Amazon US August monthly bestsellers and general Amazon based discussion

[binary solo]

CosmicSex said:

binary solo said:

Outside the USA no, there is no win condition available for Xb one, inside the USA the win condition is pretty tight. However if MS has any ongoing ambition with Xbox as a hardware brand (rather than Xbox App on PCs, tablets and phones), then this generation more or less needs to be written off from a profit perspective and the sole aim should be to remain relevant as a global (excluding Japan) brand. If MS chooses to focus on revenue and profits for this generation then I think the chances for Xbox one 2 are very slim. If MS chooses to maximise install base, be as relevant as possible and snag some useful exclusives (at this point RoTR is about useless as an exclusive) they have a chance of doing a decent reset for the next generation, whatever the next generation might look like.

I get your point and I see where that would be a viable option, but in the business world, running negative profits on the hope of maximizing next gen kinda went out of style when Xbox 360 failed to return profits overall.  I think maximizing revenues is the best way to approach this at this point.   I think the problem with planning for next gen is that you are right:  No one knows what it looks like yet.  Caution is the best way to go.  Remember, the USA isn't a sure thing even if they do lowball it. Sony still has the top trump card.  A mere $50 price cut would probably put the USA out of reach for Microsoft for the forseeable future.  So if there is no guarentee that they can improve their marketshare, they should focus on profits and revenue.  That is far easier to manage and much more predictable. 

One thing's for certain, Xbox is not in an easy position to have a clear vision of how to achive long term success and profitability. It's not right to call doom on it, but it's also head in the sand material saying things like its outpacing 360 in the same timeframe so everything will be fine.

What's the deal with PS4 hardware? The Taken King bundle is the top sku now. Arkham Knight bundle seems to be out of stock, and the other sku's don't seem to be picking up the slack.