170°

Can, And Will, The Xbox One Catch Up To The PS4?

Currently in the gaming industry there are three observations that you can make about the 3 major consoles. One is breathtaking, one is embarrassing, and the other is sad. The success of Sony’s new PlayStation 4 is breathtaking. The suffering sales of the Wii U are sad. But the observation that this piece will focus on is the embarrassing first months of the Xbox One.

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nextingaming.com
AGaryColemanClone3704d ago (Edited 3704d ago )

Nope.

The PS4 is outselling the Xbox One worldwide by their current Japan sales alone of 65k/week 260k/month.

The PS4 is around 6.4 to 6.5 million worldwide now.

The PS4 outsold the Xbox One 2-1 last month in the US.

The PS4 is outselling the Xbox One 5-1 in Europe.

While the Xbox One was only at 3 million sold at the end of 2013 and only sold 140k in the US in January, some very small amount in Europe and none in Japan putting its current installed base at maybe 3.3 million at most.

The PS4 is selling at a rate of roughly 1 million a month right now while stores everywhere are constantly sold out with new stock getting sold almost immediately.

The PS4 is on track to hit 10 million worldwide around May this year. And can easily reach the 17-18 million range by the end of 2014.

The Xbox One right now will have a hard time even reaching 5 million sold by the end of 2014.

None of this should be shocking to anyone. I don't know how many people have talked about over the past few years about how the next Xbox wouldn't have the luxury of the RRoD to massively inflate sales and anyone expecting it to do much better than the first Xbox was in for a harsh dose of reality.

Abash3704d ago

I don't think so really, MS can do big and expensive things to try and get the Xbox One off the shelves but it wont stop the PS4 from selling so incredibly well.

Drewidian3704d ago (Edited 3704d ago )

The Xbox One has far greater market reaching potential than the PS4 for a number of reasons, but for time sake I'm going to keep it short. Any one of these uses could push the Xbox One over the PS4 and have it outsell it.

First.... MS could/should partner with cable and satellite companies to sell subsidized Xbox Ones for say $99 down on a 2 year contract with free Xbox Live Gold and Halo 5 (I think we will see this happen in the fall). Why? Because everyone wins. The cable companies are loosing the cord cutting war and have tried everything under the sun to stop it, but many are just leaving anyway. The TV audience is just a much bigger audience than the console gamer market is. If MS did this not only would they see huge numbers of customers being pulled into the ecosystem, but they could see use of Skype, Windows, Windows Phone and Onedrive skyrocket. For us gamers, there is going to be a Halo TV show in the fall. Imagine winning or even just placing in the top 5 and having YOUR Spartan show up in the TV show with your tag! Instant Immortality. There's more but I'm going to move on.

Second... MS could partner with schools for distance learning and even just build a program where not only could you get tutoring around the world via Skype, but earn real college credits and earn a degree without having to step a foot onto a campus. If they partnered with a Major University and you could attend lectures/classes and even ask questions to the presenter while taking notes on your Surface, it could revolutionize education by bringing the classroom into your living room. $500 is a small price for this kind of access.

Third.... Partner with a national Gym chain like LA Fitness and build exercise routines where a personal trainer can work out with you privately or in a Skyped Group class. Schedule it for any time of the day and have the personal trainer be able to look over your data, provide live motivation, and even make live recommendations without having to leave your living room. A number of people I know just don't like going to the gym. They could even offer the same subsidy deal as the cable companies. Add Fitbit or other device compatibility and you can get that data incorporated as well, which could be added to the next option...

Fourth... Partner with the VA to offer Physical therapy to injured Veterans. A nurse could make a house call to an injured vet, take readings, upload them with her surface, have a doctor look over it and call them via Skype to answer questions. Hell partner with any hospital system to provide the same service at homes for those post surgery or elderly patients who need to talk with a nurse if they need more close attention. If there is a problem call the hospital's helpdesk. Again paid for by your health insurance once it is listed as a medical device.

There's a number of other ideas, but any one of these could tilt the Xbox One in number of sales and once those sales are there, there's no reason to believe that the developers won't make apps and services that can do any of the things listed above. None of which the PS4 can do as well if at all.

The point is that this can fit into a broader community lifestyle and not just gamers. Will it and should it do gaming? Yes, can it do a ton of things else that the PS4 can't do and potentially reach a much broader audience??? Yes.

I know this will get a ton of disagrees and down bubble votes, but if you disagree, say why. I will read every comment and where I can I will reply. I will agree MS doesn't have the best track record on fulfilling visions or the promise of any tech they have produced, but I still see the Xbox One as having a lot of potential.

PONTIAC08G8GT3704d ago

Do you just cut and paste the same comments all over? Second time I've read this same response.

On topic, no, the X1 won't catch the PS4, but so what? Why do they need to sell evenly?

"Have a hard time reaching 5 million sold by end of 2014." Seriously? You seriously believe that? Closing in on 4 million and we are in March, not to mention the Titanfall bundle that will move systems, and the slew of exclusives. If Halo makes it out in 2014, that's going to add to hardware sales. From March until the end of the year, to reach 5 million sold they would have to average 100,000 a month. Going to surpass that when the games start to roll out. Plus I believe the X1 launches in additional countries this year.

VENOMACR12273704d ago

Yup, I read his same post in another article.

@GaryColeman, I hope you aren't responsible for predicting company yearly forecasts. Your assuming the numbers stay the same and no games come out. Both systems are going to increase in sales as games come out. The PS4 is going to run away with this generation but that doesn't mean the Xbox One is going to be bad. Over 3.5 million systems sold in 3 months ain't bad. Problem is, PS4 is over 6 million. By the end of the year, one system or possibly both might have a price cut so that will increase sales. To say they will have a hard time hitting 5 million is absurd.

Mikelarry3704d ago

the xbox one isn't doing so great now but personally i will wait till after e3 before i can say whether to abandon ship

GamersHeaven3704d ago

No chance Sony has this generation on lock down.

Neonridr3704d ago

No, I don't think the Xbox One will sell as much as the PS4. But then again I don't think it has to in order to be successful. The Wii sold more than the 360 or PS3 did but that didn't necessarily mean the console was better, just that it was more popular.

The Xbox One still has some great games coming out for it, and sales will definitely improve. E3 is a chance for MS to generate a lot of buzz for their machine. Maybe show people why it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up their console.

But that being said, Sony is just killing it right now with the PS4. They made a lot of mistakes with the PS3 and it just seems like everything they are doing is based on really smart decisions. And this says a lot coming from me since I only recently joined the Sony family back in November.

But there is no reason why both machines can't be successful and have a healthy future in this generation of gaming.

Mikelarry3704d ago

this is the second common sense comment you have made today. STOP IT!!

Neonridr3704d ago

lol.. I got a fever! And the only prescription... is more cowbell!

mmcglasson3704d ago

I wouldn't say the Wii was more popular, it just attracted a much wider market. Especially people that thought they could lose a ton of weight and get in shape playing the Wii (it's called a gym lol). It also attracted older (elderly) people for physical therapy purposes. For most gamers (besides younger games) it sat and collected dust after the newness wore off.

Sony has been top dog every generation since the PlayStation brand came out. Last generation was a close battle between the X360 and the PS4 (PS4 pulling ahead at the end). The PS3 will continue to be on store shelves for years (just like the PS2).
People also forget PS3 came out an entire year after the X360 and still passed it in sales World Wide. Yes, Nintendo did beat the PS3 in console sales with the Wii but they weren't in the same market. The N64 was the same market as the original PlayStation, the Gamecube was in the same market as the PS2/Xbox, the Wii was not in the same market at the PS3/X360.

Neonridr3704d ago (Edited 3704d ago )

well by definition of what you just said, the Wii was in fact more popular. Because people of certain demographics that wouldn't normally purchase video games did so. There was more appeal to the Wii because of its perceived "ease of use".

And the Wii was still a video game console, no matter how you break it down, so it was in competition with the PS3 and 360. Are you now going to say that the Wii U isn't in competition with the XB1 or PS4?

GameSpawn3704d ago

"For most gamers (besides younger games) it sat and collected dust after the newness wore off."

Yep. It did for me. The only game for my Wii that actually saw some serious playtime was Super Paper Mario (fun as hell). I played Galaxy for a while and even tried to get into Galaxy 2, but both lost their lust very quickly in comparison to SPM. I even tried to give Smash Bros. multiple goes, but it didn't have the same fun-factor Melee had.

For at least 2 years now my Wii has just been sitting there doing nothing. All it has is the slim chance I'll catch nostalgia fever and want to go back and play the few Wii games I have for it.

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280°

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.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 5h 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.

solideagle16h ago

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

Sonic188113h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio13h 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:

Lightning778h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga16h 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.

darthv722h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

shinoff218315h 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.

Cacabunga14h 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

itsmebryan10h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit2h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus239h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv728h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
purple10118h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos18h ago

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

DOMination-8h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac17h ago

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

SimpleDad17h ago(Edited 17h 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.

purple10117h ago

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

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos16h ago(Edited 16h 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

Kornholic15h ago

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

MrDead8h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 8h ago
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150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos1d 18h ago (Edited 1d 18h ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers1d 15h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos1d ago (Edited 1d ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken1d 1h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g1d 11h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing1d 10h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H91d 11h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola1d 7h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn6691d 10h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle1d 9h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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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

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insider-gaming.com
Hereandthere2d ago

Microsoft should have left them stay 3rd party

GamerRN1d 23h ago

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

Barlos1d 21h ago

Yeah, they're also jobless.

GamerRN1d 14h ago

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

peppeaccardo1d 15h ago

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

ChasterMies1d 11h 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.

PassNextquestion2d ago (Edited 2d 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 23h ago

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

Mr Logic1d 9h ago

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

Crows901d 9h ago

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

blacktiger6h ago

You own nothing snd be happy. I'm sure you heard that

Profchaos2d ago (Edited 2d 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

Tacoboto2d ago

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

Profchaos2d ago

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

Yi-Long1d 22h ago

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

XiNatsuDragnel2d ago

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

Profchaos1d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

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

TheColbertinator1d 23h ago

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

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