Poll: Buying XB1 revisited post DRM change

[Xalion]

Have you a link to those preorder numbers?

There are a few links around. One with a bit more credability in my eyes is the Forbes article from a few days ago stating 2:1 sales.

While I hesitate to link it at all, VGChartz has the numbers through June 15th at about 3:2 in the US. If you look at the most popular products of the year page from Amazon, the PS4 is listed as the number 2 best selling for the year to date, while the XBox comes in at 7th (which is actually up a bit from yesterday when it was 8th). There are reports from investing sites I have read that seem to think the PS4 is selling better as well.

This could all be just noise of course, but it seems to be a pretty consistent message.

Edit - just found this site that attempted to aggregate rankings from world wide. Also, for full disclosure, I found one retailer (Asta or Astra or something like that) that said the XBox one was their fastest selling console. I can't find the link again though .

 

[joker454]

Your point is that because it's a defacto feature, everyone would have to assume everyone else is using, thus, by not wanting to be left behind, they would have to put resources behind it. Well, that depends on how large the market is and what potential there is. If the potential is not all that great or costs too many resources in light of only being able to use them on one platform, I question how 'cool' and 'revolutionary' those features would end up being in the first place. I'm also not sure that any cloud-features that might be used or not, would be potential deal brakers to consumers when they get a new game. They might be wowed by the new possibilities enabled by the cloud, but that wouldn't make other games worse. They might just be different, just as today different games among the same genre offer different experiences. I see the potential, but I'm not sure that potential is that big to come at a significant hit in sales (after all, Cloud features would be non-latency dependant anyway), especially when you have the fact that the other platform (that being the PS4) does not offer something like that.

The problem here is we get into the slippery slope of trying to decide if they would have lost or gained market share. On the forums being all gamer heavy they will argue they will have lost market share because they can't see past their own blinders. I disagree that they would have lost market share especially long term, I think they would have both gained market share but more importantly gained new audiences that are of higher dollar value than typical gamers are. DirecTV did something similar, yeah they went after typical tv viewers but they also added unique features only to them to go after a wider swath of people who are willing to spend more, the types that drop $200/month on their tv bill. Sure they may lose some of the basic cable only type people but they still got many of those people, and along the way they grabbed new high paying customers. With different ideas like Kinect, cloud and family plan standard it seemed like a good plan to both keep most current gamers and also attract new audiences who are also high dollar value clients, much more so that typical gamers.

Then the most important point still remains: Would using cloud be free for 3rd party developers? Because if it isn't - that potential also comes down to a choice, a choice that is further unlikely if the other platform doesn't support it at all. By your own logic - why invest money in a feature that is not available on other platform. If anything, I bet games would be created using the lowest common denominator, then they would focus on the extra features offered by the console and add it to that version as exclusive content. Just like some multiplatform games offer special support for the six-axis controls on the PS3 - they are not deal-brakers and not integral to the game-play experience. Just a nice touch, that's all. And when we are talking about cloud support, I would think actually developing ways to use that comes at a much higher substantial cost than simply adding support for some move-sensors.

Six axis isn't a very forward thinking tech, there's no loss to not supporting it. Distributed computing on the other hand is a place everyone should be, and if they aren't then they need to rethink their strategy. Multi core programming was also thought to be a niche thing many many years ago, laughed at by some. Those that avoided it fell far behind the tech curve and paid the ultimate price. I feel that people that don't embrace cloud computing today will be in the same boat 10 years from now because it's not going away, if anything it will become far more ubiquitous as time goes on. There is substantial cost to supporting cloud, as there is supporting any important new technology. But that's all the more reason why it was important to guarantee every xb1 had access to internet.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

There are a few links around. One with a bit more credability in my eyes is the Forbes article from a few days ago stating 2:1 sales.

That's a rumour.

While I hesitate to link it at all, VGChartz has the numbers through June 15th at about 3:2 in the US. If you look at the most popular products of the year page from Amazon, the PS4 is listed as the number 2 best selling for the year to date, while the XBox comes in at 7th (which is actually up a bit from yesterday when it was 8th). There are reports from investing sites I have read that seem to think the PS4 is selling better as well...

I'm sure it is. But it's $100 cheaper, and we don't know by how much it's selling better. Ergo I'm not sure the preorder numbers point categorically to a significant public backlash against XB1's DRM policy. We'd need to see notable difference unattributable to any other cause. The polls tell a different story of utter outrage, but polls don't necessarily portray what the final business will one. Once the dust had settled and existing XB360 owners wanted to continue their XB experience into the next-gen, they may well have had a change of heart if the DRM policy didn't meaningfully impact their experience, which in most likelihood it wouldn't have.

 

[James Car]

...Distributed computing on the other hand is a place everyone should be, and if they aren't then they need to rethink their strategy...

I agree with your end game proposition being that cloud compute is the future and MS want higher paying customers, but this (xbone) isn't how you get there.

If they wanted to divorce themselves from the core xbox gamer that brought their brand to where it is today, that's fine. There are huge opportunities in providing much of what they were looking to do via cable box replacement. They should have been in talks to be the one to provide "interactive TV" with DirectTV, Comcast, etc.

Instead, they tried to rape their core gamers. No means No, MS!

 

[James Car]

Have you a link to those preorder numbers?

Sorry Shifty, I don't.

Just saw numbers over the past few days of Amazon, which lined up with my own digging around locally and seeing pretty much any internet poll regarding intent and interest in ps4 v xbone.

 

[Bagel seed]

From CAG:

Previously PS4 was at 59%.

Also, Xbone took the #6 spot now in Amazon's bestsellers of 2013.

 

[Bagel seed]

Couple more polls.

Cnet May 21st

Cnet Jun 21st

Gamefly

Xbox jumped from 18% last week to 27%
http://www.shacknews.com/article/79861/xbox-one-rebounds-after-drm-reversal-but-ps4-still-leads

Looks like the polls match up pretty closely.

 

[ERP]

The currently running Sony Ad campaign is probably also a contributor since MS has yet to start spending Ad dollars.

 

[MrFox]

It's not looking good for the "Neither" console, it's losing market share.

 

[Rangers]

It's not looking good for the "Wii U" console, it's losing market share.

Fixed

Spoiler

I cant resist a good dig at Wii U

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Funny about all the pre-order sales garbage, because I'm pretty sure I read a report that the One was already sold out of all their pre-order stock. Regardless of the ratio of OneS4, it looks like Sony has planned more inventory than MS.

So I don't see how this pre-order ratio has anything to do with MS changing their policies. They've already hit their maximum sales numbers. If they aren't as much as Sony, it seems like that's a capacity issue and completely unrelated to anything else.

Which, of course, is a huge problem for MS. But it's a completely different huge issue.

 

[kots]

Not interested before , still not interested now . The DRM change is great but i don't feel like paying for inferior hardware . Also i hate Kinect .
Sorry MS .

 

[AlphaWolf]

Funny about all the pre-order sales garbage, because I'm pretty sure I read a report that the One was already sold out of all their pre-order stock.

That wouldn't be surprising because no one has any pre-order stock.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

That wouldn't be surprising because no one has any pre-order stock.

Agreed. That's why I said that Sony has planned more inventory than MS.

Who knows what will really happen? Also, we have a firm launch date for the One and we only have "holiday" for the PS4.

 

[Delta9]

From CAG:

Previously PS4 was at 59%.

Also, Xbone took the #6 spot now in Amazon's bestsellers of 2013.

The UK site has Xbone at #70 and PS4 at at #4.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/2013/videogames/ref=zg_bsar_cal_ye#1

 

[keenism]

PS4 pre-ordered, no plans for an Xbox whatsoever. I don't really care for one company over another, they both just wan't my money...and they can take PR and shove it. After looking at each, PS4 does what I want better(if specs hold true), I don't want a camera, I'm not too lazy to get off my a** to put a disc in, I dont watch tv...nor do I want to talk to it in any way, and finally the price. Now DRM was also a huge part of this decision, I know MS went back to the old system...but they lost any trust from me personally.

These are just my views, you have yours, please DO NOT get offended.

-luckily, I absolutely love how the device looks from the high-res shots. (it seemed to look like a pos at the reveal)

 

[BoardBonobo]

Agreed. That's why I said that Sony has planned more inventory than MS.

Who knows what will really happen? Also, we have a firm launch date for the One and we only have "holiday" for the PS4.

Looks like Sony are going to get the jump on MS there. The launch date looks to be at least two weeks ahead of MS. That's time enough to shift a large number of units.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Let's not bring that discussion [DRM] here on account of it being dropped in the other thread. Everyone's expressed their opinion now. There's nothing to be gained by repeating it all again.

 

[MfA]

Not a console fan, but a good enough exclusive might change my mind ... I just draw the line at (semi-)always online.

 

[dagamer]

Agreed. That's why I said that Sony has planned more inventory than MS.

Who knows what will really happen? Also, we have a firm launch date for the One and we only have "holiday" for the PS4.

More pre-order stock of the Day One Release Day Xbox One's were added to Amazon, I know because I switched my pre-order from the Microsoft Store to Amazon because I know I'll get a tracking number and easier returns (should it really come to that).