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Xbox is in dead last in both Asia and Europe. This gen has been a disaster for Microsoft.
GSD European sales February 2024 - Helldivers 2 #1, FF7 Rebirth #3, Skull and Bones #9
- Thread starter Astrogamer
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All their big games are on PC and likely soon on PS5 as well. You can't do a move like WiiU to Switch when most of your heavy hitters aren't exclusive and you don't really change much in the type of system you are selling.
None of the games you listed would make a big difference either and are likely still years off. Perfect Dark, Banjo and co. are not gonna move the needle when even Halo and Starfield failed to move the needle.
Maybe I'm too pessimistic but as long as Nintendo and Sony don't slip up I don't think there is much MS can do. They already sold the cheapest new gen system and GP delivered all there algames for free.....yet still failed against an old Switch and out of stock PS5.
Just don't see a way out of it, because MS I doubling down on killing their consoles with their moves instead of improving things.
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As long as Microsoft has no clear message about exclusives, their consoles have no way forward. I was really surprised at the amount of analysts not presenting the possibility of this catastrophic drop coming as Microsoft was making its recent moves.
There's a middle ground between being a console warrior that's crying because your favorite plastic box is gonna lose a list war, and simply dismissing all the very real consequences of what they're doing.
There's a middle ground between being a console warrior that's crying because your favorite plastic box is gonna lose a list war, and simply dismissing all the very real consequences of what they're doing.
If Microsoft is having trouble competing with Sony in the home console front they are going to have their work cut out for them competing in the portable console space against Nintendo.
It's a very different situation. Nintendo simply decided to double down on the side of its business that was constantly successful: portables. And with that move they also, once and for all, positioned themselves away from the high end market and from the power battle.
So for them it didn't matter if their console would become outdated when a new generation would arrive, as it already was since day one.
With Microsoft it would be a disaster to launch like a year or two first, with how fast technology evolves. MS would have a more powerful console earlier, but then whenever Sony decided to release PS6, Microsoft would be left trying to sell an out of date piece of hardware without the advantages of being portable. It would frankly be a Dreamcast situation all over again, as why would anyone buy the Dreamcast/Series Y-Z when they could just wait one or two years and get a PS2/PS6 instead.
It really wouldn't work for anyone but Nintendo.
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Another thing about the Switch is most of their games weren’t cross-gen (and couldn’t be since there was no BC) and they weren’t heavily supported by 3rd party publishers. Microsoft releasing a ‘next gen’ console in 2026 does what, exactly? 3rd parties aren’t going to target it on top of still having to provide series s & x versions of the same game. The install base would be so incredibly small not even Microsofts first party themselves could carry it.
It wouldn’t really be any different than launching a pro console other than the fact that in like 2029-2030 (maybe) they could drop the series consoles. By then they’d be competing against the PS6 again.
It wouldn’t really be any different than launching a pro console other than the fact that in like 2029-2030 (maybe) they could drop the series consoles. By then they’d be competing against the PS6 again.
Microsoft isn't developing a mid gen upgrade, so I think all they have left is start a new gen sooner, will be hard to push Xbox Series until the end of 2028.
Also they should bring something new to the table, the idea of a new duo but with a traditional console and a handheld is interesting.
I think they will be trying hard on mobile too with the new store and if they choosed ARM for next gen, they can have an unified development environment.
It's interesting to speculate what Microsoft will do because they're on a turning point in their business.
Also they should bring something new to the table, the idea of a new duo but with a traditional console and a handheld is interesting.
I think they will be trying hard on mobile too with the new store and if they choosed ARM for next gen, they can have an unified development environment.
It's interesting to speculate what Microsoft will do because they're on a turning point in their business.
I think Ms has already made it pretty clear what it intends to do.
It will continue to produce consoles, at least it will for the next gen, but the focus will be even less than it is today.
This means that marketing will be cut almost to zero, no physical, there will be no console exclusives or at least there will be few or they will be temporal, the production of consoles will be reduced, I expect few million consoles produced a year, less than today, the price will not necessarily be competitive, there will be no deep discount strategy, there will be no war with Sony as we have seen in the past, when Xbox was main PlayStation's competitor. That chapter is over, now Xbox will become primarily a multiplatform publisher and not a console manufacturer company that compete in the market.
Essentially Xbox will become like Surface or Steam deck, a simple hardware option for a "niche" of players to access the Microsoft ecosystem, and it will stop being Xbox as we have known it in the past twenty years. This is what it means as the end of the console war.
It will continue to produce consoles, at least it will for the next gen, but the focus will be even less than it is today.
This means that marketing will be cut almost to zero, no physical, there will be no console exclusives or at least there will be few or they will be temporal, the production of consoles will be reduced, I expect few million consoles produced a year, less than today, the price will not necessarily be competitive, there will be no deep discount strategy, there will be no war with Sony as we have seen in the past, when Xbox was main PlayStation's competitor. That chapter is over, now Xbox will become primarily a multiplatform publisher and not a console manufacturer company that compete in the market.
Essentially Xbox will become like Surface or Steam deck, a simple hardware option for a "niche" of players to access the Microsoft ecosystem, and it will stop being Xbox as we have known it in the past twenty years. This is what it means as the end of the console war.
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NPD's upcoming report just became a lot more interesting.
Why ?
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I think he's talking about Helldivers 2 sells
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Probably because of hardware, February was very interesting in Europe, great hold for both PS5 and Switch, huge decline for Xbox. It will be interesting to see if US will mirror these results.
At least on Amazon there wasn't a big drop for Xbox Series in US.
I asked if there's deals going on for Series X in Europe, because if not I can understand these terrible numbers because it's hard to imagine people jumping in for a 550 euros machine not named Playstation at this point in the gen.
Sure, there's Series S, but it's even more unappealing despite the lower price.
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Series X is constantly on sale, for example 499€ at Amazon.de right now. But it ranks at #203 on the bestseller chart, while PS5 is at #6.
The point below
PS5 is also currently cheaper at 449€.
Yes, you are right.
But even at 549€ the PS5 is usually between #20 and #30, while Series X is outside the Top 200 at 499€.
Xbox discounts aren't helping much anymore in Europe (and even UK).
Seems like a good result for Rebirth
The goal should be bringing back the PS5 to its original MSRP price in EU, UK, Japan, etc.
Don't know how likely it is, didn't Totoki say that price cuts would destroy their profit margins and now they are in cost saving mode.
They will have a very tough time doing that in Japan. As an example the original Japanese price back in 2020 is still worth more (much more) dollars back then than the current twice increased price is now in dollars.
Current price with tax is 66980 yen which is right now $440
Nov 2020 Price with tax was 54978 yen which was back then ( assuming around 0.0095 dollar per yen) around $520
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Oh my god, just googled and the Yen is still going down and reaching into 1990 levels
Were profit margins much better before Covid?
Weird clearly Xbox has a strong (maybe viable is better word) presence in Germany evidenced by the Xbox cards being #3 and the Xbox controllers in the top 10 etc.
And on searching for XSX I dont find any in stock listing so, difficult to parse much from that. depending on how long is oos ranking can fall greatly. Can you link anything relevant? Amazon search seems crooked anyway. Also noticed the PS5 top SKU is currently OOS at #6.
series s was just a big flop. theres some evidence it sells well near $200, but if they cant feasibly get the price there, and clearly they cant, it's not a good idea,
You see those products as out of stock because you are probably from a different region. I'm from Europe and I see both in stock.
There are still Xbox 1 users here using Xbox cards, ans PC users often use Xbox controllers. Demand for Series consoles seems at an alltime low though.
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Yeah, the Steam Deck comparison is one I always made with Xbox. Though to be honest Sony might be trending that way in a couple of generations as well. These expensive consoles are getting more and more diminishing returns, PS as a brand is just much stronger in general, but PC is becoming more important for both of them.
I do think MS going the dedicated gaming console route was always a bad thing for them. MS is at their best making software, hardware has always been a struggle from Zune to Windows Phone to Surface. They need to stick to their strength, buying ABK to me was always brilliant. I think maybe they should consider focusing on building the Windows store for everything entertainment including gaming. They should focus on building their Windows platform to fit multiple devices like phones, tablets, and PCs. They need the same approach to gaming. Xbox is a closed platform, if they want to continue hardware then build open platforms like a pre built desktop gaming PC and a pre built portable platform like Steam Deck. Continue to push their ecosystem onto as many devices as possible no matter the form factor, while also offering their own competitors with their own software pre-installed. Talk to Samsung about building a dedicated Windows Phone, keep pushing Surface, and introduce pre built gaming desktop PCs/pre-built gaming portable PCs. Basically continue to sell Windows to hardware manufacturers while offering more niche Windows pre-installed products in multiple form factors.
Microsoft was great with Xbox 360, the problem was the mistakes with Xbox One that made the brand walk backwards.
