Microsoft in GTA IV panic

[dz06lt]

were not talking about game units sold were talking about these games as system sellers of the list he mentioned the one there is gears 2. people will still buy these games but they will already have 360's

[Junkie13]

It was advertised here. Magazines, I saw a advert for it on tv it was talked about a lot.

EDIT: dz06lt I was reffering to Pirate's point about how MS have used there big sellers in one year. So I replied. Gears will boost sales.. Ms will advertise it more then they did number 1

[Fyrus]

Originally Posted by PirateThom

MGS3 was made solely for fans though. I didn't even hear about it until release week.

you... didn't?

I had MGS3 and I wasn't exactly a huge fucking fan. I mean I'd only played MGS2.

[PirateThom]

It may be the worst promotion ever for a game in Europe.

I mean, we got it after everyone else and then there was never any kind of indication it was coming.

[cmdr_keen]

Originally Posted by rounds1

It's not sarcasm. When you have a bunch of friends w/360's whose consoles died and then a bunch of friends w/PS3's whose didn't, which console would you likely lean towards?

I mean, maybe guys like you and I are willing to put up with it, but not everybody is. It's true, though, that the 360 with its library is a very attractive proposition right now.

or said person might know not a single person with a ps3 or 360 (like me)
you know, 8 and 17 million out of 6 billion is a very small fraction of people actually having a console. All i knew of the RRoD came from forums. And then again mostly from die-hard ps3 fanboys. At first it really put me off, but after a while i came to realise that it didn't matter at all.

The ps3 isn't worth 400€ for gta4 alone to me. But the 360 was worth 450€ for overlord alone with bioshock and rainbow 6 as an added bonus. It all depends on the (exclusive) games.

[Fyrus]

I don't know anyone IRL who has a 360 who HASN'T had a RROD.

[chedabob]

The fun I've had on my 360 easily outweighs the 2 dead consoles I've had.

[rounds1]

I don't think GTA5 will be much of a system seller in the US, but I don't know for sure. Just don't feel much of a buzz around the game here. There are 10m of us with XBOX's and that console already has 3 racing simulators. I'm going to be a little harsh on the PS3 here, but GTA5 really SHOULDN'T be a system seller. I mean, it's half a game! If the PS3 had any driving simulators whatsoever, people would be laughing at a prologue to a game in the same way they would if they tried releasing a COD4 prologue for the 360 (as we already have a ton of shooters). It's a sad state of affairs when one of your biggest titles of the year is half a game, and the only reason for it is because of the PS3's general lack of games.

Another thing people are overlooking is the fact that whether MS sells more or the same amount of units and copies of GTAIV as Sony, either one is a victory for them because just a few short years ago this wasn't even a fight, as Sony had nearly the entire market. For MS to have eaten this much into Sony's market share this quickly is a victory for MS, and just the fact that it's possible they actually sell MORE is even a bigger accomplishment for them.

I mean, sure, many of us, including myself, got carried away when the 360 was killing the PS3 in sales, but now that their prices are more in line with each other and the PS3 has recently started outselling the 360, it's time we all calmed down and examine the true picture. And right now, the true picture is that MS has made giant inroads in cutting into Sony's console market domination.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by rounds1

I don't think GTA5 will be much of a system seller in the US, but I don't know for sure. Just don't feel much of a buzz around the game here. There are 10m of us with XBOX's and that console already has 3 racing simulators. I'm going to be a little harsh on the PS3 here, but GTA5 really SHOULDN'T be a system seller. I mean, it's half a game! If the PS3 had any driving simulators whatsoever, people would be laughing at a prologue to a game in the same way they would if they tried releasing a COD4 prologue for the 360 (as we already have a ton of shooters). It's a sad state of affairs when one of your biggest titles of the year is half a game, and the only reason for it is because of the PS3's general lack of games.

Another thing people are overlooking is the fact that whether MS sells more or the same amount of units and copies of GTAIV as Sony, either one is a victory for them because just a few short years ago this wasn't even a fight, as Sony had nearly the entire market. For MS to have eaten this much into Sony's market share this quickly is a victory for MS, and just the fact that it's possible they actually sell MORE is even a bigger accomplishment for them.

I mean, sure, many of us, including myself, got carried away when the 360 was killing the PS3 in sales, but now that their prices are more in line with each other and the PS3 has recently started outselling the 360, it's time we all calmed down and examine the true picture. And right now, the true picture is that MS has made giant inroads in cutting into Sony's console market domination.

All very true, but the truth is that Microsoft needs to do a lot better than just split the sales down the middle with Sony on important multiplats, if for no other reason than the fact that Sony has far more internal development studios - and thus more exclusive content - to tip the scales in their favor over time.

I'm not taking anything away from Microsoft - they're doing a pretty good job of staying in the game with the hand they were dealt. But saying that half of the sales of GTA4 is "enough" flies directly in the face of logic. They're losing the new hardware sales war, and there's no way Microsoft can keep up with Sony in terms of 1st and 2nd party development, which means the library advantage the 360 holds at the moment is going to erode quickly and probably be non-existent by this time next year.

If Microsoft splits sales evenly with the PS3 on all of the PS360 multiplats in the next year, they're going to lose this generation of the console wars

[rounds1]

Originally Posted by Icemage

All very true, but the truth is that Microsoft needs to do a lot better than just split the sales down the middle with Sony on important multiplats, if for no other reason than the fact that Sony has far more internal development studios - and thus more exclusive content - to tip the scales in their favor over time.

I'm not taking anything away from Microsoft - they're doing a pretty good job of staying in the game with the hand they were dealt. But saying that half of the sales of GTA4 is "enough" flies directly in the face of logic. They're losing the new hardware sales war, and there's no way Microsoft can keep up with Sony in terms of 1st and 2nd party development, which means the library advantage the 360 holds at the moment is going to erode quickly and probably be non-existent by this time next year.

If Microsoft splits sales evenly with the PS3 on all of the PS360 multiplats in the next year, they're going to lose this generation of the console wars

Obviously only time will tell, but right now the 360 appears to be getting a lot of 3rd party exclusives (paid for or not), which seems to be tipping the balance in # of games for each system quite a bit. If you're a developer making a PC game, what more is it going to cost you to port it to the 360 too?

While not all of these 3rd-party exclusives are AAA, it equals another game in their library that the PS3 doesn't have. Games like Frontlines, Two Worlds 1 and 2, Darwinia for the arcade, and a quite a few others, which will ultimately equate to a giant list of games available. This is something I don't see happening with the PS3 at this time. They have their internal developments going on, sure, but outside of that there isn't too much - and that's where the PS2 dominated. Because there are only so many exclusives you can squeeze out internally.

Now, I'm attributing those games coming to the 360 for its ease of PC porting, but it could also be somewhat due to current sales. Regardless, as long as games continue to sell like hotcakes on the 360 (despite console sales), we're going to continue getting them.

As far as MS splitting important multiplats, I think it has to be judged on a game-by-game basis. Like, in the case of GTAIV, the majority of people seem to be under the impression that it's a Playstation game, which makes it much more difficult for MS to compete, thus they have to "sell their sole" so to speak to get people to notice. That's when we have articles like the OP. But I think it's something that they had to do to garner attention. Whether or not it ultimately pays off, only time will tell. I honestly believe they're going to cut prices in the US sometime soon, which could give them the added boost they need to get a 60 or 70 percent share (in the US at least).