Shipped vs sold-through

[Zeus]

So, there's a discrepancy regarding the # of Xbox One units "sold" by Microshaft in 2013. They initially said 3 million in a press release but their financial results said 3.9M were shipped to retailers

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/900-00 ... 0-6417303/

Simple math means they didn't sell 900,000 units that were shipped. Microshaft's response?

"We sold through nearly every unit we could in the holiday period and pulled forward as many units as we could from Q3. However, only some of those shipments were sold into the channel in the final period of the quarter and so there was not time to sell the units through to customers"

What's surprising is there's any discrepancy at all considering how both companies kept saying "we can't get them out there fast enough" and how supposedly hard they were to find (only in the first couple of weeks; shipments were pretty steady in December) at retail. It'll be interesting to see what Sony's financial reports say to see if they also have a "discrepancy" as well.

What does this mean? Well, as I said before, I'm interested to see how much of a demand for a new generation there really is right now beyond the first 5 million units which the early adopters would buy even if they just showed a picture of a pile of steaming shit when you turned them on and no games were released. I really do think that there's just too much life left in the PS3 and Xbox 360 and it was more manufacturers and developers who wanted the new gen instead of the consumers. The fact that neither the PS3 nor the Xbox 360 saw a price drop in 2013 is very telling as well. We'll see as the figures start coming in over the next few months. One thing I have noticed, though, is Kijiji prices have plummeted to barely above retail + tax, at least in my town.

[kali o.]

Most of us know Xbones have been piled up above demand since early December. As far as I can tell, PS4s are still not keeping up with demand (and still have yet to launch in Japan).

It will be interesting to see if MS is dealing with an apathetic base in general that isn't keen on a new system or if it's the DRM backlash. Personally, there isn't one game yet that is making me interested in picking up either console.

[Eric]

Keep in mind Sony is shipping to 48 countries while Microsoft is shipping to 13. Microsoft is also pushing the US hard but they're still behind here. You could say Sony has a shortage problem, but if they say 4.2 million sold I have no reason to doubt them. You really cannot find PS4s in stores atm, while plenty of XOnes were readily available. Mircosoft sold 891k XOnes while Sony sold 840k PS4s in the US in Dec. As for Japan, meh at that console market, the Wii was the last console to do well. The ps3 sold 4 million lifetime there and 360 did 1 million. MAYBE Japanese developers will support the console scene harder since Sony will lead this generation instead of the shitty Wii or evil foreign entity 360. :p

[Julius Seeker]

The stats won't matter soon anyway once excess holiday stock is sold off. Either way, Greenberg is correct. Technically, his customers are third party distribution, and he did sell 3.9 million to them. If those distributors collectively have 900K-1M in stock, it doesn't diminish Microsoft's report. However, it could be a concern for their Q3 when third party distributors are not buying additional units because they need to sell their existing stock through.

In other words, Microsoft's Q2 report is not concerned that retailers sold 2.9 million. Their forecast for Q3, and annual forecast, is what is the remaining 900-1000K units will impact.

Plus, Eric, you make the Xbox One sound like the console of temper tantrums =P

[Eric]

Yeah I dunno why it does that, clearly this board wants me to call it the Xbone.

[kali o.]

[Zeus]

I am a little surprised there's a "deal" this early. But like I've always said, let's see what 2014 Q1 sales are like, then we'll see how this generation is really going. All the consoles and handhelds released in the last 7 years have struggled in their first year with only the 3DS really taking off. And if you remember, Xbox 360 and PS3 weren't exactly scarce in the beginning either, not until HD TVs really hit mass market.

[Eric]

Apparently it was leaked that Microsoft will be launching a disc-free Xbox One later in the year with a 1TB HD(Up from the current 500GB) for $399.

My question then becomes...why the fuck is the current XBone $500.

Am I to believe a blu-ray player is worth $100, and that the extra 500GB is free?

[kali o.]

Am I to believe a blu-ray player is worth $100, and that the extra 500GB is free?

That was my thought too. Why would an optical drive add $100 to costs. And an upgraded HDD to boot... Add to that all you are doing is confusing market place by complicating the SKU and splitting the user base -- which is idiotic this early in the launch.

I am dismissing the rumour on the basis of commonsense....but then since the E3 reveal, MS hasn't exactly been all that sensible.

[bovine]

My assumption would be that without the drive - customers are locked in to using Microsoft distribution methods and this pretty much ensures greater profits on units sold for them. No physical media means that you will much more likely get XBL Gold (you need this to even use netflix), use their games store and movie store. Both the Xbox One and the PS4 have been gimped in terms of their use as streaming boxes from your computer. No music or videos at all on the PS4 and extremely limited and annoying to manage methods for the Xbox.

The drive may not be $100, but it shoehorns you into using distribution methods that they see greater profits in definitely would incentivize them into making that version of the system cheaper in the short term when it will make them more money in the long term. I think it is an excellent idea. This new generation of consoles doesn't have the new hotness feel of previous generational leaps with the small exception of the neat kinect features (when they work) and how both console makers are pushing digital goods in tandem with physical (there is no software you can purchase physically that you cannot purchase digitally). The convenience of not having to search through my collection to find discs has silently killed the collector in me. I still want to play all games, but I don't have the big urge to have copies of everything anymore. I am ready to embrace the all digital future. I just need Nintendo to get on board and remember that I purchased Mario 3 on the Wii and give it to me on all of the systems they ever put out forever in an account that is tied to me and remembers all the shit that I buy from them so I don't have to do it over and goddamn over.

[Eric]

Am I to believe a blu-ray player is worth $100, and that the extra 500GB is free?

That was my thought too. Why would an optical drive add $100 to costs. And an upgraded HDD to boot... Add to that all you are doing is confusing market place by complicating the SKU and splitting the user base -- which is idiotic this early in the launch.

I am dismissing the rumor on the basis of commonsense....but then since the E3 reveal, MS hasn't exactly been all that sensible.

Microsoft has told trusted publishing partners that it will release a new model Xbox One before the end of the year, a senior source has confirmed to VG247.

Although the source was unable to confirm that the system will be disc-less and feature a bluetooth adaptor, the new console will be priced cheaper than the current $499 model.

Take from that what you will.

I'd buy a Kinectless Xbox One for $399.99 tomorrow, a Digital only system though? Ehhhhhh. I already know that the digital market place for Live almost never has sales and those prices stay static as hell. EA/Microsoft/Ubisoft all have PC stores and those prices almost never drop. Steam does it right, obviously, and Sony has started experimenting with major sales. Another thing is I could very very easily see Microsoft make the argument to bring back most, if not all of those DRM policies with a Digital only-box that pissed everyone off in the first place. I mean if it's digital only, discs/used sales are already out of the picture, if it's digital only(and they have the disc system on the side for more) then there's no reason to assume anyone who buys that system wouldn't have a good internet connection(30-50GB Next Gen Games), so they could enforce you always having an Internet connection for updates/to confirm your games are purchased legitimately.

[Zeus]

I went to lunch with my bud who manages an EB today and he told me about a conference call they had earlier this week. EB's fiscal year end is January 31 so they don't have to do year-end during an insanely busy season. This week, they were talking about how many stores in Ontario still had unsold Xbones. It was over 100 and there was a huge push to sell them to not embarrass Micro$haft. Supports that story I posted above, at least in Ontario, about their shipped > sold through and it's still continuing.

On a side note, apparently they still get a few calls an hour about availability of PS4s and they tend to sell out that day with no stores ever having unsold stock. I'm curious how much longer that'll continue for. There's no doubt $ony has offered a significantly better proposition (and $100 cheaper) and it's showing in the sales. Let's see how long that'll continue with literally NOTHING to play and most of the 1 month PS Plus trials running out

[Eric]

I'm amused.

[Oracle]

Am I to believe a blu-ray player is worth $100, and that the extra 500GB is free?

That was my thought too. Why would an optical drive add $100 to costs. And an upgraded HDD to boot... Add to that all you are doing is confusing market place by complicating the SKU and splitting the user base -- which is idiotic this early in the launch.

I am dismissing the rumour on the basis of commonsense....but then since the E3 reveal, MS hasn't exactly been all that sensible.

Well, it's a way to push their digital-distribution-only model they would love to become standard, therefore destroying all possibility of used game sales.

Seems well worth the discount to me if I'm Microsoft.

I.E., what Bovine said.

And FWIW, I'm not embracing the digital distribution model for consoles until data caps are no longer an issue in North America, and as long as MS/Nintendo/Sony charge the exact same price for a digital title vs. one I buy a disc for - there has to be a financial incentive to me to give up the physical product. Steam and Netflix eats up enough of my data cap as well... And while me complaining about console digital distribution and not Steam's may sound hypocritical on its face, I strictly buy discounted products on Steam.

[Eric]

In other countries digital prices are typically even higher then retail. x_x

[kali o.]

Well, it's a way to push their digital-distribution-only model they would love to become standard, therefore destroying all possibility of used game sales.

Seems well worth the discount to me if I'm Microsoft.

I.E., what Bovine said.

And FWIW, I'm not embracing the digital distribution model for consoles until data caps are no longer an issue in North America, and as long as MS/Nintendo/Sony charge the exact same price for a digital title vs. one I buy a disc for - there has to be a financial incentive to me to give up the physical product. Steam and Netflix eats up enough of my data cap as well... And while me complaining about console digital distribution and not Steam's may sound hypocritical on its face, I strictly buy discounted products on Steam.

Still doesn't make sense. Unless Microsoft is solely banking on an increase in Gold sign ups to more than cover the loss, as MS isn't the one directly benefiting from the format the games are delivered (digital vs. retail). And the reality is people who would embrace a discless model would have still bought gold and still purchased digital, the $100 difference unlikely to be a significant factor. We will see, but the rumour just doesn't make sense to me.

[Eric]

Microsoft squashes rumors of a cheaper, all-digital Xbox One

Microsoft has no plans to build an Xbox One sans Blu-ray disc for $100 less than the current model, according to a tweet by Xbox chief Aaron Greenberg. The rumor floated up from the NeoGAF forums recently after Larry Hryb (aka Major Nelson) said that a white, employee-only version of the console could hit retail "waaaay in the future." When asked to confirm if a cheaper Xbox One with a 1TB drive was coming, Greenberg replied "no, you cannot believe everything you read on the internet."