2011....will it be the beginning of the end for the Xbox 360?

[Wolvieboy17]

I think perhaps these sales figure might render the purpose of this thread somewhat redundant....

CES: 8 Million Kinects Shipped
Xbox 360 climbs to over 50 million units worldwide.
US, January 5, 2011 January 5, 2011 January 5, 2011

Microsoft President CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the Consumer Electronics Show tonight the company has sold 8 million Kinect units in its first 60 days on sale.

Ballmer also announced Xbox 360 sales have surpassed 50 million units sold worldwide.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson clarified to IGN the 8 million unit figure is shipped to retailers, not sold to customers. It is unclear at this time if Microsoft has reached its goal of 5 million Kinects sold by the end of the Holiday 2010.

The company previously reported sell-through numbers of 2.5 million units in its first 25 days on sale.
http://au.xbox360.ign.com/articles/114/1142767p1.html

 

[KALEL114]

Shipped figures, not sales figures. Products in homes is the key not sitting on the retail shelf. All the big companies do this though when they announce "numbers".

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Oh yeah, they must have updated that inbetween the time I read it and the time i posted it.

Still, I suppose they've made an initial batch of money from the shipping, so we'll see how they go with selling from the retail outlets.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I think perhaps these sales figure might render the purpose of this thread somewhat redundant....

It doesn´t make it redundant because, even if they are strong numbers (and they are), it means very little in the big picture.
The main problem is, the video game market is divided in 3 big stages: US, Japan and Europe, the Xbox brand never got on foot in one market and lost the other one since 2009, and the most weird thing is, they never tried anything to win that back, is just like they don´t care.

The Xbox brand is like a mountain climber that lost their footing and are hanging with one finger.
It´s a strong finger that´s a fact, but if they lose that one, or being showing signs of fatigue, they will fall hard.

 

[Cth]

Since they sold 4 million by Dec. 11th, it's not a stretch to imagine they hit the 5 million mark easily.

Frankly, I'm surprised we haven't had a thread proclaiming the death of the industry, what with Wii sales tanking, doom and gloom talk for the 360, and the PS3 unable to precent piracy anymore.

 

[chaseter]

My Best Buy here in town was completely out of Kinects before Christmas.

 

[Cth]

The main problem is, the video game market is divided in 3 big stages: US, Japan and Europe, the Xbox brand never got on foot in one market and lost the other one since 2009, and the most weird thing is, they never tried anything to win that back, is just like they don´t care.

Got a source on that? And please don't use vgchartz, they're notorious for bad numbers.

As of Jan 4, 2011:

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/01/04/xbox-360-and-ps3-dominated-uk-in-2010-game-market-sales-totaled

UK Sales PS3: 13.8 mil
UK Sales 360: 18.2 mil

According to Sony, as of Aug 2010:

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=260424

Europe Sales PS3: 16 mil

(No idea about non-UK sales for 360, which are presumably lower than PS3s, but extrapolating from the above, it can't be much more -- for humor sake let's put it at 1mil (half of the PS3 difference) 16 vs 19.

IMO, Japan doesn't matter nearly as much anymore as traditional Japanese games are tanking and developers are expressing interest in developing more western style games, at least as far as consoles are concerned.

Handhelds are an entirely different situation altogether.

Also worth mentioning, is the way the Yen is performing which had a big impact negatively on how sales are in Japan. Wii posted a huge loss as a result, despite selling a lot of units. Sony had similar issues.

The funniest thing I find in all of this, is that despite people claiming the failure rate is over 40%, that Microsoft fleeces users for a yearly subscription, and that they abandon their hardcore for the casual market -- none of that has impacted sales -- if anything, they continue to increase.

It'll be interesting to see how things change once NPD numbers get released next week. Sony stumbled big time right before Christmas, and Xbox seems to have received a boost.

 

[Iceman]

If Sony had released the PS3 on time in Europe (& without all the bad buzz at the time) I think they could have dominated from launch there. I might never have bought a 360!

 

[Wolvieboy17]

Isildur, thats not a problem exclusively to Xbox 360. PS3 and Xbox are roughly neck and neck, with PS3 being much bigger in Japan and Xbox being bigger in the states and Europe. The games industry is different now to how it was 10 years ago, these aren't the days when one console purely dominated like the ps3 did, multiple game companies can survive and co-exist fine with out suffering. Xbox aren't pushing to win back Japan because 1) They don't need to and 2) There probably isn't alot they can do anyway.

I really don't understand you.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I think that the 360 sells more in the UK and the PS3 sells more in the rest of Europe.

 

[KALEL114]

Out of the 3 regions: EMEAA, US, Japan; 360 is just leading in the US. A big lead in that.

 

[Coca Cola Duracell Franklin.]

It doesn´t make it redundant because, even if they are strong numbers (and they are), it means very little in the big picture.
The main problem is, the video game market is divided in 3 big stages: US, Japan and Europe, the Xbox brand never got on foot in one market and lost the other one since 2009, and the most weird thing is, they never tried anything to win that back, is just like they don´t care.

The Xbox brand is like a mountain climber that lost their footing and are hanging with one finger.
It´s a strong finger that´s a fact, but if they lose that one, or being showing signs of fatigue, they will fall hard.

That's because Japan's gaming market is currently dominated by portables and iPhone Applications. While the PS3 and Wii have sold there, the console market has shrunken drastically in Japan since the last generation. Without the brand familiarity (there are also issues of Japan's xenophobia), the Xbox was never too likely to take off. I doubt Microsoft still cares as they did in the last generation and leading into this one, being as console game sales in Japan are at an all-time low anyway.

Not to mention Japan's game development on the console end has seriously collapsed outside of the power players like Square, Namco, Capcom and Konami. Though even the big timers have been shifting focus away from consoles unlike last generation.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Got a source on that? And please don't use vgchartz, they're notorious for bad numbers.

Everywhere i read all say the same, Sony is ahead of Microsoft in Europe, but to give you a source, i can only give you VGChartz.
Sure, their numbers are not always on the mark, but be it overtracked or undertracked, they usually don´t miss by a large margin, and when they do miss by 1 million or more, the game is already on 4 or 5 million.
Besides, they are giving to the Xbox 51.2 million worldwide, so, if they are on the money with Microsoft, nothing points out that they are wrong on Sony´s part.

That's because Japan's gaming market is currently dominated by portables and iPhone Applications. While the PS3 and Wii have sold there, the console market has shrunken drastically in Japan since the last generation. Without the brand familiarity (there are also issues of Japan's xenophobia), the Xbox was never too likely to take off. I doubt Microsoft still cares as they did in the last generation and leading into this one, being as console game sales in Japan are at an all-time low anyway.

Not to mention Japan's game development on the console end has seriously collapsed outside of the power players like Square, Namco, Capcom and Konami. Though even the big timers have been shifting focus away from consoles unlike last generation.

Seriously, i didn´t knew Japan was big on IPhone apps, hell, i didn´t even knew the IPhone was big in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Xenophobia aside, it would always be hard for the Xbox to get their foot in, as Japan has too great national consoles, so, why would they want a foreign one?
The main problem is not Japan, but the lose of Europe and the little they do to try to get it back.
Japan has two national consoles, the same goes to the US, which, of course, the Xbox is native.
Europe is neutral ground, it´s no man´s land, everyone should be "fighting to win there".
Nintendo is, Sony is....Microsoft....not so much.
I live in Portugal, we have tons of ads on tv for the PS3 and Move, we have tons of ads for the Wii (Playstation Move, WiiFit Plus, Donkey Kong Returns and Epic Mickey were kings of tv ads this holiday season).
Microsoft......i think i saw a tv ad back in 2007 for Halo 3....and i´m not even sure of that.
The only ad running is in cinemas, the Harry Potter Kinect one.
And for all i know from other European countries, the same applies, Microsoft doesn´t even show any effort to sell in Europe.

 

[Iceman]

Weird that Microsoft are ignoring Europe. I've seen zero, not even one advert for Playstation Move (in UK) while the Kinect advertising is so prevalent that it's getting annoying!

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

Weird that Microsoft are ignoring Europe. I've seen zero, not even one advert for Playstation Move (in UK) while the Kinect advertising is so prevalent that it's getting annoying!

You´re saying that Microsoft is ignoring CONTINENTAL EUROPE, as the UK is part of Europe, as you know
But it makes sense, as the UK is where Microsoft sells the most in Europe, but it´s a weird way to do business, then again, all we have to do is look at Zune, that is only sold in the US and Canada.
Personally i couldn´t care less, as i don´t even have an IPod, but it´s a extremely weird way to sell something.
Even weirder is that it is region locked, meaning that if anyone wants to import a Zune they will have very little reason to.
Sure, you can circumvent most problems, but, that´s not the way to do things

And they say the Zune is a failure, well..........duh

More even, when it comes to Tv ads, and speaking for Portugal, we get video games one from time to time, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, FIFA, PES....., all those ads only mention the Playstation, PC or the Wii, they never have the 360.

 

[hippie_hunter]

Weird that Microsoft are ignoring Europe. I've seen zero, not even one advert for Playstation Move (in UK) while the Kinect advertising is so prevalent that it's getting annoying!

Well like I said, the 360 sells in the UK (you), but the PS3 is crushing it in Continental Europe (Isildur's Heir). It sorta backs up what both of you guys are saying

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

I'm from the UK and seen adverts for Playstation move several times.
They are mostly stuck on the more obscure cable channels at night than prime time tv.

 

[Iceman]

You´re saying that Microsoft is ignoring CONTINENTAL EUROPE, as the UK is part of Europe, as you know

t: Thanks for clearing that up!

But it makes sense, as the UK is where Microsoft sells the most in Europe, but it´s a weird way to do business, then again, all we have to do is look at Zune, that is only sold in the US and Canada.
Personally i couldn´t care less, as i don´t even have an IPod, but it´s a extremely weird way to sell something.
Even weirder is that it is region locked, meaning that if anyone wants to import a Zune they will have very little reason to.
Sure, you can circumvent most problems, but, that´s not the way to do things

And they say the Zune is a failure, well..........duh

Yeah, I wasn't disputing the Europe thing.. it's very strange. Maybe preference is always going to go to their favourite markets but you would expect them to be interested in & fighting for business in all markets. Money's money right?

More even, when it comes to Tv ads, and speaking for Portugal, we get video games one from time to time, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, FIFA, PES....., all those ads only mention the Playstation, PC or the Wii, they never have the 360.

For individual multiplatform games I've seen this here as well. The game is advertised & the footnote at the end says available for PS3, not mentioning XBox.

Well like I said, the 360 sells in the UK (you), but the PS3 is crushing it in Continental Europe (Isildur's Heir). It sorta backs up what both of you guys are saying

Yeah t:

I'm from the UK and seen adverts for Playstation move several times.
They are mostly stuck on the more obscure cable channels at night than prime time tv.

Guess you're watching those channels in the 900s more regularly than me then. I actually want to see an advert to see how people are using it.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

In my understaning, it goes like this...

The Xbox sells tons in the US for two reasons: the first being the same as why Sony and Nintendo sell more in Japan, they are national consoles (one more reason to fight for Europe); the second, because the US adores MP and friends lists.
No one loves MP so much as the Americans do, and they usually buy the consoles their friends have, and not even only their friends, as after some search i came to realize that there a lot of post in other sites of people saying stuff like: Add me to your friends list.
Why do people want to add a stranger or to be added is beyond me, it´s like friends list equals prestige when it comes to gaming.
That´s why many people want the friends list cap raised from 100, which i can´t even start to understand why, no one has more than 100 friends....hell, no one has 100 friends, not even close to that.
Europe, on the other hand, buys consoles for the games, and in that department, the Playstation is the better one.

 

[Coca Cola Duracell Franklin.]

There's no good way to generalize entire continents. Even for what you're trying to do, that's an incredibly narrow and overly-simplified view.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

There's no good way to generalize entire continents. Even for what you're trying to do, that's an incredibly narrow and overly-simplified view.

Don´t see it as offensive, because it´s not and every country has it´s way of thinking and it´s culture.
It´s easier to generalize the US than Europe for the sole reason that the US is a country AND a continent.
People are easy to define as an all, a person, individually, it´s not.
It´s like saying people are stupid...that is true more times than not, but individually is not true.
You call it narrow and overly-simplified, it is....totally.....if you look at each person individually.

 

[Soapy]

Don´t see it as offensive, because it´s not and every country has it´s way of thinking and it´s culture.
It´s easier to generalize the US than Europe for the sole reason that the US is a country AND a continent.
People are easy to define as an all, a person, individually, it´s not.
It´s like saying people are stupid...that is true more times than not, but individually is not true.
You call it narrow and overly-simplified, it is....totally.....if you look at each person individually.

The US isn't a continent...

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

The US isn't a continent...

No....since when?
OK, North America and South America are part of the same, i get it

 

[Killgore]

Let´s start with something i said back in 2006: " Microsoft can´t live with the Xbox and the PC, one of them need to go".
The reason i said that is because Microsoft, to some degree, is competing with himself.
You can say that so is Nintendo and Sony, but that´s not true, because a home console and a portable are two diferent markets, the same can´t be said about the Xbox and the PC, which is the same one.

They aren't competing with themselves. They are diversifying. The market for console gamers and the market for PC gamers may have some crossover, but they are two different markets, and they are typically two different types of gamers. Just like Toyota isn't competing with itself by selling Lexus. It's two different markets.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

They aren't competing with themselves. They are diversifying. The market for console gamers and the market for PC gamers may have some crossover, but they are two different markets, and they are typically two different types of gamers. Just like Toyota isn't competing with itself by selling Lexus. It's two different markets.

Sure, i agree, but at the same time look at it this way.
Fable III is going to the PC, now imagine the next Halo going to be PC as well, Crytek is doing Kingdoms and because of that there is a lot of chances it will go to the PC as well....Kinect is also going that way....

Bottom line, i love the PC, but, the moment all games end on the PC, what is the reason to have a 360?
The same can be said to all gamers that have a good enough PC to run the games.
It´s a part of the market that, when choosing a console to buy, will much easier side with Sony.
See, so, to some degree, they are competing with themselves.

Lexus / Toyota is not really the same thing as Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of Toyota, it´s not the same car with diferent names.

The PC and consoles are diferent markets sure, a console is a more living room kind of deal, the less tech savvy consumer.....but the rule for both are the same, the games.