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XBox (Games) Businesses

360 Sales Slow, Chip Blamed For Issues 103

Posted by Zonk from the learning-experiences dept.
Gamasutra has a bevy of information about the XBox 360. Sales seem to be slowing, just as supply issues seem to be resolving. Microsoft has a target for its annoyance regarding those issues. An analyst is blaming German chip manufacturer Infineon Technologies for the slow arrival of 360 units to market. Regardless of past problems, the company is going full speed ahead with more launches. Latin America saw launch on February 2nd, and "The system will launch in Korea on February 24, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore on March 16, Australia and New Zealand on March 23, with a global presence in 30 countries by the end of March."
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360 Sales Slow, Chip Blamed For Issues More

360 Sales Slow, Chip Blamed For Issues

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  • OR ... we are all waiting until PS3 and NR come (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:23PM (#14717517) Homepage Journal
    I for one, am doing just that.

    I have a GameCube, multiple GameBoys (color, etc), an xBox and ...

    I'm going to wait until PS3 and NR are here and I can see what actual games work on them and what they feel like.

    I'll probably get a PS3 this time, but maybe I'll get a NR instead. But the xBox360 severely underwhelmed me. Maybe if I had an HDTV right now I might be more into it, but from my perspective it's the Games that matter, not the console itself.

    The reason I bought Sims 2 for the xBox was the graphics were better than the GameCube version. I'm still pretty unimpressed with the xBox, and moreso the xBox360.
    • I'm with you on waiting. I haven't been an early console adopter since SNES. I'd rather wait and see how things sort out first. I don't have the time or money to be playing around with multiple systems and I rather just pick one after the competition has run a bit.
    • especially if the GBA player can be attached to the NR... I am 100% sold. It would mean that I can play 100% of the games I regularly play on my current box/SP with the new one, plus the game download service and unique interface.

      We have an old school xbox in our living room on a DLP projector, and it already looks pretty good. I really only play Fable and Morrowind GOTY on it, and my roommates only play Halo 2 and Madden. As of yet we are not impressed enough to split a 360. That box will likely stay

    • Or maybe we don't care... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by sterno ( 16320 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:43PM (#14717725) Homepage
      Part of the problem here might simpyl be a lack of interest in the next generation platforms. Yes, there's the hard core people who will be out buying the systems early. But I own a PS2 and it plays the games I have just fine and I haven't bought a game for it in a while. Furthermore, because the XBox and the PS2 are still posessing large market shares, publishers are still making games for them.

      Right now, what incentive is there to drop $400-500 on a new game system? Are the games that much better? Not really. Yeah the graphics are a bit better but not in the same way that the PS2 graphics were better than the PS1. I saw an XBox 360 at the store the other day and some kid was playing a fighting game. Yeah the graphics were nicer, but it was more or less the same game I would play on my Dreamcast back in the day.

      In the end people will move to the new platform because that's where the games will be, but for now there's not a lot of incentive. Most people don't have HDTV's so they don't get much from that. Many people don't even network their game systems from what I've seen. So much of the touted features of the new systems aren't benefitting the majority of people.

      Personally I'll probably buy a PS3 shortly after the release of the next GTA title.
      • Part of the problem here might simpyl be a lack of interest in the next generation platforms.

        I wouldn't say that there is a lack of interest for next generation platforms; historically speaking, the next generation of platforms has always had at least two consoles that sold well. Personally, I don't see the xbox360 as a next generation platform; the release time between the xbox and xbox360 just seems to be too small. Am I the only one who finds it strange that the xbox was the last of the previous genera

      • It still makes me laugh that the killer game for the 360 is Gravity Wars and at the same time Bill Gates is claiming the Revolution will not be able to compete because of it's inferior hardware specs....

      • I disagree (Score:3, Interesting)

        by maynard ( 3337 )
        Speaking as one who does not own a 360, but has field tested it in HD with a friend, I must say that the unit has quite the graphical and raw horsepower punch. I was never much impressed with the original Xbox, but the 360 is a different animal. It competes with a high end gaming PC rig, playing Quake 4 pretty damn well for a $400 toy. COD II is a damn fun game (even if it has had problems with multiplayer in Xbox live). Didn't much care for PDZ though. Not the point.

        I don't think the PS3 will be significan
    • I'm waiting to see which one makes the best cheap server. Last generation, the Xbox won by a mile, but this time, it's not clear, and it's uncertain that any of them will be better than a similarly-priced PC off ebay.
      • 'm waiting to see which one makes the best cheap server. Last generation, the Xbox won by a mile, but this time, it's not clear, and it's uncertain that any of them will be better than a similarly-priced PC off ebay.

        My bet would be the xBox360, after the price drops. MSFT has a habit of selling hardware below production costs, Sony will do it to compete but tends to get close to break-even, and Nintendo always makes money on their consoles and handhelds.

        Most MSFT game consoles only break even if you buy at
    • I'm just not interested in any of the games on the 360. If anyone ever releases a game that isn't just a sequel/sports/clone I might care, until then, I can just keep playing my existing consoles.
    • *nods* damn bandwagon console junkies. In the end it's value that counts, what you're getting for your money. Thats what I find interesting about the console market, it's all about building hype to make your console sucessful. The more people that have your console, the 'better' the console is by nature of the game market.

      People post here and bicker about which console looks nicer, or which one will be faster, when in reality, none of that really matters, what matters in the end is how many people have t

  • Gee, really? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by payndz ( 589033 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:25PM (#14717541)
    360 sales are slow, huh? Maybe that's because:

    There are no real killer titles (and a lot of ports); and
    You still can't buy the damn thing. Nowhere that I've seen, anyway. It's 'Out of stock' notices all round where I live...

    • Re:Gee, really? (Score:1, Informative)

      by LordNimon ( 85072 )
      I don't know where you live, but the trick to buying an Xbox 360 these days is to basically visit the usual retailer(s) every morning, and within 1-2 weeks you should have one. The Best Buy stores around here get in a shipment about once a week, sometimes as many as 25 at a time.

      I've decided to wait until my birthday in a couple months to get one, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is hoping that some people chip in to pay for it! And even then, I'll probably be the only person I know who

    • Where abouts do you live?
    • You still can't buy the damn thing.

      Yeah, because nothing says "unobtainable" like being able to buy it from Wal-Mart [walmart.com].

      • That particular package doesn't include the hard drive, which makes it practically worthless.
      • I don't see a single place selling it that doesn't try to force a bundle sale. Wal-Mart, for instance shows the base and complete systems as out of stock, but happily offers several bundles.

        Apparently consumers aren't as willing to have extra crap they don't want forced down their throats, especially when it pushes the total cost north of $600.

        I'll be buying all three, 360, PS3 and Revolution, but I'm not going to be in such a hurry for any of them that I buy crap I don't need or want.
      • Yeah, because nothing says "unobtainable" like being able to buy it from Wal-Mart.

        Which would be very helpful if Wal-Mart had any stores in my country (the UK)...

    • It's true that those are contributors to the problem, but glitches are still a significant reason not to buy a console. For me, the main advantage of a console (rather than buying the game on PC) is that everything's standardized, so you don't have bugs, like you would on PC with lots of different possible components. So if you're going to make a console, you had better get that part right! That MS skimped on this tells me they don't "get it".

  • The Blame Game (Score:4, Insightful)

    by vonPoonBurGer ( 680105 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:30PM (#14717601)
    ...or rather, blame the games. Want something to pin slow console sales on? How about the fact that Xbox360 still doesn't have a killer title! Perfect Dark Zero was a decent enough game, but by most accounts it fell short of being the must-have title that would drive sales of the hardware. The Xbox had Halo, the Xbox360 has... nothing even close to that in terms of popularity. No wonder they can't sell the hardware, there's no Xbox360-exclusive game that people really, really want.
    • The Xbox had Halo, the Xbox360 has... nothing even close to that in terms of popularity.

      Exactly. And hearing it's going to have Halo 3 is just, well, not that exciting.

      Wake me up when it's got something good to play on it. Something interesting.
    • It'll be interesting to see if Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will help at all. That looks like being one pretty game.

      But still, people need a HD TV to get the full effect of the better graphics.

      Booey to that, instead of Xbox 360 + peripherals + HDTV, just buy a new PC.

      I paid 1450 for my Dell (3GHz P4, Nvidia GeForce 6800, 20" LCD 1600x1200 res) here in Ireland and you'ld be hard put here to buy the Xbox 360 setup + an actual bona-fide HD TV (i.e. not "HD ready" nonsense) for less.

      In fact, I don't know where on
      • Oblivion is definitely the game I'm waiting for before getting an Xbox. I'll wind up getting the PC version too to get the user-made stuff.
        • Oblivion is definitely the game I'm waiting for before getting an Xbox. I'll wind up getting the PC version too to get the user-made stuff.

          So you're going to buy a 500$ hardware to play a game that you will buy anyway for another hardware because it's better on it? (has mods)

  • What i am waiting for (Score:4, Funny)

    by azcoffeehabit ( 533327 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:35PM (#14717656)
    I am holding out for the Phantom Game Console [hardocp.com]!
  • "Chip"? Is that Ballmer's new nickname? *confused*

  • the MAIN reason why people don't buy it: (Score:4, Funny)

    by fluor2 ( 242824 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:41PM (#14717706)
    The MAIN reason why people don't buy it: it's probably not crackable. Who want a system like that?
  • Personally, I would rather wait till the NR comes out. By then, the PS3 should be out at its high price, and the Xbox 360 might actually be purchasable (not being able to find it in stores will hinder sales). The holiday season is over, and we just got through the V-Day purchase (for those of you with S.O.'s), so people in general see no reason to spend money on the 360 right now. Let them save up their money, and maybe within that timespan, Microsoft can fix those issues with they 360's before the second
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playstation_2#Sales_r ecord [wikipedia.org] PS2 sold 1 million in opening weekend in Japan, and 500,000 on FIRST DAY in USA. The 360 has been out for almost 3 months and hasn't made a dent in the market. Read the article, the PS2 is outselling 360. And there are units in stores now, go to a Walmart, Zellers, whatver you have. They have 360s. But guess what, higher res versions of the same games wont get people to spend the big bucks.
    • Then by your logic, the PS3 is even worse off. I mean, it doesn't even have anything sorta-interesting, like Xbox Live Arcade.

      I'm probably going to wait a year for the 360 to get a few decent games and for it to drop in price. After owning a DS and loving it, a Revolution is a launch day buy for me.

      You couldn't pay me enough to buy another Sony product though, overhyped, underdeliverd, unreliable bullshit is all they've represented for the past couple of years.* That, and stupid DRM.

      * (Yes, even wo

      • I know I'm not going to buy a PS3 on launch day. Not unless there is some really killer game out for it (not likely with most launch titles). If it's like the 360 (better graphics, but not really better games), then it's going to be a tough sell.

        Of course the PS3 will have the advantage of launching in Japan first and giving the game makers some time to build some quality games before the US launch.

    • Re:Before fanboys defend the 360 sales figures... (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      How do you tell a Sony zealot? He repeats the same PS2 sales figures on Slashdot. The 360 costs a shitload of money, has few games, and had serious supply problems when it was released. You can be absolutely positive that if the PS3 sells for $500/unit it will sell nowhere near 500k units in one day in the U.S., whether Sony is capable of shipping 500k or 5M units. It's just way outside of the price range for impulse purchases. If the PS3 makes any attempt to lock discs to machines, or ships with ten games

      • Re:Before fanboys defend the 360 sales figures... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by ivan256 ( 17499 ) * on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @03:30PM (#14718322)
        You can be absolutely positive that if the PS3 sells for $500/unit it will sell nowhere near 500k units in one day in the U.S.

        That's why you can be absolutely positive that the PS3 won't be priced at $500.

        Sony has never gone to market with the most expensive console, even though all the "experts" have always predicted that every upcoming Sony console would be more expensive than the competition.

        Sony wants to let people thing that it's going to cost $500 so people will think it's a bargain when it comes out at $349.

  • Multiple reasons.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by int2str ( 619733 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:54PM (#14717838)
    We own(ed) a N64, PS2, PSP, GBA, XBOX and others.
    But we have not bought a Xbox 360 yet. The reaons are multiple:

    - The Price

    The Xbox 360 is significantly more expensive than most other consoles before it. It simply doesn't fall into the "playmoney" category somehow. This makes the barrier of entry too high.

    - The Games

    I've bought the Xbox almost solely because of multiplayer Halo and because my wife is a big Oddworld fan. No sign of either for the 360. Call of duty looks nice, but nothing to shell out ~$350 for (X360+game).

    - The Future

    The Nintento Revolution is going to have Bluetooth (non proprietary) controllers, focus on gaming alone and is set to try a "different" angle on gaming. Hopefully it'll have a good Mario game and come thruogh on the hype.

    The PS3 will have GT 5 (eventually). That's good enough for me :D.

    Either one are worth waiting for to have something to compare the Xbox 360 against.

    Just my $.02

    Cheers,
          Andre

  • Sales slow, even if there was enough supply. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dividedsky319 ( 907852 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @02:55PM (#14717852)
    In my opinion, even if there was enough systems, sales would still be fairlys low.

    There's a certain base of hardcore gamers out there who just have to have the next best thing. Since the 360 is the only next-gen system out right now, it's selling systems.

    Sure, people are preparing for the future, confident that eventually there will be some killer games on the system. But right now, there's really no system seller. People point to the fact that "there's tons of games rated over 8.0 at IGN!" but... an 8.0 game isn't a system seller. It's a game worth playing, but not worth buying a system for. There's plenty of good 8.0 and higher games on the Xbox, PS2 or Gamecube that are comparable at the moment.
  • Prices for new Xbox 360 core systems on eBay are hovering just above $300. At $350, they don't sell. There are still over 500 Xbox 360 core system auctions active. So if you want one and are willing to spend $325, there's no problem.

    That's about where price and availability have been for weeks. There were some high-priced sales before Xmas, but after that, prices went into a dive and levelled off slightly above the retail price. The current price indicates that there is no real Xbox 360 shortage.

    (I

    • Well, for the console, maybe. I saw an auction, umm, three weeks-a month ago, and a guy sold an XBOX 360 *BOX* (no console, nothing, just the box) for 800 something bucks. Just for cardboard.
  • Well $600-$800 dollar preorders isn't inspiring to buy. They are going ahead with launches in other countries before the US even has a supply that is worthy of buying... Seriously someone if you have bought an Xbox 360 in a physical store since the last 2 weeks please post here becuase obviously a product can't sell if its not possible to find or get within reason.

    Yet others have an obvious point that even if you could get one why would you? They didn't even launch with any killer titles. So it defeats the

  • Misleading Story Title (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This stories title is very misleading, If you read the article it does not say the reason for the slow sales of Xbox 360 is because of lack of demand but quoting right from the article "Needless to say, the main constricting factor for Xbox 360 sales continues to be the poor supply of the console, rather than a lack of consumers to purchase it.". Supply is still an issue, in my area you can not get one, if you go to ebgames.com you are put on a waiting list. If you know how to get one beside paying an absur

  • RTFA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by startled ( 144833 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @03:18PM (#14718172)
    Wow. There are four posts at 3 or greater, all of them speculating about reasons for slowing XBox 360 sales. The article says: "Needless to say, the main constricting factor for Xbox 360 sales continues to be the poor supply of the console, rather than a lack of consumers to purchase it."

    Interestingly, none of the speculators have given any reason to trust them over Gamasutra, Wedbush Morgan, and Simon Carless. Hey, don't let that get in the way of a pointless flame-fest.
    • "Needless to say, the main constricting factor for Xbox 360 sales continues to be the poor supply of the console, rather than a lack of consumers to purchase it."

      to which I'd say, the main reason, even though MSFT (which I own shares in) throttled production to force a demand crunch, is that there just aren't any games out that make you have to buy an xBox360.

      Ports and remakes won't do it.
    • Well, the thing is that /. readers have already shown that units are readily available on Walmart.com and even eBay (at about 5-10% premium), so the claim of "no availabilty" is false. This is also verifiable by walking to your local Toys R Us.
      • I believe the issue is with the availability of NON-Bundles, or crippled hardware. Who wants to pay extra money for an assload of games they don't want, or a labotomized console with half the selling-point features. So availability is an issue in my eyes. Smartest thing Microsoft could do right now (besides start producing enough consoles) is crack down on the shops forcing bundles. It's hurting their image even more.

        I would have bought an Xbox Premium if I'd ever seen one. Still haven't except on ebay,
      • Well, the thing is that /. readers have already shown that units are readily available on Walmart.com and even eBay (at about 5-10% premium), so the claim of "no availabilty" is false. This is also verifiable by walking to your local Toys R Us.

        The Walmart bundles are obscene. The Premium 360s I'm looking at on ebay right now are at over a 25% markup, not including shipping, which is more obscene. The nearest Toys R Us to me is sold out.
    • Wow. There are four posts at 3 or greater, all of them speculating about reasons for slowing XBox 360 sales. The article says: "Needless to say, the main constricting factor for Xbox 360 sales continues to be the poor supply of the console, rather than a lack of consumers to purchase it."

      Interestingly, none of the speculators have given any reason to trust them over Gamasutra, Wedbush Morgan, and Simon Carless. Hey, don't let that get in the way of a pointless flame-fest.

      Why don't you finish reading the

      • "We think that the decline in overall sales of current generation software in January indicates the continuation of a trend that will persist well into 2006, and we anticipate double-digit declines in overall console software sales for the first half of 2006. We expect current generation software sales to decline at a 30% rate, or higher, for the full year. We do not expect sales of next generation software offsetting the current generation software sales decline until the PS3 and Revolution are launched."

        T
        • That's referring to software sales overall, not just 360, and specifically refers to software.

          Did you stop reading the paragraph and not get to this part: "We do not expect sales of next generation software offsetting the current generation software sales decline until the PS3 and Revolution are launched."

          • Did you stop reading the paragraph and not get to this part: "We do not expect sales of next generation software offsetting the current generation software sales decline until the PS3 and Revolution are launched."

            In answer to your query: no.

  • troll (Score:4, Insightful)

    by the computer guy nex ( 916959 ) on Tuesday February 14, 2006 @03:44PM (#14718480)
    "We own(ed) a N64, PS2, PSP, GBA, XBOX and others. But we have not bought a Xbox 360 yet. The reaons are multiple: - The Price The Xbox 360 is significantly more expensive than most other consoles before it. It simply doesn't fall into the "playmoney" category somehow. This makes the barrier of entry too high. - The Games I've bought the Xbox almost solely because of multiplayer Halo and because my wife is a big Oddworld fan. No sign of either for the 360. Call of duty looks nice, but nothing to shell out ~$350 for (X360+game)."

    Price? At $300 it is $50 more than the PSP and exactly the same as the Xbox, PS1, and PS2 at launch date.

    Games? See how many other consoles are released with *4* titles grabbing 90+/100 ratings at launch. COD2, PD0, Kameo, and PGR3.

    People will find any reason to try to bash this system, even make things up.

    • Re:troll (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Winterblink ( 575267 )
      If you trust the reviews, sure. 1UP went to far to rate PGR a 10/10 the day the 360 hit stores. Perfect? Not so sure about that. I wonder what that reviewer would rate it now after a few months.

      Which only goes to show that review scores themselves are a load of crap really, with the best opinion of a game being your own.
      • Throw enough money at any review website (or enough free Xbox360's and games) and your going to get nice reviews.

        But real life numbers speak for themselves. The Xbox360's are not selling, you can't find them, and the games by independent and credible review sites say that they definitely don't shine, bugs and issues asside.

        Microsoft rushed the Xbox360 out the door, and it shows. There is no trolling going on, just the truth.
    • Games? See how many other consoles are released with *4* titles grabbing 90+/100 ratings at launch. COD2, PD0, Kameo, and PGR3

      Where exactly are you getting your review scores? Gamerankings lists only CoD as having an average review of 90/100, with all other games lower.

      http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simplerat ings.asp [gamerankings.com]
    • It's not the quality of the games, it's the perception of the games which counts. 360 has had the second best lineup I can remember (best being the Dreamcast). But that didn't work for the Dreamcast either. As the PSP, DS, and PS2 have proven, even if you don't have quality games as long as there's a perception that someday you will consumers will still go for it. In some cases that turned out to be true, certainly for DS. As well as PS2 (though to me it still pales to the DC and original Xbox). Remai

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