Spencer: "The battle is really September, October, November, and December."

[Sharpryno]

Sal.Paradise said:

And what will the excuse be after this holiday season? The battle is NEXT September, October etc etc?

The unfortunate fact is that the trends displayed in the rest of the year will carry over to the holiday season, so his argument is just stalling for time. There's nothing they've announced that can reverse the already established trend, so discounting the rest of the year as not important is misguided. You don't just wipe the slate clean when you get to the important months.

I don't disagree with his sentiment overall here though, which is that he and the Xbox team are still battling for first place, which they should be and is the right message to send to their customers.

His point is that those are the months where console sales sky rocket.  He believes the XBO will sell much better in those months and it will.  Consoles always sell more in those months.  Console sales numbers before then are almost useless.