• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Circana (formerly NPD) February 2023: PS5 #1 in Units and Dollars, Switch #2, and Xbox #3 in Units

Poltz

Member
im not sure what people are expecting from xbox? for the last decade, its been a brand that sells around 7m-8m a year. if your expecting big numbers from xbox, your going to be disappointed. how can you expect xbox to even be close to the PS5 when they are projecting to sell atleast 23m consoles next fiscal year? the gap will remain big all year.
Going into the gen people said this would be an “Xbox 360 gen” for Microsoft. Most powerful console, cheapeast console and game pass. They announced Bethesda before you could get the console too.
 
Last edited:
I think MS will pass Xbox One total install base but not by a large margin because this gen Xbox Series doesn't have exclusives anymore with their day and date on PC mistake.
 

Woopah

Member
But 95% or more people had a PS4 and not the PS4 Pro. So it didn't matter in your average conversation. That's not the case with the Xbox series consoles. It's 50-50 at best.
I can see these performance differences mattering to an individual, but I don't think it matters on a wider scale. Maybe 90% are playing Xbox games at 60 fps and 10% are playing at 30 fps, or maybe its the other way around. The sales are still the same.
 
im not sure what people are expecting from xbox? for the last decade, its been a brand that sells around 7m-8m a year. if your expecting big numbers from xbox, your going to be disappointed. how can you expect xbox to even be close to the PS5 when they sony are projecting to sell atleast 23m consoles next fiscal year? the gap will remain big all year.

This depends on what games they put out this year and how they market them.

So far we only know of two AAA titles that are console exclusive that have potential to sell systems. They do have a showcase planned, but if they don't announce more releases THIS year, of that calibur than they would have to be overly dependant on Starfield.
 
I think MS will pass Xbox One total install base but not by a large margin because this gen Xbox Series doesn't have exclusives anymore with their day and date on PC mistake.

Xbox has been sharing PC exclusives since the 360. I think Xbox One only had a few console exclusives until 2016.

True, but there was this expectation before Nov. 2020 that Xbox Series X will close the gap as compared to last gen because (1) Series X was the "most powerful console", (2) Game Pass, (3) Bethesda acquisition announced a day before Series X|S pre-orders opened, (4) acquiring 13 studios before that, etc.

When you need two consoles to sell and you can't get both of them out in similar amounts that's going to be a massive detriment to sales.

Going into the gen people said this would be an “Xbox 360 gen” for Microsoft. Most powerful console, cheapeast console and game pass. They announced Bethesda before you could get the console too.

It was, the sales were blowing previous consoles out of the water, until the games went missing.

Forza 5 Horizon and Halo were the last big games to release. Which were both in 2021.

It's also true the sales drop would have been reduced if there were X consoles out more, but that's still a big gap for game releases.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
They knew Series X wasn't going to sell much on it's own & Series S was the shot at a bigger market cashing in on the people who usually buy consoles later in the generation when the prices come down.



It seems that Switch & PS5 having a $399 model kinda put a damper on Series S hitting it's mark.
They've been having to fire sale that shitbox which shows it should have never existed. It would have been better for developers and gamers alike if they went with a digital X model instead.
 

onQ123

Member
They've been having to fire sale that shitbox which shows it should have never existed. It would have been better for developers and gamers alike if they went with a digital X model instead.
People would like to think that but it's not true at all, the power of Series S don't really have much to do with the fire sales the problem is they over shipped for the holidays without making the platform desirable the exact same thing would have happened to Series X if they would have over shipped it.

Also things would be worse all around without Series S , Series X alone would have been dead at the starting gate & devs would be abandoning the platform right now with PS5 having so much of the market share.
 

FrankWza

Member
Yes they do. You can't use discs on a digital PS5. It's only not been in conversation recently because Sony has barely been shipping or marketing digitals again until recent.



Ok, that has nothing to do with the false belief that Xbox thought S would be appealing and the spearhead for sales, despite being in the same place it was in 2021, when barely anyone made the same commentary.

People are blaming the S for a completely unrelated problem it has nothing to do with.
The disc and digital ps5 are identical performance machines. For the sake of conversation discussing anything performance related, there is no reason for anyone to have to clarify which ps5 they are using. On xbox, you would have to clarify because the 2 models perform drastically different. That is the point me and others were making to you.
 
This depends on what games they put out this year and how they market them.

So far we only know of two AAA titles that are console exclusive that have potential to sell systems. They do have a showcase planned, but if they don't announce more releases THIS year, of that calibur than they would have to be overly dependant on Starfield.

They need a steady flow of games to build the brand. They can't be having any long droughts without quality games. It's as simple as that. Its always been the games foremost. Fix that aspect and sales will increase.
 

Goalus

Member
It took them over 3 decades to even make official windows first-party hardware while looking across Apple and watching them build their own bread and butter on that.
Making official first-party hardware led Apple into bankruptcy (almost). Thanks to benevolent Microsoft they survived.
  • they made the first mobile OS, but yet managed to shit the bed and allow apple and google take that market from them.
Fair point.
At that time they had a CEO who was not qualified for the job. He was afraid to invest in the future of the company. He did some things right though - Bing and Azure.
  • They own windows, and yet managed to allow a third party to become the biggest gaming store front in the world on their own platform. They can't even get their own general-purpose software store right on windows.
The Microsoft Store works like a charm for me.
And the fact that they allow 3rd-party stores on their platform is a negative now? 😆
You're a funny guy.
If anything it shows their benevolence (again).
They had bungie, who was making the single biggest FPS game on the market (Halo), and yet somehow let that slip, lose out to COD and are now trying to spend $60B for it.
Again, benevolent MS didn't let anything "slip", but respected Bungie's wish to do something else.
After 2 decades in the console space, they still cant figure out that games sell hardware... evident in the fact that they have not released a 10M unit selling game in almost 10 years and came into this generation with a strategy of buying out content instead of making their own which should indicate how short-sighted they are.
Halo MCC, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and 5 should be comfortably above 10 million. These are tales from your behind as is your entire sermon.
I could go on...

So no, really successful people and politicians do NOT win by those means. They won on merit. They could however employ those means when having nefarious goals. You know, like killing off competition so they wouldn't have to innovate? Can you call it winning if you won by creating an environment where you are winning by default?
Calm down your emotions first, then you might be able to write a coherent piece that has at least some resemblance to actual facts. You are salty af, so much is clear.
 
Last edited:

solidus12

Member
Pete Hines said it pained them to cancel PS versions of upcoming games for their fans there.

Who to believe, who to believe.
Hn5tQh4.jpg
 
Last edited:
It was, the sales were blowing previous consoles out of the water, until the games went missing.

Forza 5 Horizon and Halo were the last big games to release. Which were both in 2021.

It's also true the sales drop would have been reduced if there were X consoles out more, but that's still a big gap for game releases.
While Halo and FH5 obviously helped in some way during the first year of the console, I think those sales were mostly from the loyal customers who were going to buy the console no matter what. If new potential customers are not interested in Halo or Forza in the first place, they were not going to get the console even when those games got brand new releases with the brand new console. Once the die hard fans get their brand new consoles then it's up to the new customers to keep the sales going, and that's where the games issue you mentioned comes into the equation of potential reasons why we aren't seeing a big boost in sales.

And I think it doesn't really matter if those games were released in 2021, if people wants to play them they are going to buy the console to do so. I mean, in comparison to PS, look at the top 20 games for 2023. You have Miles Morales and The Last of Us Part 2, those games were released in 2020 and still have the power to bring in new customers. And yeah, an argument could be made that Halo and FH5 are not in the top because of GamePass, but still, if people were really, really interested in playing any of those games and thought doing it through GP is the best option, then we should be seeing a boost in GP subscribers but we aren't. So yeah, I think the issue is not just the lack of games, it's the games themselves and fact that people are not interested enough to buy a brand new console to play them.

But I guess we'll have to wait and see if different IPs like Starfield, Redfall and Hellblade 2 really hype people enough to buy an Xbox.
 

Mr.Phoenix

Member
Making official first-party hardware led Apple into bankruptcy (almost). Thanks to benevolent Microsoft they survived.
Great, talk about the risk to what apple did an lets ignore their successes. Doesnt change that what I said is true. The MS surface one s the single biggest thing they have done in a while...should it have taken them as long as it did to see the value in that?
The Microsoft Store works like a charm for me.
And the fact that they allow 3rd-party stores on their platform is a negative now? 😆
You're a funny guy.
If anything it shows their benevolence (again).
There is what I said and there is what you are suggesting I said... not the same thing. I'll leave you to figure that out for yourself. Hint: I never said or insinuated that having a third-party store on their platform was bad.
Again, benevolent MS didn't let anything "slip", but respected Bungie's wish to do something else.
Bungie left MS and went into bed with Activision. You can respect and allow your single biggest and most successful dev studio do something else and not lose them to someone else. Its called building long-standing lasting relationships.
Halo MCC, Sea of Thieves, Forza Horizon 4 and 5 should be comfortably above 10 million. These are tales from your behind as is your entire sermon.
Proof? Shouldn't be that hard, show me a single shred of proof that all those games you mentioned have at least hit 10M sales? Or wait, are you doing that MS thing of obfuscating sales with engagement? And I am the one taking outta my ass?
Calm down your emotions first, then you might be able to write a coherent piece that has at least some resemblance to actual facts. You are salty af, so much is clear.
Says the guy that put MS and benevolent in the same sentence 3 times in one post....

Ah well, keep doing you I guess.
 
They've been having to fire sale that shitbox which shows it should have never existed. It would have been better for developers and gamers alike if they went with a digital X model instead.

They had to fire sell it because they had nothing else to sell.

I find it fascinating people don't get this. Why would S be a mistake now, but not I'm 2021 when it's selling pretty much the same?

People want a digital X model which would objectively solve nothing. Seems like pointless dislike for the S console years ago has just clouded people's heads in 2023.

Not really. PS5 took a lead in November 2020 when both consoles launched and have since maintained that lead.

They've were close in sales late 2021, everyone seems to be losing their memory of those reports. Also the praise of the dual spec strategy and S being a 'genius' move

While Halo and FH5 obviously helped in some way during the first year of the console, I think those sales were mostly from the loyal customers who were going to buy the console no matter what.

The X consoles problems were slowly starting to become clear then, that's why there was a sudden drop for both games but Forza held on later but Halo never recovered. Plenty of people saying they were waiting for better access to that and PS5 back then.

2022 access was terrible for the X, having no big game releases just made that worse. But the PS5 was becoming more and more obtainable each month in 2022. Only some held back shipments for certain parts of the year did you see news about X becoming more available. Then they would do a reversal. The heaviest blow was not stocking up enough for the biggest sales period of the year.

I think the mistake people are making here, is they think the problems with the X would change if the S wasn't there. But we only have evidence of the opposite.

The reason for difficulties related to the X which is internal, wouldn't change.

If S wasn't there, as another poster above partially got correct, then it would be something to behold in bad sales.

Impatience is also a thing. I guarantee you some PS5 sales were from people who gave up waiting to get an X, especially the ones not major gamers.
 
Proof? Shouldn't be that hard, show me a single shred of proof that all those games

I showed SoT earlier in the thread myself, but we still don't know full sales details outside that first ten million. Which requires taking two separate data points and putting them together.

Also PUBG sales.

Other than those we can't really say what the other games sold because Microsoft never said anything so we really can't say either or.

They knew Series X wasn't going to sell much on it's own & Series S was the shot at a bigger market cashing in on the people who usually buy consoles later in the generation

This is a very popular claim, but the funny thing is before launch Team Xbox said the opposite of this. At least in part.

It really shows you how much Team Xbox fucked up the good will they earned at the ended the Xbox One era.

At this point people just have to admit the current team just isn't working and they need to be replaced. Really 6 years ago but especially now.

From post Halo 5 to 2021 before Forza H5 and Infinite, there were only 6-7 internal AAA games released. That's across almost 7 years. Remember Playground and some others were not studios yet for much of that time period.

Then you have those two games in 2021.

Then 2022 not even one game, so almost 9 years of limited big titles to convince someone that they need an Xbox with a two game smoking break.

Now in 2023 only two games again?

Microsoft used to throw out the guillotine all the time for bad performance, we have the same names, Aaron, Larry, Booty, Spencer, Fleischman, John Friend, and several others have been at Xbox in some major role for 8-15 years.

Most were in decision making, vetting, or financing decision roles since 2014 within a year of the Xbox One launch.

Even Sarah bond has been there for 5 years.

TIme to clean house.
 
Last edited:

onQ123

Member
I showed SoT earlier in the thread myself, but we still don't know full sales details outside that first ten million. Which requires taking two separate data points and putting them together.

Also PUBG sales.

Other than those we can't really say what the other games sold because Microsoft never said anything so we really can't say either or.



This is a very popular claim, but the funny thing is before launch Team Xbox said the opposite of this. At least in part.

It really shows you how much Team Xbox fucked up the good will they earned at the ended the Xbox One era.

At this point people just have to admit the current team just isn't working and they need to be replaced. Really 6 years ago but especially now.

From post Halo 5 to 2021 before Forza H5 and Infinite, there were only 6-7 internal AAA games released. That's across almost 7 years. Remember Playground and some others were not studios yet for much of that time period.

Then you have those two games in 2021.

Then 2022 not even one game, so almost 9 years of limited big titles to convince someone that they need an Xbox with a two game smoking break.

Now in 2023 only two games again?

Microsoft used to throw out the guillotine all the time for bad performance, we have the same names, Aaron, Larry, Booty, Spencer, Fleischman, John Friend, and several others have been at Xbox in some major role for 8-15 years.

Most were in decision making, vetting, or financing decision roles since 2014 within a year of the Xbox One launch.

Even Sarah bond has been there for 5 years.

TIme to clean house.

What goodwill at the end of Xbox One era? Xbox One X was not selling don't let the fan boy war in the DF threads fool you things was not turning around 😂.

I actually made a thread about this in 2019 & now we are right back in the same place the funny thing is people blaming Series S when Series S is actually keeping the the console side alive

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox...-or-will-it-be-a-short-lived-project.1505326/
 
What goodwill at the end of Xbox One era? Xbox One X was not selling don't let the fan boy war in the DF threads fool you things was not turning around 😂.

I actually made a thread about this in 2019 & now we are right back in the same place the funny thing is people blaming Series S when Series S is actually keeping the the console side alive

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/xbox...-or-will-it-be-a-short-lived-project.1505326/

OMG

pigeon GIF


I still have PTSD from the pigeon guy.
 

Topher

Gold Member
They had to fire sell it because they had nothing else to sell.

I find it fascinating people don't get this. Why would S be a mistake now, but not I'm 2021 when it's selling pretty much the same?

Not comparable to 2021. XSX has been widely available online all year. It hasn't had much of a retail presence until recently, but in no way is it similar to 2021 when both PS5 and XSX were nearly impossible to find. In 2021, "nothing else to sell" was absolutely the case and XSS thrived, but now XSS isn't just competing with XSX availability but PS5 and that's why we are seeing the discounts.
 

LakeOf9

Member
I don't know why anyone has any faith or hope from Xbox. At this point it is clear the brand will never hit the same levels of success as PlayStation or Nintendo seem to do consistently.

Which is fine, they are doing great in other areas, and obviously their fans are happy with what they do. But expecting Xbox to outsell Nintendo or even PlayStation seems to be a foolish idea at this point.
 

onQ123

Member
I don't know why anyone has any faith or hope from Xbox. At this point it is clear the brand will never hit the same levels of success as PlayStation or Nintendo seem to do consistently.

Which is fine, they are doing great in other areas, and obviously their fans are happy with what they do. But expecting Xbox to outsell Nintendo or even PlayStation seems to be a foolish idea at this point.
Xbox success mostly depends on Playstation messing up
 

LakeOf9

Member
WW estimates from vgchartz are…something alright



PS5 is selling over 3 times more than both Series consoles, while one of those is on sale for half the price and many times has a 3 month Gamepass attached to it.

Activision won’t solve this, lol

We have actual real data showing us Xbox is doing poorly, no need to use made up bullshit numbers like VGChartz to make that point
 
WW estimates from vgchartz are…something alright



PS5 is selling over 3 times more than both Series consoles, while one of those is on sale for half the price and many times has a 3 month Gamepass attached to it.

Activision won’t solve this, lol


That's probably not real since it's VGcharts.
 

LakeOf9

Member
Is this a serious question or do you have amnesia?
The (correct) point they are making is that there is obviously no actionable or bankable goodwill because it there was, they would have been able to leverage it into market success. People are absolutely willing to buy things on blind faith even when no reason has been given to do so; PS5 had a record breaking two years in spite of there being no real reason to buy it for the majority of that period for the average customer. Or 3DS selling 4 million units at launch with no launch titles and a $250 price and a dumb gimmick. That’s goodwill. That’s the market trusting that Sony and Nintendo will come through and being willing to buy their products without any immediate justification or need.

Xbox has not had that since the end of the 360 era, more than a decade ago. What does exist is a fraction of what the other two have.
 
Not comparable to 2021. XSX has been widely available online all year.

There are many complaints here and elsewhere, including from the top analysts who are connected to retail saying many people are not seeing or have access to the X.

At this point it's old to keep pretending that because of some presence online everyone is willing, has access, or knows, it's there.

Otherwise the more than year long consistency and more organizations piling on saying the same thing, wouldn't be happening. That's excluding the retail only buyers (by intention) as well.

This argument at this point, with professionals constantly disproving it, is just lazy.

But now XSS isn't just competing with XSX availability but PS5 and that's why we are seeing the discounts.

They are discounting it because they don't have anything else to sell. So they need to keep it's sales up until that changes.

When I say 2021 for S, it's because it's not been selling outside of it's usual performance since 2021. The discounts are only keeping it in the same place.

So when people claim the S is the problem, it should be replaced with a digital X, it was a bad idea, it's under performing, and so on, it's not selling any different from when people said Xbox has a chance, it's doing well compared to other xboxs, S was a genius move, and so on.

The only difference between now and 2021, is that X assembly growth has stalled, and hasn't for the PS5.

There is no other difference between now and 2021.

People are not looking at the facts or having selective amnesia.

Xboxs current situation is because of and only because poor decision making and foresight by leadership as I explained above. Where most of the key staff been around for 8+ years.

Trying to blame the two spec strategy that people were praising in 2021, mostly the S, is completely unfounded and illogical.

Just blame the source of the problem, poor leadership. This is not complicated.
 

Woopah

Member
WW estimates from vgchartz are…something alright



PS5 is selling over 3 times more than both Series consoles, while one of those is on sale for half the price and many times has a 3 month Gamepass attached to it.

Activision won’t solve this, lol

Activision won't solve it, but it will help!
 

One X never had fire sales and never dropped the price until discontinuation.

Sales also has nothing to do with what you quoted before. I said Xbox tossed their good will from the end of the gen.

Everyone knows Xbox was considered turning around before these new consoles came out, and thought Sony was going in the opposite direction in mind share. People thought Sony was slipping, being arrogant, and being anti-consumer at the tail of the gen. Xbox kept that after the launch of series, and now has lost it.

If you deny this you are either telling an untruth or have selective amnesia.

The (correct) point they are making is that there is obviously no actionable or bankable goodwill because it there was,

This is not an issue that you can argue:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/s...helping-xbox-turn-things-around/1100-6489623/

variations of Xbox turning around Phil or no Phil were all over the place just like this, from 2018 to surprisingly, 2021.

How coincidental that year keeps coming up. It's almost like 2022 was the year of amnesia and made everyone forget what was before it.

Even on forums, interviews, and videos people were comparing Xbox One to PS3 late gen. Even here if you search. Despite them both have minimal similarities.

As I said, Xbox had good will going into this gen, now they have lost the opportunity to use it after 2021.

Again, this isn't the S consoles fault which has been performing the same, it's poor decisions and lack of action by leadership.
 

onQ123

Member
One X never had fire sales and never dropped the price until discontinuation.

Sales also has nothing to do with what you quoted before. I said Xbox tossed their good will from the end of the gen.

Everyone knows Xbox was considered turning around before these new consoles came out, and thought Sony was going in the opposite direction in mind share. People thought Sony was slipping, being arrogant, and being anti-consumer at the tail of the gen. Xbox kept that after the launch of series, and now has lost it.

If you deny this you are either telling an untruth or have selective amnesia.



This is not an issue that you can argue:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/s...helping-xbox-turn-things-around/1100-6489623/

variations of Xbox turning around Phil or no Phil were all over the place just like this, from 2018 to surprisingly, 2021.

How coincidental that year keeps coming up. It's almost like 2022 was the year of amnesia and made everyone forget what was before it.

Even on forums, interviews, and videos people were comparing Xbox One to PS3 late gen. Even here if you search. Despite them both have minimal similarities.

As I said, Xbox had good will going into this gen, now they have lost the opportunity to use it after 2021.

Again, this isn't the S consoles fault which has been performing the same, it's poor decisions and lack of action by leadership.
Yes it did did you even check the thread I posted in 2019 which was only 2 years after it released it was selling for $400
 

LakeOf9

Member
One X never had fire sales and never dropped the price until discontinuation.

Sales also has nothing to do with what you quoted before. I said Xbox tossed their good will from the end of the gen.

Everyone knows Xbox was considered turning around before these new consoles came out, and thought Sony was going in the opposite direction in mind share. People thought Sony was slipping, being arrogant, and being anti-consumer at the tail of the gen. Xbox kept that after the launch of series, and now has lost it.

If you deny this you are either telling an untruth or have selective amnesia.



This is not an issue that you can argue:

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/s...helping-xbox-turn-things-around/1100-6489623/

variations of Xbox turning around Phil or no Phil were all over the place just like this, from 2018 to surprisingly, 2021.

How coincidental that year keeps coming up. It's almost like 2022 was the year of amnesia and made everyone forget what was before it.

Even on forums, interviews, and videos people were comparing Xbox One to PS3 late gen. Even here if you search. Despite them both have minimal similarities.

As I said, Xbox had good will going into this gen, now they have lost the opportunity to use it after 2021.

Again, this isn't the S consoles fault which has been performing the same, it's poor decisions and lack of action by leadership.
My entire point is it literally doesn't matter how many soapbox think pieces were written on forums or websites, none of it translated to any real world success. It mattered no more than the deluge of articles the Wii U got in 2013 and 2014 about how it was a great system with a great library that everyone should buy. It translated to nothing. Much like the Xbox "goodwill".

Actually think beyond the enthusiast online bubble.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
They had to fire sell it because they had nothing else to sell.

I find it fascinating people don't get this. Why would S be a mistake now, but not I'm 2021 when it's selling pretty much the same?

People want a digital X model which would objectively solve nothing. Seems like pointless dislike for the S console years ago has just clouded people's heads in 2023.



They've were close in sales late 2021, everyone seems to be losing their memory of those reports. Also the praise of the dual spec strategy and S being a 'genius' move



The X consoles problems were slowly starting to become clear then, that's why there was a sudden drop for both games but Forza held on later but Halo never recovered. Plenty of people saying they were waiting for better access to that and PS5 back then.

2022 access was terrible for the X, having no big game releases just made that worse. But the PS5 was becoming more and more obtainable each month in 2022. Only some held back shipments for certain parts of the year did you see news about X becoming more available. Then they would do a reversal. The heaviest blow was not stocking up enough for the biggest sales period of the year.

I think the mistake people are making here, is they think the problems with the X would change if the S wasn't there. But we only have evidence of the opposite.

The reason for difficulties related to the X which is internal, wouldn't change.

If S wasn't there, as another poster above partially got correct, then it would be something to behold in bad sales.

Impatience is also a thing. I guarantee you some PS5 sales were from people who gave up waiting to get an X, especially the ones not major gamers.
You don’t have fire sales on products that are in demand. You have them on products people are not buying at the pace you were hoping for.
 

Topher

Gold Member
There are many complaints here and elsewhere, including from the top analysts who are connected to retail saying many people are not seeing or have access to the X.

At this point it's old to keep pretending that because of some presence online everyone is willing, has access, or knows, it's there.

Otherwise the more than year long consistency and more organizations piling on saying the same thing, wouldn't be happening. That's excluding the retail only buyers (by intention) as well.

This argument at this point, with professionals constantly disproving it, is just lazy.



They are discounting it because they don't have anything else to sell. So they need to keep it's sales up until that changes.

When I say 2021 for S, it's because it's not been selling outside of it's usual performance since 2021. The discounts are only keeping it in the same place.

So when people claim the S is the problem, it should be replaced with a digital X, it was a bad idea, it's under performing, and so on, it's not selling any different from when people said Xbox has a chance, it's doing well compared to other xboxs, S was a genius move, and so on.

The only difference between now and 2021, is that X assembly growth has stalled, and hasn't for the PS5.

There is no other difference between now and 2021.

People are not looking at the facts or having selective amnesia.

Xboxs current situation is because of and only because poor decision making and foresight by leadership as I explained above. Where most of the key staff been around for 8+ years.

Trying to blame the two spec strategy that people were praising in 2021, mostly the S, is completely unfounded and illogical.

Just blame the source of the problem, poor leadership. This is not complicated.

I think even these "professionals" you allude to would point out the massive difference in availability between 2021 and now. Retail availability of XSX is sparse at times while online availability is much more consistent. In 2021, neither were the case. Factually, anyone who wants to buy an XSX right now, directly from Microsoft, can. So there is no "pretending" that XSX is available. XSX is available.

Right here, right now:


That's not nothing so how is it Microsoft doesn't have "anything else to sell" when they factually have XSX to sell right now? Just doesn't reflect reality. Clearly demand has subsided. Otherwise, the other big difference from 2021, the fact that scalpers were gobbling up every console their bots could get, would still be a problem today and it simply is not.

And I didn't say a thing about the "two spec strategy". I'm only pointing out the vast differences that exist between the console market now and in 2021. If I'm going to blame anything I'd say the delays of Xbox big hit exclusives is at the top of the list. Xbox has to make a compelling argue for people to buy it and right now there isn't one. However, I would not be a bit surprised if stock miraculously appears alongside renewed demand when Redfall or Starfield launch.
 
Last edited:

LakeOf9

Member
By the way H Henry Panic you are objectively wrong too. Google Trends confirms that there has literally not once been a time that Xbox has trended higher than PS or Switch:

image.png


image.png


Like, yes, some enthusiast sites were more positive in Xbox coverage at the time of Xbox One X and coming into this gen, because Microsoft started to make some good moves. But they never followed up on their moves enough to turn that positive buzz into actual meaningful actionable goodwill (hence their commercial performance struggles for this entire period of time), and equally importantly, some positive buzz in very small enthusiast circles is ultimately all it ever was. At no point was Xbox as a brand more on people's minds than the competition.
 

onQ123

Member
I think even these "professionals" you allude to would point out the massive difference in availability between 2021 and now. Retail availability of XSX is sparse at times while online availability is much more consistent. In 2021, neither were the case. Factually, anyone who wants to buy an XSX right now, directly from Microsoft, can. So there is no "pretending" that XSX is available. XSX is available.

Right here, right now:

[/URL]

That's not nothing so how is it Microsoft doesn't have "anything else to sell" when they factually have XSX to sell right now? Just doesn't reflect reality. Clearly demand has subsided. Otherwise, the other big difference from 2021, the fact that scalpers were gobbling up every console their bots could get, would still be a problem today and it simply is not.

And I didn't say a thing about the "two spec strategy". I'm only pointing out the vast differences that exist between the console market now and in 2021. If I'm going to blame anything I'd say the delays of Xbox big hit exclusives is at the top of the list. Xbox has to make a compelling argue for people to buy it and right now there isn't one. However, I would not be a bit surprised if stock miraculously appears alongside renewed demand when Redfall or Starfield launch.
Redfall is 4 weeks away & I'm not seeing any big build up to it's release on Xbox Series X/S , I'm guessing it will be a slow burner on console with a big following on PC I don't think it will move Xboxes the smart thing for MS to do is make a Minecraft Legends bundle for Series S & make it as visible as possible
 

Topher

Gold Member
Redfall is 4 weeks away & I'm not seeing any big build up to it's release on Xbox Series X/S , I'm guessing it will be a slow burner on console with a big following on PC I don't think it will move Xboxes the smart thing for MS to do is make a Minecraft Legends bundle for Series S & make it as visible as possible

Starfield will probably sell more consoles than Redfall, but the combination of the two will definitely help move Xbox consoles. This is why I'm thinking Microsoft is rationing their units right now to make a big splash later. Just a theory though. Could be totally wrong.
 
Yes it did did you even check the thread I posted in 2019 which was only 2 years after it released it was selling for $400

You mean the locked console warrior thread with no link in the OP? Yes I read the link.

Microsoft themselves did not permanently drop the price to $400, some retailers did because they overshipped the One X for a time.

Because it was selling faster than the PS4 PRO, so they were expecting that momentum to continue. In The US it even ultimately outsold it.

Sadly, both PS4 PRO and One X didn't do to well overtime, which is also why I question those who think we will get refreshes again this gen.

You don’t have fire sales on products that are in demand. You have them on products people are not buying at the pace you were hoping for.

Which was done to keep S sales strong, because the had nothing else left to sell. So in order to prevent a heavier decline, they cut the price to keep A sales as high as possible while they continued to fail to fix the X problem.

By the way H Henry Panic you are objectively wrong too. Google Trends confirms that there has literally not once been a time that Xbox has trended higher than PS or Switch

I didn't say anything...about Xbox out trending either on Google trends...

I think even these "professionals" you allude to would point out the massive difference in availability between 2021 and now.

They don't for the most part, all those reports are accessible and free to view. The rest of your post is pointless.

We are continually having more and more analysts and retail connected companies saying the same thing over and over, your argument is flat out lazy and has no substance. It's 2023. You think these professionals and companies don't know you can eventually dig up an Xbox X online?

Have you even attempted to think about why we are continuously having reports still saying there's issues with finding stock, as recently as last week?

I've never seen so much evasion from just admitting the current problems are due to poor decision making and bad leadership.

Stop making excuses for Team Xbox, there is no magical 'other' thing to shift the blame to. It's not the S, it's not X demand, it's not them stifling retailers.
 

Topher

Gold Member
They don't for the most part, all those reports are accessible and free to view. The rest of your post is pointless.

Nope. My post pointed out that this notion you have that Microsoft doesn't have "anything else to sell" isn't true. If you want to be willfully ignorant and say that is "pointless" then that is up to you.

If you want to discuss these reports you keep referencing then post them and people can see what you are talking about.
 
Last edited:
Nope. My post pointed out that this notion you have that Microsoft doesn't have "anything else to sell" isn't true.

They cut the price because they didn't have the X in a quantity to keep the brand sales up, you're being willfully obtuse at best. They did not have anything else to sell.

You dodged the fact we are continuing to see the same reports for a reason, because you don't have a valid answer for it.

Unless you think Matt from NPD is a moron and doesn't know you can dig up an X online?

I mean maybe you do think this, because In this same thread we have a statement from him saying the same thing reports have been repeating for a long time from others, apparently you aren't even reading the thread you're posting in.

Everyone has seen reports and articles about the X having stock problems, even a simple search here will give you many results. You're argument is just lazy, everyone knows some people can go online and search to find an X, but you've never stopped to think why we keep hearing about X stock problems anyway. There's actually a reason for it.

I can't tell if it's just irrational bias against Xbox to push this lazy argument, or bias for it by trying to blame anything but the leadership team for the Xbox Series current problems.
 
Top Bottom