Xbox Series X And S Have Been Next-Gen 'Market Leaders' In The US

Xbox series got off to a great start in the UK, I even thought at one point it would lead the way.
Now though there is no momentum behind the console or brand in UK, not in a big way.
Shops adding hats and T shirts and two months free game pass ultimate to get you to buy a series x and a slightly reduced series s price.
Stock sitting on shop shelf’s.
The next 6 months will be more interesting UK sales wise as I expect even less series console sales apart from maybe a little Christmas boost.

Disappointing from an old original Xbox fan, but deserved after bad studio management when it comes to big exclusive AAA games and release scheduling etc.
I feel now even maybe two years down the line and even if the console has a little surge the results over all will be the same as last generation, maybe with some very marginal gains Xbox wise in the UK.
Over here general public are all have you seen what games coming to Switch / PS5 etc.

I’m surprised they haven’t put out gamepass numbers…I wonder how they’ve been growing over the year, and if they’ve seen any noticeable drop off given the high profile delay of starfield this year, or if it barely mattered.

I know for a fact that Xbox is a lot easier to navigate. And the series s loads faster then the ps5 disc and ps doesn’t have quick resume. Games download faster on my series x then ps5 as well. Up until this point tho ps5 has better looking this gen games then the Xbox. It’s the only advantage I’ve seen to the PS5 as of yet.

Yeah, not surprised. The usual suspects harp about the UK on and on as if that’s the only part of the world that matters while ignoring that that’s always been a huge Playstation territory but never seem to bring up the gains in the US. They’re gaining a lot of lost ground here.

Not surprising. Both are pretty readily available in stores in my area now. Much moreso the S which is as easy to get as a gallon of milk, but I still occasionally see an X or 2 in stores. Still have yet to see a ps5 on a store shelf at this point

I mean Playstation shortages are starting to turn a quarter and as seen sales have greatly increased with increased production. Series consoles have been dropping fast as of late

@Bleachedsmiles i just want to see how many people are legitimately paying for gamepass. On one ik actually does and when i jump on for a month its always throw the $1 trial and rewards or straight reward points

By how much of margin though? As playstation is still a fair margin in front in total sales and the nintendo switch is still outselling both every month with some ease. The rumoured mid gen upgrades need to stay away for a few more years.

And don't forget Microsoft did pay for a deal to get chips before playstation so that would be effecting it as well

@Rmg0731 They do the 1-3 month for £1 so often that I don’t think it matters…long as the numbers are up so are the stock prices. I mean it’s safe to assume one of the riches companies in the world know how to stay rich.
Obviously more growth in gamepass there is the more investment in it that ends up benefitting us. So I hope the numbers are rising.

@themightyant
Well they not moving in my few local stores and the fact shops are making little offers, of give always, also tells you a story.

I see the usually suspects are in here downplaying any positive Microsoft numbers. Some things never change ...

@Dezzy70 UK here too. I'm encouraged by how many have come back to xbox this gen on promise alone. Kinda proves there is still hope/faith in the brand and belief in what new is being built.
I wonder how many more will make the jump if/when the promise is delivered, when the constant rush of 1st party exclusives finally arrive?

@NeutronBomb
I am all for that for Xbox and is what I want for Xbox. Amazing AAA games.
And when they finally deliver those hopefully top end AAA games I will be there as I am now.
But after seeing Starfield and Redfall they didn’t seem that top end AAA in all areas to me.
Very sceptical of Xbox now.

@BartoxTharglod You do you, boomer.

Given the crazy times these consoles launched into, I'll be interested to see where both end up in 2027 or 2028 (7-8 years seems to be the standard generation cycle now).

@uptownsoul There was a massively different tone between the Xbox Showcases in 2021 and 2022. 2021 was "here's an insane amount of games coming to Xbox and Game Pass in the near future including a few highly anticipated 1st party titles" meanwhile 2022 was "everything got delayed to 2023 or later, everyone panic".

@Skedaddle "Stop worrying about whose plastic box is selling more and enjoy gaming."

You literally just made case and point there mate. The amount of whinging that goes on I dont know how they find time to game..

Just crack on and enjoy.

@Dezzy70 I don't enjoy multiplayer so redfall doesn't have me ex ited, but Starfield I know will be good. Just do the usual Bethesda game studio thing and don't play until its had at least 2 patches.
Xbox is where its at ghis gen 4 me though. I traded my ps5 in because I just didn't use it. There are good games there, but nothing that does it for me.

@Skedaddle
I do enjoy gaming I just want my series x to have some new top AAA games please Microsoft.
The Switch and PS5 will keep me going with Splatoon 3 and Bayonetta 3 and PS5 HFW and GOWR.
At the moment Microsoft suck for me as no big new AAA games that’s all. Not sure if Microsoft are changing direction and slowly taking my long term relationship, day one original Xbox and Xbox360 and even Xbox one days away from me.
Just don’t get them at the minute and their studio management. 2022 not a single big new AAA Xbox studio game, somethings not right.

If the numbers are down from last year during the same time period. It not surprising... No one is getting stimulus checks anymore; the price of living have massively increased; people are able to go back outside and on vacation, so they aren't spending time in front of the TV anymore which means they have to buy gas... The price of that have also massively increased. I'm personally now having spending $5.50 a gallon to put gas in my v8 mustang... Most of my income is going towards that and not gaming.

@Floki Exactly this. I don't get how anyone is puzzled by discretionary purchases declining while Walmart just announced they're slashing prices on discretionary goods to clear excess inventory clogging their warehouses because it's not selling, and retailers are telling people to keep "return" goods after issuing refunds because they have no room in their clogged warehouses.

It's amazing that consumers (in world cheering on $70 games) don't get that consumers have less (waaay less) discretionary money to spend. But what's more amazing is the "experts" and "analysts" keep getting surprised by declining trends and citing that 'consumer spending remains strong" - no schict .....it's almost like people are spending most of their money on things they have to buy still because it consumes all their money and makes it look like they're spending the same amount, despite actually buying way less things!

But what do I know, I'm not a Schwab analyst....Need a few more Harvard PhD's in Interpretative Finance to be able to blind myself to what seems obvious at that level. Who knew every major bank analyst trained under Patcher.

From what I heard (might had missed something) console sales are not down, but their numbers are down because lack of any first party games to sell. Despite (growing) GamePass numbers, their first party games always sell, and having nothing in the calendar means lower numbers.

Let’s face it, these consoles still sell as fast as they are made, at least the X model. There are still plenty of people with disposable incomes that want these devices and can’t get their hands on them.

Anyways, I still expect this gen to have Xbox long term dominate America. It might be due to them having a better management of stock than Sony, but America has always been a strong market for them, even the Xbox one didn’t do that horribly in the region.

@Tharsman well yeah basically the S is cheaper than the X and since MS talks revenue not units that suggests they are selling more of the XSS than the XSX. By large margins. But you know to some people “details”.

@mousieone I see them in stores so they are clearly failures.

@NEStalgia yup they aren’t sold out. No one wants them.

@NEStalgia are you don’t with Ai yet?

@mousieone I saw an iPhone on eBay. Shame they're doing so bad, things were looking up when Steve Jobs was there.

Yep, done with AI. I do love the finale, though I never got the secret ending you mentioned... Tempted to buy the sequel. I'm getting a kishi2 after the steamdeck thread and a spare phone to just leave in the kishi as an xswitchps. Maybe I'll buy on xb.

@NEStalgia secret ending???

No I meant the musical

@mousieone ohhh, yeah that was fantastic

@NEStalgia kinda perfect way to end such a heavy game

@mousieone The whole 3 months later chapter of beautiful, really. I love the payoff for a lot of the running jokes through the game

@NEStalgia yeah I’m like in the middle of the sequel. Whoa boy. But the first one is just so perfect.

@mousieone Yeah, I really don't think the first can be matched. I have my issues with it in a few places but it's just so perfect all the way around.

I know sploosh said it's pretty different in tone and gore. Hows it going for you?

@NEStalgia well it’s linear. I mean there is some deviation but it’s pretty hard to miss what you are supposed to do first. And a lot of time is spent backing out and going back in. There isn’t as much reliance on the timies and time management as it’s more about movement management. Some Somniums are quite lengthy in this regard. Also there are a lot more QTEs.

Story wise the pacing leaves a lot to be desired. The first one had information everywhere but this new one you’ll literally visit all the places you can and learn nothing. I will say since switching over to Mizuki’s side it’s starting to feel a bit more like it used to game wise. That said I think Ryukis side is meant to feel jarring and confusing.

I have about 10 more hours or so, so we shall see

@mousieone haha. So far worth full price? Or better to wait a while?

@NEStalgia well I bought the collector’s editions so I’m the wrong person to ask

@mousieone lol 😂

@NEStalgia never mind I take it all back and wow I was that Brain twist. Just wow. that explains the pacing..

@NEStalgia I finished it. Wow when that game comes together boy does it. I still like the first a little better but the twist is so insane. It took me a lot of thinking to wrap my mind around the whole thing. It’s really good to.

@mousieone now you're tempting me... Idk tough I'm sure it's a game that goes on sale sooner than later.... And there's so many to buy. Just got xc3, need live a live, soul hackers 3, Splatoon 3, star ocean, bayo3, stray, this.... I think I'm forgetting some, too.

And what am i actively playing? I set up an old PS4 to stream Detroit to follow up ai som....

@NEStalgia well unfortunately I don’t think it sold to well this time round either. Steam is primary audience. I think it’s worth full price but it should eventually go to GP if you want to use xCloud with it.

@mousieone sad it didn't sell but not at all surprising. It's pretty niche. Heck any vn is niche. Cheap to make though so sales don't need to be great to be profitable.

It's buy it on a good sale. Doesn't need to be gp, I can stream from xss. I did that for half of the first one because quick resume is pretty much the most important feature and cloud lacks it. Takes to long to get into the game otherwise.

@NEStalgia I don’t know how cheap this one is to make though. It has an English cast. Usually, VNs cut down on coat by not subbing it. Plus they did an Xbox physical. But if they already got the GP money, that can mitigate the cost. But it’s just a guess.

This game sold the most and makes the most based on Steam.

@mousieone it's still a VN, it may not be the world's lowest budget atlier game but we're not talking even star ocean budgets. Probaly less than live a live.

I still find it surreal out would do best on steam. Traditionally psp/vita is where these games would thrive. Today you'd think switch. Pc is probably the last place I'd play a vn. Totally weird to me.

@NEStalgia VNs have always had a strong following on PC. There are still many that have yet to go to console. I mean even DDLC is a good example. Even, If you look at Metacritic, the amount of reviews not the score, PC is ahead by far.

The first game failed to chart on consoles but was a Steam Best Seller.

BTW what’s Atlier?

@mousieone atelier, rather... Gust :l

Strange about pc. Really no idea why pc would be the home of vns. I never knew that, but it still seems strange to me. All bets being even id think mobile over pc.

@NEStalgia Oh that’s what I thought you meant. Except Atelier games aren’t VNs, they sim/crafting/RPGs with 3D camera angles and environments. Nor would I call them “cheaply” made, less expensive sure but their budgets are a lot higher than most VNs would be. however I get your meaning, I think your thinking like an Otomate game. And yes I’d say it’s higher budget than that for sure. But I’d pitch the budget of an Atelier game and Ai Somnium a lot closer. That’s why I bit confused.

@NEStalgia mobile is getting more popular for VNs but historically it was PC. If that makes sense.

@mousieone ah yeah that makes sense it's going to mobile. But I still can't imagine pc being the most popular for vn of all genres. Power doesn't improve it. Superior controls don't matter. Ideal seating doesn't matter, 140hz doesn't matter... Just... Why pc 🤔

@NEStalgia superior controls would matter. Also, Some games do things with your save files forcing you do things in the PC to make them work…. =p

@mousieone how do controls matter for a vn? . Date's shooting scenes do not count.