290°

Is 2014 the Year of the Xbox One? Aaron Greenberg Certainly Thinks So

Karam Elahi writes: "Aaron Greenberg, Chief of Devices and Studios Group at Microsoft, recently sent out a few tweets displaying his enthusiasm and optimism for the Xbox One in 2014. With a decent amount of exclusives and a boatload of multi-platform titles coming out for the system this year, gamers really do have much to look forward to."

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doolin_dalton3760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

Well, it's clearly on pace to exceed 5 million sales by the end of March, which was the target benchmark for success that I kept reading about a few months ago. Having sold 3.9 million in its first six weeks, I'm quite certain MS can sell 1.1 million more Xbox One's over the next 13 weeks.

Sure, PS4 will certainly sell more for now, but MS still has the two biggest system-selling franchises in it's back pocket - Halo & Gears of War. There are many great franchises from last generation that have yet to see a current generation release, but Halo & Gears are two of the top proven system sellers.

The competition is tough right now, but trying to project a victor before the biggest exclusive franchises are released is VERY premature.

DanielGearSolid3760d ago

Was the 5mil success barometer for Shipped consoles or Sold consoles?

doolin_dalton3760d ago

Since console manufacturers report only shipped numbers in their official financial reports, I'd have to go with shipped.

Sold (to consumer) numbers are never official, although some tracking services can be pretty accurate for certain regions.

rambi803760d ago

2014 is the year of the PS3. Everyone knows that.

showtimefolks3760d ago

shipped

doolin_dalton

actually no, My best friend is the GM of gamestops in state of Louisiana, and he said at their last meeting it was revealed that xbox one had actually sold 1,7 million units. He said sony is reporting sold numbers while MS shipped

ps4's sell out within minutes while a xbox one is extremely easy to find and that's not a good sign for a new system.

also one more Myth that exists on gaming sites about shipping and sold and companies getting paid. Gamestop can buy 3 million consoles on credit, than however many they sell they will pay MS and whatever is left over is on Credit till they sell them or MS wants them back etc,

so now to 2014:

yes MS could have a huge year because they have a lot of games coming. No reason to think otherwise and so will sony because they also have a lot of games coming

ic3fir3

Halo 5 is a system sellar
Titanfall can be played on pc so that will hurt the sales for sure.

Project spark could be huge if done right and really has me interested, its like taking LPB formula to next level. But its a game we have to see more just because it could work and could be crappy

what is D4?

everything else is just gravy.

2014 will be a huge year for all 3 console makers. We will find out more as we get deeper into 2014 about what games will be making the 2014 cut and which will slip to 2015

I say 2014 is a bigger year 3rd party wise than exclusives:

Destiny
Watch dogs
Witcher 3
Dragon Age
MGS5
The Crew from UBI
The Evil Within
Dark Souls II
Wolfenstein: The New Order
Tom Clancy's: The Division
South Park: The Stick Of Truth
Thi4f
Mad Max

The Witness

Kingdom hearts 3 most likely 2015

star wars battlefront most likely 2016 since EA just got the license

Tom Clancy's: Rainbow Six Patriots also most likely 2015

Prey 2 most likely 2015

Final Fantasy 15 most likely 2015

damn so many games so little time. So whether you pick up a ps4 or xbox one there will be a lot of games to be played. Both ms and sony will be offering a lot of exclusives or exclusives content

DanielGearSolid3760d ago

@Dalton

True, that makes sense, probably shipped from a business standpoint...

Tho I will say... I really doubt this will be the "Year of the Xbox One"

3760d ago
MysticStrummer3760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

The shipped vs sold thing is yet another reversal of last generation. Last gen MS fans always made sure to mention that Sony's numbers were shipped and MS's were sold.

OT - Sony is both outproducing and outselling MS's console. Titanfall will provide a boost, but since it's on three platforms and XB1's version can only be second best it may not be the boost MS fans are thinking it will be.

3760d ago
guyman3760d ago

Rockpapaduh: wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Microsoft have announced more exclusives for the Xbox, true, however Sony have far more exclusive games in development from first party studios and more announced games overall. That's a fact. Moreover, "we want games with innovative gameplay", pfft, microsoft announce some new ip's and suddenly they are far more innovative than sony's... Quite pathetic I say. In the ps3/360 era, the innovative one's were SONY u Xbox fan child. Heavy rain, beyond, god of war was innovative vs gears of mediocre and halo

2v13760d ago

Meanwhile you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an unsold Xbox One.

3760d ago
morganfell3760d ago

No doolin, Microsoft no longer has Gears of War in their back pocket.

They can want it to stay exclusive but until they layout the money it is a level playing field.

And now Epic knows they would have to give up sales on the leading next gen console. A console Mark Rein and Tim Sweeney have praised more than the X1. There is more likelihood of seeing a Gears remake on the PS4 than anything else Gears related in the new gen.

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 3760d ago
nategrigs3760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

Well said. Though I don't quite agree with your argument. I think its fair to judge the xbone as a success at this point. Its sold a bunch and made MS money.

The problem the xbone has is the power gap. people hear that the ps4 is more powerful and it doesn't mean anything. But we're gonna keep seeing multiplats that are better on the ps4 (many devs think the gap will actually widen in the coming years). I think that people still on the fence are going to look at that, and the $100, and see no reason to buy an xbone.

I guess I could see Halo moving a fair amount of consoles, but only if its crazy good. Much much better than halo4. People are starting to get FPS fatigue (at least I am)

Edit@showtimefolk: D4 looks like the worst game I have ever seen. I don't know why, but it just really rubs me the wrong way. Its like an over the top early Wii game

Riderz13373760d ago

3.9M number is shipped, not sold through to customers.

Bdub20003760d ago

Except Microsoft announced them as consoles sold, they have to release actual fiscal sales and earnings to report to their investors on Wall Street. Faking those numbers to fool gamers is not something worth the risk of a federal investigation. So where did your assumption come from?

GameSpawn3760d ago

@Bdub

It's a financial "grey" area. Microsoft can construe "shipped" as "sold" because from Microsoft's perspective as the manufacturer they have "sold" those consoles to distributors and stores. This is not a TRUE sale, but can "count" as a sale on fiscal reports LEGALLY as the store or distributor has already PAID (either in credit or actual money) for the consoles they've been shipped.

HOWEVER, here is were this strategy comes back to bite Microsoft in their fiscal ass -- stores/distributors will eventually STOP ordering units from the manufacturer (Microsoft) causing a MASSIVE dip in subsequent fiscal quarterly reports revealing to investors their (Microsoft's) slight of hand.

Even if the distributors/stores return overstock back to the manufacturer (say due to a deal to take a certain number of units to help Microsoft meet its "shipped", to be faked as sold, numbers and later return after a set period) to avoid the situation just previously painted, Microsoft will still have to classify these returns as "losses" on the report as the money or credit that was used to pay for the consoles needs to be refunded back to the distributor/store.

In BOTH cases a tricky accountant can manipulate numbers around LEGALLY to hide lackluster sales and put a positive (or slightly less negative) spin on the reports or at least at the very surface of the fiscal reports. Only those willing to take the time and effort dig into accounting bull****ery will actually find the real picture.

assdan3760d ago

Halo has been decreasing in sales since 3. Gears of war MAY sell on multiple systems with it's next title (I don't think it's even been announced yet either).

CrossingEden3760d ago

Halo has been increasing in sales since 3? Um, did you bother doing research? Because each halo release since 3, disregarding spin offs, had better launch sales, that means halo reach and halo 4 both had better launch sales. Nice try though.

IAmSovereign3760d ago

You're off. First. It didn't sell 3.9 million. I't shipped that many. Meaning many of those 3.9 million could still be sitting on shelves. Two, MS doesn't have the biggest system selling franchises. GoW and Halo? Two franchises done to death, their recent entries both got lukewarm reception. If you're going to try to use system seller titles, at least spout off about Titanfall or something.

Bdub20003760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

Again, you are another person here stating an OPINION as fact and that should stop. Microsoft announced them as consoles sold, they have to announce fiscal sales and earnings to wall St. And the data has to be accurate otherwise they'd be lying to their investors which is a federal offense. Fooling gamers and hyping the x1 is not worth a federal investigation to Microsoft especially considering that the x1 is only a fraction of "microsoft"

IAmSovereign3760d ago

@BDUB

No, it is not opinion. Shipped and sold are two different things. Take your shitty strawman argument somewhere else.

3760d ago Replies(3)
MASTER_RAIDEN3760d ago

@doolin_dalton your fanboyism reaches an utterly pathetic level.

"Sure, PS4 will certainly sell more for now, but MS still has the two biggest system-selling franchises in it's back pocket - Halo & Gears of War."
that "sure," says it all for me. right off the bat i can tell that whatever else you have to say is pure garbage. of the 2 systems, neither has debuted their system sellers aside from killzone for ps4, and forza/ryse for xbone. you honestly think halo and gears (whenever either of those games come out), are just going to levitate millions of units off the shelves till the end of the gen?? do you think people will just stop buying ps4's once those 2 games come out? do you think sony will just stand by the entire gen and not release its own system sellers?
xbox one is losing, PERIOD! you cant even find a single playstation 4 the majority of store shelves. the situation has gotten a lot better since launch, but youd still be hard pressed to find one in most places. with xbone on the other hand, you can walk up to any store right now and buy 5 if thats what you want. AND ITS STILL LOSING!

either way, you wanna talk about unleashing a beast? the ps4 hasnt even been out in JAPAN yet. thats going to generate sony a few million sales in the first few months alone. nobody even thinks the xbox one should be released in japan.

maddskull3760d ago

Gears of war isn't an xbox exclusive ip so it can go to any system

Volkama3760d ago

It might sound stupid, but I think their biggest system selling game will be the next iteration of COD, and the COD after that.

If the next COD doesn't go for content parity between old and new gen (and assuming MS keep their deal with Activision and get exclusive content and the best servers) then we'll see a huge marketing push to move people on to the One for the next COD release. Even if the PS4 version runs better all over again.

Ghosts wasn't really used to leverage the One version ahead of the 360, as that huge crowd aren't the hardcore gaming fanatics that make up the early adopting crowd.

+ Show (7) more repliesLast reply 3760d ago
ic3fir33760d ago

Halo 5, Titanfall, below, D4, Project spark, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, Fable Legends, and possible Forza Horizon 2 and black tusk game, 2014 its amazing for Xbox One

lifeisgamesok3760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

I have a feeling we will see way more exclusives this gen for Xbox than the others

The people like Spencer, Harrison, Staten at MS are all about games

I can't wait to see all of the new titles

3760d ago
scott1823760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

I'm interested to see what Lionhead is up to, I would like to see another "black and white" those were great games.

WeAreLegion3760d ago

Saying Phil Spencer is all about games is an insult to the gaming industry.

IAmSovereign3760d ago

All about games now, because being all about TV and Apps wasn't a sustainable platform to take.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3760d ago
cyguration3760d ago

Dang, I remember these defense lists back in 2007 whenever the PS3 was getting stomped in sales.

Never change N4G... never change.

Darkfire3693760d ago

It is an amazing year for Xbox One, but it's an amazing year for PS3 and PS4 as well. Multiplats this year are coming in strong also.

ifistbrowni3760d ago (Edited 3760d ago )

why are ppl getting 10+ disagrees for having pro-Xbox comments on a Xbox One article?

The article is written, "is 2014 the year for x1."

Of course the comments that follow will be pro-comments, and i dont blame people for talking good upon their console. I just think its ridiculous that someone that has listed the Xbox One exclusives for 2014 is going to get tons of disagrees. So stupid.

Anyways, 2014 should be a great year for gamers. Between the 2 consoles (ps4 and xb1) and the great games releasing for both... I'll be broke and time-less.

Looking forward to 2014 and the games i'll be enjoying on both consoles.

scootscottskeet933760d ago

"why are ppl getting 10+ disagrees for having pro-Xbox comments on a Xbox One article?"

The real question most people on here are asking themselves is, why are there xbox1 articles on our playstation website?

SONY FOR LIFE!!!!!

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3760d ago
B-radical3760d ago

Of course they will meet there projected sales...

pompombrum3760d ago

Well after last year, I think it's safe to say things can only get better for the Xbox One really.

first1NFANTRY3760d ago

oh watch out folks the greenberg is out of is cave again lol. With the way things are going atm 2014 looks to be Sony's year but who knows, maybe TitanFALL will turn things around for the people pining all hopes and dreams on it. Just make sure you buy it.

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80°

Microsoft Opening Xbox Mobile Game Store in July

The Xbox brand is expanding, as an Xbox mobile game store is opening this coming July where Microsoft will brings its "first-party portfolio."

Jin_Sakai1d 10h ago (Edited 1d 10h ago )

“Bond adds that they will start on the web”

This will go nowhere.

Nice knowing you Xbox. This is what happens when the house never gets cleaned.

MrDead1d 10h ago

The only this MS is expanding is the amount of feculence it sprays on everyone who just want to enjoy gaming and make games.

The best thing MS can do for the gaming industry is leave and never return.

XiNatsuDragnel1d 8h ago

Good luck with this even it might not succeed.

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210°

Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinks

It turns out that many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony published LittleBigPlanet series.

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eurogamer.net
XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

Microsoft had a good idea but fumbled it again.

Cacabunga22h ago(Edited 22h ago)

Project Spark idea was decent but they quickly gave up ..
LBP was wonderful

ApocalypseShadow1d 16h ago

Microsoft in a nutshell. Always tried to poach Sony employees, games, 3rd party games and devices like the depth camera that was turned into Kinect but was running on PS2 before Xbox 360. Wouldn't be surprised they wanted LBP. Just like they worked behind the scenes pushing the MLB to bring Sony's baseball game to Xbox instead of making their own.
https://www.playstationlife...

They didn't spend years trying to develop their own baseball game. They wanted Sony's game.

They're scum.

Zachmo18221h ago

Microsoft didn't force MLB on Xbox. MLB gave Sony 2 options either go multiplat or risk losing the license.

Rynxie11h ago

And why do you think MLB said that? I believe Ms approached MLB.

ApocalypseShadow10h ago(Edited 10h ago)

Totally ridiculous comment.

The only exclusivity Sony had was to their own creation of The Show. Microsoft could have paid the MLB for the license just like Sony did and made their own baseball game.

Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox. They're worth 3 TRILLION dollars. You think that's not enough money to make their own baseball game? Don't be delusional.

Microsoft spun it like they always do and told the media that they had to trust Sony with their hardware. After they put Sony in that position of not having a choice. Either go multiplatform or stop making one of their successful games. That's a no win scenario.

And what did Microsoft do? They didn't try to sell the game to the Xbox community. They put it on game pass to hurt Sony. Pushing the idea of why buy games that are $70 when you can play them in their cheap service for $10. It was a dirty tactic.

You fell for the Kool aid drink Microsoft served you instead of spitting it out. Hope it tasted good because you were fooled by Phil and the gang.

5h ago
Hereandthere2h ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.

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Notellin7h ago

"Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox."

Take a nap, conspiracies are rotting your brain.

5h ago
Hereandthere2h ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Hereandthere2h ago

They were too cheap/inept/lazy to develop their own mlb game, so they port begged for years and bribed the mlb to make the show multiplatform. Like i said many times, xbox brought nothing to the table their 24 years, ZERO.

OtterX23h ago

"However, Healey said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right doing that, adding it would have been "morally corrupt"."

Major kudos to Media Molecule for being an upright studio with principles.

RNTody23h ago(Edited 23h ago)

Great, more stories like this please. Show the last of the zombies holding the line what we've been saying for years: Microsoft is anti competition, anti industry and has no interest in making games at all.

But hey, at least there's an Xbox Games Showcase to look forward to, right?

Inverno22h ago

Well considering SONY just killed the series, LBP would've been dead by now either way. Though MM probably wouldn't exist by now either, so I'm glad they stayed with SONY, hopefully they don't get shut down any time soon or ever honestly.

Inverno20h ago

They shut down the servers, that's millions of user created levels gone. That and dead are pretty much the same, it's also been years since 3 and they cancelled HUB soooo.

5h ago
fsfsxii7h ago

They shutdown the servers because no one was playing, no one in the community cared about the user created levels so why keep them up? Wtf you guys would never succeed in running a business.

Inverno6h ago

Yea dood no one was playing so they shut off the servers. Cause people with enough common sense can't just Google why they were actually shut of, right?

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60°

Game Studio Closures, Entertainment News, Disney, And More Skewedcast

The full Skewedcast crew back for this episode and Gareth, Justin, Michael, and JoeyZ at Skewed and Reviewed break down the latest entertainment news qith a focus at 40:00 on the Microsoft Studio Closures and how it impacts the game community and what can be done to help offset this negative trend.