i know pc gamings big right now, its what i play almost exclusively on. i jsut dont get why the xbox team is bragging about when they've done next to nothing on pc this year, even having to use steam number because their own store is such a joke.
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Xbox Breaks Xbox Black Friday Records; Windows 10 Gaming Continues To Rise
- Thread starter Cow Goes Moo
- Start date
i know pc gamings big right now, its what i play almost exclusively on. i jsut dont get why the xbox team is bragging about when they've done next to nothing on pc this year, even having to use steam number because their own store is such a joke.
ethomaz
Banned
My take.
There are two different claims from MS PR.
1) Xbox One console sales at retail were up 22 percent over the same period last year
2) second biggest Black Friday week in 15 years of Xbox history in the U.S
The 1 is about Xbone and the 2 is about the whole Black Friday being the second biggest with everything including (consoles sales, games sales, digital, etc).
There are two different claims from MS PR.
1) Xbox One console sales at retail were up 22 percent over the same period last year
2) second biggest Black Friday week in 15 years of Xbox history in the U.S
The 1 is about Xbone and the 2 is about the whole Black Friday being the second biggest with everything including (consoles sales, games sales, digital, etc).
If Xbox 360 is included, yeah, I was tricked (by the way I don't think Major wrote the text, it's on Xbox Wire too), but you are speculating, you can't prove, you just think is the more likely.
What I really disagree is your interpretation of the phrase, it's a semantic discussion and I think that the best interpretation means Xbox One alone, but it's possible that includes Xbox 360 and the PR guy misspoke or intentionally wanted to make dubious.
Unless Microsoft clarify, we never know for sure.
That's a third interpretation, you really think they are talking about all and not just about hardware?
MightyHedgehog
Member
So much effort spent over something that should be clarified in less than a week. Maybe someone should just tweet Larry Hryb.
Captain Tuttle
Member
That Elite Controller is a hit, I definitely want to pick one up once things settle down
panda-zebra
Banned
Yes. Over that BF week.
Given we've gone from xb1 here to xbox family, my cynical side now leans towards the lower end of that 2nd place range (i.e., closer to the 750k than the 960k).
Hmm, hadn't considered that even. It's not that much of a stretch given recent PR output. You could well be right.
¯\_(ツ
_/¯
ethomaz
Banned
For the second biggest Black Friday in Xbox history... yes.
But I can be totally wrong
EventHorizon
Member
That is exactly what they are doing. Microsoft lists the factors like saying point one, two, and three, and then says what those points led to. Let's break down the PR statement into the points being made and follow that with the conclusion:
- Point #1: Worldwide Xbox Black Friday sales in the Xbox Store broke records with an increase of 57 percent across Xbox One and Xbox 360,
- Point #2: global Xbox Live Gold subscriptions were up over 40 percent,
- Point #3: and U.S. Xbox One console sales at retail were up 22 percent over the same period last year,
- Conclusion: making it the second biggest Black Friday week in 15 years of Xbox history in the U.S.
The key is the ", and" between point #2 and point #3 indicating that all three phrases should be taken as items in a list. Without that interpretation Point #1 and Point #2 aren't grammatically correct. They'd have to be followed by periods, not commas.
At this point I wouldn't be surprised if they added spin to positive news so that it is less obvious to discern when they do it for the less than flattering news. I have no doubt that it did well this month though.
There are so many interpretations of what MS' statements mean. I guess they brought it on themselves. We've had too many instances where we've had to decipher what they actually mean most relevant of all when they said they were up YOY when they were down. People were trying to figure out if they were talking about FIFA or their consoles when the data showed otherwise.
But points 1 and 2 talk about worldwide, they aren't direct connect to point 3 and Xbox having the second biggest Black Friday week in US.
EventHorizon
Member
The U.S. is part of the world. Think about the economy. U.S. companies have made statements like "The global recession has led to our poor quarter performance." Like I said, if those points are not part of a list then they have to be followed by periods.
You don't post something on Major Nelson's blog and not direct it towards gamers.
C'mon.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Yeah, this line really bothers me. I know the whole thing is just PR painting the console in the best light possible, but this in particular is literally a lie. Let's take a look:
2015:
Halo 5 - Metacritic score of 85
Rise of the Tomb Raider - Metacritic score of 86
Forza Motorsport 6 - Metacritic score of 87
That's an average of 86/100 across three titles
2007:
Halo 3 - Metacritic score of 94
Project Gotham Racing 4 - Metacritic score of 85
Mass Effect - Metacritic score of 91
BioShock - Metacritic score of 96
That's an average of 91.5/100 across four titles
(Even if we add the more lukewarm Scene It! Lights, Camera, Action into the mix [73 Metascore] that only brings down the average to 87.8/100 across five titles)
I have checked Wikipedia and I don't think there are any I've missed. 2007 was an absolute beast of a year for the 360 and to try and claim that "holiday" 2015 has been a better year for software is a flat out lie.
anothertech
Member
Nah it's clear as day.
22% more Xbone compared to Black Friday 2014. Expected with another price drop and the bundles they offered.
Second best Black Friday for Xbox, hardware, software, digital and peripherals are all fair game in that statement. They used the same language in the Hslo 5 spin, and it confused everyone just as much.
With Halo 5 they said games and hardware so was clear they're "innovated" including Xbox One console sales.
Now they just said "second biggest in 15 years", after commenting on Xbox One sales, so It's not clear that refer to consoles, games, accessories, and all.
LegendofDragoonLives
Member
So X1 > PS4 on BF?
No, probably the contrary or too close to call.
ethomaz
Banned
Nobody knows but looks the opposite...
Triggerhappytel
Member
We'll see soon, but I think they would have specifically mentioned it had they been #1 on the most important shopping day of the year in NA.
They don't remember 2007 for reasons.
Looks like it, based on the PR statements
In the UK in terms of consoles PS4 probably just took it:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/black-friday-uk-saw-the-sale-of-over-300-000-consoles
boredandlazy
Member
You think Major Nelson's blog was the primary release for that info? Yeah he posted it on his blog but do u think they did all that for people who bought the games/consoles?
I'm just asking: Do you seriously think they come up with this stuff for gamers? Talking about revenue, increases, etc.?
C'mon
EDIT: btw I'm not saying it isn't PR spin. But it's for the benefit of investors, not gamers.
vpance
Member
Two major question marks I see:
1) "Over the same peroid last year" - could actually be any range of day(s) and not neccessarily the entire week. You just assume the latter.
2) "Biggest" - they want you to think it's about units but it could be revenue or something
The only thing we can be sure of is "it" is referring to "biggest". And it's probably not about units.
1) "Over the same peroid last year" - could actually be any range of day(s) and not neccessarily the entire week. You just assume the latter.
2) "Biggest" - they want you to think it's about units but it could be revenue or something
The only thing we can be sure of is "it" is referring to "biggest". And it's probably not about units.
You get it.
The people those statements are for don't care as much as how many consoles were moved. They want the bottom line.
EventHorizon
Member
boredandlazy
Member
Just thinking, Black Friday falls on a different date each year doesn't it? So saying 'the same period' could mean a date range rather than the specific days of Black Friday weekend?
Or am I just overthinking it a little?
? What part of the PR make you think that?
0_o ... wow. It's always a friday dude.
Quite the opposite actually, but we don't know for sure.
boredandlazy
Member
Sorry, I meant to type Date. Like as in 2014 Black Friday was the 28th November, whilst this year it was the 27th.
I'll edit for clarification. Obviously I know that Black Friday always falls on a Friday.
Nope, not at all.
EventHorizon
Member
It's all relative to Thanksgiving, but that raises a whole different issue. What does Black Friday even mean now. Is it...
- the Friday after Thanksgiving as it has been traditionally defined
- the week Sunday to Saturday that contains Black Friday
- the weekend from Thanksgiving to Sunday
- the weekend from the Friday after Thanksgiving to Sunday
None of this is to say that Microsoft had a bad Black Friday...whatever. In fact I believe that they did very well for themselves and if it weren't for the PS4 doing so much better, MS would have no problem releasing the actual numbers. As it stands they need to hide behind a level of indirection to avoid direct comparisons.
Bitch Pudding
Member
Exactly the opposite. Because we don't know.
boredandlazy
Member
That's exactly what I was getting at. Black Friday weekend last year was November 28, 29 and 30. Whilst this year it was November 27, 28 and 29.
So November 27, which would have been the biggest selling day this year(the actual Friday), wouldn't even factor into the results from last year. And November 30 last year(the Sunday) which would have probably been the lowest selling day, wouldn't even factor into this year as it's not part of BF weekend.
So interpreting it that way would be much more favourable for Microsoft.
But as I said before, maybe I'm just overthinking it.
3rdamention
Member
$1 Xbox Live is a helluva drug!