year after year.

Sad for new players who have no chance to play the game until server loads start to calm down. Basically until people stop playing it and/or global supply of computer components reaches a reasonable level again that they can realistically beef up their server infrastructure, no new players into the game.

And all of this considering they massively increased server infrastructure for the previous expansion and then have been trying to build and populate a new data center for quite a while now. Unfortunately, global shortages of semi-conductor components means they have been unable to bring the data center fully online.

Regards,
SB

 

[BRiT]

Microsoft / Xbox Game Studios have become one of the biggest publishers on PC / Steam with 3 of the Top 10 highest Gross Revenue games of the year in 2021 being 1st party releases​

https://twitter.com/x/status/1475538296247922697

 

[see colon]

Microsoft / Xbox Game Studios have become one of the biggest publishers on PC / Steam with 3 of the Top 10 highest Gross Revenue games of the year in 2021 being 1st party releases​

https://twitter.com/x/status/1475538296247922697

It's crazy that 5 of those 10 games were day 1 Gamepass releases also (the 3 1st party games plus Outriders and Back 4 Blood).

 

[Rangers]

Microsoft / Xbox Game Studios have become one of the biggest publishers on PC / Steam with 3 of the Top 10 highest Gross Revenue games of the year in 2021 being 1st party releases​

https://twitter.com/x/status/1475538296247922697

Fanboys should welcome Sony releases on PC. MS having PC to itself would have led to a revenue imbalance in MS favor leading in turn to more future ability to support more and larger development budgets. Sony took a big potential advantage from MS by embracing PC (such as they have).

 

[Rangers]

Stock X after Christmas update. Current gen still significantly above MSRP, but Series X price drops by far the most, and touches under $600.

PS5 -$705
PS5 DE -$710
Series X $598

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Stock X after Christmas update. Current gen still significantly above MSRP, but Series X price drops by far the most, and touches under $600.

PS5 -$705
PS5 DE -$710
Series X $598

I do wonder if this is a supply issue. Certain months XBS consoles outsell PS5 due to having greater supply for those months. It could be that in December MS might have had greater stock available than PS5 again. We'll have to wait to see if anyone leaks hardware sales numbers for Dec. to get a good idea of whether demand for XBS consoles is starting to go down (albeit still greater than available supply).

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

I do wonder if this is a supply issue. Certain months XBS consoles outsell PS5 due to having greater supply for those months. It could be that in December MS might have had greater stock available than PS5 again. We'll have to wait to see if anyone leaks hardware sales numbers for Dec. to get a good idea of whether demand for XBS consoles is starting to go down (albeit still greater than available supply).

Regards,
SB

It is a supply issue. When supply does not meet demand, prices go up.

If pricing is coming down on XSX that means supply is beginning to reach demand.

PS5 still has a ways to go

 

[Silent_Buddha]

It is a supply issue. When supply does not meet demand, prices go up.

If pricing is coming down on XSX that means supply is beginning to reach demand.

PS5 still has a ways to go

Well, yes, everything is a supply and demand issue. What I meant was: Is supply of XBS consoles relative to PS5 consoles better? Basically has supply of XBS consoles improved, supply of PS5 consoles decreased or both? Alternatively, it could be a demand issue where supply of both is still relatively the same, but demand for XBS consoles is slowing relative to PS5, thus the demand pricing is decreasing.

That's something we can't know without any numbers. I tend to think it's probably a supply issue due to current problems with global supply of electronics components.

It's an interesting time for something like this. There's all kinds of data I wish we had access to but don't. The install bases of the two consoles currently aren't a reflection of whether one console is more attractive to gamers than the other console, but instead about how many of each console can be produced.

Thus it's interesting looking at the sales graphs for each console since launch. At times the graphs mimic each other indicating supply of some key component was similarly affecting both consoles. At other times supply of one console increases while supply of the other decreases. Right now the sales/supply of PS5 and XBS consoles are the closest they've been for an entire month since Dec. 2020.

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

Alternatively, it could be a demand issue where supply of both is still relatively the same, but demand for XBS consoles is slowing relative to PS5, thus the demand pricing is decreasing.

It’s impossible to know unfortunately. Since demand is linked to price, and supply is linked to price, it’s hard to determine if demand is lessening; so same supply less buyers at that price point or supply is increasing, so once again less buyers at that price point.

 

[eastmen]

Welp if VGChartz is to be believed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1476246557955702788

The first 58 weeks of launch alined sales would put the xbox series at 11m vs the ps4s 16.68m

That would be awfully good news for MS since the lead was so much wider last gen

 

[Remij]

Welp if VGChartz is to be believed

https://twitter.com/x/status/1476246557955702788

The first 58 weeks of launch alined sales would put the xbox series at 11m vs the ps4s 16.68m

That would be awfully good news for MS since the lead was so much wider last gen

Yea, I'm not sure I quite believe those numbers, but if so, that would definitely be better than expected by me personally for MS.

Even if true, of course the reality of the situation is that PS5 does have far more demand, and stock issues are hitting it harder than MS. That said though, this is the perfect time for MS to capitalize on that and not allow Sony to pull even further ahead.

 

[zed]

Yea, I'm not sure I quite believe those numbers, but if so, that would definitely be better than expected by me personally for MS.

Why is it surprising?
last gen ps was 2.2-2.5 times xbox with the better hardware (at the start) and better games, no mixed messaging, no kinect etc
now hardware this time is much closer and MS have gamepass

add in they cant manufacture enuf (otherwise it would prolly would be 2:1) I have no trouble believing sony is only 1.5 x ahead

btw series S are still selling at discounted price here (been now over a month selling at 30 euros discount)
https://www.mediamarkt.es/es/category/consolas-xbox-series-x-y-s-8432.html