Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[nonny]

See as a person who dislikes the grind of Destiny I don't want Halo to become anything like that. Bungie can go and do that and I won't miss it... Plus 343 may have made mistakes with Halo 5 but I loved Halo 4... They can deliver and I'm sure they will bring their best with Infinite, if they don't then that's 3 consecutive games that will have missed the mark (including the MC collection) and the franchise may never recover.

I don't think that will happen.

[Team Andromeda]

Polyphony are finished really.

With over 7 million sales for the GT Sport. I very much doubt it

[fishbowlhead]

See as a person who dislikes the grind of Destiny I don't want Halo to become anything like that. Bungie can go and do that and I won't miss it... Plus 343 may have made mistakes with Halo 5 but I loved Halo 4... They can deliver and I'm sure they will bring their best with Infinite, if they don't then that's 3 consecutive games that will have missed the mark (including the MC collection) and the franchise may never recover.

I don't think that will happen.

Rumours were its been in trouble for a long time with no clear direction, plus didn't the director leave abruptly? Not good for a game that has a console riding on it.

[Team Andromeda]

Rumours were its been in trouble for a long time with no clear direction, plus didn't the director leave abruptly? Not good for a game that has a console riding on it.

Staff leave all the time, no one worried when Bruce Straley left Naughty. I don't think the success of anyone console is all on a launch game either and I don't see Halo Infinite being rubbish either myself.

[fishbowlhead]

I don't see it being rubbish either personally, however, this particular game needs to be a 10, a system seller that changes the landscape up, like Halo:ce did for the original.

Without a heavy hitter game changer that's exclusive to that box and nothing else, the console is done before its even released.

[Team Andromeda]

I don't see it being rubbish either personally, however, this particular game needs to be a 10, a system seller that changes the landscape up, like Halo:ce did for the original.

To me, it just needs to look amazing and play well. Other than Nintendo no one makes a killer AAA game for launch that's almost always better than comes latter on the console like with Mario 64, or Mario IV. If launch games were so important the PS4 would have sold like crap and the PSP and Vita would be the best selling handhelds of all time given how amazing Ridge Racer on the PSP was the stunning Drakes on the Vita and how poor Killzone 4 was

What MS needs above all else is a pretty stunning E3 2020 and the right price point.

[fishbowlhead]

Sony don't need that on launch, as you know there in the pipeline, and will come. Sony have instilled a certainty when buying into their consoles just like Nintendo have, MS have instilled total uncertainty.

This quote from MS's phill spencer sums up everything wrong with MS's strategy, or lack of.

“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell,” Xbox chief Phil Spencer told The Verge earlier this year.

OK Phill, as you were then

[Team Andromeda]

Sony don't need that on launch, as you know there in the pipeline, and will come. Sony have instilled a certainty when buying into their consoles just like Nintendo have, MS have instilled total uncertainty.

To a point, not that it held the PS back against SEGA or Nintendo and one didn't really know what was coming from MS with the 360 (other than Halo or Fable) and it went to sell millions

OK Phill, as you were then

Fanboy mode?. Business is all about making money and this gen the Xbox Division has never made a loss and the last quarter brought in more money than Nintendo. I guess Ford and the likes of Honda should pull out of the Car market since they can't match Volkswagen for sales

[wakka]

Fanboy mode?

Haha that is rich.

[fishbowlhead]

To a point, not that it held the PS back against SEGA or Nintendo and one didn't really know what was coming from MS with the 360 (other than Halo or Fable) and it went to sell millions



Fanboy mode?. Business is all about making money and this gen the Xbox Division has never made a loss and the last quarter brought in more money than Nintendo. I guess Ford and the likes of Honda should pull out of the Car market since they can't match Volkswagen for sales

MS's console division made a bigger profit (or even turnover form sake of argument) than Nintendo in their last quarter? Stop talking out your arse TA.

MS Console division was down 7% last quarter on the previous one, hardware sales were down 30% on previous one. They don't release numbers of individual divisions anymore, just overall MS stats, which are good thanks to cloud division & windows.

Nintendo vs xbox division is not even a contest.

[QualityChimp]

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[Team Andromeda]

MS's console division made a bigger profit (or even turnover form sake of argument) than Nintendo in their last quarter? Stop talking out your arse TA. .

$11.4 billion for MS Vs $9.9 Billion for Nintendo for the year

MS Console division was down 7% last quarter on the previous one, hardware sales were down 30% on previous one

Maybe I should insult you. I think you find it was 10% down, but thanks to royalties and LIVE subs the Division was able to bring in over $2.05 billion for the quarter, more than Nintendo $1.60 billion and it should also be noted that Nintendo profits were down 10%

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...g-switch-sales

So unlike you love to make out, the Xbox isn't quite a flop.

[Neon Ignition]

Halo 5 wasn't a flop but it saw its sales come in well below the previous game, that may well be down to the XBO not selling anywhere near enough but the Infinite project suggests MS knows the series needs a shunt. Same with Forza, it's drop in sales isn't a mark on its quality (Forza has > GT for a good while now) but the XBO didn't need 3 Forza's in one gen so it's natural the audience lost interest to a degree. Forza 8 might recapture some of that for the visual bump and extra year off.

For the shop/Google analogy - MS's problem isn't that people are walking into stores and asking for an XBO S thinking they're getting an XBO X, it's that they aren't walking in to get an XBO X in the first place because very few are interested in a souped up Xbox One to begin with. Xbox One sales have been largely flat lining over the last 12 months, selling around 1-2m in total. It doesn't do MS any good to have any potential buyers to think the Series X is another expensive iteration of a console they already don't want. Series X should carry a fresh air and appeal about it and the current name, look and branding misses that. Otherwise they'll be googling and showing PS5's in the stores instead.

It's the same with Game Pass, Microsoft kind of needs to triple its push on Game Pass because it's a genuinely amazing offer that currently only Xbox offers yet despite this the staleness of XBO sell through shows that it's currently great for existing users but isn't an effective selling point for shifting hardware.

Gears? Gears issue is that it's clearly struggling to adapt to change. Luigi's Mansion 3 may be an iterative sequel but it's just the second one (first if discounting the fact LM2 was a handheld game) and also a more unique experience. Gears is like Halo or Forza in that they're commendable for their endurance but they're slow to change iterative sequels across 3-4 generations. Infinite may change that for Halo, Gears is still clearly struggling to work out how to do that change and remain relevant.

Until MS can get XBL off Xbox in sufficient numbers they need that boost that they'll be partially banking on XSX to deliver. Any recent increase in revenue for them is nice but it's also largely due to the reflection that things were going so poorly before hand.

In terms of Microsofts outlook they've improved a lot and can hopefully map out a path that see's them continue as close competition to Sony (no-one needs a market where Sony has too much dominance) but they're coming into next gen from a near standstill position. It honestly couldn't be more important to ensure the XSX is distanced from a generation that has seen Xbox's hardware appeal stagnate.

[MartyG]

This quote from MS's phill spencer sums up everything wrong with MS's strategy, or lack of.

“The business isn’t how many consoles you sell,” Xbox chief Phil Spencer told The Verge earlier this year.

OK Phill, as you were then

The full quote is: "The business isn’t how many consoles you sell. The business is how many players are playing the games that they buy, how they play" (and it was about Xbox X sales numbers).

And he's right - Microsoft has nearly twice as many active Xbox Live members than Sony has PlayStation Plus members.

You want recurring revenue, not small profit from a one time purchase - the same way you want users buying the microtransactions rather than just the base game.

Ideally you want both in big numbers

[Digfox]

And he's right - Microsoft has nearly twice as many active Xbox Live members than Sony has PlayStation Plus members.

Whoa, that's two completely different numbers being compared there. That's premium, currently subscribing PS Plus customers versus whatever constitutes an Xbox MAU.

Sony actively tell the markets how many accounts there are overall and how many pay a subscription. Microsoft don't publish the numbers of paying customers anymore (Gold, Gold Ultimate) and probably for the very same reasons that they no longer publish numbers of Xbox consoles sold, i.e. they are down on the previous generation and historical highs.

An Xbox MAU is likely a pretty worthless statistic for their financial reports because it probably includes high amounts of people not spending any money. So for example every time I startup my Windows 10 laptop I automatically login to Xbox Live. And therefore that probably constitutes a MAU in there stats.

[MENTION=3542]Team Andromeda[/MENTION] was correct in his original point. I suspect that if you could breakdown the detail of the revenue and profit what you'd see is MS making money from across it's 'reach' of Live; so PC users, Mojang/Minecraft spend and other non-Xbox spending that accounts for a higher percentage in their gaming division. Versus Nintendo who are selling more hardware and games and therefore having more 'traditional' success like Sony.

However all 3 console makers seem to be enjoying the spoils of the changes in the market, i.e. greater digital spending and therefore profit. Who is more effective at this might be an interesting angle, although MS is probably good here. And whilst the nature of the business is changing, there is a still a powerful correlation between consoles sold and users on their networks.