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Forums - Microsoft - Did Microsoft totally mess up their holiday strategy?

 

Do you agree?

Yes 135 49.82%
 
No 54 19.93%
 
Microsoft had a good stra... 82 30.26%
 
Total:271
Sentry on 02 January 2016

I feel you would be right any other year with the game lineup but I agree with your statement about third party



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WillianBM97 on 02 January 2016
barneystinson69 said:
WillianBM97 said:
Microsoft had a really good holiday. I think it's basically impossible to compete against PS4 at this point, so they just did enough to keep the Xbox business healthy. Good (but not crazy) deals, great exclusives and marketing for Fallout 4. Now to what they did wrong:
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: what the f... were they thinking? There's no sense in BUYING exclusivity for a game and just let it DIE. Look, I bought Rise of the Tomb Raider, but this mess will be remembered for the next 10 years (or even more).
- "The greatest games line-up in Xbox history": No. Five games. Halo, Forza and Gears AGAIN. Rare Replay is a collection of old games (even though Rare did a good job on this one). Rise of the Tomb Raider is a timed-exclusive. This would be a perfect line for 2016's line-up. Gears of War 4, Crackdown 3, ReCore, Quantum Break, Scalebound, Halo Wars 2, probably Forza Horizon 3, Cuphead and more. Even with Gears and Forza being a big part of the line-up, Microsoft has a good number of new IPs to deliver.
- Letting Call of Duty go away: if they were thinking about not renewing the deal with Activision, 2015 was not the year to do it. Ghosts was horrible and Advanced Warfare is not good as well. They had 2013 and 2014 to do this (if the contract was already done, they should buy another one or two years).
- Bundles: last holiday, the main bundle was AC: Unity (a completely broken title, at least at launch). This year, a remaster. Really, Microsoft? What about a Fallout 4 + Halo 5 + 500 GB for US$ 299 (or even US$ 349)? If someone can give me a good reason for Gears of War: Ultimate Edition being the main bundle, please do it. +

 

Yes, COD is absolute garbage. But what does that matter. Millions still play it, and now Sony has the ballg ame. Very dumb move to let go of that, whether what I or you think of it or not. 

 

As for the greatest games lineup, it could just be used for 2015 and 2016, why not? People can say whatever they like, but the XB1 has a very comparable lineup to the PS4 for 2016, so it won't be a big deal (usually people say Sony absolutely dominate's).

But Microsoft made a big mistake cutting the third party deals. I don't know how Microsoft is going to find a new way to make up for lost sales.

I think Xbox One sales are just fine. There's no need to be at PS4 levels. And I think Microsoft is not caring that much about losing to Sony. About COD: yes, dumb move. Terrible.





barneystinson69 on 02 January 2016
WillianBM97 said:
barneystinson69 said:

 

Yes, COD is absolute garbage. But what does that matter. Millions still play it, and now Sony has the ballg ame. Very dumb move to let go of that, whether what I or you think of it or not. 

 

As for the greatest games lineup, it could just be used for 2015 and 2016, why not? People can say whatever they like, but the XB1 has a very comparable lineup to the PS4 for 2016, so it won't be a big deal (usually people say Sony absolutely dominate's).

But Microsoft made a big mistake cutting the third party deals. I don't know how Microsoft is going to find a new way to make up for lost sales.

I think Xbox One sales are just fine. There's no need to be at PS4 levels. And I think Microsoft is not caring that much about losing to Sony. About COD: yes, dumb move. Terrible.

 

But Microsoft should certainly worry on how this will affect them in the next generation. Look, the EU, japan, Asia, fine. These markets can't be won, but NA is the place where Xbox has to win, no matter how small of a win. Its perception, and how well the Xbox will do these next few years.



Made a bet with LipeJJ and HylianYoshi that the XB1 will reach 30 million before Wii U reaches 15 million. Loser has to get avatar picked by winner for 6 months (or if I lose, either 6 months avatar control for both Lipe and Hylian, or my patrick avatar comes back forever).

WillianBM97 on 02 January 2016
barneystinson69 said:
WillianBM97 said:

I think Xbox One sales are just fine. There's no need to be at PS4 levels. And I think Microsoft is not caring that much about losing to Sony. About COD: yes, dumb move. Terrible.

 

But Microsoft should certainly worry on how this will affect them in the next generation. Look, the EU, japan, Asia, fine. These markets can't be won, but NA is the place where Xbox has to win, no matter how small of a win. Its perception, and how well the Xbox will do these next few years.

I think they need, at least, to remain competitive, even if losing at a small diference. And I think this should be the case in Europe as well. Asia is incredibly hard for Xbox. About not talking about sales numbers: I don't know it this is good or bad for them.





jason1637 on 02 January 2016
WillianBM97 said:
barneystinson69 said:

 

But Microsoft should certainly worry on how this will affect them in the next generation. Look, the EU, japan, Asia, fine. These markets can't be won, but NA is the place where Xbox has to win, no matter how small of a win. Its perception, and how well the Xbox will do these next few years.

I think they need, at least, to remain competitive, even if losing at a small diference. And I think this should be the case in Europe as well. Asia is incredibly hard for Xbox. About not talking about sales numbers: I don't know it this is good or bad for them.

They should atleast get CoD back for the next gen.





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AlfredoTurkey on 02 January 2016

MS doesn't care anymore about winning. That's my assessment. They're just content of treading water until this generation ends whereby they'll either move on to something else, or try again.



Ruler on 02 January 2016

The drought of games the entire year put a bad taste in the mouth of potential buyers. The entire year ps4 had more news about. More releases and announcments



Why i left PC gaming

 

(2015) Question for PS4 owners: if the situation would be reverse? would you still play on PS4?

(2015) The "I don't care PS4 is the most powerful console" thread

PortisheadBiscuit on 02 January 2016

It wasnt a complete mess up, that 1.2 mil they did BF was impressive.



SWORDF1SH on 02 January 2016

I don't think they messed up but more like they had to operate within a budget.

Maybe if they didn't buy TR exclusivity they could have put that money somewhere else. They might of been able to buy the rights to a LE Fallout console which would of been more effective.

Even a 1TB $400 Halo bundle would of helped. I'm not sure they woud of had a Halo 5 $350 bundle because they have invested massively into the game. This is a title they want to make hundred of million from, not used as a sweetener for people to buy a XB1.



zorg1000 on 02 January 2016
barneystinson69 said:
jason1637 said:
Since when is selling 1.2million units in 1 country in 1 month a messed up strategy?

 

The PS4 sold 1.6 million. In a market were Xbox usually dominate's, especially during the holidays, this isn't a good sign.

 

Usually is a bit exaggerated, Microsoft was able to capitalize on mistakes Sony made with PS3 giving them the edge in the US last generation. Sony did not make the same mistakes this generation and were able to gain back lost ground with PS4.



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.