Xbox One beats PlayStation 4 and mobile gaming in December’s ad spend

Consoles blew their mobile counterparts out of the water

[DashArrivals]

Why do they always spend lots more on advertising and less on new games and new IP?

[KickSpinFilter]

That's what they have always done Windows OS anyone?
That's what they know advertise the shit out of it.
And on top of that Sony spends barely anything on TV advertisement.

[trooper_]

Who knows.
I think it's ridiculous.

Every XBox fan should be outraged by this.

[game4funz]

why?

[yezz]

I have a feeling that it's simply the "american way". Advertising is their jam..

[SmielmaN]

It's shocking how much money is spent on advertising. But the formula is there. If you put something in front of ppl frequently with appealing music and colors they will be more likely to want said product, if it fits their needs/wants. Look at Witcher 3. I think the game cost $80 million to make and they spent $80 million on advertising. Now think about how much MS pays to put their 3-4 game video commercial out every 12-15 mins during the entire month of December and most of November. Remember that advertising pricing fluctuates depending on the channel, program, time, avg viewer ratings, etc. MS spends a fortune telling you about Xbox for 2 months.

[Dragonscale]

@Dash tbh MS could probably afford to do both.

[MRMagoo123]

yet they don't and I think that's his point really...

[rainslacker]

There's merit to spending money to market one's game. No point releasing a game if no one knows about it.

But MS tends to put most of it's marketing into a very few select titles, and then the hardware itself.

I think if they dialed back the advertising, and did invest in more games it'd actually serve them better in the long run, but those new games would require marketing on their own.

Sort of a catch 22 I guess. MS just needs to have better marketing. Just having a lot of it doesn't really do anything if it's not effective.

[Dragonscale]

@magoo, and thats my point, all that cash and they won't invest in 1st party studios. Pretty sad really.

[Abnor_Mal]

Is this what all thats left for people to compare and create another fanboy war, which company spend the most on advertising for the month? Well I guess it could be something to cheer about, maybe. Funny and sad at the same time.

[InTheZoneAC]

I think the author is actually making fun of M$...

[Abnor_Mal]

I hope thats exactly what they were doing, but its still sad to think that thats all there is left to compare and call it a win if it was indeed a non satirical article. I hope we don't hear about any PR comments coming from MS in regards to advertising sales lead.

[Aura7541]

It's more of an indictment on Microsoft because they spent loads more money than Sony, but the PS4 still sold more according to December NPD.

[Ceaser9857361]

timotim

the Pro and slim sold well ... Holiday season Sony sold over 6 m console.. Now if you have noticed Xbox one post "S" release was winning in NA for 4 consecutive months then how come during black friday andso on Sony dominated.. PS4 Pro.. Now Sony is sitting at 55 m WW ...

"Xbox One and Slim is two consoles that was going up against 3 by Sony...PS4, Slim and Pro...and even then MS almost pulled it out for the month"

"3 will always be higher than 2... " Wrong
Post Pro release Xbox lost to Sony, also the xbox one s was doing well because of its the only console with 4K Blu-Ray but the margin was less..

[Aura7541]

Pro did pretty good for the type of product it is: a luxury device that was $150 more expensive during the holiday season. Sony was likely very happy with the way things turned out in December because not only did the PS4 win, but it brought in a lot of revenue. The UC4 bundle doesn't cost Sony much because UC4 is a 1st party game. On the other hand, the Battlefield 1 bundle was one of the XB1's primary bundles alongside the Minecraft bundle, which was further discounted to $225. Bundling a 3rd party game is more expensive because some of that money goes to the publisher (in this case, EA). And then, we also have to consider the added cost from the 4K Bluray.

[rainslacker]

@tim

MS won an award for their massive marketing campaigns for Xbox. This isn't something new for MS, so what about the other parts of the year, or generation, where the system doesn't do so well?

MS has always been a big spender on marketing for most of it's consumer level products. Windows, Zune, Surface, etc, have all had this constant barrage of ads. Windows is about the only thing that really sells well, but it's sales have been in constant decline for a decade now. Surface has been moderately successful, but it's a product that appeals to a specific market. Zune and the others have gone nowhere.

It's not to say the marketing didn't work. Obviously it did. But, is outspending the two biggest spenders in the market by quite a large margin, for a relatively small boost to sales YOY actually worth it?

There just comes a point where they have to analyze their marketing, and ask, is it the marketing or the product that's the problem. If it's the marketing, then they need better advertising teams, because MS marketing is kind of condescending and aimed at hipsters. Their products themselves aren't bad hardware wise, but now they're looking at it from a matter of games not being compelling, and nowadays, it's hard to make uncompelling games sell as well, because people have become so jaded, and MS offerings are mostly just more of the same.

[YEP414]

Xbox one the best console i dont care about the sales....im not a shareholder

[Veneno]

So why does MS always advertise best selling console (insert misleading time frame)?

Are they advertising to share holders?

[Ceaser9857361]

"Xbox one the best console i dont care about the sales"

Ya! it was early i guess when people like you said.. Xbox one the best console i dont care about power... when Scorpio got announced.. Scorpio gonna smash the PS4 and the Pro..

Thank god you're not a shareholder.. You would have gone mental like that messiah guy

[rainslacker]

I thought Dreamcast was the best console of it's gen. So why care about sales?

Other than it didn't get as much support as the PS2, which was pretty good in it's own right.

But I'm not a shareholder, so why would I care.....

[il-JumperMT]

Google the world Stakeholder.

[KickSpinFilter]

I bet

[MasterCornholio]

The article is quite interesting.

[OB1Biker]

Is it about the US or worldwide?

[Relientk77]

Love how they don't spend that money on new first party studios and games

[opinionated]

"Beats them".... like they won something by spending more money on advertising lol. Who has spent more money on game development? That's a statistic I could praise.

[Sparta07]

At least they beat PS4 in something.
( runs away )

[TheColbertinator]

Cool I guess.

[KillZallthebeast]

That has to hurt a lot considering they still fell short

[OpieWinston]

First... People complain about MS not marketing their new IPs... Sunset Overdrive, QB, ReCore, Etc...
NOW people say they spend more money on advertising then investing.

Like seriously do you trolls even read your crap out?
It's a balance. You got to invest and market and we still have yet to see any games from the Post Phil Spencer Head of Xbox era... Everything we've seen so far was before that.

[Sparta07]

Lmao!!! Ok there opie, calm down you are going to bust a blood vessel.
I know you're sad and all but the people saying that Microsoft are not marketing their ip's is xbox fans. Is just one of many ecusses they came up with as to why games don't sell well on xbox.
" You got to invest and market and we still have yet to see any games from the Post Phil Spencer Head of Xbox era... Everything we've seen so far was before that "
Lol. Omg. Great example of someone being delusional.

[KickSpinFilter]

Imagine if Sony spent as much as MS did in ADs
Yikes

[rainslacker]

They don't advertise those games. Well, they did QB. But the rest was pretty half-assed.

Nothing wrong with marketing, I just think they put their marketing dollars in the wrong place. They focus on their 3rd party content deals, staple IP's, ad hardware. Those other games, which could draw in more players outside the "dudebro" market which they already have, to actually grow their user base, barely get much notice outside big events. Almost all those games you mentioned, except QB, were only ever stuck in sizzle reel type ads outside Youtube. Hardly a way to really draw attention to them to the masses, and instead it only gets seen by those who really pay attention to gaming and don't need those ads to begin with.

[Silkside]

The only console to do 4k*

[MRMagoo123]

is the ps4 pro at the moment but I think I know what you mean with the *

[SinkingSage]

What game runs at 4k exactly?

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Well the Xbox One S beat the Vanilla PS4 in the past two months of NPD, unfortunately for MS, Sony and the NPD combine PS4 and PS4 Pro into one sales figure in their PR releases, making the combined brand the obvious winner.

So in some ways Microsoft's advertising is paying off. They also had YOY growth. If you go back to N4G just a year ago the front page of this site was flooded with articles claiming they would exit the console business by now. Their ad spending, the growth of the Xbox One (which got off to a horrible start) and the Scorpio prove they're in it for the long haul.

[MRMagoo123]

npd huh ...yay go USA ...shame that's not what matters. also the ps4 and PS4 pro are counted in the same figure because they are the same just one is the premium console and one is not. I guess if it makes you feel better lying or twisting facts go ahead but no one else will agree unless they struggle to win a battle of wits against a yoghurt aka very very thick.

edit: what are you 6 years old ? why would I be "salty" wtf does that even mean. I game on pc I just like calling out you Xbox fannies that pretend to own both as if that makes your point more valid. the only truth here is no one cares if ms wins a couple months in the USA when it has never won a day world wide which is what actually matters.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

No lies here. Only truth. The regulars on this site know my track record is pretty darn accurate. Stay salty my friend.

[rainslacker]

Is roughly 42 million spent in advertising worth what marginal YOY growth they had?

That's about half the cost of a new AAA game....marketing included.

All spent in one month.

That doesn't even include the rest of the years cost of marketing.

So....I can't agree that MS advertising is paying off. It's more like they are spending more to just show positive gains, instead of actually spending money to actually solve the problem with why the system is struggling.

If MS dialed back it's marketing budget by half for the whole year, they could quite literally make 2 AAA IP's, with marketing included, that could drive people to the system. They did it with Halo. They did it with Gears. Now they have nothing to drive new customers there, and have lost a lot of the faith that they will deliver new experiences like they did in the 360 days which brought them their success that gen in the first place.

I'd rather MS focus on the problem, and not seek to simply spend their way to success in the most trivial of ways, which don't benefit the consumer at all, and has questionable benefits for MS itself.

[Skillz1215]

ps4 and ps4 pro is one entity...there's no combining anything...even if they were it would not matter the xbox one is getting trounced by the original ps4...Only thing MS does better then Sony is cancel games

[IIFloodyII]

Makes their flagships franchises underperforming even more impressive.

[GoodnessGreatness]

Microsoft is doing it wrong. Stop making false advertisements. Your Xbox One S is a movie player not a games console.

[Nodoze]

Just think that money could have funded games.

[Tross]

And this is news how? Everyone knows MS always spends more on ads than their competition. It just makes them look bad when the XB1 still manages to sell less than the PS4.