The problem for Microsoft is that with the sales disparity between consoles as it is, it's going to be more and more expensive for them to get the annual deals on Call of Duty and Battlefield. They probably need to keep the division profitable to demonstrate longevity to shareholders so I'm not sure how much they can afford these deals or cut the price.

Having said that, they could have improved the way the way did things. Halo could have had a greater push, but there were already a few contentious issues that would have affected sales regardless. Tomb Raider was probably the biggest problem. Why release it at the same time as Fallout 4 (which they were also pushing)? One of those was going to suffer. Furthermore, they still have a PR issue, even with Phil running the show.

I bought the x1 for 299, that was a good deal.

Not like they had a chance to begin with. The strategy of not getting completely annihilated was pretty successful.

PS4 is simply stronger, but XBOne had anyway a vwery good BF week, far better than last year, followed by two decent week. Even Wii U slightly improved its situation from last year's Xmas season, a better BF week and a better second week after BF, just the first week after it is slightly worse, but the balance is positive.

You could also argue if Sony had more notable content this holiday it would have had an even strong holiday. They had to cut down to $299 in fear of losing more sales to Xbox.

Sony is the market leader but people still buy Xbox because Sony lacks something MS is doing.

In a nutshell, you're arguing Sony had the best sales so they did everything right. I'm saying Xbox still managed to have a great holiday because of what Sony lacks. Wii U was basically forgotten because... obvious reasons.

I agree they could've pushed Halo more, they'd have probably won November npd if Halo 5 and Halo MCC bundled at $329. But instead (it seemed) their main bundle was the gears remaster, and the fallout one. Fallout was available as a soft bundle for ps4 too and i think the same price practically, so their was no real competition there.

As for third party deals, dunno who they had left with sony snatching up cod and star wars and AC. They had fallout but didn't capitalise on it. Tomb raider was the worst though. Hell they could've released it today and by now most people have completed fallout and there arent any games releasing now.

Microsoft had a really good holiday. I think it's basically impossible to compete against PS4 at this point, so they just did enough to keep the Xbox business healthy. Good (but not crazy) deals, great exclusives and marketing for Fallout 4. Now to what they did wrong:
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: what the f... were they thinking? There's no sense in BUYING exclusivity for a game and just let it DIE. Look, I bought Rise of the Tomb Raider, but this mess will be remembered for the next 10 years (or even more).
- "The greatest games line-up in Xbox history": No. Five games. Halo, Forza and Gears AGAIN. Rare Replay is a collection of old games (even though Rare did a good job on this one). Rise of the Tomb Raider is a timed-exclusive. This would be a perfect line for 2016's line-up. Gears of War 4, Crackdown 3, ReCore, Quantum Break, Scalebound, Halo Wars 2, probably Forza Horizon 3, Cuphead and more. Even with Gears and Forza being a big part of the line-up, Microsoft has a good number of new IPs to deliver.
- Letting Call of Duty go away: if they were thinking about not renewing the deal with Activision, 2015 was not the year to do it. Ghosts was horrible and Advanced Warfare is not good as well. They had 2013 and 2014 to do this (if the contract was already done, they should buy another one or two years).
- Bundles: last holiday, the main bundle was AC: Unity (a completely broken title, at least at launch). This year, a remaster. Really, Microsoft? What about a Fallout 4 + Halo 5 + 500 GB for US$ 299 (or even US$ 349)? If someone can give me a good reason for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition being the main bundle, please do it. +

There are many problems that I have with your statement, just to name a few.

 Sony cut the price to 299 for strategic reasons. They knew they could indefinently hold off Microsoft in December as well, and once they responded, they had Star Wars to do the rest. There was no need to cut it to 299, as Microsoft wouldn't have done it otherwise. 

As for what Sony lacks, well the XB1 had a better exclusive lineup, but that did nothing to help them. Microsoft was flat YOY, while the PS4 doubled its sales. The Gears bundle was the only thing that sold really well, the rest just absolutely flopped. You can say whatever you like, but in my opinion, Microsoft lost due to poor planning of the future. And with 2016, they need to perfect everything, or they lose their home base for good (this generation).

+ for 2016:
- More third-party deals:
A) Battlefield 5. With this game and GoW 4, this is it for shooters in 2016 (from a Xbox marketing point of view).
B) Next Need for Speed. There's no need for another Forza in 2016. Give Playground more time and launch Forza Horizon 3 in the first half of 2017.
- New features and apps announced at E3 and Gamescom:
A) Background music
B) Spotify
C) Full offline support
D) Achievement rarity
E) Original Xbox BC
- More global appeal: this'll be more important for the next Xbox. Make Xbox known everywhere. Don't focus just in the U.S. Just look at the sales of the PS4 in Europe, for example. There's a lot of potential there.
= PR: keep calm with these "best ever" things. Slow down.

Well, this is my opinion. Let's discuss!

Yes, COD is absolute garbage. But what does that matter. Millions still play it, and now Sony has the ballg ame. Very dumb move to let go of that, whether what I or you think of it or not. 

As for the greatest games lineup, it could just be used for 2015 and 2016, why not? People can say whatever they like, but the XB1 has a very comparable lineup to the PS4 for 2016, so it won't be a big deal (usually people say Sony absolutely dominate's).

But Microsoft made a big mistake cutting the third party deals. I don't know how Microsoft is going to find a new way to make up for lost sales.