HUGECOOL
25-02-2006, 03:26 AM
Do you hear that? Could it be silence? Oh yes it is and it's about time too! Ever since November, Microsoft has constantly advertised the Xbox 360 as the next big thing. However, sales speak in a much larger volume than hype and anticipation. Despite Microsoft's modest attempts to keep an image of confidence, there is no denying the fact that the Xbox 360 underperformed at retail. Should consumers invest into one now? To be quite blunt, no.
According to Microsoft's Public Relations Dept., the Xbox 360's poor hardware sales are in due to the fact that the machine could not be produced fast enough to keep up with demand. In reality, that is far from the case. According to Yahoo News, Microsoft has lowered its 90-day Xbox 360 sales forecast. The reason why the sales forecast was lowered was due to manufacturing problems. (SOURCE) (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/tc_nm/microsoft_xbox_dc) However, according to the NPD Group, the Xbox 360 only managed to sell through 325,902 units out of the 400,000 units that launched in November. So is it really manufacturing problems that caused Microsoft to lower their sales forecast?
Let me answer that for you, nope. It has a lot more to do with the fact that people's interest in the Xbox 360 was lacking from the get-go. Typically at a home-console launch, every single home console is sold within the first month. The PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube each sold through their initial launch stock with absolute ease. However, the Xbox 360 is quite different really. Originally, Microsoft said that they would be able to sell between 4.5 - 5.5 million game consoles within the first 90 days of launch. However, it is now lowered to a pathetic 2.5 million game consoles instead. (SOURCE) (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/tc_nm/microsoft_xbox_dc)
But what about software sales? According to Microsoft, they were able to ship 1.3 million software units throughout November. However, notice the keyword "ship"? That means they have yet to be sold to consumers, thus meaning many of those games are still sitting on store shelves collecting dust somewhere. The best selling game for the Xbox 360 is Call of Duty 2. The game was ranked #3 on the NPD software sales chart for the month of November. (SOURCE) (http://www.venturus.com/index.php/playfeed/article/npd-november-sales-numbers-12130825/)However, the NPD does not rank software based on how many units were sold. They instead rank them on how much revenue it brings to a certain company. So even at this point, you still couldn't tell how many units of Call of Duty 2 for the platform was actually sold.
What makes this even more pathetic is that Call of Duty 2 was the only launch title to be ranked within the top ten sales for that month. Not even one of Electronic Arts' games made it to the top ten for that particular platform. Showing, once again, that overall gamer interest for the platform is rather low.
So, what exactly does that mean for consumers? It means one thing, fewer games coming out for the Xbox 360. As of right now, third parties are still willing to take a chance at the platform knowing it has the potential to grow. However, if the launch numbers for these games are already sadistic, what makes anyone think that the software sales will increase dramatically within the next six to eight months? Sure, the userbase will continue to grow but that doesn't mean software sales will grow with it. Look at Nintendo's GameCube for an example. It has well over 20 million units sold worldwide and its software sales are still within a range as if the platform had less than two million consumers supporting it.
But what about Japan, who in no doubt has the most influential publishers in the gaming industry? According to Enterbrain, only 62,000 units were sold within December, which is barely half of the 159,000 units Microsoft sent to Japan for launch. Even the original Xbox sold more than its successor, hitting somewhere around 123,000 units sold within the first three days of launch. This once again shows that overall consumer interest in Microsoft's products have dropped significantly since last generation. Even Japanese publishers, which IGN questioned, have stated that their support for the machine would depend on the success of the platform in Japan. As of right now, it's not successful and it is considered as a "disappointment" to financial investors. (SOURCE) (http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/games/news/50618.shtml)
But enough with the business aspects of the Xbox 360. How does it perform hardware wise? Many consumers have reported that their Xbox 360 have experienced various hardware failures. Some of them include "freezing", "locking-up", or "crashing". The Xbox 360 drive has also been reported to scratch up disks when the system has been moved from its vertical position to its horizontal position and vice-versa. It has turned into so much of a problem that if a consumer has a scratched-up disk, Microsoft will replace that game with a copy of Perfect Dark Zero free of charge. (SOURCE) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Crashing)
Xbox 360 "Screen of Death" - Windows 98 comes to mind.. :P
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Xbox360_bsod_02.jpg
So, how many units have been affected according to Microsoft? They claim that less than 1 out of every 20 of their total units shipped have been affected with hardware problems. As of right now, the Xbox 360 has sold through 1.5 million units worldwide. 1 out of every 20 units happens to be over 75,000 units affected. That is if we were using Microsoft's statistics. However, they are the same company who claim that manufacturing problems was the main issue affecting poor hardware sales, even though that is far from the truth. So in reality, the number of affected units with hardware problems is more than likely to be considerably higher than 75,000 units.
As it can be seen, once you get past all of the damage control and smoke tactics that Microsoft's PR have been using since launch, you can see the Xbox 360 for what it really is in reality. Like all consumer electronic products, they become better later on when more software and applications are out for the system. But why spend $400+ on a system at launch when it has significant hardware problems, when there is little to no software out for the system, and support from your favorite companies are questionable at this point? There is no need really. By the time Microsoft has things finally up and running, there will be no doubt in my mind that a price drop will occur and many of the software titles that you might've wanted will have dropped in price. Save the cash and wait. Six months from now you'll be thanking yourself.
link (http://www.projectcoe.com/microsoft/editorials/damage_control.html)
According to Microsoft's Public Relations Dept., the Xbox 360's poor hardware sales are in due to the fact that the machine could not be produced fast enough to keep up with demand. In reality, that is far from the case. According to Yahoo News, Microsoft has lowered its 90-day Xbox 360 sales forecast. The reason why the sales forecast was lowered was due to manufacturing problems. (SOURCE) (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/tc_nm/microsoft_xbox_dc) However, according to the NPD Group, the Xbox 360 only managed to sell through 325,902 units out of the 400,000 units that launched in November. So is it really manufacturing problems that caused Microsoft to lower their sales forecast?
Let me answer that for you, nope. It has a lot more to do with the fact that people's interest in the Xbox 360 was lacking from the get-go. Typically at a home-console launch, every single home console is sold within the first month. The PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube each sold through their initial launch stock with absolute ease. However, the Xbox 360 is quite different really. Originally, Microsoft said that they would be able to sell between 4.5 - 5.5 million game consoles within the first 90 days of launch. However, it is now lowered to a pathetic 2.5 million game consoles instead. (SOURCE) (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060127/tc_nm/microsoft_xbox_dc)
But what about software sales? According to Microsoft, they were able to ship 1.3 million software units throughout November. However, notice the keyword "ship"? That means they have yet to be sold to consumers, thus meaning many of those games are still sitting on store shelves collecting dust somewhere. The best selling game for the Xbox 360 is Call of Duty 2. The game was ranked #3 on the NPD software sales chart for the month of November. (SOURCE) (http://www.venturus.com/index.php/playfeed/article/npd-november-sales-numbers-12130825/)However, the NPD does not rank software based on how many units were sold. They instead rank them on how much revenue it brings to a certain company. So even at this point, you still couldn't tell how many units of Call of Duty 2 for the platform was actually sold.
What makes this even more pathetic is that Call of Duty 2 was the only launch title to be ranked within the top ten sales for that month. Not even one of Electronic Arts' games made it to the top ten for that particular platform. Showing, once again, that overall gamer interest for the platform is rather low.
So, what exactly does that mean for consumers? It means one thing, fewer games coming out for the Xbox 360. As of right now, third parties are still willing to take a chance at the platform knowing it has the potential to grow. However, if the launch numbers for these games are already sadistic, what makes anyone think that the software sales will increase dramatically within the next six to eight months? Sure, the userbase will continue to grow but that doesn't mean software sales will grow with it. Look at Nintendo's GameCube for an example. It has well over 20 million units sold worldwide and its software sales are still within a range as if the platform had less than two million consumers supporting it.
But what about Japan, who in no doubt has the most influential publishers in the gaming industry? According to Enterbrain, only 62,000 units were sold within December, which is barely half of the 159,000 units Microsoft sent to Japan for launch. Even the original Xbox sold more than its successor, hitting somewhere around 123,000 units sold within the first three days of launch. This once again shows that overall consumer interest in Microsoft's products have dropped significantly since last generation. Even Japanese publishers, which IGN questioned, have stated that their support for the machine would depend on the success of the platform in Japan. As of right now, it's not successful and it is considered as a "disappointment" to financial investors. (SOURCE) (http://www.gamepro.com/microsoft/xbox360/games/news/50618.shtml)
But enough with the business aspects of the Xbox 360. How does it perform hardware wise? Many consumers have reported that their Xbox 360 have experienced various hardware failures. Some of them include "freezing", "locking-up", or "crashing". The Xbox 360 drive has also been reported to scratch up disks when the system has been moved from its vertical position to its horizontal position and vice-versa. It has turned into so much of a problem that if a consumer has a scratched-up disk, Microsoft will replace that game with a copy of Perfect Dark Zero free of charge. (SOURCE) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Crashing)
Xbox 360 "Screen of Death" - Windows 98 comes to mind.. :P
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e3/Xbox360_bsod_02.jpg
So, how many units have been affected according to Microsoft? They claim that less than 1 out of every 20 of their total units shipped have been affected with hardware problems. As of right now, the Xbox 360 has sold through 1.5 million units worldwide. 1 out of every 20 units happens to be over 75,000 units affected. That is if we were using Microsoft's statistics. However, they are the same company who claim that manufacturing problems was the main issue affecting poor hardware sales, even though that is far from the truth. So in reality, the number of affected units with hardware problems is more than likely to be considerably higher than 75,000 units.
As it can be seen, once you get past all of the damage control and smoke tactics that Microsoft's PR have been using since launch, you can see the Xbox 360 for what it really is in reality. Like all consumer electronic products, they become better later on when more software and applications are out for the system. But why spend $400+ on a system at launch when it has significant hardware problems, when there is little to no software out for the system, and support from your favorite companies are questionable at this point? There is no need really. By the time Microsoft has things finally up and running, there will be no doubt in my mind that a price drop will occur and many of the software titles that you might've wanted will have dropped in price. Save the cash and wait. Six months from now you'll be thanking yourself.
link (http://www.projectcoe.com/microsoft/editorials/damage_control.html)