Bam Bam Baklava
Member
Sounds like wishful thinking to me. You're probably reading wayy to literally into that blank check comment. I don't believe anyone at Microsoft has a blank check they have too many people to answer to.
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NPD Sales Results for November 2014 [Up3: NPD Data Error, AC:U #5]
- Thread starter Nirolak
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Sounds like wishful thinking to me. You're probably reading wayy to literally into that blank check comment. I don't believe anyone at Microsoft has a blank check they have too many people to answer to.
I'm not so sure if I'd like them to buy Remedy, I mean I would but at the same time I'd be worried MS forces them to pump out the same game every other year like they seem to do with a lot of their studios, on the other hand if they bought out Remedy they could expand the studio and release games in a quicker fashion, or maybe even have two teams in remedy working on separate games. I don't really trust MS to give Remedy the freedom Naughty Dog has, which imo they have earned and deserve.
To your other question, I think QB will sell well. It seems to be appearing to the masses more than Alan Wake especially in a world dominated by superhero tv and movies, and AW went up against a Rockstar game (What a terrible decision). Plus, it's MS, with how they have been advertising this gen, at least in the UK, I expect to see Quantum break advertised the fuck out of which should help and the word of mouth seems good around it.
Isn't TR still coming out on the 360? IMO that's a bad move.
Regardless. Both consoles look to have a great 2015 lineup
Power doesn't sell consoles though. Games and price do.
MS problem was they they launched a console at 499 the same time as their competitor witg almost identical game lineups.
I'm not saying they'd be leading in a place like Japan or Germany, but if the Xbox had a kinect less 350 option at launch, they'd have the Us and UK on lock and wouldn't be losing in mainland Europe by as much( they'd still be losing there)
WickedCobra03
Member
Wow, cboat... those stats are nuts. Nintendo made a killing. CoD keeps selling. I am just really surprised about GTAV and the selling power still, even as a I hear a lot of people thinking that the formula is stale.
Sony can keep that price at $400, but just include an downloadable (like TLoU:RM) and a 3 month PS+ card and I don't think they are going anywhere. It was even a decision for me to purchase a BF (there was one still left last weekend and it was mine at the price) Bundle PS4 with GTAV and TLoU:RM for $300, when in the past, I wouldn't have even thought about it.
Sony can keep that price at $400, but just include an downloadable (like TLoU:RM) and a 3 month PS+ card and I don't think they are going anywhere. It was even a decision for me to purchase a BF (there was one still left last weekend and it was mine at the price) Bundle PS4 with GTAV and TLoU:RM for $300, when in the past, I wouldn't have even thought about it.
Megadragon15
Member
Don't believe his lies for this thread.
PanicFreak
Member
They should have purchased RedLynx.
I don't think the family market has moved on from the Xbox 360 yet... The fact that the retail version of Minecraft for the PS4 sold worse than the retail version for the Xbox 360 when it launch would prove that. Many times this past year whatever family games for consoles end up charting on NPD usually sell best on the Xbox 360, followed by the PS3 and then the Wii U.
People say one of the biggest reasons mobile is eating into the handheld market is because parents give their child their old smartphone when they upgrade... What if parents also give their child their old console, the Xbox 360 and PS3 in this case, when they upgrade from it to the PS4 or XB1 as well?
yurinka
Member
What, no PS3 HW WW LTD sales update from Sony in more than a year? Please help, any gaf detective can help to get an updated number?
I think it should be somewhere in their IR/FY reports. I can't find it but it can be interesting since it should be close to Wii WW LTD.
KillerMan91
Member
I meant that it was because they wanted to strengthen the poistion of WP in future. WP is a lot more important to them than Xbox.
Rather than build their own first party studio and IP. This is the reason I don't have much respect for MS. Their MS is to dump a fuckton of money on short-term gains rather than invest in the long-term.
That sounds like a stretch...
He said that it costs the same amount of money to buy a 3rd party game as it is to create a studio and develop one. And it's mich less risky. You can create a studio to make an fps and it might suck. But you can also buy titanfall from respawn who are a known quantity. Same with tomb raider. Investing in studios is only good when the studio actually performs well.
His example might be streching, but CoD 360 winning NPD last month shows that there is still a huge market out there that still uses the 360. I think that's the first last gen game to beat both next gen consoles in launch sales.
If MS were smart they'd pay Activision to drop last gen black ops 3 and bundle a cheap console with BO3, the amount of 360 owners that would upgrade would be insane. Mix that with Halo5 and they could win massively again next year.
The problem is they've combined PS3 sales with PS4 sales in more recent reports (presumably to match combining PSP and Vita sales)
AmaterasuOni
Banned
Steverulez
Member
A lot Microsofts studios are on new IPs and expanding, if Remedy went internal I suspect they would do so on that basis as well.
Things seem to be changing at Xbox.
Bam Bam Baklava
Member
It's mostly vague rumors so far. I'll have to wait and see how they plan to diversify in the future.
El-Pistolero
Member
They are treated, for all intents and purposes, like a first party team. Given the funds, the technical assistance and the marketing push that only the first party developers are given. Some houses actually do prefer to retain a bit of independence to leave the door open for future endeavors, should they decide to change course down the line...
HighResTomato
Member
Microsoft keeps a lot of their cash reserves in overseas banks because otherwise they would have to pay tax on that money. They use it for acquisitions and other stuff they can burn their money with. Their shareholders rather spend that money than to pay tax on it.
ZSaberLink
Media Create Maven
Btw if I read the Wii U press release correctly, The week of Nov 23rd was the best one since launch right? I assume that's easily over 100K (since December 2013 was 482K, on average they had to sell more than that per week). If so, it does seem like Wii U sales were basically the same as usual (or worse) until Smash released at least. Hopefully if this interest continues into December, the December #s will at least be as good as last year's... (over 500K... but then again I thought at least 300K was a lock for Nov, but then Nintendo had 0 deals for the month...).
IndoAssassin
Banned
Ok what I meant to say is Bloodborne and The Order don't strike me as system sellers. The people that want those games I have a feeling already own a PS4
It's the lack of risk taking that bothers me. When you don't take risks you end up stagnating.
SyenceLabb
Member
If Microsoft was smart, they would ship another batch of the white Xbone SO bundle before Xmas comes around. Seems to still be in high demand
To put it simple
It's what investors think they could sell the company for.
First I considered not asking since it was a drive by and faulty to the core in the respect to what I said but I'm going ask you to do 2 things.
1. Go back and read the exchanges that occurred after 4 hours before you came with your *input*
2. Go buy me a basket of muffins. I want them.
Except TR matching Uncharted quality is laughable. Also the title sucks.
Welfare
Member
What? How so?
AmaterasuOni
Banned
Well, at least the biggest Finnish gaming forum says otherwise. PC people are waiting some exclusives to hit PS4 and then they'll jump in. 2014 was quite dry for these people, but Bloodborne and UC4 will be the games when they'll pull the trigger. Bloodborne will sell a lot and it will move units as well.
SaucyJack
Member
Microsoft keeps a lot of their cash reserves in overseas banks because otherwise they would have to pay tax on that money. They use it for acquisitions and other stuff they can burn their money with. Their shareholders rather spend that money than to pay tax on it.
And Xbox division is down the priority list of divisions that get access to the war chest. They've already had a couple of billion for Minecraft and a bit on top for Xbox losses. Other divisions will also be pitching for access to it.
shinra-bansho
Member
I don't know about the specifics of the scenario above, but it's not a stretch to suggest that family markets fall later in the adoption curve for console products.
No, just no. That was a good investment for the Company not for the Xbox division(although they should also benefit from it).
The sheer amount of nicknacks and whatnot surrounding MC is worth more than a wannabe set-top box
I hope it is or else many PS4/XBO owners are shitty parents.
And perhaps the Wii was a special case where all the family market adopted it early on.
shinra-bansho
Member
RedAssedApe
Banned
some retailers seem to be having better deals post BF. wonder if that means some of these consoles actually underperformed at some places.
Eh, I guess it's based on each developer's track record.
Looking back on the Metacritic of each studio's last 3 mainline releases:
Crystal Dynamics
Tomb Raider - 88
Tomb Raider: Underworld - 80
Tomb Raider: Anniversary - 84
Naughty Dog
The Last of Us - 95
Uncharted 3 - 92
Uncharted 2 - 96
Given that difference in Metacritic, plus the power disparity between PS4 and XBO, it's not unwarranted people expect ND to make a better game, at least graphics-wise.
Sarcasm? Big companies with lots of money forcing others out of a market in order to dominate it is, you know, illegal and really shitty for consumers.
Ivory Samoan
Gold Member
Hardly bombing, it was only out for a week of the month and DA's sales have typically stayed strong in the run to Xmas.
Digital is also a big factor in this race peeps...
He was just saying MS should use some of their 80+ Billion in cash to buy some game studios. Nothing illegal about that and we can all agree it would be a good idea.
I guess the only non-13-35 y.o. male games I see in charts are Nintendo games and Minecraft. So it appears that nobody is making retail console games for families aside from Nintendo; or if they do, they aren't being purchased.
Given Microsoft's history of managing internal studios, I think they'd be better off contracting out games.
DarthWalden
Banned
Like how they mismanaged bungie?
although that wasn't always the case. video game audiences got older on consoles. the last generation that really had a focus on kids and families from the onset was the playstation/n64/saturn generation. i think microsoft bringing in the older pc crowd, or at least attracting that sort of gamer really skewed the market towards what it is today - especially on consoles. i get the feeling that while things might look fine now having lost that market to mobile, it's going to be a bigger issue years from now.
sony seems to care, or at least it seems they've noticed. they made knack/tearaway/lbp, they're doing sly/ratchet movies and games. they stopped making jak games. all those things indicate they're watching that market and hoping it grows. microsoft in comparison seems to have thrown up their hands and given up after their failure with rare's titles and the more recent one with kinect on the xbox one.
CosmicQueso
Member
I'm agreeing with Ben Kuchera's take on the Xone. Hmmm. Don't know how to feel about that.
It's illegal to seek growth through acquisition?
Agree with you there. Not 10 years ago, the majority of games released did so with an E10+ or lower ESRB rating. Now, T and M rated games account for the majority of releases.
Might be a tad early in the cycle to make that call. There are rumors of Guitar Hero or Rock Band making a comeback, there's life in the Skylanders/Infinity category that hasn't translated to the new gen yet, likely because of HW price, I'm sure someone somewhere is working on innovations that we can't even gauge yet... it may be that Consoles are core audience only, but the X360 and PS3 started the same way. We'll see.
It's illegal to seek growth through acquisition?
Agree with you there. Not 10 years ago, the majority of games released did so with an E10+ or lower ESRB rating. Now, T and M rated games account for the majority of releases.
Might be a tad early in the cycle to make that call. There are rumors of Guitar Hero or Rock Band making a comeback, there's life in the Skylanders/Infinity category that hasn't translated to the new gen yet, likely because of HW price, I'm sure someone somewhere is working on innovations that we can't even gauge yet... it may be that Consoles are core audience only, but the X360 and PS3 started the same way. We'll see.
It's pretty apparent at this point that console hardware has been commodified a la PC hardware. There is very low interest in new or different hardware and strong pressure to create predictable hardware upgrades at the lowest price point possible.
The market for new/different stuff has migrated almost entirely to mobile and browsers for now.
In non-econ speak: the market that existed for hardware innovation like the Wii remote and Kinect have largely abandoned consoles. The "core" community which remains mostly just wants the most powerful hardware possible at the lowest price point possible with as little fuss as possible.
The market for new/different stuff has migrated almost entirely to mobile and browsers for now.
In non-econ speak: the market that existed for hardware innovation like the Wii remote and Kinect have largely abandoned consoles. The "core" community which remains mostly just wants the most powerful hardware possible at the lowest price point possible with as little fuss as possible.
As someone who loves every game ND puts out and thinks the uncharted trilogy is one of the best series of games of all time I disagree. I think the new tomb raider reboot is fantastic and takes some great things from uncharted and other games and makes them it's own. I can't wait and the name kinda grew on me lol.
Only things I'm disappointed in is that I can't get it on ps4 right away. Good thing I have an XB1 though.
AmaterasuOni
Banned
Are we sure it's coming to PS4 as it's published by Microsoft? Timed exclusivity might mean PC only.
I think the market wants good platforms with good games, as always. The Wii remote and Kinect are no longer popular because there hasn't been new good software for those platforms in years.
Just the things I don't agree with.
I usually just shake my head when anyone comes in with the line "listens to it's consumers". It's a false equivalence. If the company is good they will show such an outward appearance yes but only when it will benefit the investor.
The Tomb Raider deal is a thing we really can't say anything about, that is if someone doesn't want to share the sales % from the last one and perhaps SE tells us about the situation on PC. PC players can be really loud even though we are used to wait, I think the initial comment really irked many who are really loud and negative. It's like adding to the pile of crap MS first sat atop of but people are stupid and have a short memory so just perhaps this will not be such a big stinker and perhaps Halo 5 and QB will still leave room for TR else I don't see it ending all that well for SE's CD over here.
But for the rest? It's strange to agree with Kuchera. I find myself on that side of the fence now, not fully but I have taken a step and I am scratching my balls deciding if I should take another step or not.
EDIT: I should add that those good browser games I have found also, nearly, always have a torrent/dropbox link for those that prefer a local host.
Shameless *plug* Cross Code was really good. Did not expect this quality at all from a *browser* game.
Misunderstood, still buy me a basket of muffins.
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