Microsoft Xbox Series sales tracking 11% behind Xbox One at this point (US)

[crispy4000]

 

Added wrinkle:

 

 

XBO tracking ahead of the 360 at this point kind of makes sense, with Microsoft launching a year before Sony and whatnot.  They got out of the gate early and the industry had to catch up.

 

As for Series consoles, its likely a combination of a poor 1st party start to the generation, and not coming into it with a consumer base advantage.

[XxEvil AshxX]

Three years into the console's life, the Xbox One was probably already seeing a pretty chunky price drop, especially with the One X on the horizon. Plus it was a pretty good media player compared to the PS4 and all of its DRM shit. You could play pretty much anything you wanted on an XBO. I still use it as a media box. 

 

Also, considering MS has pretty much thrown in the towel on console sales and focused more on publishing to PC and Game Pass, their revenue is still up year over year.

 

Not defending MS, just curious why people even care about console sales when MS themselves pretty much admitted they couldn't win in that area. All it is, is fanboy fuel. It doesn't even mean anything anymore.

 

I know MS has committed to another console generation, but I really am expecting them to drop hardware altogether and go full third-party. It probably won't happen until Phil retires, but it will happen.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

I also wonder how many people decided to just jump to PC or just not bother because of already having PC since all Xbox exclusives are day and date releases on PC now, and many are also cross play. 
 

console scarcity for at least the first year of release for the series would have played a part in Xbox not being able to capitalize on the hype around launch. So Xbone is just a bit ahead because Series had a nerfed start. Otherwise the Series might be more equal or slightly ahead of the Xbone. 
 

and we’ve yet to really start seeing the fruits of MS’s developer/publisher acquisitions. So little in the way of “system sellers” where you’d say “I need to get a Series console for that game”. 
 

All of that adding to slower sales than Xbone by the 3 year mark. 

[Hurricane Game]

6 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I also wonder how many people decided to just jump to PC or just not bother because of already having PC since all Xbox exclusives are day and date releases on PC now, and many are also cross play. 
 

console scarcity for at least the first year of release for the series would have played a part in Xbox not being able to capitalize on the hype around launch. So Xbone is just a bit ahead because Series had a nerfed start. Otherwise the Series might be more equal or slightly ahead of the Xbone. 
 

and we’ve yet to really start seeing the fruits of MS’s developer/publisher acquisitions. So little in the way of “system sellers” where you’d say “I need to get a Series console for that game”. 
 

All of that adding to slower sales than Xbone by the 3 year mark. 

 

Exactly what I did. I already had a pc so I saw no point in buying an Xbox. 

[crispy4000]

4 hours ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

Not defending MS, just curious why people even care about console sales when MS themselves pretty much admitted they couldn't win in that area. All it is, is fanboy fuel. It doesn't even mean anything anymore.

They’re more than just fanboy fodder, they’re a referendum on their strategy shift.

 

When the Xbox One launched they were selling $60 exclusives as their primary model.  Now with all Microsoft published games on PC, and a subscription at the forefront of their value offering, they haven’t been able to push needle forward in the living room.  That’s worth talking about, and not only in terms of their competition.

 

It’s a bit bewildering to me from a value sense.  I feel like we’ve been here before with the GameCube, where a console with much better value for the price couldn’t make inroads.  Microsoft has its Games Pass advantage, yet Sony freely jacks up the price of their inferior service because they don’t feel threatened. That’s a negative for the industry, and another obvious place where sales still matter.

 

We haven’t seen the full extent of how Microsoft’s acquisitions will play into hardware sales. We probably won’t get a fuller picture until next gen.  But I’m assuming the hope is that CoD on Games Pass becomes a system seller and killer app for Xbox consoles, and be more than enough to reverse course.

 

4 hours ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

I know MS has committed to another console generation, but I really am expecting them to drop hardware altogether and go full third-party. It probably won't happen until Phil retires, but it will happen.

The only way they stop making consoles is if their install base follows them to a streaming platform.  I’m sure Phil would consider going there if he saw the opportunity.  But in the UK courts at least, they’ve argued how slow and insignificant xCloud adoption has been.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

I also wonder how many people decided to just jump to PC or just not bother because of already having PC since all Xbox exclusives are day and date releases on PC now, and many are also cross play. 

It may not be that much, since Sony appears to be eating into Microsoft’s lost market share.

 

Definitely not with these GPU prices.  The crypto boom and it’s lasting effects aren’t doing PC any favors.

[AbsolutSurgen]

2 hours ago, Hurricane Game said:

 

Exactly what I did. I already had a pc so I saw no point in buying an Xbox. 

That's what I did.  If you have a decent gaming PC, there's no really any point on getting an Xbox.

 

Gamepass makes sense if it gives you the games you want to play.  It doesn't look like good value for me on PC, and I don't know how many non-Xbox players subscribe.  Most PC players I know prefer to play most/everything on Steam.

 

Microsoft's ability to get GamePass subscriptions is probably largely corelated with their ability to sell Xboxes.  With their sales falling, it looks like their strategy hasn't been working as well as they would have liked so far.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

33 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

It may not be that much, since Sony appears to be eating into Microsoft’s lost market share.

 

Definitely not with these GPU prices.  The crypto boom and it’s lasting effects aren’t doing PC any favors.

If Xbox players can play on PC and don’t need a Xbox it could free them up to get a PS5. You’re right, it may not be that much, but with 2+ year waits for first party PS5 titles bs Xbox day and date, I can see where for some gamers a PC+PS5 combo makes more sense, more than ever. 
 

Depends on what a person’s budget in. 
 

another thing to think of with the Xbox players migrating to PC, the Xbox One came out in 2013. Odds are a person who owned a Xbox One has more disposable income 7-10 years later, so may be more willing to jump into PC gaming. Maybe did so during the 2000 series or 3000 series. So they’ve been set as far as PC goes for a bit and never saw the need to get a Series X. 
 

it would be interesting to see what the retention rate for MS has been, Xbone to Series. And then see similar metrics for Sony and PS4 to PS5 conversion. 

[crispy4000]

If PC part prices were as reasonable as they were at this point last gen, I think there could have been more migration away from consoles by now.   I’m not inclined to build a new PC yet as a result, which was enough to buy a PS5 when I didn’t plan on it.  That and stutter issues that made me think skipping consoles wasn’t the best option.

[AbsolutSurgen]

7 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

If PC part prices were as reasonable as they were at this point last gen, I think there could have been more migration away  from consoles by now.   I’m not inclined to build a new PC yet as a result, which was enough to buy a PS5 when I didn’t plan on it.  That and stutter issues.

Are the games you play most often even aligned with being a masterrace PC gamer?

[crispy4000]

3 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Are the games you play most often even aligned with being a masterrace PC gamer?

Not typically, but in 2023 it doesn’t matter.  Everything comes there other than Nintendo stuff.

[Dre801]

I bought an Xbox Series X, but then I recently treated myself to a new laptop as a birthday gift to myself that has a RTX 4080( yes, I know it's not the same as the desktop version); it plays the same Game Pass games at frame rates my Series X won't, so I play on it more.