Amazon US September monthly bestsellers and general Amazon-based discussion

[binary solo]

OnlyForDisplay said:

binary solo said:

But they're not looking to make up 12 million. They have written off the rest of the world and their only real goal is to win in the USA and maybe the UK, which continuing to sell better than dismally everywhere else other than Japan. So they only need to make up ~900K in the USA and ~400K in the UK. They know they can't do that with price parity. And any bundle MS can do Sony can do at least equally well, or better. Bundling isn't going to help them. If it's not $299 this year is will definitely be $250 next year.

I understand and agree Binary-San. However, I think you may have misunderstood what I was getting at.

 

You are right; the world is lost for Microsoft. Japan has almost never shown any interest in the Xbox brand; doubly so for this generation (I believe this could be Xbox's worst outing ever) and Europe is too heavily favored towards Sony. For North America and the United Kingdom, it is as you stated, winning both is important now at this point in time. Bundling does not appear to be the answer since 3rd parties seem to hover more towards Sony's side. Add their 2016 AAA line-up and that presents another set of issues for Microsoft to solve all-together.

 

My biggest point however was dropping the price may be disastorous. Upon doing such, Microsoft most likely will lose money on the Xbox One in a bloody and costly price war in an effort to win back both North America and the United Kingdom. My suggestion was that Microsoft should think profit and live to fight another day.

 

Either way, I appreciate your added thoughts! Much appreciated!

Yeah I don't see that happening. For all that Sony is doing brilliantly with PS4 right now, the company as a whole is still clawing it's way back to sustained profitability. Sony can't afford a price war and if Sony drops PS4 base price to $349 and MS reactively drops Xb one to $299, that will be the start and end of any price war for 2015. 2016 should ring in a slimline hardware refresh for both PS4 and Xb one and another price cut for each. But again, it will not trigger a price war.

Can MS make Xb one profitable with price parity? So far it appears that when the base price of Xb one and PS4 are the same PS4 sales are strong and Xb one sales fall off. Can falling sales be sustainable for Xb one? At some point sluggish console sales will become a drag on profitability. It may be better for Xb one to be strongly competitive in sales numbers, while losing money on console sales, than being weak on sales numbers an not losing money on console sales. MS is looking for ongoing revenue from game sales and from XBL Gold subs, and you get good revenues from those streams by selling a decent number of consoles. I think it is a finely balanced decision whether or not to cut the price in response to a PS4 price cut. I think MS will pull the trigger on a price cut if/when Sony does it because they don't want sales to drop relative to PS4. And they don't want the crappy PR and the shitty vibe that comes with declining sales.