Microsoft Desperately Wants Xbox One To Win, 'Winning Matters More To Them Than Short Term Profit'

Microsoft led the NPD numbers back in November and December of 2014 but in January 2015, the PS4 took over the top position again.

[Fro_xoxo]

We benefit from the competition..

[Naga]

Indeed. Competition drives quality such that we take home the spoils of the console wars.

And theirs is the right perspective to have; anyone who treats the console race like a sprint, rather than a marathon, will be doomed to fail.

[Cindy-rella]

There will be $250 and 250 quid xbox one bundle at holiday time this year

[vishmarx]

wasn't the 360 exactly that?
top tier quality exclusives for the first few years and then it fell off a cliff.
in any case, I hope they do good.
but no way theyre winning the gen at this point.
Itd take miracle for them to beat ps4 worldwide

[Naga]

@ vishmarx

The 360 didn't end as well as it started, if that's what you're asking. That said, the departure of Don Mattrick & Crew has marked a substantial shift in perspective regarding the Xbox brand. There's no telling what the future of this competition holds.

[XB1_PS4]

360 dominated the beginning of last gen. That's not good for the Xbox team. They only are acceptable when they have to come from behind. I'd rather Sony be ahead all the time, so MS is always clawing for the front spot. The harder they claw, the more I benefit.

[dcbronco]

I'm not sure why anyone believes it will take a miracle for Xbox to catch up. It's very early in the life cycle of these consoles. PS4 is a purpose designed machine. Everything but games is a add-on. Xbox One was designed to grow with time. I think the long game is always the smartest move.

People joke about the cloud. Bandwidth being the main reason. But bandwidth speed grows every year. Everyone doesn't have great speed, but many do. But we're talking the chicken or the egg there. Not many had broadband when Live launched. Phones will hit gigabit speeds in five years. At some point the viability of the cloud and consoles will meet and that will be this generation. Microsoft is now a major player in the cloud business. That's why they give developers access to dedicated servers for free. Because the cost is covered by business client on Azure. Azure is also the reason Microsoft can drop Live fees later and it won't matter. The fees aren't the income driver. Sony isn't in a position to do the same. They have no major income from their servers besides gaming. None of their other server based services are major profit makers. Azure revenue is going to outstrip Office and Windows, that's why the upgrade to 10 is free for a year.

I've been reading the tech forums a lot and one of the things I've noticed is the programmers and computer guys seem to like the Xbox design better. Especially when it comes to future possibilities. Many believe that Xbox was a far more future proof design. With more room for new APIs like DX12 and OpenGL Next to grow.

Then there are things about DX12 like it supposedly sees all GPUs as one. Even from different vendors. Which makes me believe not only can Xbox One get a boost from the cloud, it could get one from a local cloud. Add a hub and connect your PC, laptop, tablet or another Xbox One. DX12 apparently just sees it as a part of the resources. The OS is just a virtual machine so it makes sense. Once the move is made to Windows 10, all of the devices will be using the same code. The PC games will scale, why not Xbox One games? They will all be the same.

So resolution gate could move from 1080p to 4k. I wouldn't place any bets on a winner yet. There is a lot of gaming yet to be played. But if I was betting. I'd always bet on elegant design over brute force.

[NatureOfLogic_]

Desperate or not, I won't be owning a Xbone this gen. Inferior muliplats and few exclusives compared to the competition is not worth it.

[vishmarx]

@dcbronco.
last gen 360 outsold ps3 2 to 1 in the US.
and despite that, they ended roughly on the same numbers.
now.
ps4 is almost a million units ahead in US.
and almost 10 million units ahead everywhere else.
so even if xb1 sold twice as many as its current units in US and ps4 sold 0 units worldwide at that time, the xbox would still be millions behind.
now looking at this year, ps4 will start selling much better in japan, which has barely contributed anything so far,ps4 also has exclusives all year round unlike xb1s holiday rush, not to mention a big part of its charm is the usual forza /halo combo , and given both the games have had their iterations on x1 already its reasonable to assume a good chunk of its fanbase has already bought the console.
so unless something drastic happens the gap will only widen this year. and even if xbox finally ups the tempo then, it would have already lost EU and JP completely to sony. and finally, its the lead platform for a lot of games, similar to how the 360 was last gen

tl dr
ps4 established itself in us much better than ps3, which hurt ps3 sales last gen
xbox lost out on a lot of its audience outside US, which was the main reason ps3 ended up with same numbers last gen .
both the things directly benefit the ps4 and show no signs of change

and before you talk vgchartz numbers , heres a few things you should know
their ps4 sits at 19m units while sony confirmed 20.2m sold through last month.
their xbox sits at 11.5m while ms are yet to even confirm 10 million sold through

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Its just a Michael Pachter predictions. The title tried to make it sound like MS made that statement.

When compared to PS4 sales I'm glad MS is behind. They're bringing the games from all sizes.

Which makes X1 every bit the games console as the PS4.

MS can stay behind in sales for all I care. Like I said if it means great games and I am a gamer (obviously) which is mainly all I care about so why do I care what the sales look like?

I want MS to have healthy sales sure just so they can keep going but I want great gaming at the end of the day.

[dcbronco]

@Vishmarx

None of us has any idea what features are coming in the future. Basing assumptions purely on gaming and not the overall offering is shortsighted. The Wii did extremely well early and dropped off after every grandmother that wanted one had one. But that initial opening of the mainstream market was huge.

Microsoft could position themselves for a similar move. The ability to code once across all platforms makes casuals more likely to choose Xbox One if they can bring their phone game to their TV. Streaming PC to Xbox will make a PC gamer more likely to buy an Xbox. Again especially if you add buy once, play anywhere.

Sony's decision to focus purely on such a limited market when the fastest growing markets are made more accessible by Xbox was a mistake. And if you want to bring up numbers lets look at these. Microsoft has all of it's divisions making an annual profit except D&E. And that division has 9 billion a year in R&D holding it down. But even that is changing. Xbox is profitable. Surface is profitable. Halolens will bring in enough industrial money to make it profitable(just things like Jurassic park safaris and Night at the Museum exhibits alone could be huge money makers. Which the VR platforms can't handle since they render you blind).

So I choose to trust the company with a bunch of profitable divisions over the company with one.

[XBLSkull]

I got two Xbox One's hooked up to two TV's in my house that get used daily, and a PlayStation 4 that has been sitting in it's box since I beat Last of Us Remastered. Xbox has won in my household.

[PrinterMan]

Beware, not always. Unfair competition can also create monopolies. Sometimes companies make it very difficult or impossible for others to compete even though they may have a better product. Sometimes companies do not play fair or have many more resources and put the competition out of business. Healthy competition is good...unfair practice is not. I remember many times MS being charged and sued for unfair practice so perhaps lets not all go Yipee!

[Why o why]

Ms being behind is better for their fans. Ms grew complacent last gen. Drip fed exclusives to their customers. They believed their job was done so made zero strides to develop games or studios. People took note. Them being behind has kept them on their toes.

[Muzikguy]

@XBL
I don't believe your story and doubt anyone else does either. Why would you have 3 systems and not play the better (IMO) one for over one year? You spend almost $2000 on consoles in one year, just to not play? Ok, makes no sense at all. I never turn my PS4 off, when I have time to play it. There's so many great games to play

[rainslacker]

@bronco

I visit tech forums too. Ones with developers talking the trade. Closed forums not available to the public because they talk trade secrets under heavy NDA. People like DX12, and honestly, so do I. That doesn't translate to liking the X1 hardware better than the PS4. The PS4 is a much simpler set up, and doesn't require special programming to utilize chips to overcome what the PS4 does out of the box. I don't know how much it can be stressed that the PS4 is set up to be as easy as possible to program for no matter how you want to utilize system resources. It is quite literally Sony's most flexible console design in terms or implementation, and they threw a lot of power into the back end to allow for simply brute forcing through complex code if necessary.

I work with DX12 and I really love it. Not sure if I'll be working with OGLN in the future yet, but I really hope so because it looks good as well. What we work on though isn't for console use though, so I can't make a professional determination on which one I like better, but from the ones that do work with consoles, they seem to like the PS4's set up better, but with DX12 it makes the X1 easier to utilize...which is really a good thing for the developer and eventually the gamers.

Also, cloud is still rather limited on what it can provide to the consoles. You and I have had that discussion before, and nothing has changed in the last year on this front. Technically speaking though, the cloud is a resource, and any API would use it as such, because that's what it is.

Anyhow, it won't take a miracle to catch up. MS would just have to overtake Sony sales worldwide either in peaks or sustained throughout the year. No matter how you work it, it's not a miracle, just unlikely to happen since MS has never outsold Sony worldwide except when they were the only next gen on the market with the year head start on 360. The longer it takes MS to achieve this, the more they would have to sell over Sony to "catch up".

More importantly though, MS doesn't have to "catch up". They would be very well off to have strong sales throughout the generation, and end it with very high morale and support of it's fan base. that would be more important than beating out Sony in sales.

[Kumomeme]

well for 360,there a lot of reason...the ps3 itself release late and there are tons of issues regarding the console like price and hardware,development issues and others

for this gen,itseems its completely different with 360 take benefit alot from sony mistake before and now sony seems learn a lot from the past gens mistakes...almost no issues regarding ps4 and had lower price launch compared to ps3..

and this gen itseems microsoft turns to screw up...with lower specs,screw up at E3 reveal with those high prices than ps4,those controvery DRM and the console serve more as entertaiment tools than a fully gaming device like ps4...some of tv's features are not available to lot of places too....if i not mistaken,even microsoft,the xbox division itself acknowledge the mistake of making console for 'US' and mistaken for treating a Europe as a country not as region consist lot of country...

for wii u,what i know lack of devs support,communication issues and slow devs kit during development of first wave launch game together with bad timing with launch of ps4 and xbox one is one of reason lot of third parties pulling their legs

[MysticStrummer]

Even the people who agreed with XBLSkull don't believe him.

OT - Of course they want to win, just like any other company in the world. Pachter strikes again.

[medman]

I don't understand the headline...what, exactly, do they want to win? They won the U.S. last gen with the 360, but are currently behind the ps3 in global sales. They are currently losing in the U.S. and globally with xbone vs. ps4...so are they saying they want to win the U.S. and that is their focus? There is no way they're going to win globally, so.......

[XB1_PS4]

Just because there is no way to win, doesn't mean you don't desperately want to win.

[Baka-akaB]

Yeah the headline makes no sense . If it was even true , for starters they'd have dump enough money to make sure the console launch in japan had attractive and popular enough games ... among other things

[LexHazard79]

Well I can say there are not winning this gen. But doesnt mean they can't win in a few territories where its close. I usually look at two markets for Xbox anyway. That being UK and NA.

[BigDuo]

I think they want to primarily win consumer perception of Xbox brand being more valuable than the PlayStation brand amongst the hardcore gamer audience.

I agree that Microsoft is not likely going to win, but Phil's just expressing what he would like to accomplish even though it does not seem feasible.

[MastaMold]

People that talk about we need competition have not been gaming for very long because the NES had no competition, PS1 had no competition, PS2 had no competition and those consoles were successful and beloved so all these competition is needed is pure B.S.

[lodossrage]

I agree. And that's what I've been telling people for a long time.

When the PS1 and PS2 were dominant, we got all sorts of great games both mainstream and nice. Sony always had open policies toward developers from the very start (which is what made Nintendo eventually drop the "nintendo seal of approval").

In truth, the industry didn't start going south until Microsoft got a voice in it. For example, how many studios did we here of closing down in the PS1 and PS2 eras?

[Jayszen]

I think you will find that the PS1 did have competition - Nintendo and Sega (Saturn and then Dreamcast), and PS2 also had Nintendo and then Xbox as competitors but they were so far behind it felt as though there was little competition. The last gen was the first time Sony was really challenged with the 1 year headstart Xbox 360 had and then the poor launch of the PS3 (high-priced due to blu-ray drive) but despite this, eventually Sony went into the lead albeit by a small margin.

The fact is that the PS4 is better than the Xbone and PSN is a better service then Xbox Live because of the mauling Sony got last gen which taught them never to take gamers for granted, a lesson the Xbox brand has been learning since May 2013 after the very poor introduction to the Xbone One and the punitive DRM fiasco. As gamers we should support whoever gives us the best 'gaming' experience be it resolution, gameplay, visuals or innovation. At the moment Sony is ticking all the right boxes and has a very powerful ace available to it (Morpheus) provided it does not botch the launch. BUT we also need Microsoft to challenge Sony and for Sony to keep raising the bar. This is a good time for us gamers as a whole regardless of whether we are PC, Xbone or PS4 supporters.

[Haru]

I agree, I wish Microsoft never made a gaming console because they ruined everything, gaming was more fun back in the days when microsoft was just making windows

[bleedsoe9mm]

its like people are disagreeing the sky is blue

[Profchaos]

It can be aqua and rose and red at times wanna fight about it.

[LackTrue4K]

"Bull"

They went with short term with that weak hardware on day one...

They focus too much on the camera. And they dropped it (short term move right there)
And now are scrambling for crumbs, but there is a bright side to this. Better/more focus on making there games that much better.

[WildArmed]

PS4 and Xbox One has seen some really great deals over the past months.

Now only if Wii U would play the game so I can get one for cheap XD

[joab777]

I agree but I don't believe them. If winning mattered so much, why did they take their foot off the gas last gen, when they had the clear advantage for so long. And then why, why, did we get the xbone that we did?

Maybe winning matters, but I'd love to know their definition. Don't get me wrong, MS is doing good things recently, but they never had to fall behind in the 1st place.

[texore]

PS2 era wasn't too bad.

[kraenk12]

Microsoft really seems to be out of touch with reality. Typical american cocky behaviour. They only had a chance last gen because Sony made a huge mistake in launching the PS3 a year late and more expensive. If MS really is in for the win prepare for a 199,- XBox One before Xmas.

[Muzikguy]

Sounds like a flamebait article from one of the most reputable sites on the internets....

So numbers don't matter when MS is "winning" but they matter when they're behind? Also what is "winning" anyway? They're not making profit when they're giving consoles away, or with all the discounts and losing money in the process. That's not winning at all. I know it says about turning a profit, but nobody is in business to lose money.

[Joda]

yep. Look at all the sony trolls below. lol. The very thought of someone challenging their beloved console gives them heartburn. I liked ps3 they were in 3rd place and had alot of exclusives. Now i like x1 for the same reason: MOTIVATED. Top dogs always get lazy. Look at the ps4 lineup...2016 for uncharted 4?? other than Infamous and the last of us I'm twiddling my thumbs over here.

sony's ps4 strategy is doing the old xb360 don mattrick/phil harrison strategy: minimal exclusives and charge for online multiplayer.

One thing to note though is that psn is a discounted independent game service with a basic online experience, and xbl is a more robust online service with less freebies. It is a matter of preference but I prefer xbox this gen because Phil Spencer is an ex sony man & he knows alot of games will attract the hardcore gamers, he is professional, he doesn't bash the competition like mattrick, phil harrison which came off pety. He even congradulated on last of us sales and ps4 sales. He even owns a ps4. Thats what every company needs imagine Kaz Hiri playing a xbox or a nintendo product, or reggy playing ps4 or xbox. Competition doesn't have to be nasty, all 3 can coexist.

[ThanatosDMC]

Your troll comment was terrible. PS4 has more exclusive games... heck, games in general than the Xbone. Check listwars website.

Also, Phil Harrison doesnt bad mouth. It was usually dbag Nelson and loudmouth Greenberg doing the bad mouthing.

[Profchaos]

More and more I think exclusive games only appeal to the hardcore that have already picked a side halo and gears fans would naturally buy a x1 and infamous and uncharted fans buy a ps4.

More and more it just bbecomes ridicules to analyse why when we see a game like gta or cod being released sales spike accross the board because that's what the casual gamers buy into and they are the deciding factor.

The gamer that owns a single console and 10 games were maybe 1 is a exclusiveand the rest are muktiplats like cod gta and Fifa. Those guys decide a generation because they only buy one consoles.

Us hardcore console gamers pretty much always buy 3 or at least two sony and ms we don't decide anything besides who gets the jump first.

[showtimefolks]

competition is awesome just look at blackfriday game deals. Consoles were being offered with 3 or more games. So keep it up sony vs ms vs nintendo

end of the day we as gamers win

[WelkinCole]

Tell that to the PS2

[DarkOcelet]

Sorry MS, but you will never become NO.1 this gen. This belongs to Sony and PS4. You should accept that.

"if you look at, you know, DDR3 versus GDDR5 RAM, as if anyone is really taking advantage of all of that, I suppose maybe there’s some marginal difference in quality, but it’s marginal.”

3rd party might not take that advantage but 1st party games will show you the difference. And in the end tbh, its the exclusive games and the variety of genres that attracts a person to the console. And Sony always have a huge variety when it comes to their games.

MS should seriously have more RPG games in general.

[MegaRay]

Not only that. MS and Nintendo focus in some countries (US UK, some Eu and japan). Sony support them all.

[mhunterjr]

Surely, they will never be #1 this gen... But the correct attitude to have is "play until the buzzer blows"

If they play to win, even if they lose, their customers win, and the industry wins thanks to competition.

[WickedLester]

Best post of this entire thread! Bubbles for you!

[rainslacker]

Too true. Building brand confidence this gen will pay off big next gen. I believe that is one of the reasons Sony is doing so well this gen, because of the way they handled the last few years of last gen.

OTOH, it could also mean MS will push the next gen sooner instead of letting the X1 reach it's prime, which would not really be that advantageous to the general market.

[LamerTamer]

Customers won't always win. What if MS gets fed up with losing ground and just starts buying up games and makes them all Xbox exclusives? They DO have the money to do that.

Xbox fanboys would love to make games exclusive and keep big games like COD, Fallout, Elder scrolls, Titanfall etc. away from Sony to win forum wars and make themselves feel better about their console choice.

I don't think anyone else would think all customers win, because then only MS customers win.

[styferion]

Prioritizing multiplayer games also didn't help expanding their market. People outside US/UK where XBL friends are far and few between won't buy your console for multiplayer game no matter how great it is, MS.

Also that 'all-in-one' feature? Yeah most of them don't work in many countries.

You can't expect to sell big outside US/UK like that, MS.

[Sm00thop]

@DarkOcelet

You're making out Sony have delivered the best games ever on PS4, MS have trampled them when it comes to variety and quality with their games so far. PS4 has problems of its own and that ain't got nothing like Direct X12 coming which will help alleviate the problems developers are facing with the console CPU's. You're right though the exclusives will be the difference, Xbox have plenty big hitters coming this year and the next.

[DarkOcelet]

And how many of them are RPG games? Look, the problem with MS is that they concentrate on the most popular genre and leave the rest.

And PS4 have plenty of big hitters coming this year and the next. So its great for both parties. But one party only has JRPG games and thats really a big thing for me and many gamers out there.

[LexHazard79]

@Dark Ocelot, you make it seem as tho JRPG would make a difference. Just because Xbox doesnt cater to Jrpg crowd doesnt mean its fans dont like the genre.
RPGs do quite well on Xbox, just not the Japanese ones...sad but true.

[LexHazard79]

@disagrees,

Like I said, Xbox fans like Western RPGs more than Jrpg, I happen to be a fan of both.

Btw- Mass Effect, Elderscrolls, Fallout, Dragon Age, The Witcher, etc. Just some of the RPGs that have done well on Xbox.....

[joeorc]

You are talking so much crap:

"PS4 has problems of its own and that ain't got nothing like Direct X12 coming which will help alleviate the problems developers are facing with the console CPU's."

MICROSOFT, THE MEDIA, AND Mr. MediaX talk about how great DirectX 12 is and that try to make it out like Sony does not have any counter to DirectX 12.

While

Sony, Valve, Apple and Samsung ETC..let Vulkan and Software do the freaking Taking.

Sony's PS4 does not have anything to counter DirectX 12?
well Vulkan Api has a few things to show off, and you will see how wrong you and others really are About the PS4 !!

[death_gun]

ya man ikr? DX12 gonna be amazing combined with the magic power of cloud which gives ur xbone power from clouds in the sky also don't forget bout the hidden super power gpu in the power brick oh boi all that power cant wait /s btw that's how you guys sound when you talk about dx12 lol

[Jazz4108]

Micro could easily cut this gen short and go with a pc lifecycle of three years and put out an Xbox two with killer hardware. It's really up to them as they can do whatever they want to win.

[Christopher]

Researching, mastering, and mass producing new hardware of that size on a 3-year cycle won't do well, IMHO. People will then just buy a PC and upgrade it.

Furthermore, it will require more work on developers who will have a ton of overlapping development cycles between supporting XBO and now XB2 in addition to PS4.

It's not a very good idea, IMHO. If that were the case, they should just refocus purely on PC development and promotion with paid-for services equivalent to XBL and get rid of consoles all together.

[kstap33]

MS has enough WRPGs... and JRPG's are terrible.

[Muzikguy]

People that keep discrediting the PS4's games are really not paying much attention IMO. Haven't we seen trends where MS games are given higher marks and better reviews? Things where one game released on a Sony console gets marked down for some reason but on Xbox it doesn't? (Talking exclusives here) I've seen that numerous times over the last 3 generations. All the games that have released on the PS4 exclusively and I've been able to play have been great games. The reviews won't show that, but they have been. I really want to get DriveClub as I'm sure that's an amazing game as well. The Order is on my list too. Bloodborne I'm getting Day1. So we have a bunch of exclusives that got mediocre reviews but aren't mediocre at all. KZSF is a good game, InfamousSS is a good game...

My point is people have poor reasons to justify the "bad" exclusives that Sony has. Well, I'm not a fan of Halo and didn't like Forza when I played it. Other exclusives that were supposed to sell systems haven't (screamride) There's just plenty more for me to choose from on Sony's machine. Different genres too! JRPGs are very welcome also

[Profchaos]

I'll buy both eventually but yeah pretty much the hardware is weaker the idea ms has was utilise the cloud but that tech is a good 10 years off still

[kayoss]

If they came into this gen with that mindset where winning is greater than short term profits. They should have priced the Xbox One below their initial price point. This is where I have problems with what Microsoft says. Some of the stuff they tell the gamers contradict their actions.
- Winning is bigger than profits but let set Price at $499
- Indie is very important to us but let set a clause to make it difficult for indie developers
- We are focused on the gamers but lets make the xbox one an all around "entertainment" system.
- We want gamers to have option, but lets force feed the Kinect to the gamers.

I know, i've been a advocate of Sony and its Playstation brand. but I agree with TheFro, competition is good for gamers in general. It forces the other guy to up their effort in making a system better. It seems like Microsoft didnt learn for Sony mistakes with the PS3.

[ChrisChambers]

You have to take into account the change in leadership though. Spencer and Nadella seem to have a vastly different vision for gaming and the company as a whole compared to Mattrick and Ballmer.

I have faith that they'll right the ship in the long run. I personally don't care who wins any gen, I just want the people in charge to be passionate about what they're doing because the end result is good for everyone

[kayoss]

I totally agree with you. As a Sony fan. I do want Xbox one to do well too. Because Sony got cocky during the PS2 era. They brought that cockiness to the PS3 and as we all know, it didnt turn out too well for them. But they were able to turn it around. to insure that these companies remain humble, innovative, and stay focused, we need Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft to do well.

[LamerTamer]

"It forces the other guy to up their effort in making a system better."

Or it just forces the other guy to start buying up third party exclusives and moneyhatting studios. That is where I see MS going. Microsoft has basically unlimited money. What would happen if they made Fallout 4 an Xbox/PC exclusive? What if they made FIFA an xbox/pc exclusive and killed the PS4 in Europe? They COULD do that you know. Then all of a sudden competition wouldn't be so good for ALL gamers.

[PhucSeeker]

Agree! Last time Ps2 was a success then Sony became lazy with the Ps3 but then picked it up along the way. M$ had a great start with X360 and became lazy in the middle of the road. Now with Ps4 in the lead, it'll be nice to see what M$ can come up with.
Competition is great for the industry, indeed.

[kayoss]

Actually, I'm looking forward to HoloLens. It looks more innovative than the Morpheus VR. I just hope Microsoft knows how to implement it and use it correctly.

[omarcomingyo]

That's pretty obvious if you ask me

[bf000777966]

If it was not for Phil Spencer, the xbox one would have been dead already. It is more than acceptable to sell 10 million plus after making so many wrong decision.

[bicfitness]

You realize Phil was an instrumental part of the Xbox brand that conceived the original, hideous design (not physical, though that's ugly, too) of the X1? I doubt he just sat on his hands for the last few years of the 360's life, either, and I'm sure he had a role to play with Kinect. So two things no one really wanted, and he's present and in a position of power and influence for each, and somehow, he's not culpable?
C'mon.

Selective memory and revisionist history seems to be a trait of those loyal to the Xbox brand. Also, the brand is DEAD outside of the US. That much should be clear. Europeans don't want it, the Japanese don't even know it exists.

[WickedLester]

That's very true! People easily forget that Spencer was on the stage too during the X1 unveiling barking "TV, TV, TV, Television, Television, Televistion."

[Saijahn]

It's too late to win this generation sales wise, where you can seriously compete is in locking down exclusives, first party triple A games, pushing cross-platform play, reducing the price of XBL since PC gamers are getting it free, and continue to improve the console.

Phil has the X1 right where it needs to be, back to focusing on games.

[DontShoot-Me-Bro]

What is winning?

Selling more than Sony?

Selling more than their last gen system XBOX 360?

Selling a set amount of consoles they expected to sell when they released the X1?

[d_g]

winning does not mean just Selling more

[DarkOcelet]

Q1
Winning is usually means becoming the best.

Q2
I doubt it will sell more that Sony. That 9 million difference is staggering and hard to catch up.

Q3
I also doubt it will sell more than the X360 because its life span will not be like the X360.

Q4
I am pretty sure they expected to sell, say 100 million or at least more than the X360 in the end of its life span.

[SpinalRemains138]

According to the article, it is implied that "winning" is leading in USA with NPD figures.

[DarkOcelet]

Because apparently US is the only place you have to win to actually be called a winner lol.

[uth11]

It will be interesting to see if the XB1/PC Win 10 will help or hurt the XB1. Saying that all first party games will come to PC too seems like it would hurt, since people with PCs lost one reason to own an Xbox.

[paulogy]

Well I hate to break it to them/you, Microsoft is probably not going to win this generation (where "win" is defined as overall console sales)

Certainly comebacks are possible, stranger things have happened, but there are a number of things stacked against them this time around that are harder to overcome (less powerful hardware, less global market penetration, less developer support, lack of trust in the community)

[StrayaKNT]

Please someone tell me what do these companies win? is there an award or something?

[MysticStrummer]

Market share, money, brand loyalty...

[DialgaMarine]

"The first console to 10 million is the winner." -Don Mattrick

Sony passed that park back in August, and just recently broke the 20 million mark. We still have no idea where the XBone actually stands, and please no one try to play semantics and throw out some "XBone + 360 shipped numbers are this, so it must be here in actual sales" BS. I couldn't care less unless M$ is giving us some real numbers.

They've already been losing the games war. List wars people, so none of that "b-b-but they released more exclusives in the fall!" crap, either. PS4 is the best. Just the facts.

[JJShredder]

You say "just the facts" but whether or not a system is best for people is solely based on personal preference.

NOW THAT'S A FACT.

[frelyler]

Both consoles are selling better than their previous gen counterparts at this point. Everyone wins.

[frelyler]

I was referring to MS and Sony. I see Nintendo as it's own beast. I own a PC, ps4 and a wiiu and I agree with your statement. Bayonetta 2 is amazing.

[Tsubasa-Oozora]

Hmm what is winning? More sales? What is it?
We remember for a fact you was all about that $$$ and trying to.screw gamers over with DRM, we all knew the detailed information on DRM. That was a money hungry scrrew the gamers move.

We also remember u didnt give a damn even after the whole xbox community was complaining, YOUR community.(i was on the official xbox forum too) You cared only after you saw those pre-order SALES for ps4. 3-1 pre order sales and you started freaking out sayin "my money". Microsoft, u dug urself a grave.

Its also funny that pachter mentions Wii owners switching to ps4... he acts like nobody switched from xbox360 to ps4. Denial is strong in this one.

[ilikepizza]

He's all in feelings and now he has a ps4 and no games lol. DRM would of injected a huge boost of money into the industry. How would Microsoft make money off DRM?

[Slevon]

As long as they keep trying to get better, we're the ones who win. Do I get anything better if my console of choice sells better, no. Do I get significant improvements to xbox since the playstation got a better head start yes. If xbox continues to make strides then playstation will try harder and so on. I dont have stock in one company so i dont give a shit

[DarXyde]

"Desperately?"

I don't like the sound of that...

When a massively financially stable company expresses desperation, that isn't good for a lot of us.

As long as there isn't some unholy monopolization of third-party exclusives (in a VERY extreme case), I can live with their strategies.

Just no more Rise of a Tomb Raider/Street Fighter V shenanigans, please.

[chikane]

Well sadly for Microsoft. I don't Sony and Nintendo leaving the video game business anytime soon.

[aftrdark21]

I love how people seem to forget that last gen Microsoft had a 1 year head start over the competition and still ended up selling last place worldwide. I don't think they will get those type of numbers again. The XBOne will be fine but not the big deal it was last time. Is a pyrrhic victory still a victory? I don't think so.

[Flames76]

As of december 31 2014 the PS3 has shipped 85.9 million worldwide sony has confirmed.The X360 has shipped 86.9 million worldwide as of december 31 2014 as microsoft has stated.I dont see how microsoft is in last place?Of course im sure sony fanboys know more than sony does.Also the X360 was the number 1 selling console last gen in america dominating the PS3.Please do research next time before posting.As far the XOne not getting to the X360 numbers are you crazy?The XOne is already outselling the X360 and PS3 at this point in its life cycle.Damn just do some research its not that hard to do

[MysticStrummer]

Shipped. Not sold.

The Wii was by far the top selling console in the world, followed by PS3, and then 360.

360 had supply shortages and PS3 was more expensive than many people liked, so it's no great feat to be outselling them at this early stage.

[aftrdark21]

Not to sound fanboyish, but how many of those X360s shipped were replacements due the RROD? I know I went through 3 myself. Did Microsoft add replacements in their shippped numbers? I know the PS3 and Wii had issues too but even the most conservative numbers of the RROD was around 30-33%. Seems like a pretty good number. Also I was talking about the the fact that Microsoft rushed the X360 to market so they could be first and after a year head start the gap in console sales/shipped ended up not being a factor at the end.

[SpinalRemains138]

Offer some variety for a change, MS.

You know there are other genres out there which dont focus on running around a tiny map and shooting everyone in multiplayer.

Get some new RPGs or adventure games or something.

[NeoGamer232]

So what is Sunset Overdrive? D4? Max the Curse of Brotherhood? Halo Spartan Assault? Dance Central Spotlight? Kinect Sports Rivals? Crimson Dragon? Powerstar Golf? Ryse? Screamride? Zoo Tycoon? Minecraft? Killer Instinct? Kalimba? Forza Motorsports 5? Forza Horizon 2? Disney Fantasia?

There is only one pure shooter in the MS pipe announced so far this generation... Halo 5 Guardians.

MS has not created a new shooter yet on XB1... They only have Titanfall which is not exclusive because it is PC and Halo MCC which is simply a remastered collection of Halo games.

How does that make it a box focused on "running around a tiny map and shooting everyone in multiplayer"?

Sony is the shooter box this generation... It has Killzone Shadowfall as a full exclusive. Yes, that is the only truly exclusive shooter so far this generation.

[etownone]

Trolls like you with so many bubbles shows exactly what's wrong with this site.

[MasterBaker]

One things for sure, they definetly learned their lesson. maybe they'll get things right next time.

[etownone]

I can see XB1 easily winning this holiday season, and NPD sales for 2015.

What does Sony have now to compete with against QB, TR, & Halo 5 now that Uncharted has been delayed.

[TheTwelve]

Keep on being desperate, Microsoft. You're not going to win but it'll keep Sony on their toes. I don't think Nintendo would give Sony the same pressure.

[Keith22]

It will never win like wtf it took me nearly 5 hours to install Battlefield Hardline trail how pathetic

[Gamer777]

Shouldn't this be listed as an opinion piece instead of news?

[S2Killinit]

What they need is more games. Not price cuts.

[assdan]

And, as of now, they aren't going to.

[Claudinho69]

obviously, with those unprecedented price cuts

[Gore-Content]

"Desperately" should be capitalized. Those people are REALLY desperate.

[Jag-T1000]

With no competition this fall, Xbox wins Holiday 2015 hands down.

[Yukonsbud]

They should have built a stronger console and not been so greedy in the beginning. Good thing for competition or I never would have bought my X1.

[Neo_Zeed]

If MS really wants to win... they can put their money where their mouth is. MS could create 25 new studios and fully fund each of them for AAA new IP. Yet they won't. Of course they want to win but they won't spend the money to do so.

Microsoft has lost me forever. They want me... fund Shenmue 3.

[Dr_Angus]

No, they want you to keep buying Halo, Forza, and Fable over and over.

[Wickerman1972]

I think people are remembering Shenmue as being better than what it really was. What I'd like them to bring back is Lost Odyssey. I loved the game and they gave up on Mistwalker much too quickly.

[Paranimal86]

I feel like all the PS4, original Xbox and 360 all had the same vision; built for power and efficiency, and these 3 platforms were developed by great leaders in the industry. Mark Fries behind Original Xbox, J Allard behind 360 and Mark Cerny behind PS4 all these guys had great visions and it didn't appear to be marketing BS, and then Fries left MS and later J Allard and it was noticeable. halfway through 360s life cycle exclusives stopped and excitement started leave the platform. Sony started turning things around with the PS3 at this time and started dominating in the exclusives. X1 appeared out of the gate as PR garbage, like a politician trying convince the public he's suited for office, enter Don Mattrick this idiot was trying to capture the wii audience about 8 years too late well those people play cell phone games now have fun at zynga!

[Haru]

it's pretty clear that they're desperate, dying trying to copy every single thing sony does, sony is like a god in eyes of microsoft

[OSIRUSSS]

The XBOX can stay behind till the stockholders pull the plug on the whole thing for all I care.

[GokuSolosAll]

Then release games we want like Conker and Banjo.

[vasco17]

Who cares? Both systems have a lot to offer. This week I play Ori, in two weeks I play Bloodbourne. Stop acting like this is a life and death matter.

[ScaryMonkey]

Yeah and I want hundred dollar bills to pop out every time I fart but that isn't happening either, time to pack it in Microsoft, better luck next time.

[Scatpants]

The solution is easy. Sink tons of money into buying the best studios and developing the best games release over 10 must have AAA exclusives a year. I have an X1 and last holiday they only came out with 2 big AAA titles I wanted. That is not good enough to win. Sure PS4 didn't do much better, but they do have more 1st party studios and a more powerful system. X1 needs to do better than just as good if they want to win.

[quiddd]

Does anyone recall the lead the hardware numbers before holiday? Taking into consideration that the XBox decided to stick with their limited time price drop and the PS4 keeps outselling XBox, if the lead has gone back to pre-holiday numbers.

Given that M$ stated that they will do anything, what do you see them doing? How about this holiday season?

[mochachino]

Well they shouldn't have nickel and dimed and treated their loyal customers like worthless consumers for so long.

Live Gold was a ripoff after a few years. Its only monetary appeal was free demos when at the time you had to buy a 12 dollars for a magazine to get demos.

Hiding paid services behind pay wall. Again just cheap.

If anything can be learned from xbox's fall from grace it's that customers only take being abused for so long.

MS built up so much good will then destroyed it for short term gains. I've been saying for years they were sacrificing their long term success to sell a few more live subscriptions

5 faulty systems, they were too cheap to just give me a new one instead of cheap rebirb after refirb.

That combiner with pay walls and how live gave nothing for the money actually still makes me feel angry and a little depressed when I think of Xbox. It's filled with so many negatively associations.

When I got it I loved it, but I felt relief by the time I sold it to fund a ps3. It was like the nightmare was over. more importantly I used that 60 for a new AAA game. Plus costs but I get my money's worth in games every year, often within a few months.

I got all my friends to buy ps3, now they all have ps3. I swore to that customer service rep after my 4th failed refirb that xbox was going to lose its early adopters and swore they'd regret being so cheap.

[TechnAmateur]

M$ ain't gonna appeal to Japan a whole lot, that's a fact, considering the Xbox has always done lousy over there, plus it's both Sony & Nintendo's homebase, and the Xbox being less favored there even makes it worse for their JRPGs' to do well at all.

[DJ]

Well yeah, the Xbox one was $150 more expensive a year ago. The price will probably hit $299 this Christmas. It's just a perception issue.

[Wickerman1972]

If they care about winning so much why did they make it so weak? Did they really believe that Xbox 360 owners would buy ANY new box that said Xbox on it?

[Ikki_Phoenix]

keep dreaming MS

[fiveby9]

IMO, MS has lost credibility. Their initial design and business model was to produce a console not with gaming at it's center but rather a home entertainment system with television and gaming. A jack of all trades (master of none) approach. So to say MS has had a change of heart is not because they care about gamers' interests. They had no choice but to pivot on their marketing and hence engineering efforts as gamers are their best foot in the proverbial living room door. So do I really trust MS long term? No. Sony's efforts are not magnanimous either. However, Sony at least realized that gamers were the focus for the business model. Look at all the marketing effort MS is putting into articles and talking points on a graphics API and the like. Every time I turn around there is some article about all these little tweaks for 1% - 10% performance improvement here or there. Historically these were never news stories but they are now. Why? Because MS knows that gamers often care about performance of the oft hyped next gen. So although it is fine to see MS refocus their brand, it is merely to stop the bleeding. First impressions last. They spent years developing the initial X1 strategy and it flopped. Do I think they will try to go back down that road? Yes. Why? Because that is where they truly want to be.

[corroios]

They are in the clouds. The PS4 almost sold 3 times more then the Xbox On in the last month.

Cutting the price didnt make a diference and christmas is so for away... If Sony keep this numbers, that i think its hard, by that time they will have crazy numbers.

[samchez77]

lmfao. Yeah.....good luck with that Microsoft.