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[Arkam]

The sooner the better for both boxes. If MS can beat Sony by over a month it will pick them up some extra sales from impulse buyers who hadnt planned to get but cannot wait a month longer for next gen. They just better have the games or its a waste.

 

[Aceofspades]

A month or two isn't going to do shit. The 360 had a year head start, was cheaper, had momentum and accomplished the goal of being last. They need to pray to some Pagan deity to get that advantage again.

A year earlier in the US, a year and half in EU and almost 2 years in Japan. So to reiterate your point, releasing a month earlier won't do shit

 

[Ascend]

"Did so well" means people who owned 360 games had to re buy their console to play them some multiple times. In my circle of friends alone there were twice as many 360s sold as there were people to play them. This is good for Microsoft hardware shipped numbers , not great for games sales and horrible for user base growth ... people are beginning to forget but RROD memories were one of the driving motivations for many Xbox fans who went with ps4 this gen.

For the bold part... Just leaving this;

https://n4g.com/news/427526/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-xbox-360-sales-double-playstation-3

Can we end the X360 vs PS3 sales thing now? Can we talk about XSX and PS5?

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Remind me please who sold more consoles in the end?

PS3 but Xbox 360 still won NA.

 

[Texas Pride]

Truth is it won't matter who goes first. As long as it's not a year or 2 difference it has jo impact.

 

[pr0cs]

Don't believe it for a second. Too many moving pieces, especially software that will benefit from releasing as late as possible

 

[vito_don_corleone_]

PS3 but Xbox 360 still won NA.

I guess there's no organic life outside of mighty Amurica?

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

A month or two isn't going to do shit. The 360 had a year head start, was cheaper, had momentum and accomplished the goal of being last. They need to pray to some Pagan deity to get that advantage again.

What revisionist history jackassery is this?

 

[Hosam6xavi]

Remind me please who sold more consoles in the end?

Good luck with that .. selling more at the end of generation doesn't mean it was profitable

 

[iJudged]

Thanksgiving is going to be

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Good luck with that .. selling more at the end of generation doesn't mean it was profitable

So in 16 years of gaming including PS1, PS2 and half of PS3, a grand total of +$219 billion yen, which is about $2 billion US. Or about $13 billion yen per year, which is about $130M profit per year in US currency.

 

[Night.Ninja]

So in 16 years of gaming including PS1, PS2 and half of PS3, a grand total of +$219 billion yen, which is about $2 billion US. Or about $13 billion yen per year, which is about $130M profit per year in US currency.

How much of that entered your pockets ?

 

[soulbait]

Post a rumor about earlier than thought release, and in come the fan boys about one out selling the other.

I will never understand the obsession with a corporation's sales numbers over an other. Do you see fans of Ford going on and on about the sales numbers versus Chevy? It just does not make sense. Does a company want the most sales in their segment? Yes. Does a company need to have the most sales in a segment to be successful? No. As long as profit is made, it can be considered a success.

I started out as a Nintendo fan when younger. I could care less about Playstation out selling the N64. I loved the N64 and its games. But I was also a gamer and wanted a Playstation, but never had the funds. My then girlfriend, now wife, bought me the OG Xbox for our first Christmas together. Never had the funds to get a PS2, so Xbox it was for me. I fell in love with Xbox, even though PS2 way out sold it. Come the next gen, and I got the 360 and Wii on launch days. Then several years in got a PS3. Similar happened in the current generation. Once you have more disposable income, arguments about sales figures seem even more silly. What is the point? As long as the console (or consoles) I own have the games that I want to play and enjoy, I don't care about the sales numbers. As long as they are selling enough consoles to make sense to make games for it, then why would I care.

Seriously, enough with the fan boy bull over sales numbers or any other fighting over dumb crap. Can't we all love gaming, even if it happens to be on different ecosystems of choice?

As for the rumor, would be cool if true. I love new gadgets and I am looking forward to getting both new consoles. I doubt it will be in September, but would be awesome if it is!

(Not able to complete proofread of post. Tornado heading my way, so enjy the typos )

 

[BattleScar]

Most of the broken units were replaced under warranty. MS didn't lose billions on that warranty program for nothing. LOL MS won the markets they targeted aggressively with 360, in much more impressive fashion than PS4 this gen.

Microsoft won in...2 markets?
I mean certainly it was impressive how much of a dent they made in the US and UK after the dominance of the PS2, but those impressive sales were equally met with absolute diabolical performance in literally every other market.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

I guess there's no organic life outside of mighty Amurica?

You missed the point that they had it,lost it and could try and regain it.

 

[Gavon West]

I dont think it will matter too much. If both are released before holidays, people will wait for what they want. Or can someone imagine you want PS5 and buy XSX instead because it is released one month earlier?

If the games are tight? Absolutely!

 

[itsjustJEFF]

Cool. If this is true, I am going to be super jelly of the people who get to play next gen before I get to! I'll be picking up a PS5 first then probably a Series X later down the line.

 

[PlayStaytion]

Smells like they wanna distence themselves from the holiday period to charge for a premium price.

 

[Justin9mm]

I expect PS5 in early December, XSX in late September. Sony used to be ahead but with the redesign of Ariel has clearly fallen behind. Just launching in December will be a miracle after they only had the final hardware certification in 12/2019 from what we know. Typically it takes 15 months from that to shipped product. Microsoft on the other hand already produced final hardware in late October for use in final devkits. And now are in production for launch.

I can guarantee you it will never be December, it does not work like that. It will be October or November.

 

[fighterman101]

Microsoft won in...2 markets?
I mean certainly it was impressive how much of a dent they made in the US and UK after the dominance of the PS2, but those impressive sales were equally met with absolute diabolical performance in literally every other market.

North America and UK are the most important regions when it comes to consoles. These regions buy the most video games and accessories for consoles. This is why Xbox has been surviving for so long because they do well where it matters the most.

 

[The Pleasure]

The PS2 lens in the early models was crap and one shouldn't need too mess with it. My mates PS lens went boobs up with just taking it to a friends house (for a games day). The OG Xbox lens was rubbish too, with most Thomson models going wack after a couple of years use.

And if the One X is anything to go by, compared to the PS4 Pro. I have no issues with MS build quality these days

Phil Spencer is the Johnny Turbo of Xbox

 

[DaGwaphics]

Microsoft won in...2 markets?
I mean certainly it was impressive how much of a dent they made in the US and UK after the dominance of the PS2, but those impressive sales were equally met with absolute diabolical performance in literally every other market.

They didn't do so well outside the US (NA) & UK, no. But, those were the only markets they put any real effort into outside of Japan (which was more about trying to get content than sales, since Japan is very nationalistic). With the amount of $$$ invested in console ecosystems rapidly declining in Asia, the US & UK represent the largest pieces of that pie. I'm sure MS would love those results again, whether or not they can get them is another story.

 

[trapanesenyc]

Good luck with that .. selling more at the end of generation doesn't mean it was profitable

I've been telling people this for ages. The PS3 was hemorrhaging money for Sony, so while they sold more boxes in the end, it ended up being a net negative loss for them. This generation may be worse because if Sony sells 10 million more units by end of next year but Xbox gamepass has 20 million subscribers the definition of "winning" won't really mean much.

 

[BattleScar]

I've been telling people this for ages. The PS3 was hemorrhaging money for Sony, so while they sold more boxes in the end, it ended up being a net negative loss for them. This generation may be worse because if Sony sells 10 million more units by end of next year but Xbox gamepass has 20 million subscribers the definition of "winning" won't really mean much.

The PS3 was a financial disaster because they were selling a $900+ console at $599, and had poured billions of dollars of R&D into CELL for Ken Kutaragi's ill-fated vision for modern computing.

As for the rest, that's not strictly speaking true. Right now Microsoft are giving away Gamepass basically for free. Its probably not making much money for Microsoft at all. That loss is likely compensated for by XBL revenues and software sales from their various other gaming ventures. Minecraft keeps printing money.
If Microsoft continue to give Gamepass away for a dollar, they'll have huge volume sure, but no money to show for it. Once Gamepass hits full price, there's no guarantee that it'll hit the volume people here seem to expect.
Its a great service sure, but yet another monthly expense to add to your XBL, Netflix, etc.

This also neglects to mention Sony's own subscription services. PS Now is performing quite a lot worse volume wise compared to gamepass. But it was (and still sort of) marketed as a game streaming service, with the download game service being a secondary feature. If Sony get their act together and position PlayStation Now competitively against Gamepass and xCloud, then they too might get some serious volume and serious revenues.
And 10 million extra units shipped by the end of the first year is nothing to laugh at. If we assume even 50% of those extra 10 million subscribe to PS+, that is 5 million more PS+ subscriptions to deal with.
Not to mention that if we base the PS5's attach rate on the PS4's (~11 games per console), you'll have an extra 110 million software sales. That shit adds up.

I do think that this upcoming generation is going to be competitive and will involve fighting on different grounds to previous generations. But I'm sorry, you just cannot ignore hardware sales.
Yes the PS3 floundered, due to foibles in the wider business strategy Sony was adopting at the time, but even that financial disaster managed to break even and even turn a modest profit by the end of its life - which is no mean feat. And by all accounts, it doesn't look like Sony is going to be making insane hardware bets with the PS5. Leaving aside the SSD, it looks conservative, if anything, compared to the Series X.

Sony seem to be positioning Games and Network Services as a reliable source of profits. Strategically, they don't look at all like they have any intent on pissing money away selling overly expensive hardware at a galling loss.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

This is so far off base. Sure MS got a year lead, but they were very supply constrained for most of that year. Had they had the supply the sales charts would be much different now, but they didn’t. What they did do is eat away at over 25% of Sony’s share that gen.

That is a huge success regardless of where the numbers landed in the end.

Xbox got things right. PlayStation got things wrong.
As a result of the above Xbox had early lead in sales but could not maintain said lead over the course of the generation. That's it.

Couldn't give a rats if Xbox was supply constrained or not. I'm focusing on the facts, on what happened and not the hypothetical. Neither you or I know the result if they were not supply constrained and how that would have affected the generation in terms of sales and i find it weird you bring that up since my post didnt mention any of that. . I'm talking about the reason for the 360's dominance and the final outcome which is plain for everyone to see.

Launching early won't do squat for Xbox. Playstation is coming off huge PS4 momentum going into next gen. You're not going to find people just dropping Playstation to invest in a whole other ecosystem. Not everyone has money just lying around. The early launch will have very little impact on Playstation's 100 million + userbase and majority will be existing Xbox users wanting to upgrade.

360/PS3 situation will never be repeated again. Both companies know price, ease of development and games is what puts consoles in the living room.

 

[odhiex]

If it's only less than 5-6 months difference, I doubt it would do much.

 

[SupremeHoodie]

A month or two isn't going to do shit. The 360 had a year head start, was cheaper, had momentum and accomplished the goal of being last. They need to pray to some Pagan deity to get that advantage again.

In North America (xbox’s biggest market) I believe the 360 sold 20 million more units than the ps3. If Microsoft can do that again I don’t think they’ll care if the ps5 outsells them in Japan or Europe.

 

[saintjules]

Launching early is a necessity for MS to be able to compete.

I agree. But I also believe both Companies need to release early because of what's going on with COVID.

Besides the early adopters like myself, there are still the mainstream people out there they need to attract in order to help the units sold - at least that's my opinion on it. I think it's just purely marketing here. You want to sell your product to the Consumer who is saving their money possibly for something other than a gaming Console for the Holidays as many will be recovering from lack of work.

To add to the overall discussion, because the Consoles may be priced at the premium level, you'll have to be the first salesman guy in line early enough to say, 'hey come buy my product before the Holiday season and here's why', before anything or anyone else diverts their attention for Christmas.

Just some thoughts I had. People may be strapped for cash and will be extremely selective in the Holiday season. If it's possible, releasing before November may not be a bad idea.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Phil Spencer is the Johnny Turbo of Xbox

Phil Spencer is the Johnny Turbo of Xbox

Better than being Peter Pan I guess

 

[SaucyJack]

So PS5 is confirmed (at recent shareholder meeting) as still on track for "Holiday 2020", so for sake of argument let's call it mid-November like PS4, which is 5.5 months away.

Next week it's June and as of today neither console can be pre-ordered.

So just how much earlier could the Series X launch, realistically? One month? Two?

 

[Dee_Dee]

So PS5 is confirmed (at recent shareholder meeting) as still on track for "Holiday 2020", so for sake of argument let's call it mid-November like PS4, which is 5.5 months away.

Next week it's June and as of today neither console can be pre-ordered.

So just how much earlier could the Series X launch, realistically? One month? Two?

Two months tops is my guess

 

[NickFire]

I'm not convinced either will launch more than a couple weeks from the other, if even that. Even if the hardware is ready I'm highly skeptical that the software will be ready for a September or October launch after the past few months of business disruptions caused by quarantine.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I'm not convinced either will launch more than a couple weeks from the other, if even that. Even if the hardware is ready I'm highly skeptical that the software will be ready for a September or October launch after the past few months of business disruptions caused by quarantine.

Good point. Considering XsX really needs Infinite at launch, September/October sure seem awfully early. The software needs time to bake.

 

[gypsygib]

Launch with 12 months Gamepass included and a couple of games pre-installed.

Drop price by $50, and remove free 1 year Gamepass right before PS5 launches.

 

[NickFire]

Good point. Considering XsX really needs Infinite at launch, September/October sure seem awfully early. The software needs time to bake.

I'm also thinking 3rd parties, but I do 100% agree that Infinite needs to be there at launch.

 

[ethomaz]

Months before means at max September.
Let's see how it turn out.

 

[mckmas8808]

But will the games be ready?

 

[NickFire]

But will the games be ready?

I'm thinking to myself, just how many dev kits does each company get, and how many people who interact with those dev kits have one at home?

Truly don't have any clue. But I find it extremely doubtful that in this environment an earlier than Nov launch will happen.

 

[Journey]

When it comes to the readiness factor, MS appears to be in better shape imo.