History repeating: Xbox One is following PS3′s rocky first year

It’s easy to criticise the Xbox One for a pre- and post-launch period that has seen the console change almost entirely from what it set out to be – an all-in-one connected entertainment box – to a more refined and honest video games console.

But the console business comes and goes in cycles. There are always fads and novelties, some of which last a few months (3D) and others years (Wii). But mostly the cycle of new hardware, followed by a barren period of games launches and gradual improvement in quantity and quality – until the new-gen is a solid market and the old-gen recedes – is a reliable constant.

[user7402931]

The only difference is that they released at the SAME TIME! so as a matter of fact it is NOT true. Xbox 360 was released an entire year in north america BEFORE ps3 even came out and STILL got OUTSOLD. So any assumptions that it's in the same situation will be shot down by FACTS.

[DanielGearSolid]

Yup...

Besides the X1 is getting way more early support than ps3 did (cough cough EA)

Remember Bioshock, Mass Effect, and even a f***** Tales of game were exclusive to 360 at one point

[xDHAV0K24x]

it had time to release with features that the 360 didn't. wifi, bluray how can it NOT outsell the 360? AND all those exclusives? c'mon son

[Sy_Wolf]

Rocky first year? Try rocky first 3 years. And Microsoft just assumed that everyone would buy their hardware just like Sony did with the PS3. Sony was able to turn it around and sell more than Microsoft so the Xbone isn't doomed. Also, before you say Microsoft shipped more unit's than Sony remember that the PS3 came out a year later.

[Thatguy-310]

Microsoft brand isn't as strong as Sony IMO. I mean there is a reason the PS4 took off the way it did. The reason the ps3 caught up to the Xbox last generation was simply because people hold off for it. I mean both consoles released around the same time and the PS4 sky rocketed to success with no "games". BTW when I'm talking about brand power I'm simply referring worldwide.

[masterfox]

lol this ain't the same, PS3 wasn't a weak hardware ;) and since released the PS3 outsold the 360 globally like every month.

the xbone was 100 bucks higher and 50 % weaker than the PS4, yeah pretty much the same as the PS3 release. lol

[90Supra]

What helped to PS3 bounce back were it's great exclusives coming from their great 1st party studios and a few 3rd parties as well...

That's not something MS is capable of doing......they'll need to find another way

And they don't have the excuse of launching a year later like Sony did last gen...

[wodan]

A 600$ PS3 outsold a 400$ X360 WW from day one while a 400$ PS4 is outseling a 500-400$ Xbone everywhere
With no headstart nor the legandry RROD.the PS3 was more powerfull than the X360 the Xbone is not,so how are they similar?

[Majin-vegeta]

2 things that will keep it from ever doing that.

1.MS doesnt have the devs and man power for it.

2.Xbox isn't really a WW brand like Sony is.

[Patrick_pk44]

But those were different times, and companies such as Sony and Microsoft should understand what mistakes that should have been avoided, but Microsoft didn't. People won't be so forgiving now a days, I hope Microsoft suffers for their stupidity.

[Speak_da_Truth]

Sorry I have to disagree the Ps3 bounced back because Playstation has a world wide presence whereas Xbox is mostly strong in the US and Uk. Also, Sony's WWS is just bigger than what MS has at the moment so its not similar.

[stripe814]

Sony did took themselves out of the pit with their exclusives..and lecture programs to teach developers to play around with the cell..

[Bathyj]

The worse thing about the PS3 launch was the negativity leveled at it. The blood thirsty Xbox fans and the US centric media were relentless. Its the reason the word FUD was invented.

In reality, PS3 sold quicker from the start. That huge lead MS had acquired from releasing unfinished hardware a year early (more in Europe) started to shrink immediately. Yes slowly, it takes a long time to catch up 8 million sales, but PS3 was always selling quicker.

MS is now about 4 million behind from launching at the same time. Going early was their only advantage and now thats negated, as well as all the other disadvantages they have now. It will take a drastic turn around indeed for them to even sell the same amount let alone catch up.

Sony are on track to sell 13 million plus in their first year. MS might sell 8 or 9. PS3 outsold X360 its first year. I dont really see this as history repeating at all.

[Why o why]

Bang on

[xX1NORM1Xx]

That was my exact thought when it all happened it was like they swapped roles suddenly 3rd parties were using the ps4 as the lead platform and x1 was getting ports funny how things work but I don't really care I don't play either console a lot tbh

[BitbyDeath]

Considering PS3 sold more than the 360 and XboxOne is selling less than the 360 wouldn't that put it somewhere under the rocks?

[2pacalypsenow]

difference is Ps3 was $600 and was hard to develop for and xbox 360 was $400 and easy to develop.

100$ is not ridiculous diference and you got a blu ray drive on ps3 vs on xbox 1 you got... a kinect?

[bmf7364]

Spot on, but here's where lines are drawn and erased.

CELL, Blu Ray, and Kinect are all technologies that have been very heavily invested in that affected PS3/XBO price.

Sony was the head investor and innovator of CELL and Blu Ray. Both of which were multi-company, multi-billion-dollar projects. A lot of money was poured into these technologies and the format war did not help the PS3 launch. CELL's development costs will never truly pay off due to lack of support outside of the PS3, but even after the format war (which caused the first PS3 price drop) a replacement Blu-Ray drive for a PS3 is still around $100 (a PS3 is at least $200 now). However, heavy marketing of these "future technologies" did not salvage the PS3. It was a strong lineup of exclusives between MGS4 and TLOU that pushed so many PS3's in the end for sales totals to overlap X360's total last year.

Microsoft, is a different case. Their investment in Kinect has ended up on marketing to try to push this imperfect product by mis-using the Xbox brand name as an all-in-one hands-free living room product that they still repeatedly say is a major part of the XBO(Yusef Mehdi had a remote controlling the stage demo on the reveal of the XBO). Their strategy on Kinect investment clearly failed and will result in Microsoft taking huge loss on this technology. Microsoft's first party may be larger than ever, but their studios' individual lack of support for Kinect (thanks for ruining Rare for a second time, btw) will not help Kinect for Xbox One.

On this note, they seem to be repeating this PR nightmare with DX12. Direct3D is an API not made to get to the "metal" of a system like OpenGL or Apple's Metal. Windows is an OS that has so much going on in BG, the API will never be made to directly tap into the hardware of the XBO and it may give the system and PC's a performance boost, it won't be much to keep up with the PS4's more consistently-updated custom OpenGL.

Overall, instead of marketing on these heavy improvements that say "Here's us keeping up with our arch competitor" that will end up having them nit-pick you live and on stage (literally), Microsoft should instead show us games that make us want Xbox Ones (Halo, Sunset Overdrive, etc.)

[HaveAll3]

I don't care what anybody says but this does feel the same. When I got the PS3 day one I had some friends say why did you get that junk and the exact same thing happen with same friends with Xbox One. All I say is I buy most home concoles if money is avalible becouse I like F@$&ing GAMES.......Its so cool just to hate things these days, shit I even do it when I talk crap about phones I don't like, sad thing is I really don't care.

[Shinox]

Absolutely NOT its a completely different situation , No the history didn't repeat itself , First of all the PS3 is a Japanese console designed for Japanese players and the global market not the US specifically
Second , PS3 launched after XB 360 for a year
and third the PS3 power almost looks identical to the 360 add to that the PS3 was the first console that uses Blu-ray technology at that time so there's no need to downplay that and compare it to the failure called XBOX One to satisfy your Instinct fanaticism , just admit it and get over it , stop being slaves for M$ they don't give a crap about you all , the same thing can be said about Sony and Nintendo Just Stop , PS: Stop publishing articles from this derpy site

[Vantage]

First? You mean three.

[Provolone24]

Nope, nope, and nope. I've said it before and I'll say it again: PS3 caught up because of its superior specs and the exclusive games specifically designed by Sony's first-party studios all over the world to take advantage of its better hardware. Sure, MS is finally making a bigger push for games; but you know Sony's studios are gonna bring it. Just look at their 2015 lineup. And if something like the Halo Collection is enough to get you to buy an X1, you probably already planned on eventually buying one in the first place.

So if MS has the weaker hardware and they can even Sony out (at best) in terms of exclusives, what's gonna get them over the hump? Many would say the cloud and DX12, but none of us have a clue how much those will really help the X1.

[snarls200]

the ps3 price was only an issue because nongamers didn't research why the system cost so much

[corroios]

Dude, im so tired of the «wait for something» by the Microsoft fãs. All year is wait for that, wait for this... The PS4 is the new trend.

The Xbox ONE crash before launch. Yes, Maybe a month with Halo the sales in US will be better then the PS4, but that wont change nothing.

PS4 is the first choice of gamers. The sales show that. The gamers want a gaming console, built for games and not a media center with motion controls. That was the plan of Microsoft with the Xbox One. Its true that they changed everything, but its to late to be NUMBER ONE.

They cant change the specs of the machine and the same game on both consoles is just better on the PS4. Yes, we all know that for one team the rez, frames, AA, AO and all the GFX dont matter, but we all know why, because they are all better on the PS4...

[RosweeSon]

Said this months ago and if people cannot see it they are blind sided fanboys, xbox one is gonna be the next ps3 get used to it it's not gonna change look at ps3 took them nearly 5 years to turn it around to the point that 360/ps3 are on a par people saw this and decided ps4 was the next step, xbox one is gonna be the next ps3... FACT!! It's gonna be the 2nd place console of the major 2 but I'd put it 3rd as I've got my wii u and would take that over xbox one any day, I'm not against xbox one as such but it's not up to scratch too expensive and the games are average currently, xbox needs to change things round and I'll be happy to sit back and see how they attempt it. Sony had to do this last time and we ended up with ps+ great service can't see xbox being that generous but either way I've got my ps4 day on as it was Cheaper and clearly already from initial reveal the better system, I'm done with microsoft's oh we may do this we may do that, I'll go with a company who just does it, sony and even more so Nintendo, xbox just copy everything off everyone else.

[Skankinruby]

The ps3 comparison is a little off. All ps3 needed was a price cut and it outsold the 360 every month for over six years and ended up overtaking it

[EverydayGuy]

Ps3 was the cheapest blu ray player coming out. The exclusive was untouchable quality wise. Free multiplayer experience, and apps are not behind a paywall. Sony never left their core gamers like MS did with the Kinect.

The Xbox One lost its mulitplats advantage, and blu ray is the standard. Their exclusive games are yet to be proven. They started with the worse E3 the world has ever seen.

[xDHAV0K24x]

they HAD to make it free. how else could they succeed as a start up to the internet gaming space when xbox live had that on lock down? Sony created MOVE so they TRIED. yeah they didn't push it BUT they tried. At least Kinect made MS money thus creating Kinect 2.0 ...Also, blu ray is the standart but digital distribution will take over and THAT will be the standard

[xDHAV0K24x]

so isn't that a good thing?

[kingtroy]

Lets hope so