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Mummelmann on 18 February 2011
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XanderZane said:
Mummelmann said:
JGarret said:

About Malstrom, he is back...here are some parts from his new "the incredible 360" article:

Microsoft cannot be pleased at all about the 360′s performance of late. Anyone who thinks this performance is ‘good’ has not been paying attention to the massive amount Microsoft has spent…

Half a billion dollars just for marketing? And what did this get Microsoft?

Tepid sales.

NPD January 2010:

Xbox 360- 332,800

NPD January 2011:

Xbox 360- 381,000

OH MY GOODNESS! THAT IS A 48,000 UNIT INCREASE!

What co-option!

What a selling to the masses!

48,000 unit increase! Oh my!

What is not being mentioned is much of the sales is because the Xbox 360 is cannibalizing the PlayStation 3 sales. Just a year or two ago, the PlayStation 3, still after its remodel, was enjoying  a surge in sales and all the analysts could not stop getting so excited (from this fantastic site, I had to calm them down). What happened to the Year of the PS3? And Move is completely gone. Of course, in fairness to Sony, Move did not have a half billion dollar marketing budget. That marketing budget alone could be used to build, make, and launch a new console. That is the massive amount of money was spent.

 

ottom line is when the going gets tough, Microsoft only has one tactic to compete: use massive amounts of money to force a market outcome. We witnessed this during the first Xbox where Microsoft blew up billions of dollars and hailed itself as incredible geniuses for making a console that sold as well as the Gamecube. We witnessed this again with the company shoving a billion dollars or so to ‘hide’ the repairs for the bungled launch of the Xbox 360 (with failing hardware, production issues, etc.).

Now, with Kinect, Microosft can only try to force  a market outcome by pumping money into it (this time, half a billion dollars in marketing for a silly accessory). And, sure enough, it isn’t working. Anyone who thinks Kinect is ‘successful’ is not paying attention to the numbers especially the half billion dollars Microsoft unleashed.

Half billion dollars for this result? And even then, the Wii still outsold them during December! I’m telling you, folks, Microsoft cannot be pleased with how this turning out. The only solace they have is just how much worse Sony’s Move performed. I still expect six months from now that ‘Microsoft Mushrooms’, like the 32X mushrooms, will begin infesting used game stores.

 

Wow, this guy just hit a new low and that is saying something. There are too many points in there to adress now, I think I might revisit it after work tonight and show how silly it truly is (unless someone beats me to it).

I'm not even going to waste my time destroying his points. He clearing didn't read the fine print in Microsoft's memo that stated the 500 million marketing  for Kinect is over a 5yr period of time and not just for 2010/20111. Sigh... Microsoft is VERY, VERY please with the outcome of connect. I guess he also missed the memo where Microsoft was to sell 3 million Kinects by the end of the year, but bumped that prediction to 5 million. Kinect sold over 6.0 million in 2010 and is already over 8 million in 2011. Microsoft already has a lineup of about 9 exclusive Kinect games coming out of Japan and  probably another 10-15 that will be announced at the E3 from American companies. Microsoft is very please. The only one that doesn't seem to be please is Mummelmann who decided to post this long winded statement on how he feels about the XBox 360 and Kinect. If you don't like the system, that's fine, but don't post your opinion and try to make it appear that Microsoft isn't happy with their products and sales, because that's so far from the truth.

Uhm, I think you grossly misunderstood me here. I'm disagreeing with Malstrom and his infantile image of the industry (yet again) and desperate attempts at attacking MS and Sony and defending Nintendo. Where in my post does it say that I am not pleased about 360 and Kinect numbers? It states the opposite, allthough I predicted Kinect and Move to crash hard I find it incredibly funny to see Malstrom flop about like a fish out of sea trying to defend his points and reasoing at the cost of self respect and the respect of the intellect of anyone who reads him.