Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05

[Neon Ignition]

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Sales of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 are up from last year, MW3 saw a 25% downturn in business on MW2 the year before. Game Pass gets an uplift, doubtful that will last as the months roll on.

https://twitter.com/bdsams/status/1851716461250908382?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1851716923106402628%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=

Elsewhere, Activision continues its role within Xbox of being the tide that rises all boats, that except hardware revenue which have fallen yet another 29%

[fishbowlhead]

So PlayStation & Steam making it the “biggest cod launch ever” then MS? Gotcha.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/call-of-duty-flies-concord-falls-microcast

UK BO6 sales are down

[charlesr]

Given it's on gamepass, isn't that to be expected? Or does a download on gp still count as a sale?

[Neon Ignition]

To be expected, the deciding factor will end up being whether people getting it on GP raises revenue or costs them it compared to sales. If it's the latter then I think that will be final nail in MS's decision to embrace the road to third party and to not throw anymore high value golden goose titles to the service as day one titles.

[Atticus]

Microsoft seem to be more focused on sticking it to the competition than any long-term financial goal

[Deuteros]

Quite the opposite, I'd say. Remember, they've transitioned to a business model (unthinkable up until then) of releasing their first-party games on their rivals' platforms.

Having acquired Call of Duty, they will profit from every sale (regardless of platform) and from every new subscription to Game Pass. Whether the gains from those new subscriptions will offset the losses caused by reduced sales is what's going to be critical to this new strategy, and this Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 release is its first real test.

[Brad]

How many do they need to sell to recoup $67billion?

[Deuteros]

I don't think their strategy is so short term that they're planning on recouping a $67 billion investment after the release of a single game.

[Neon Ignition]

[wakka]

The tube is currently full of ads showing phones, TVs, etc with the tagline 'These are all Xboxes'. I.e. a promotion of the ability to run Game Pass outside of dedicated hardware.

I just thought that was interesting. Shows what the strategy is right now, and aligns with the underwhelming hardware they're issuing against the PS5 Pro this Xmas (an S with a slightly bigger SSD and an X with no optical drive in white).

[Neon Ignition]

Wouldn't surprise me at all if the general public has no idea those updated Xbox SKU's are even coming out

[wakka]

I haven't seen any advertising or promotion outside of news articles on specialist websites, and the releases themselves are very underwhelming.

I think it's telling that MS would choose to use their media spend to flood the tube with adverts about playing Game Pass on anything that isn't an Xbox, and not actually mention the new hardware they have coming out this Xmas.

[Neon Ignition]

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[Neon Ignition]

https://youtu.be/IYBSNQLsBKk?si=0ROL9t5mzJTJRbSh

Microsoft has launched a new Xbox campaign

"You technically already own an Xbox you likely aren't using, don't bother buying one of our consoles then"