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The days of seeing stories like 'PS4's outselling Xbox by almost 2-to-1' could be over as Microsoft looks to have called time on the console sales war.
Last week saw the Big M announce its quarterly results - yes, yes, fiscal announcements, yawn - but the interesting thing noted by Game Informer was the lack of Microsoft's usual hardware shipment metrics.
When quizzed on this a Microsoft source responded saying it was no longer using such figures as its measurement of success. Instead it would be focusing on user engagement, choosing Xbox Live figures as its leading stat. Essentially Microsoft has made a tacit announcement that, in terms of hardware sales at least, it has lost the sales war of this generation of machines.
Long-time industry analyst, Michael Pachter, told Fortune yesterday that he believes Sony's PS4 is set to have another excellent holiday period, outselling Microsoft's console, and would probably do so with or without the price cut which has given it price parity with the Xbox One.
"Microsoft should cut price only if it cares about how many consoles it sells," he went on to say.
And, given that it's both halted reporting on its own sales and refused calls for a price cut of its own, it sure looks like Microsoft has now stopped caring about such figures. Or at the very least wants everyone to stop talking about it...
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2015, @09:07PM
One of the reasons the MS board got rid of Ballmer was because he had so much of his career tied up in big initiatives that were either mixed successes (like Xbox) or outright failures.
It's not clear whether it makes sense for either MS or Sony to make the kind of huge investment in the next generation gaming consoles to create jaw-dropping experiences that will compel the parents of boys aged 8-18 to shell out several hundred USD just for the hw platform. Times change.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SanityCheck on Monday October 26 2015, @09:41PM
One of the reasons the MS board got rid of Ballmer was because he had so much of his career tied up in big initiatives that were either mixed successes (like Xbox) or outright failures.
I don't disagree, and I find the statement very informative. My reply is more directed at the board who would use such criterion.
First of all that sounds like any company trying to innovate. Hard to pin it on one guy. How many Sony failures have we had? I mean mini-disc? Hello? These companies do not die with a single failure, and they definitely don't need need every product to succeed, just enough of them. Windows had plenty of failures before Ballmer, and will have plenty after.
At some point we must accept that Steve Jobs was a magician, he could pull a rabbit out of the hat seemingly on command. This is an exception not a rule people. Maybe the board just decided to give another guy a try in a feeble search for the next Jobs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2015, @10:49PM
At some point we must accept that Steve Jobs was a magician
Two of largest sellers Apple had were the iPhone and iPod. Both were moved into well after others had trod into that water.
Jobs did one thing very well. Cut the crap focus on exactly what the high end people want. There is nothing special about it. I am sure there were 500 projects he killed that never saw the light of day.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2015, @11:15PM
Would that be Steve "You're holding it wrong" Jobs? [google.com]
...or perhaps Steve "Pick it up and drop it" Jobs? [google.com]
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday October 27 2015, @12:16AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 27 2015, @12:51AM
Are you using technology which doesn't allow you to hover over the link and see what that is?
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday October 27 2015, @12:58AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 4, Informative) by vux984 on Monday October 26 2015, @11:50PM
At some point we must accept that Steve Jobs was a magician, he could pull a rabbit out of the hat seemingly on command.
His only magic was getting people to forget the turds he produced.
Apple Lisa
Apple III
G4 cube
Puck mouse
Flower Power iMac
MobileMe
ipod HiFi
ipod nano v3
first generations AppleTV / iTV (and even today they aren't exactly great)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anal Pumpernickel on Tuesday October 27 2015, @12:29AM
At some point we must accept that Steve Jobs was a magician
An evil magician who, much like Microsoft, managed to get lots of people to use abusive proprietary software, accept digital restrictions management, and buy products that are basically virtual jails for the user? Yeah, that's very useful for him, but not for society in the long run.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2015, @09:53PM
Considering that all consoles are underpowered junk compared to even average PCs I'm not so sure jaw-dropping experiences is the right phrase.