530°

Xbox One release delay explained - there are no manufacturing problems, insists Microsoft

OXM UK: "Microsoft's head of product development, Albert Penello, has said that the console's delay in some European territories is due to the complexities of localising its new voice-control features, and pointed to its use of near-final retail kits at Gamescom as proof that there are no supply problems."

Gazondaily3895d ago (Edited 3895d ago )

"This is the part of the internet that's frustrating, because everybody wants to assume there's a [units volume] issue. And yet I'm showing real hardware here at Gamescom - a real, final, retail kit. Which I have yet to see my friends show me.

Yeah I think its wishful thinking on the part of some and unwarranted panic on the part of others.

But this has me really excited:

""I think people are using the way [voice] works on Xbox 360, which was an accessory we built five years after release, as how it's going to work here," he told us. "But it's so much more elegant and so much more integrated"

Here's hoping its true. I don't want this:

http://www.imgur.com/wDxLNI...

iamnsuperman3895d ago (Edited 3895d ago )

"This is the part of the internet that's frustrating, because everybody wants to assume there's a [units volume] issue. And yet I'm showing real hardware here at Gamescom - a real, final, retail kit. Which I have yet to see my friends show me."

It is probably wishful thinking but has the One passed the FCC yet? Also there is the issue of is this really a good excuse. They said themselves someone in Switzerland (who speak German and French) don't have a release till next year. Yet it is releasing in Germany and France. I think it is a tactful way of saying we want to bolster the biggest contested regions

IcicleTrepan3895d ago

Switzerland has four official languages. Perhaps it is a legal requirement that they support all four languages. I don't really know, but here are the languages:

German
French
Italian
Romansh

vigilante_man3895d ago

Switzerland is a different case. They also speak Swiss-German which is very similar but there are differences. And Swiss-French and Swiss-Italian.

So you gotta add them too..

But lets be clear here. This is the company with billions of dollars and many versions of Windows with localisation all over the world. If Sony was having this problem then okay - but for Microsoft to have this problem is bad on their part.

This only confirms in my mind that they were looking to a 2014 release until Sony tipped the balance.

gamertk4213895d ago

This isn't just a matter of dashboard localization, though. The Kinect has to be very fine-tuned to work correctly, so I can see how a delay can easily be needed.

iamnsuperman3895d ago (Edited 3895d ago )

@vigilante_man
"This only confirms in my mind that they were looking to a 2014 release until Sony tipped the balance"

Probably right. They probably saw the releases the PS3 was having this year and thought Sony would be mad to go for a 2013 release for the PS4.

trafalger3895d ago (Edited 3895d ago )

as a consumer from the outside all we see is m$ is releasing in x amount of countries and sony is releasing in y (or should it be s?) countries. from a consumers point of view they wonder why one is having to explain themselves.

so even if it were manufacturing issues m$ is likely not to confirm it. they could indeed have working systems but they may not be producing them as fast as sony.

at the end of the day ask yourself if it matters to you. are you wanting to buy an xbone on release day and are upset there isn't enough stock. or is this just another witch-hunt here on n4g where you really don't care but want to to make m$ look a incompetent as much as possible?

Anon19743895d ago

So either there's manufacturing problems or Microsoft is displaying early incompetence. So which is it?

Seriously. When they released their list of launch countries, they knew full well the units would have to be localized, and they released their list of launch countries anyway. Then, suddenly, it's "OH OH!" and the console is delayed months to give them time to localize - a task they knew full well they had to do prior to launch.

I don't know many bosses that would take the news "Hey, about that launch and the localization we've been working on...we're going to need an extra 4-5 months. Ooops?" very well. Clearly, someone needs to be fired.

Gozer3895d ago

It must be a conspiracy since its MS ammiiright? No way it could be what they say it is. /s

malokevi3895d ago

"If Sony was having this problem then okay - but for Microsoft to have this problem is bad on their part."

There's that blatant double standard.

Why can't we just take them at their word and stop arguing about theories and hypotheticals? It's ridiculous.

SilentNegotiator3895d ago

Wishful thinking? They're a multi-billion dollar company. They had ALREADY announced a bunch of countries SEVERAL months ago, before delaying a bunch of them.

They had a LONG time, to do something as simple for a corporation of that size, to localize voice controls for just 8 countries.

The excuse looks a lot sillier when you consider that Kinect 1.0 already laid the voice control ground work years ago.

thechosenone3895d ago (Edited 3895d ago )

When a company announces that it's going to ship to 21 countries and then turns around and lowers that number down to 13 there IS something wrong because companies don't do that kind of thing just for the f**k of it.

So MS with its billions and billions of monies can only manage 13 regions while Sony who's about to go out of business next week can manage 32? Sure...OK.. whatever. lol

Anon19743895d ago

And so now they've turned around and announced they're lowing their ship forecast by 800k due to problems with manufacturing.

Did no one tell this guy?

http://www.hispanicbusiness...

mewhy323894d ago

Manufacturing isn't a problem for them. I mean they're getting outsold 4-1 by Sony so they should be able to keep up with the pitiful demand easily.

dmeador3894d ago

@mewhy32
Strange numbers considering there hasn't been a single XB1 or PS4 sold anywhere in the world

Cueil3894d ago

if you squint you'll find that they are all non union countries... take that for what it's worth

+ Show (11) more repliesLast reply 3894d ago
StoutBEER3894d ago

Uhh... if my Xbox calls me Batman... THEN THAT IS NEXT GEN!!!! XD

Cueil3894d ago

Microsoft would make a effing forture if they sold those kind of things... like bootup theme sounds and welcome sounds... walk into the room... welcome agent 13... were would you like to go today?

andibandit3894d ago

I can just imagine xbox welcoming me in the Kitt voice, preferably with red lights flashing sequentially across the screen.

iamnsuperman3895d ago

So this is the same thing that was explained when the said the release regions were being limited

"But at the same time we said, this is a region-free console," he added. "In regions like Switzerland where people speak German and French, they can get a German or French console. It'll work fine."

I said this before on the last post about this. That is true but shipping costs are still ridiculous. For somewhere like Switzerland it is fine but once you start going to Scandinavian or eastern Europe the costs escalates rapidly. I remember ordering something, off Amazon, from Germany (iPhone battery pack) to the UK. It was twice as much as the actual product

3895d ago Replies(1)
christian hour3895d ago

They had the same problem with Kinect when it first came out. Here in Ireland we couldnt use voice commands for its first year or two, but if you changed locale to UK it would let you use it, and it would recognise your voice...

If Kinect is no longer a requirement for Xbone to function and if this wasn't a problem before, I can't understand why it's suddenly an issue for them.

Personally though I have a hard time believing anything microsoft come out with these days considering they said they couldnt just turn off DRM, but they did, that Kinect was required, and now its not. Etc etc etc.

Cueil3894d ago

to be fair if news came from Romania that the Kinect didn't work you'd by on here slamming the console

Foxgod3895d ago

The free Fifa makes up for it, a few months wont hurt.
Will be playing GTA V, WWE 14 and other multi's till then.

SuperLupe3895d ago

Dude which country do you live in ? I live in France so no delay for me.

Foxgod3895d ago

I hail from the kingdom that kicked Napoleons ass, as well as the kingdom of Napoleon liquorish:

http://www.lekkeruitholland...

The Netherlands :)

Thehyph3895d ago

Maybe if you burned up the white house and capitol building, you'd get day one release instead.

I guess Napoleon wasn't good enough.

Of course, I kid.

n4rc3895d ago

@Steve

Hahaha.. So true bud..

T23895d ago

Canada probably require French too even tho none of us understand a lick of it ... No offence to my Quebecois brothers ... I guess since we burned the white house we got day one !!! Plus our slingshots can reach redmond....

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3895d ago
Foxgod3895d ago

Dont ask me why we name our candy after warlords, i have no idea :P

Lucreto3895d ago

If you are from the Netherlands then you won't get Fifa 14.

It is only for Tier 1 countries. You will get 2 other games instead.

Cueil3894d ago

Oh shucks... I feel for those people... they get two games instead of one :p

3895d ago Replies(1)
kwiksilver993895d ago

so kinect2.0 is indirectly the cause for the delay?

Salooh3895d ago

Kinect and all these 180's have an effect . They wasn't planning to release as many as sony even before the 180's because of the restrictions which need to be implemented for all countries. So why people surprised that they won't release the console until next year ?.

Show all comments (64)
220°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

Read Full Story >>
theverge.com
darthv7218h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle5h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic18812h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio2h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Cacabunga4h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

shinoff21833h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga2h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

purple1017h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos6h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

XBManiac6h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple1015h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic3h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

Show all comments (21)
300°

Microsoft Seemingly Closes Bethesda France

As part of its plans to cut 1,900 jobs, Microsoft has reportedly shut down operations at Bethesda France, letting go roughly 15 people

Read Full Story >>
insider-gaming.com
Hereandthere1d 14h ago

Microsoft should have left them stay 3rd party

GamerRN1d 12h ago

If they are let go, they can be whatever they want. They ARE 3rd party now... 🤦

Barlos1d 9h ago

Yeah, they're also jobless.

GamerRN1d 2h ago

They can form a company if they want, they are just as jobless as if "Microsoft had left them as 3rd party".

peppeaccardo1d 4h ago

"MIcrosoft leaves Bethesda do what they know how to do best" ... close! Oh the irony ....
(Citation from a week old article)

ChasterMies1d ago

I think Microsoft and other game publishers are letting people go because they think ai will replace them. Doesn’t matter how much profit they make. They were always going to be let go.

PassNextquestion1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

Bethesda France was made up of roughly 15 people... they couldn't of being doing much

Bethesda France mainly did publishing and marketing within the region

blacktiger1d 12h ago

that's a shame for you to say that, i'm sure Elite loves hearing what you just said.

Mr Logic22h ago

What a stupid thing to say. The elites give 0 fucks what we say on an obscure website in the comments section.

Crows9021h ago

You can always reach out and give them jobs at your company man. Don't wait

Profchaos1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

Bethesda France focused on publishing and marketing in the region. And 15 people lost their jobs as part of the closure.

I wonder if this is part of Microsoft's strategy to abandoned physical media or possibly gamepass advertising makes their roles redundant you don't need to market a game as hard when the majority of players get the game as part of a sub which already promoted upcoming games

Tacoboto1d 13h ago

It's France too, there's a high likelihood only 1-2 people on the team even had an Xbox.

Profchaos1d 13h ago

Possibly guven all the leaks we know the Xbox brand is really struggling in the region.

Yi-Long1d 10h ago

Well, if your consoles and games are barely found in any stores any more, of course you're gonna struggle finding consumers ...

XiNatsuDragnel1d 12h ago

Tbh Microsoft I think Bethesda being 3rd party same with Activision would probably more competitive than thus scenario imo

Profchaos1d 11h ago (Edited 1d 11h ago )

I think it would have been better for all parties really especially gamers

TheColbertinator1d 12h ago

The recently purchased Activision French offices might take over all the licensing and marketing for Microsoft in France from now on.

Show all comments (21)
280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple10112d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref12d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde12d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander197212d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville11d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff218311d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos11d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 11d ago
isarai12d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref12d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan12d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis00711d ago (Edited 11d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander197212d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

12d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197212d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

12d ago
12d ago
Zeref12d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde12d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander197212d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander197212d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows12d ago (Edited 12d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier11d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto11d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff218311d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto11d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 11d ago
Hofstaderman12d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts12d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate11d ago (Edited 11d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts11d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic11d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)