That tells a lot about sales, i didnt think it was that catastrophic, if they fear to show their numbers so much, they have absolutely no confidence they can win evne on their territory

So, you could debunk (for example) the argument "MS was clever by making a deal with Platinum Games to put an exclusive on their console" by saying "Microsoft is afraid to show the actual number"?

Doesn't make much sense to me, to be honest.

I mean the argument of  hardware shipment number or number of hardware sold to costumer. Because it's hard to argue if we dont have the actual number because Microsoft purposely hide the number for obvious reason.

That theory doesn't make much sense to me. They get a portion of every game sold for the Xbox in comparison to on PC they only get a portion of their own games unless they develop a service like Steam which EA has tried, Ubisoft has tried, there is GOG, Desura and others I'm sure as well. It will be moot if it ends up being a paid service like it is on the Xbox because all the others mentioned are free (not sure about EA's anymore). 

It seems they are combining like how Nintendo is/has with their portable and home consoles. Trying to unify to cut costs to create more profit all around. I could see them trying to make their own version of a 'steam' machine with a lot of compatability between the PC and console though. 

Wow. Now this is an all time low for any console company. Not even the combined numbers? My guess is they are really low this quarter and MS doesn't want to hear cries of dropping the Xbox HW so soon after it had quieted down.

And really, I thought that companies had to legally supply their shipment numbers for HW, even if they combine them with products in the same line. Even if they are using a lame loophole, this shouldn't be legal.

Kind of surprised this was a thing they could do. o.O That being said, since they clearly can, I'm not surprised that they did. Whatever hardware number they pulled out, be is Xbox One or both it and the 360 combined, it was pretty much inevitable that Sony's announced figure would be substantially bigger, which would naturally lead to another string of articles, etc, etc, comparing the sales performance of the two. By just foregoing on a number entirely, all that can really be said with certainly is 'Yeah, Sony Shipped More,' but with no context or basis for comparison, there won't be the usual string of discussions comparing it to the PS4, to the 360, etc, etc, and it'll help push sales comparisons talk from more public perception, and into the more interested circles.

Still, even with that in mind, their specific use of ALL Live Accounts active in the last month seems like an odd one, as it's no more representative of the install base than console sales. (Let's face it, it's substantially less so. =P ) Lumping Gold and Silver together means they're not even talking about subscription revenue. I guess the only way it really makes sense is if they're referring to their success as an advertising platform, since any account that goes online is presumably going to be exposed to advertisements?

Anyyyyway, sucks for actually tracking the rate the console is moving, (at this point I was more interested in how it fared compared to its predecessor, though,) any press statements Microsoft releases are likely to be less than useless in that regard if they're phrased like 'Approaching ten million shipped' was. So I guess I'll just have to whet my appetite on seeing how their online community progresses.

...although if they start changing that metric too, ("Live accounts active for the last two months!") then they can sod off. -_-

I REALLY don't think any laws are being broken by not reporting shipped/sold through hardware numbers to the public, but I'm with you in the thought that it looks bad. Real bad. Fist bump bro. :)

This X 1000.  I know plenty of Sony fans on here weren't happy about that move.  They wanted the numbers.  Fortunately, with the PS4's success Sony stopped.  They even went back and let us know PS3 shipments for the first 2 quarters after the PS4 launched.  And we know Xbox fans mocked it, too.  But when the shoe is on the other foot, it's always defend, defend, defend.

Just looking for shipped.  I don't know.  Maybe they only have to release monetary numbers.  And I'll see your fist bump and raise you a chest bump. 

I really don't understand why MS continues this strategy.  They always see a new market that is exploding, then come out with their own product, but only after 2-3 years of the market leader and a few others in that market making a foothold and decide they can take that market by storm.  Throw millions/billions down the drain to advertise the crap out of their version.  But, it's always too late, people already like what they have.  Zune, Bing, Windows Mobile.  It may have been Xbox listed there, but Sony screwed up so bad last gen it allowed them to get a foothold for a gen.  And if they are truly going to get away from gaming HW, I see Live on PC following the same path.  Then again, they may try and have Live automatically login and start displaying ads when you boot up Windows to make up for it.  Though, I doubt people will be too thrilled with that.

So many posters mad 😂