Famitsu: XBOX 360 global domination through 2007

[MasterDisaster]

I'm not so sure MS will be dominating by the end of 2007. We will find out by the end of next year if price is the determining factor or if people just aren't that interested in the 360.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14095
[/B]

the xbox360 have faced production problems for a lot of months, the xbox don't, if 360 will sell 17-18 milions in 2007 (2 years) think that xbox1 numbers is 24 milions in 4 years

ps2, imac, ipod are not the comptetitors of x360, they can sells how much you want, the competitor is ps3

edit: corrected awesome typo, from 80 to 18 milions

 

[rabidrabbit]

All I know is that sony is versus everything in the console market, and microsoft says that the ideal is to get a 360 AND a nintendo Wii (peter moore says this a lot of times)

I'm sure he did not really mean that
For Moore and Microsoft, the ideal would be all xbox360.
For Nintendo, the ideal would be all Wii.
For Sony the ideal would be all PS3.
Any competition is less money from sold games to them, so no competition is better no matter if they say "competition is only healthy" in interviews.

 

[fulcizombie]

I'm not so sure MS will be dominating by the end of 2007. We will find out by the end of next year if price is the determining factor or if people just aren't that interested in the 360.

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14095

"260K hardware units were sold in Sep-06, which is an improvement from Aug-06 (200K). However the Xbox 360's installed base is still smaller than the original Xbox's equivalent after the same number of months of sell-through. Xbox 360 sales are even more lackluster if you consider that the original was an unproven product that was trying to sell-in against the hugely popular PS2," commented Patel. "Finally we highlight that the gap between Xbox 360 and PS2 hardware sales at equivalent time periods in their lives continues to widen. In 2001, the PS2 was consistently selling-through >300K units a month, whereas the Xbox 360 has not broken 300K since its launch in November."

Oh,please.The only reason that the 360 is slightly(and really very slightly,i mean what..150k units total) behind the original xbox is that the original xbox had a normal launch,in terms of units available,on a holiday season.The xbox1 had sold 1.5 million units during its first 2 months(Nov/Dec of 2001) while the 360 had sold 600k at the same period and was going for 1000$ on e-bay.In essence the xbox360 hasn't had a true holiday season yet

Since then(during the whole 2006 thus far) the 360 has been outselling the xbox.It's funny how this piece mentions the competition from the ps2 for the original xbox but "forgets" to mention that at this point of its life the xbox was priced at 199$ while the xbox360 has maintained its 399$ price tag(for the premium which is the popular version and the equal of xbox1 with the HD).

Of course it is obvious that the 360 is not selling as good as the ps2 was at the same point but it is also more expensive(299$ vs.399$) and i don't think anybody expected it to be as popular as the ps2.If the 360 manages to sell aprox. 60-65% of what the ps2 was selling at the same point of its life(and that number was closer to 75% for september 260k/340k,but let's be conservative here) at the upcoming holiday season ,it will be at 5+ million units in the U.S without any true heavy hitters with things like Halo3,GTA4,new "true next gen"Splinter Cell(which will be way more hyped than DA) and more in the pipeline for 2007 and a price drop waiting to happen.

That really doesn't sound so bad to me.The only mistake MS has made is the software schedule,they should have had more exclusive games coming out in the holiday of 2006.Still they will probably take advantage of the ps3 shortages and then the software flood will come(starting with Lost planet in January)

 

[Readykilowatt]

I will make a prediction:Even if the 360 doesn't make a profit ,not only will MS continue with its console buisness,but they will become even more agressive in the future.

Sigh. Why is it so difficult to understand? [PROFIT] That is what businesses exist for. [PROFIT] That is how companies and products survive. [PROFIT] That is of the utmost importance when it comes to doing business. Look at the Xbox, it's now discontinued but the GCN and the PS2 are still being manufactured. Why do you think this is so?

I will make a prediction: If Microsoft doesn't see profitability, with respect to the Xbox 360, it will be discontinued prematurely, and if they see no profitabilty from the Xbox business as a whole in the long run they will kill it, regardless of the profitability of the whole company. If you run a business with 9 divisions where 8 are massively profitable and one is making massive losses (with no sign of profitability in sight) you will eventually kill or sell off that division.

 

[Ben-Nice]

the xbox360 have faced production problems for a lot of months, the xbox don't, if 360 will sell 17-18 milions in 2007 (2 years) think that xbox1 numbers is 24 milions in 4 years

The 360 hasn't had production problems for quite some time so I would think it would have sold more that Xbox1 to this point. The shortages have been over for a long time now.

 

[fulcizombie]

Sigh. Why is it so difficult to understand? [PROFIT] That is what businesses exist for. [PROFIT] That is how companies and products survive. [PROFIT] That is of the utmost importance when it comes to doing business. Look at the Xbox, it's now discontinued but the GCN and the PS2 are still being manufactured. Why do you think this is so?

I will make a prediction: If Microsoft doesn't see profitability, with respect to the Xbox 360, it will be discontinued prematurely, and if they see no profitabilty from the Xbox business as a whole in the long run they will kill it, regardless of the profitability of the whole company. If you run a business with 9 divisions where 8 are massively profitable and one is making massive losses (with no sign of profitability in sight) you will eventually kill or sell off that division.

This has been adressed in this thread from other people much better than i could ever have done,but keep praying dude,who knows God might listen to you.

I am sure that MS will let the console buisness to Sony esp. now that linux seems to be a part of Sony's strategy.It's a no-brainer really....

 

[Sis]

If Microsoft gets first place by a large margin, that will herald the end of a competitive gaming market, and XBox owners will end up losing because they will have to pay the Microsoft tax as Windows and MS Office users have to, and game quality will drop because Microsoft being a software company will try to push out third party developers as they have done/tried to do in key parts of the Windows market like Web browsers, email clients, office suites, networking, authentication services, print and file services, SQL servers, media players etc. by leveraging their control of Windows.

Need some clarification here:

1) What kind of "tax" are you thinking of? I'm presuming you're referring to the Slashdot-speak when talking about purchasing computers pre-installed with Windows (and now apparently Office). Exlain how this works on the Xbox.
2) Explain why it would be in Microsoft's interest to push out 3rd party developers (given that they make money on licenses--that's kinda the whole business model).

 

[Sankari]

I can't believe some people still buy in to the massive shortage problems excuse. Shortages are long gone and I have seen loads of Xbox360s in the shelves of every freaking store I have went to.

Xbox360 might dominate 2007, but somehow I see Wii taking the lead already by the end of 2007. Nintendo should have no problems making +1 million Wii's per month. Now if the price is really a factor, people will buy them. However somehow I doubt the Wii will gain anymore buyers than the previous gamecube did. I might be wrong however. I have a feeling the last battle will be held by Xbox360 and PS3, and I hope Ps3 comes on top with slight lead so Sony would realize that they need to wake up.

On another note: I just saw another Xbox360 commercial and am I the only one thinking Microsoft should seriously fire these people who make these commercials? They are simply horrible!

 

[Sis]

I can't believe some people still buy in to the massive shortage problems excuse. Shortages are long gone and I have seen loads of Xbox360s in the shelves of every freaking store I have went to.

There's nothing to "buy". There was a massive shortage during two key periods, the launch of the console and the holiday season.

Since that time, the Xbox 360 has had a stable sell-through month to month, unlike every other recent console, excepting the PS2.

 

[fulcizombie]

I can't believe some people still buy in to the massive shortage problems excuse. Shortages are long gone and I have seen loads of Xbox360s in the shelves of every freaking store I have went to.

Xbox360 might dominate 2007, but somehow I see Wii taking the lead already by the end of 2007. Nintendo should have no problems making +1 million Wii's per month. Now if the price is really a factor, people will buy them. However somehow I doubt the Wii will gain anymore buyers than the previous gamecube did. I might be wrong however. I have a feeling the last battle will be held by Xbox360 and PS3, and I hope Ps3 comes on top with slight lead so Sony would realize that they need to wake up.

On another note: I just saw another Xbox360 commercial and am I the only one thinking Microsoft should seriously fire these people who make these commercials? They are simply horrible!

Xbox 360 doesn't even need to dominate 2007.It will have a 4-4.5 million units lead over the ps3 at the end of 2006 in the U.S.

In fact i don't expect it to dominate 2007,just that it will perform very good in spite of competition by the ps3.I believe it will go like this:the ps3 will be slightly ahead in January then for the next 3-4 months it will sell much better than the 360(something like 350k per month versus 200k per month),then MS will drop the price and take the slight lead(cause the ps3 will still be selling to hungry early adopters) on a monthly basis for the middle of the year and then at last quarter all hell will break loose with the big game releases and things could go either way.What i am certainis that the xbox360 will give a real fight for the U.S market(and of course be non-existant in Japan.I don't even want to talk about Europe,even though i am from europe,until i see some solid numbers not "pulled out of fan boys' asses" numbers).

The U.S market will be a very tough battle for Sony (hell even the Japanese one if the Wii becomes a success there).The xbox 360 will have a very subsatntial lead at the end of 2006,many more games,many cheap games(the greatest hits/platinum/whatever they're called), more "mature"(in terms of development time) games coming in 2007 and more room for price drops.There are far more advantages when launching early,apart from the number of units sold before the competition arrives and they are becoming apparent.MS could care less about Sony's production problems,they were there one year ago and now are ready to have a ton of units available and have a much bigger userbase FOR 3RD PARTY PUBLISHERS to take advantage of.Who knows how this domino could work in the future....

 

[AlNom]

On another note: I just saw another Xbox360 commercial and am I the only one thinking Microsoft should seriously fire these people who make these commercials? They are simply horrible!

Can't fire their XOs and VPs now, can they?

 

[Ben-Nice]

On another note: I just saw another Xbox360 commercial and am I the only one thinking Microsoft should seriously fire these people who make these commercials? They are simply horrible!

I can't say i'm overly impressed by Sony's PS3 commercial either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0QxoKnU5Zg

 

[Readykilowatt]

This has been adressed in this thread from other people much better than i could ever have done,but keep praying dude,who knows God might listen to you.

I am sure that MS will let the console buisness to Sony esp. now that linux seems to be a part of Sony's strategy.It's a no-brainer really....

What do you think drives Wall Street? Losses? What do you think drives capitalism? Losses? Microsoft wont subsidize the Xbox division indefinitely. If Microsoft realizes that they cannot take down Sony and make a profit at the same time, they will exit the console business and either try to take down Sony another way, or protect themselves from Sony by using "other" means.

 

[fulcizombie]

What do you think drives Wall Street? Losses? What do you think drives capitalism? Losses? Microsoft wont subsidize the Xbox division indefinitely. If Microsoft realizes that they cannot take down Sony and make a profit at the same time, they will exit the console business and either try to take down Sony another way, or protect themselves from Sony by using "other" means.

I agree,they could even do a hostile takeover of Sony in the end.they can certainly,easily afford it!Profit drives capitalism and this is why MS is one of the biggest,richest and healthiest companies in the world.The company just gave 40 billion$ in cash to shareholders so i am sure that they will keep the pressure on Sony on the console buisness for a very long time.

Anyway of the 3 console manfactirers one is having finansial problems for almost a decade.That's not MS and since profit drives capitalism i see dark times ahead.

 

[Sis]

What do you think drives Wall Street? Losses? What do you think drives capitalism? Losses? Microsoft wont subsidize the Xbox division indefinitely. If Microsoft realizes that they cannot take down Sony and make a profit at the same time, they will exit the console business and either try to take down Sony another way, or protect themselves from Sony by using "other" means.

Well, the point is, I believe, that profit is not always the only motivator. Things like branding, halo effects, tactical strategies, etc, may have a role.

 

[London Geezer]

What do you think drives Wall Street? Losses? What do you think drives capitalism? Losses? Microsoft wont subsidize the Xbox division indefinitely. If Microsoft realizes that they cannot take down Sony and make a profit at the same time, they will exit the console business and either try to take down Sony another way, or protect themselves from Sony by using "other" means.

The Xbox division would have to run losses that are much, much higher than they have been, so high that they could creat problems in the bigger picture, for MS to actually "abandon" the console business.
And that won't happen, simply because MS has too much disposable cash to burn, and the Xbox division will break even and maybe even make a profit much sooner than its losses will start to impact MS in a heavy way.

I agree,they could even do a hostile takeover of Sony in the end.they can certainly,easily afford it!Profit drives capitalism and this is why MS is one of the biggest,richest and healthiest companies in the world.The company just gave 40 billion$ in cash to shareholders so i am sure that they will keep the pressure on Sony on the console buisness for a very long time.

Anyway of the 3 console manfactirers one is having finansial problems for almost a decade.That's not MS and since profit drives capitalism i see dark times ahead.

Incorrect. MS couldn't "easily" buy Sony, and i'm sure a few anti-monopoly laws (cause in the end, an hostile takeover of Sony would be seen as yet another attempt to create a monopoly for MS, this time in the Console business) would stop them from doing that anyway even if they could "easily" afford it, which they can't. They're definitely rich, but they won't just spend the money that easily. We're not talking about pennies here.

 

[Phil]

in my ideal world the right percent are:

Microsoft Xbox360: 33.3%
Sony ps3: 33.3%
Nintendo Wii: 33.3%

Exclusive titles: NONE
all the games multi-platform

Why not just have one console then, if all 3 hardwares have the same software anyway? Even better; lets have all games cater to the weakest link and forget about revolutionizing hardware, because there's no point in it anyway, if all developers go for multi-platform games that hardly scratch the surfaces of what's possible on that given hardware. Instead of MGS3 or HALO, lets have renderware and other middleware based games! Forget about the sixaxis controllers, wii remotes, internal harddrive, blu-ray disk for more storage, high tech GPUs like Xenos or RSX that have different advantages over each other... or hell, why even bother with CELL for more physics or the Xbox360 GPU with 3 cores if all multi-platform developers will use is 1 PPE since that's the only link both of them have in common?

Here's my vote for all games being multi-platform... NOT.

 

[MasterDisaster]

Why not just have one console then, if all 3 hardwares have the same software anyway? T.

because competition will make the price low.

and eve a multi platform title can use the good things of the architectures

(es version 360 uses rumble, version ps3 the motion)

 

[avaya]

Why not just have one console then, if all 3 hardwares have the same software anyway? Even better; lets have all games cater to the weakest link and forget about revolutionizing hardware, because there's no point in it anyway, if all developers go for multi-platform games that hardly scratch the surfaces of what's possible on that given hardware. Instead of MGS3 or HALO, lets have renderware and other middleware based games! Forget about the sixaxis controllers, wii remotes, internal harddrive, blu-ray disk for more storage, high tech GPUs like Xenos or RSX that have different advantages over each other... or hell, why even bother with CELL for more physics or the Xbox360 GPU with 3 cores if all multi-platform developers will use is 1 PPE since that's the only link both of them have in common?

Here's my vote for all games being multi-platform... NOT.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Most people want one system, most people do not buy more than one system. The NES, PS1 and PS2 generations were perfect in this respect. PS1 and PS2 more so because niche's were filled by truly viable competitors. I don't want an equalised marketshare.

 

[Tap In]

Right now its great for consumers. But what happens when Microsoft have pushed every other competitor out of the console market and decide that they want to make those 8-10 whatever billions back plus several billion in profit? How great do you think it will be as a console gamer then? That's why every effort should be made to keep the console market competetive.

resistance is futile


If you truly observe their strategy, you will see that they are FAR from an "outspending the competition at all costs approach". Read Xbox 360 uncloaked and you will see how frugal they are being. Contrary to popular opinion in some circles they are not building a console Death Star.