How PlayStation VR and Nintendo NX is bad news for Xbox

Microsoft's Xbox is in a very tricky position, seemingly just as it started to build some kind of momentum. The past few weeks have been odd, to put it mildly.

Xbox boss and figurehead Phil Spencer has essentially confirmed that we'll be seeing a new, more powerful Xbox, released within a normal console lifecycle. Is this during the Xbox One's lifecycle? It's not clear, but why put that thought into the minds of consumers if it isn't happening soon? If it's a pipe dream, it didn't come across as one and it will most certainly have put off a group of potential Xbox One buyers.

Let's say that a new, more powerful mid-gen Xbox One isn't released this year. This Christmas the only Xbox you can buy is the original Xbox One – a console less powerful than its direct competitor, the PS4. And that PS4, which is already in a dominant position this console generation, is going to have another selling point from October: PlayStation VR.

[MasterCornholio]

Hmm that's very interesting and I do understand where the author is coming from.

VR and NX can have a negative impact on XB1s sales but we will have to wait and see if that happens.

[DragonDDark]

It's all speculation after all.

And wasn't this site saying that the PSVR price is not good?

Oh.. Da clicks!!

[Psygnosis333]

"and I do understand where the author is coming from"
From the fanboy land ,just like you? :)

[MasterCornholio]

Not really. He's just basing his theory off consumer utility and substitute goods.

It really isn't a fanboy delusion or anything. But I doubt it will have a significant impact on XB1 sales.

The NX is more likely to affect sales then anything else.

I'm sorry to have disappointed you.

Maybe try somebody else?

[Gaming4Life1981]

I don't think it will as long as ms keeps putting out great games. I do understand where this author is coming from and as a vr lover, you will not want to use it for long periods from my experience with my gear vr.

I guess we will see when e3 hits and the fall releases are announced.

[H2OAcidic]

The only thing I think when I see the title is "clickbait." Oh, well sites get to get traffic even with an opinion.

[Perjoss]

Its a valid topic, over the next few months Nintendo and Sony fans have exciting things to look forward to (as well as great games).

As usual Microsoft, a company with almost limitless resources is waiting for stuff to happen so they can COPY rather than use its money to take risks and push gaming forwards. Microsoft could do SO much, but overall they just feel like a lazy company. Not even trying to be a troll, this is just how I see it.

[jcole97]

So do Microsoft fans. Its not like they lost games except fable legends. They still have gears 4, quantum break, crackdown 3, forza horizon 3 and most likely stuff that's unannounced.

[ScorpiusX]

So you think that somewhere in that big 9.5 billion dollar investment they make available to R&D they have not looked into making improvements to Xbox one of their products. Seem a bit shortsighted

[phantomxll]

@Castillo ... of course thats how you see it. But if you did have an Xbox One youd know better. Every month Xbox takes user feedback from the community and provides a new experience on the xbox one with new features, on a monthly basis. All youre doing is what a lot of blind fanboys do, and just spit out nonsense. Instead of copying the fanboy trolls, how about you take a risk, stop being lazy and actually do some research.

[rainslacker]

The success of marketing for any console is keeping it in the news as much as possible...preferably with exciting and positive press.

Sony and Nintendo are going to have a lot of stuff to talk about going forward(E3 and throughout the rest of the year) which will likely keep them pretty far ahead.

MS the past few weeks has been pretty high on the press side, both good and bad, yet all that vanished yesterday with the PSVR price and release date announcement. One of MS good presser's for Monday(cross-network) is pretty much forgotten by the PSVR, as MS is a possible concept which MIGHT come to fruition, whereas PSVR is a real product we can know when to expect. In fact, most of MS marketing this gen, outside of games, has been around vague concepts which are well into the future, with no real substantial meaning for the consumer.

This might be the first year in a very long time where Nintendo and Sony are going to actively compete and market against one another, with Xbox just being the side item since I can't see what it is they have to offer besides some games, of which, only one which seems to be something that will actually get people excited(GeOW4). Beyond that, they don't really have any other huge game or tech to rely on. The idea of an upgradeable console is a possibility, but as of right now, it seems premature to ride with that unless they are ready to actually implement and release such a thing. Cross network play would be a positive of course, but at the same time, it's not something that really differentiates it enough to help them with their major marketing push. "Best lineup in Xbox history" isn't going to cut it this year, because there are just too many exciting things going on which don't come down to marketing superlatives.

[TheCommentator]

I don't see any sign of Nintendo's intent to compete. From all outwards appearances, NX seems to be another Wii or Wii U scenario. Being years late to the party and trying to pioneer another unique way to play don't seem to be elements that would contribute to the notion of competition with anybody else.

[rainslacker]

Maybe so, in which case Sony will likely have post-E3 all to itself unless MS has something up their sleeve we haven't heard about.

[Automatic79]

Does anyone really think MS is sitting around waiting to see what the competition is doing or in the background incubating something megaton for E3. Time will tell but so far we have heard so much news from exclusives coming to Windows 10 PC, to cross platform play for all, Minecraft on Oculus, DX 12 already being used, Lionhead and Press play being Shutdown. I have a feeling a lot will happen in the next 6 months.

[Death]

If they are moving towards forward and backward compatibility, then there is a good chance they are working on a hardware solution that makes the Xbox One truly Rift compatible. I don't see them creating their own hardware for VR anytime soon. I think there is a good chance of seeing a new Xbox One with a Thunderbolt 3 connection in the future to take advantage of external GPU's. Microsoft has a pretty solid relationship with AMD and they are pushing external GPU's pretty hard right now. It's not as simple as adding a port though since the APU and ram would bottle neck the system pretty fast.

[rainslacker]

I don't think they're sitting around, and if they are, they really don't care. But at the same time, unless they have something to really combat all these other things happening from their competitors, it's not really going to help them going forward. The positive stuff won't hurt them, but that positive stuff is going to take a back seat to the exciting stuff that's going on.

Just look at how quickly the cross-network and LH closure got pushed out of the limelight with the announcement of PSVR, and how quickly the news of it and the release date has flooded N4G with articles which take up the top 10. This is what MS has to contend with, and no doubt between PSVR, Sony's games at E3 and other conferences, NX reveal with possible price and release date, Nintendo's new game announcements, it's going to be hard for MS to keep up, because all they really have to rely on now is their game software which as of right now only really involves GeOW4, QB(which won't factor as much at the end of the year) and another Forza for major releases which actually get the mainstream excited, and I can't see where they could have another one lined up for this year given their current development cycle and release dates.

[Automatic79]

@Rainslacker

"Just look at how quickly the cross-network and LH closure got pushed out of the limelight with the announcement of PSVR, and how quickly the news of it and the release date has flooded N4G with articles which take up the top 10."

This is N4g news from aggrated sites come in every day. News regarding both platforms comes in every day. Generally and in the overall picture both platforms have had equal news on GDC week. You focusin on the portion of PSVR news is your head both companies had megaton news this week.

"This is what MS has to contend with, and no doubt between PSVR, Sony's games at E3 and other conferences, NX reveal with possible price and release date, Nintendo's new game announcements, it's going to be hard for MS to keep up, because all they really have to rely on now is their game software which as of right now only really involves GeOW4, QB(which won't factor as much at the end of the year) and another Forza for major releases which actually get the mainstream excited, and I can't see where they could have another one lined up for this year given their current development cycle and release dates."

Again you are only looking at it from your own point of view or in the alternative trying to create a false notion as if you have an idea how Microsoft is approaching the next few years. Microsoft has a lot more to show off and give gamers this year alone, for example, in two weeks we get to try out the Gears of War 4 beta, followed by gamers build which they already made more announcements today with DX 12 being used in games, UWP, Xbox live tournaments for competitive gaming esports, microsoft wants to make sure that it's offering is the home of the best competitive gaming ecosystem, ID @ Xbox now includes over 1,400 developers.

As far as games go Gears of War, QB and Forza are big but you are missing some awesome games with Recore, Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3, We happy few, Cuphead and many more. Don't be quick to Judge Xbox One they are resilient and are opening up there platform to embrace gaming in the future which is great in general. Plus you can not think they are sitting in the background not being ready to launch more surprises as they have been in the last few weeks. In my opinion a slim sleek Xbox One is coming (not sure but all signs point to this).

[rainslacker]

My bigger point is is that MS is talking about all these vague things which may or may not have any impact, and have vague times when they will implement them. As far as games, they don't have many studios working on 1st party games, and while some of the 3rd party stuff they have looks good, it's mostly new stuff which isn't likely to generate the kind of buzz that a new console from Nintendo, or PSVR is this coming holiday season.

Even the announcements at GDC were mostly just PR stuff as far as I've seen so far, although I do intend to look more into it because I'm sure I'll need to know it for work. All the stuff you bring up is once again just possible random stuff which isn't likely to generate much on the consumer side, with no indication on when it will be a thing worth considering.

I wasn't missing any MS games. I personally am looking forward to those games, but do you really believe cuphead, recore or SoT is going to generate the same excitement that Sony or Nintendo can with their new stuff? CD3 might be something, but as it stands, right now, MS can only rely on it's games to stay in the limelight unless they have something major unannounced so far.

I'm not quick to judge. I'm going based on what we already know. MS has been throwing out PR left and right these last few weeks. As far as their current dev cycle and release dates, I can't see how any of their major studios would have anything ready for this year, so once again it's just something for a later date.

[Ratty]

I'm sure the X1 will do fine. Still plenty of people will use it. Not everyone is interested in Mario or VR.

[ji3200]

Xbox is already brainstorming about used game policy attempt for next XBOX console. All the xbox owner, be prepare for another slap in the head from microsoft. They want your money and they don't want you to share games with other friends.

[Tobsesan]

Because ms is the only Company who want to make money right? Every other company is doing it for goodwill.

[Death]

Microsoft is bringing your 360 library to the Xbox One for free while Sony is content on charging you for it. From the looks of it they want to transfer that same ownership from your Xbox to your PC to give you even more freedom. That whole used game policy you are bringing up was the result of turning your physical game into a digital one giving you the same benefits of a digital copy. It made sharing much easier than driving to someones house and handing them your physical game copy.

[meche334]

guys like you are why this gen isn't innovative. Ms is now trying to make the console like a normal console when it wasn't initially designed for that.

[MachuchalBrotha316]

Funny you say that because just yesterday there was an article about MS trying to do the opposite. Looking into the best way to let us share games with friends.

[ShadowKnight]

Time will tell. The Xbox one will be launching Gears of War 4 this fall. One of its popular exclusives. The one should do fine.

[Liveevirdtset]

Propaganda again, anyone see Xbox sales still roughly two thirds what Sony can sell and its "power" is far less discrepant than previous generation (e.g. the ps2 v original xbox). People can't be that stupid Sony did this PR prior to Microsoft's holiday season offering to mitigate its impact, if the average consumer isn't smart enough to see past this sad really.

[lastking95]

We'll see, i bet money xbox is releasing a slim this year.

[pompombrum]

VR could be huge leading up to the Christmas sales but with the current rumours surrounding the NX, I'd say it's far too early for Microsoft to be losing sleep or even giving a glance in Nintendo's direction.

[Death]

How do you propose VR will impact console sales over the holiday? Do you think PS3 and 360 owners that waited this long were waiting for PSVR to hit shelves before deciding? PSVR with the mandatory camera and tax is going to cost $500 alone. How many 360 owners are going to give up thir game library just because they now have the opportunity to drop $900 on a PS4 and PSVR and then have to buy games for both? How many that were undecided do you think will skip on a $500 PSVR?

[pompombrum]

Because of the buzz surrounding it. It doesn't mean 360 owners are suddenly going to drop their console and spend stupid money just to get into VR but it could potentially be one of the biggest talking points of the holidays.. that alone will at the very least get people looking at the PS4 with the view that it's the most future proofed console if not for it's staggering popularity and momentum it's built since release.

[PoopsMcGee]

@ Death

The vast majority of people can only put down a chunk of money that big for ONE gadget (if that) each holiday season. It's just common sense that SOME that may have been eyeing an X1 for that purchase will now be eyeing a PSVR or NX as well.

How big of an effect will it have? We'll see. But it will have a small impact at the very least...

[rlow1]

First off, this article is click bait heaven and doesn't add anything new. That said, he misses the point about strategy. Microsoft knows it has already lost this generation in terms of units sold. So what you do is change the game and shake things up. The author is clearly going by how things have worked in the past in the console wars. Because all of this cross playing with pc will only do one thing.......sell more windows 10s.

I do believe however that MS has a lot of games coming out for xbox1 that will drive sales and help the console to move units. As for Nintendo, its a big question mark on what they will bring to the market. I know it's success will come down to how friendly it is to 3rd parties. Something it hasn't been to good at in the past.

Oh well, only time will tell. One thing for sure, E3 not going to be boring!!

[Lennoxb63]

I don't think Xbox has anything to worry about.

[BossBattle]

Xbox players have been knowing about PSVR for a while now. If they really wanted one they'd buy a PS4 and PSVR for $900. People said this same kind if stuff when the PS Move came out. Yeah Sony fans swore it would be cool to swing the Move like a star wars lightsaber. Or the Vita TV where you can stream and play your games in the next room but for some reason not in the room where the PS4 is. Or the Vita handheld itself which is dying as I type.

[remixx116]

I'm gonna just say it.....can anything be announced nowadays without it spelling the doom of xbox.....please.

I mean jeez pretty soon were gonna have articles like "how the new Logitech hands free keyboard could spell doom for xbox"

I'm a playstation/Nintendo guy but give MS a break with these articles.

[rainslacker]

Doom is certainly a overly stated exaggeration. It does sound better than, "What will be the measurable effect of PSVR and NX for MS this year...an analytical review". Granted, very few of these types of articles actually take an analytical review of it.

[Goldby]

Toyota anounce Project Blaid for the seeing impared. that doesn't spell doom for Xbox

Yet....

http://giphy.com/gifs/kKdgd...

[Free_Fro]

Everything is bad news for Xbox
I'm shocked the console is still on sale.

If I had a pound for every time the Xbox died..
I'd be drowning in riches ^_^
-
X'O

[Goldby]

you could also use your "dead" xbox one as a floatation device similar to Titanic. only this time, you make the chick hang off the side.
#malelivesmatter

[Artemidorus]

Xbox got it wrong with a camera Playstation got it right with a VR

[Death]

So far Microsoft has sold more cameras and games than Sony has PSVR's. What are you basing your in depth analysis on? Hope or hype?

[Artemidorus]

Yeah and they forced people like me on day one to buy one as it came with the camera so many of them are unwanted as I remembered.

VR hasn't come out yet and it's sold out in certain places. Microsoft wouldn't of gotten the same if the camera were sold separately.

[Stogz]

Who knows, but one thing I do know, you are all up and down this thread doing your best to downplay PSVR.

[shinrock]

Wow, is This site just filled with salesmen or gamer's?
At least they figured out a way to sell the camera and move controller.lol

[ShowanW]

People love to jump the gun... Bring up Xbox to get hits on their respective site.

Xbox is doing more than fine. Outside of the Kinect write off, Xbox is NOT selling at a loss. Xbox Live subs have gone up (according to MS that is)

Phil has said time and time again, you will get pieces of the gameplan for Xbox during specific events.

xbox may be at #2 this gen (which is more than fine, considering being #2 made them step their game up BIG TIME), but im more than willing to stick with a product that is backed by a mega billion dolla corporation that is willing to thrown unlimited amounts of $$$ at a product until they get it right.

people need to understand how microsoft as a company works. when they release something that sucks, they will throw $$billions$$ at it to get it right.

Case in point:
Windows:ME (sucked bad) --> Windows XP (awesome..well after SP1&SP2 dropped)

Windows Vista (unusable) --> Windows 7

Windows 8 (lacking) --> Windows 8.1 (yay much better) --> Windows 10 (way better)

Surface Pro 1 (too bulky) --> Surface Pro 2 (a little better) --> Surface Pro 3 (jackpot) <--this device is now being copied left and right)

OG Xbox --> 360 --> Xbox One

All the $$$ spent at R&D alone for the above is worth more than some small countries in the whole world.

Microsoft does things that drive me crazy... but the fact that they will throw money at a problem until it gets corrected is also the reason i stick around.

[quenomamen]

Yea, if I remember in high school economics they taught us that in order to be a great company you have to keep releasing half assed products that cost billions to develop, then spend anoth couple billions to get it right. Not spend those billions the right way and do it right from the beggining. Lol, that logic tho.

[ShowanW]

amazing how revenue and profits are up for microsoft though.

some still go by the old adage, you gotta spend money to make money.

amazing that google and apple, heck even samsung have done this until they got it right.

im old enough to remember when samsung products were considered crappy.

[illtownNJONE]

xbox one will be fine

[curtis92]

What will MS have going for them this holiday?

VR will be the talk of the town, Nintendo will have renewed interest from NX...

Xbox... basically if Xbox couldn't do anything LAST holiday with their 'greatest lineup in history' line, this holiday is going to be an absolute nightmare for them.

[ShowanW]

they have $$$ to keep going...

[esmittystud101]

I mean by Microsot already making the move for PC/X1 merge, and now all of a sudden they want there players to play with PS4 players? What is Microsofts strategy by doing this? There has to be a strategy that Microsoft is trying to get the upper hand on. Sony and Microsoft will always be seperate I think, but moves that Microsoft is making deffinatly makes me think something is up.

In Business marketing 101 when a competing company/corporation all of a sudden wants to somehow work/join the competitions customers it points in possibly two directions. (I don't think it would ever happen with these two companies) but, a merge or a takeover down the road.

I know thats hard to here for a gamer, and your all ready thinking up ways to say how it would never happen. I'm just saying in Business/Marketing 101, when two competing companies start making moves like this, 90% of the time it leads to a merge/takeover down the road.

Now you guys can bash it all you want, as a gamer I know its hard to chew on. I don't think it would ever happen. But I wouldn't rule it out completly down the road.

[ScorpiusX]

So we are to assume MS may buy out sony , based on a gut feeling . Crazy scenario but would love to see the reaction from the sony fans and watch the market share on PC sale rise.

[ShowanW]

MS did not want to let anyone in the Walled garden of Xbox Live...

it was gamers (and some gaming companies) that screamed and kicked for this to happen...

microsoft walled garden coming down is the result of US the gamer and media outlets like kotaku, ign, polygon, etc falling on the floor and throwing temper tantrums...

[ScorpiusX]

Think the walls are staying up so not to deal with interruption to Xbox live from this venture of play everyone . Think a 3rd party concept where no security breaches or interruption can hurt their subs is whats being shared.

[Bobafret]

So who would be buying out who?

[rainslacker]

I don't know if MS could justify to their investors that buying out Sony would be a good thing...even if it were possible. Sony, while getting better financially, still isn't at the point where it's a good investment, and it would appear that many investors over at MS aren't too keen on the Xbox/game software divisions getting so much attention and funding to begin with. Buying out Sony just for the PS brand would bring in all the other problems that they'd have to deal with from the company, and would probably mean closing down most of what makes Sony what they are thus the company itself would lose much of it's value within a year of it's closure.

Sony is working to restructure it's company to be more valuable, and MS seems to have little interest in being in many of the markets that Sony has a hand in. The only big direct competition MS has with Sony is on their gaming hardware and software, so it would make more sense to simply partner with them and try to get their OS on the PS hardware...which at this point is probably not what Sony wants since they have their own services to consider.

[ScorpiusX]

Enough with the overdramatic BS articles , that offer no real proof . Nothing more than Pure Speculation .

[Keregan]

Meh for what we have seen so far, PSVR is nothing really special. It might appeal to those who already owns a PS4, but considering that you need the ps cams to use it, i don't see it being more than another gimmick like the kinect.

[divinealpha]

Let's put the xbox stuff to the side now while psvr will do great this holiday , why is the Nintendo NX in the mix we hardly know anything about it lol

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Agreed... hard to say anything about NX since we really know nothing at this point.

As for PSVR yes, its going to do well out of the gate. Their is a core audience of PS4 users who are very excited for VR and have already committed to buying it day one. That said, the majority of the console gaming community at large is not all bought in on VR. There is still plenty of gamers still wanting a console to play non-vr games so I think any talk of doom and gloom is highly exaggerated.

[meche334]

MS is partnered with Oculus. They could bring oculus to xbox one pretty freaking easily

[MasterCornholio]

Hopefully it's something more than a virtual movie theatre.

But the truth is I don't believe Microsoft is even ready to deliver a true VR experience to the XB1. Not to mention the OR resolution is far beyond the consoles capabilities. They could just blow up a native 1080P\900P image to 2k resolution but that can cause some serious issues. Motion sickness and the screen door effect can be dramatically worse because of it.

[MachuchalBrotha316]

I don't see it having any impact on MS whatsoever. The people buying PSVR most likely already have a PS4. We still dont know much about NX, that being said its a new console which if good would cut into Xbox and PS4 sales. The only way it hurts MS, is that again, if VR takes off and they want to get into the VR arena they will be behind PSVR and whatever VR, NX will have, according to some rumors and playing catch up.

Time will tell as usual. Xbox does seem the odd console out for this yr. Sony and Nintendo have new hardware coming and thats very exciting for gamers. I don't think games alone could go against that.

[Morgue]

I don't really think this is bad news for the Xbox brand or MS in general, it's just that they really need spell out what their vision is and stop changing it every month it seems like. With Sony I already know what I'm getting and that's games and well now the VR thing but all you ever hear, at least for me is about the games. My " dashboard " on the PS4 isn't filled with crazy stuff about netflix or what's on TV or the latest movies or sports and when I do see that; it's only in the PS Store.

Now I'm not going to say that MS is about to pad their numbers once Windows and Live or whatever is mixed together but some will say it is but I believe there is more going on behind the scenes with the X1 that no one really knows about. Are sales really that bad? Are they really relying on their core franchises too carry them through and beyond this year?

What's the story on the Cloud tech? What is this apparent " new model " that people are talking about? It's all pretty confusing if you ask me.

[kenwonobi]

This is like releasing a console within a console. This PSVR unit has potential to cut into sales of the NX and Xbox. Now instead of buying a second console many will be buying a PSVR unit. I expect the lifetime sales of the PSVR to at least surpass the Wii and maybe outpace the NX in sales. Growing the PS4 fanbase.

[Goldby]

growing the Playstation fanbase*

the PSVR in which ever generation will be usable form now on. earky adopters will be able to plug the psvr into PS5 if and when its released. it was genius planning making the only limitation to the PSVR the PS4 itself. no need to upgrade vr HMD for a while :)

@fallenAngel

we do know some things.
its made by nintendo
it'll most likely be white
... its made by nintendo

[FallenAngel1984]

We don't even know anything about NX. Let's no pretend that it and an expensive add-on are suddenly going to make an established platform like Xbox One irrelevant.

[optimus]

I think this will fall into the wii category...it'll be hot for a little while and then fizzle out once the cool factor dies out...for starters it's $400 which is more than the ps4 itself. I really don't see this flying off the shelves past 3-4 months.

[Trekster_Gamer]

I'm an Xbox gamer primarily and nothing in the near future I see changing that comma I am very excited for the PlayStation VR and all the possibilities it holds as well.