The wisdom of the 6Tf vs 4Tf

[DonFerrari]

vivster said:
You shouldn't underestimate the fact that the power gap between X1 and X1X is much greater than between PS4 and PS4 Pro. It will entice a lot more people to upgrade or finally plunge than the PS4 Pro.

The PS4 was a weak system at launch, yet the X1 managed to be even below that. So now guess which fan base was more eager for an upgrade?

Yep, for someone dedicated to the platform, the X1X jump makes more sense than the PS4Pro.

caffeinade said:

11>6>4

If Xbox One x and Playstation 4 Pro are lemons, the Switch is a potato.
In my opinion: potatoes are much more interesting than lemons.

I do love french fries, but lemonades can be refreshing.

Intrinsic said:

Unfortunately a number of the conclusions you are drawing are arguable or........ not that straight forward.

1. XB1X had a much more focused and hyped buildup to its release. Over a year vs two months.
2. XB1X had a longer duration being available for preorders. 2 months VS 3 weeks.
3. MS marketed the XB1X significantly more than Sony marketed the PS4Pro.
4. The user base, its more likely that people that own a XB1 will "upgrade" to the XB1X. They have only had to endure 4yrs of getting the weaker lesser ports of games after all. And less likely for people that own a PS4 to want to get a PS4pro as the PS4 is still good enough.

Having said all that, it was great of MS to put in a 6TF GPU, but then again, thats also arguable with regards to that it was expected or at the very least a no brainer. They did launch a year after the PS4pro after all.

Lastly, its too early to call just how successful or impactful the XB1X is right now. Wait till next year.... give it 6 months into next year then we will see what effect it has on overall XB1 sales. It could be severely front-loaded which will mean there were just a lot of dissatisfied XB1 owners upgrading. Having sold so well this month means fuck-all if sales tank starting next year.

That has been the pattern with the XB1 all of this generation so far, logic dictates that its what we should expect to happen again, so we really need to give it time to see if it won't... then we can call it a success.

They aren't really conclusions. More like assumptions.

Also on VGC we are expected to do predictions when they are still not certain. So waiting for next year to declare the wiser would be unfunny.

golfgt170 said:
Well we should consider that xbox one was in greater need of "more" power than the ps4 - ps4 pro upgrade. Games were seriously struggling to reach 1080p, or even 900p at some cases. While on ps4 90% of games where already at 1080p. So the jump to ps4 pro wasn't that much needed, unless you had a 4k display. But it's good that it is supported and sold well! It's a solid upgrade that offers a huge boost in Xbox gaming! Well done MS.

Well I do have a 4k display and I'm happy with PS4Pro, but if X1X push MS sales and support that is good.

jason1637 said:
Mid gen upgrades are doing well. Glad that MS and Sony got onboard. I expect So to push the Pro a lot note next year and MS yo continue to push the X.

Yep, from what we know they are exceeding the expectations from their companies.

trasharmdsister12 said:

I think both companies took the right steps for their respective platforms. Sony being the more popular platform going into the mid gen upgrades decided to create something that was compelling for Ultra HD screens while not alienating their existing large fanbase. This also allowed them to come out with it sooner to ride the wave of their global sales success while capitalizing on their onslaught of 2017 exclusives while making PSVR more compelling as well.

Meanwhile Microsoft wanted to combat the stigma of their low powered console by creating something with a much bigger jump that they could use to market and combat the overall market mindset. And they've done that with more than just the XB1X. They phased out the original XB1 with the XB1S which had a slight bump in performance while including the ability to output decently upscaled games to 4K with HDR (which does make a great difference in visuals IMO). Anyways, they've made a big marketing push with the XB1X and have mostly succeeded in battling the narrative.

Does that mean they are going to win the gen or make a huge comeback? Far from it. They still have a lot of work to do on the content front but one problem at a time with full focus seems to be their current mantra in improving things.

So in short, I think both were good moves for their respective strategies. If you want us to compare strategies I'd say Sony's strategy is currently better for us as consumers. But that's only because everyone is still trying to figure out what MS's strategy really is. They haven't been clear about it and it could really go either way as far as who it's meant to benefit most. And before anyone comes in with the cynical "They obviously are looking out for themselves and want a strategy that benefits them," that's true of all companies. But it can still be mutually beneficial and market success is commonly linked to mutual benefit.

Yep, I agree that both took the strategy that seemed more logical for them. As customer, PS4Pro is better for me because of the games I want. But if I was looking for 3rd parties X1X would be better even if a little more expensive.

AsGryffynn said:

DonFerrari said:

X1 just release smashing everyone declared expectations.

From what we have on numbers from VGC X1X sold over 400k (430k from what we can see from NPD) against the PS4Pro release of 260k (also per NPD).

This seems to tell a tale of very strong release with X1X outselling PS4Pro by almost 2x even while costing 100 USD more on release and also competing with a discounted PS4Pro at release (while PS4Pro released by itself). Also an indication that the market is valuing power and is willing to pay a premium.

So that was very wise of MS to do right?

Still, the tale of dominance from X1 seem to lose some steam when we look WW. Estimatives from leaks for X1 release put WW at 650k (roughly 2/3 of sales made in USA) with also a great showing in UK. While PS4Pro being fruit of Sony major presence WW reaches an estimation of 780k, a little 20% over X1, which of course is very smaller than the 3:1 PS4 have been doing over X1 on 2017 before holidays.

Now long term, PS4Pro have been able to represent 20% of sold PS4s since launch, will X1X prove to be a wise decision from MS and do higher marketshare?

Which was wiser? A quick upgrade based on rougly duplicating power to achieve a pixel count bump and "smooth" upres to 4k while propelling PSVR gameplay or a more refined upgrade that almost quaduplicate X1 power focused on increasing almost all aspects of the graphics but for a higher cost.

Power... 

As a whole, the XBX seems to be doing better given the other drawbacks it suffers from, namely having a smaller presence. The fact it sold the way it did implies it's doing better per capita... 

So power seems to be the answer. Apparently, it seems some consider it less an upgrade and more of a transition console that will in essence represent MS for the next gen, since any further power boosts are negligible and would focus exclusively on HDD and processor performance. 

Yep, power could be the answer. Considering both PS4 and X1 performs satisfactorily, the reason for one to upgrade for Pro or X1X is more power, so the beefier option would be the more desirable and cost wouldn't be the bigger issue.