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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Man, Did Some People Get This Gen Wrong

I suppose since hardware capability debates have become pointless and yesterday's topic, VGC forums may as well switch focus to sales predictions, which is more appropriate anyway.

In all fairness, most of those quoted quips were posted out of emotion rather than in an attempt to maintain some semblance of objectivity. Unfortunately, all the emotion in the world on a forum such as this won't have any effect on the outcome.

As I've said since the 8th gen really started (as the Wii U had 100% of the market to themselves for a year and accomplished nothing with it in terms of maintaining marketshare)... we'll see. Time will tell.

What I won't do is make predictions based upon what I want or hope to see and frankly, I have no real investment emotionally or more importantly, financially, in the success or failure of Sony or Microsoft with regard to their game platforms.

Worst case scenario for me if Sony magically disappears overnight: I buy an Xbox One for $399 if I choose to keep playing on a console by default. It doesn't matter.

But the data we currently have based upon a little more than a quarter's worth of sales trends do not support any other notion that the PS4 will continue to see the same level of dominance with regards to Nintendo and Microsoft this generation.

So yes, it's early, and things can change quite a bit over a 2-3 year period as we've seen with the PS3, but making predictions when there is really no hard data to support those "feelings" really isn't something anyone with objectivity should be taking too seriously.

Stick to joke threads and posts if that's your M.O.



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Ucell said:

If MS has Halo, Sony has God Of War, Uncharted and Gran Turismo. With the gap increasing monthly, it'll be harder for One to catch up.

Still gonna wait. I'm the first one to disregard Halo's significance but I was proven wrong by the ridiculous sales. So I'm going to be careful this time.

Also I'm expecting big exclusive ennouncements for the X1 besides Halo.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

greenmedic88 said:
I suppose since hardware capability debates have become pointless and yesterday's topic, VGC forums may as well switch focus to sales predictions, which is more appropriate anyway.

In all fairness, most of those quoted quips were posted out of emotion rather than in an attempt to maintain some semblance of objectivity. Unfortunately, all the emotion in the world on a forum such as this won't have any effect on the outcome.

As I've said since the 8th gen really started (as the Wii U had 100% of the market to themselves for a year and accomplished nothing with it in terms of maintaining marketshare)... we'll see. Time will tell.

What I won't do is make predictions based upon what I want or hope to see and frankly, I have no real investment emotionally or more importantly, financially, in the success or failure of Sony or Microsoft with regard to their game platforms.

Worst case scenario for me if Sony magically disappears overnight: I buy an Xbox One for $399 if I choose to keep playing on a console by default. It doesn't matter.

But the data we currently have based upon a little more than a quarter's worth of sales trends do not support any other notion that the PS4 will continue to see the same level of dominance with regards to Nintendo and Microsoft this generation.

So yes, it's early, and things can change quite a bit over a 2-3 year period as we've seen with the PS3, but making predictions when there is really no hard data to support those "feelings" really isn't something anyone with objectivity should be taking too seriously.

Stick to joke threads and posts if that's your M.O.


In this day and age, with the Internet, ignorance is a choice! And they're still choosing Ignorance! - Dr. Filthy Frank

vivster said:
Ucell said:

If MS has Halo, Sony has God Of War, Uncharted and Gran Turismo. With the gap increasing monthly, it'll be harder for One to catch up.

Still gonna wait. I'm the first one to disregard Halo's significance but I was proven wrong by the ridiculous sales. So I'm going to be careful this time.

Also I'm expecting big exclusive ennouncements for the X1 besides Halo.

As I said Halo is quite a lot significant in North America, but so are Gran Turismo, God Of War and Uncharted. Also the Gran Turismo and God Of War audience are yet to embrace the PS4 while part of the Halo audience is already on the One due to Titanfall. So I think the PS4 is the one with an advantage in terms of major exclusives.



Ucell said:

As I said Halo is quite a lot significant in North America, but so are Gran Turismo, God Of War and Uncharted. Also the Gran Turismo and God Of War audience are yet to embrace the PS4 while part of the Halo audience is already on the One due to Titanfall. So I think the PS4 is the one with an advantage in terms of major exclusives.

I'm not saying Halo will be the equalizer. As I said I'm expecting some other bombshells( massive pricecut, unexpected exclusives, killer apps, major screwups from Sony...)  between now and Halo that will get customers running for X1s. With Halo being the pinnacle because no exclusive game will push as many X1s as Halo will do. So if all of MS's strategies fail and Halo won't move enough consoles then I will scream victory for the PS4.



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vivster said:
Ucell said:

As I said Halo is quite a lot significant in North America, but so are Gran Turismo, God Of War and Uncharted. Also the Gran Turismo and God Of War audience are yet to embrace the PS4 while part of the Halo audience is already on the One due to Titanfall. So I think the PS4 is the one with an advantage in terms of major exclusives.

I'm not saying Halo will be the equalizer. As I said I'm expecting some other bombshells( massive pricecut, unexpected exclusives, killer apps, major screwups from Sony...)  between now and Halo that will get customers running for X1s. With Halo being the pinnacle because no exclusive game will push as many X1s as Halo will do. So if all of MS's strategies fail and Halo won't move enough consoles then I will scream victory for the PS4.(


Sony can easily price match unless MS really wants their investors to make some noise. Esram in XB1 offsets some cost DDR5 has over GDDR3. DDR5 will probably become cheaper faster. Especially since Ps4 is selling at a much faster rate than XB1. This means that estimated costs at the begining of the gen (when sony expect 5mil) are outdated and in fact cheaper to produce. If not cheaper to produce than no doubt the extra game and accessory sales would off set the losses. It is complete wishful thinking that MS can drop the price but Sony wouldnt be able to. The way I see that panning out is MS reacting by cutting the price. Sony sits and waits to see it's effect. If it has a minor effect Sony holds on price. If it cuts into sales more than Sony wants they ride out the holidays at the higher price to grab more sales at the higher price and probably wait to cut the cost next FY so it doesn't effect their financials and sustains sales during the slower time.



Max King of the Wild said:
vivster said:
Ucell said:

As I said Halo is quite a lot significant in North America, but so are Gran Turismo, God Of War and Uncharted. Also the Gran Turismo and God Of War audience are yet to embrace the PS4 while part of the Halo audience is already on the One due to Titanfall. So I think the PS4 is the one with an advantage in terms of major exclusives.

I'm not saying Halo will be the equalizer. As I said I'm expecting some other bombshells( massive pricecut, unexpected exclusives, killer apps, major screwups from Sony...)  between now and Halo that will get customers running for X1s. With Halo being the pinnacle because no exclusive game will push as many X1s as Halo will do. So if all of MS's strategies fail and Halo won't move enough consoles then I will scream victory for the PS4.(


Sony can easily price match unless MS really wants their investors to make some noise. Esram in XB1 offsets some cost DDR5 has over GDDR3. DDR5 will probably become cheaper faster. Especially since Ps4 is selling at a much faster rate than XB1. This means that estimated costs at the begining of the gen (when sony expect 5mil) are outdated and in fact cheaper to produce. If not cheaper to produce than no doubt the extra game and accessory sales would off set the losses. It is complete wishful thinking that MS can drop the price but Sony wouldnt be able to. The way I see that panning out is MS reacting by cutting the price. Sony sits and waits to see it's effect. If it has a minor effect Sony holds on price. If it cuts into sales more than Sony wants they ride out the holidays at the higher price to grab more sales at the higher price and probably wait to cut the cost next FY so it doesn't effect their financials and sustains sales during the slower time.

That tackles only one of my concerns and isn't even that clear cut. I don't think Sony can afford an unplanned pricecut of even $50. Even if the cost of producing the console drop they were still calculating with the original price, which means at 5 million sold consoles that would make a 250 million dent in the forecast for just one division of Sony. I don't think Sony is in a position to throw away money. They are not losing the war and they will not go to great lengths if a competitor is just catching up.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

vivster said:
thismeintiel said:
vivster said:
A lot of these haven't really had a chance to come true though yet. Some of these don't even have a time cap so there is still a chance for them to come true. All you're doing is predicting that their predictions won't come true. And we all know how your predictions end.

Don't jinx this gen for us :P

Well, the one's that haven't happened, but are included, are one's that have no chance to come true OR were asserting so assuredly that the One would dominate in the US/NA/UK.  Like the One beating the PS4 in the US (possible) AND EU (not going to happen) by 2015.  Or the PS4 has zero chance at winning the US and/or UK, when right now it's being shown it has a pretty good chance if things continue as they are.


Fair enough but what's with these?

"I don't see a great deal of defection in either camp yet. I think this gen will probably look similiar to last gen. I don't think the XBO or PS4 will crush the competition." - 12/23/13 See bold #2

"Don't get too ahead of yourselves, it's been one week and nothing is decided, a fantastic holiday doesn't equal awesome year-round sales by default. And, let's not count the One out, it will probably take most of the UK and US market and Japan is fast becoming too irrelevant to tip the scales in a big way globally for home consoles." - 11/24/13 I completely agree these are the most reasonable ones, as they speak in probabilities, not obsolutes.  This 2nd one was mainly because of the attitude towards Japan.  In just the ~2 months since launch, Japan has added 500K+ to favor the PS4.  It'll only grow in time, even if slowly (and with spikes from big releases), to become millions the One will have to overcome.

"XB1? It'll be there neck-and-neck with the PS4 all the way through this gen." - 11/23/13 (depending on your definition for "neck and neck")  More absolutes, but mainly for what's implied, and not written.  Just that the One would dominate the PS4 in the US/UK enough to overcome the deficit that EU/JP created.

"Xbox One will win the USA quite handily once price drops. That will be enough to offset PS4 for most of the world. If PS4 sells more it will be by about 10% more." - 7/01/13  While he uses the words "quite handidly," if you look at his 2nd sentence, it's obvious he expects the One to obliterate the PS4 in the US.  There's no other way for the US to pretty much counter the rest of the world, and allow the PS4 to only sell 10% more WW, if it didn't.  Heck, the PS4 has already over by 29%, and that's using the official PS4's sales to One's shipments.  40% if we use VGC.

 These all seem still reasonable. The PS4 is currently constantly better but I wouldn't call it absolute domination. The generation is young and I'm expecting big things to happen this year. I'll wait until after Halo drops. If the PS4 is still dominating after that then I'm on board on domination train.

See bolded.



vivster said:

That tackles only one of my concerns and isn't even that clear cut. I don't think Sony can afford an unplanned pricecut of even $50. Even if the cost of producing the console drop they were still calculating with the original price, which means at 5 million sold consoles that would make a 250 million dent in the forecast for just one division of Sony. I don't think Sony is in a position to throw away money. They are not losing the war and they will not go to great lengths if a competitor is just catching up.


That's why it is planned. The $400 price wont stay for the generation. If MS doesn't try to cut their price and holds then Sony will probably naturally drop their price sometime in Sept next year. If MS tries to become competitive and cuts price then Sony rearranges their plans and moves it up to sometime in June to counter.

Price drops are not as simple as "well sony cut 50 dollars off and sold 5 million consoles so the lost 250mil dollars more than they would have" A lot of the times the boost in sales at the lower price off set the loss and actually creates more revenue and profit



thismeintiel said:

See bolded.

Another fair enough for you. Though you should've used more extreme examples in the OP. There's plenty of them ;)



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