Why is the PS4 outselling the Xbox One? Microsoft weighs in

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

With more than 7 million units sold to date, Sony's PlayStation 4 is the top-selling new console, ahead of Microsoft's Xbox One, which has shipped (not sold) 5 million units to date. In an interview with Forbes, Microsoft chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi laid out some reasons why his console is lagging behind, at least right now.

 

"It's hard to really assess the gap in sales," Mehdi said. "[sony is] in many more markets right now than we are. They're in 40+ markets, we're in 13." The PS4 won't have a such a dramatic regional availability advantage for much longer, as the Xbox One will be released in Japan and 25 other regions in September.

 

Another reason why the Xbox One has fallen behind the PS4 in terms of sales so far is because, according to Mehdi, Xbox 360 owners enjoy their systems more than PlayStation 3 owners do, so they are less inclined to upgrade.

 

"People have been more satisfied with the Xbox 360 than the PS3, so in that respect people have less of a need to upgrade in the short-term due to regular updates for the Xbox 360," Mehdi said. "We could point to any number of things."

 

Addressing the impact the Xbox One's new $399 price point could have on the platform's viability going forward, Mehdi said the new price "broadens the appeal and hopefully brings more people to Xbox One sooner." He acknowledged that the original $499 price point was too steep an asking price for some gamers.

 

For more on this week's major Microsoft news, be sure to read GameSpot's staff editorial about how the Xbox One's new $399 price point will affect the ongoing console war.

 

Source: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-is-the-ps4-outselling-the-xbox-one-microsoft-weighs-in/1100-6419622/

 

Argue about the sales force of the combined "smaller nations" all you want, but man, that PS3 comment. Sounds bitter as heck.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Another reason why the Xbox One has fallen behind the PS4 in terms of sales so far is because, according to Mehdi, Xbox 360 owners enjoy their systems more than PlayStation 3 owners do, so they are less inclined to upgrade.

Have they got a satisfaction survey for that, or are they just making assumptions? I could look at the sales figures and say that the reason more PS4s have been sold than Xbox Ones is because the PS4 includes many more improvements over the PS3, whereas customers aren't as impressed with the improvements in the Xbox One and so decided to just stick with their 360. However, without some form of proof there is nothing to support either idea.

[JonnyLH]

Yusuf Mehdi really needs to get real. How can a marketing manager come out with this crap?

• The X1 is still being outsold in the 13 markets its in.
• No statistics to back this up. My mates all still play their 360, yet they bought the XB1. The second bullet point is more of a negative to the X1 as the new console is not that appealing to the consumer to weight the decision to purchase a new console after 8 years.

I don't even.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

This interview perfectly sums up why Mehdi needs the sack

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Yusuf Mehdi really needs to get real. How can a marketing manager come out with this crap?

• The X1 is still being outsold in the 13 markets its in.
• No statistics to back this up. My mates all still play their 360, yet they bought the XB1. The second bullet point is more of a negative to the X1 as the new console is not that appealing to the consumer to weight the decision to purchase a new console after 8 years.

I don't even.

 

He looks really bad compared to Phil Spencer... Big Phil might want to reign him in or give him the boot.

[DeltaXray]

The majority of my gaming last-gen was 360. Same with a lot of my friends. But we all jumped to PS4.  Yeah, really satisfied with that ancient console :rofl:

[BajiRav]

This guy is really not helping. :/

[red.]

Spencer needs to get rid of this guy. Or at least get him to stop talking like they've done with Harrison.

[spenser.d]

Wow, haha. Maybe after he gets fired he can go into standup...

I guess maybe he's basing it off of a higher attach rate, time spent on live?, and who knows, but still a dumb thing to say without any support :laugh:

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Spencer needs to get rid of this guy. Or at least get him to stop talking like they've done with Harrison.

 

Spencer's plan lol

 

[Lamp0]

What do you guys expect him to say? That PS4 is doing better because it has better games, better performance & has been cheaper since launch?

 

Obviously he is not going to say that.

[satysin]

Marketing guy uses marketing speak. Shocking! What do people expect him to say? He isn't going to be honest and say "well the PS4 is more powerful and every game released so far plays better on the PS4 than the Xbox One" is he?

 

Microsoft played the wrong hand with the Xbox One. They thought people wanted an all in one media solution but the truth is people who really care about their media setup know that using separate, dedicated systems is always going to be better as the Xbox won't cover everyones desired setup. Media features are important but at the end of the day people buy the Xbox to play games but Microsoft clearly focused on media over gaming and that gave them a lesser gaming experience compared to the PS4 and people soon saw that. I don't want to pay that much for a console and then 10% of its power be "reserved" for a silly camera I never wanted in the first place. With the Kinect-less SKU coming out hopefully Microsoft will totally remove that block and let games use the full power of the system. I know they have said they will but they have said lots of things and then not followed through so I am not going to hold me breath until i see the software update released.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

What do you guys expect him to say? That PS4 is doing better because it has better games, better performance & has been cheaper since launch?

 

Obviously he is not going to say that.

 

Probably keep it to the countries remark or say we've just announced this great new price point. The second he started pulling out remarks about 360 owners NOT wanting to upgrade to the XB1 because of satisfaction and software updates it became a bit of a  :s

 

If anything that's a damaging comment, those who love the 360 should be excited to upgrade day 1. It's your most satisfied fans who tend to be those leading the pack to blow a good part of their wages on your new console, not sitting back going ah we don't want to upgrade because the 360 can do everything the XB1 can.

 

I can just imagine Spencer thinking Yusuf buddy, you've just made it sound like our most loyal 360 fans don't want to upgrade, so eh, who does in your world? It's a wee bit like the Don Mattrick "we have a console for those without the internet, it's called the Xbox 360" remark as well lol.

 

Spencer's made great progress already, he doesn't need people dragging down the image when he's building it back up. Yusuf has said some strange things in the past year, not the first time.

[+therealDamien Subscriber¹]

I just bought an xbox 360. a lightly used one

 

im late to the party...........

 

 

I wont buy the new console until the price drops which will be.......lol year 2025

 

 

 

 

and then I will be late again....

[satysin]

I just bought an xbox 360. a lightly used one

 

im late to the party...........

 

 

I wont buy the new console until the price drops which will be.......lol year 2025

 

 

 

 

and then I will be late again....

 

I bought a 360 a couple of weeks ago and I am loving it. Playing all the games I missed out on as I only really used my PS3 for JRPGs so picked up all of the FPS games I missed out on and I am really enjoying it. The 360 controller is so much nicer than the Dual Shock for any kind of game that requires aiming.

[fusi0n]

I can't stand the Xbox One's interface.. It doesn't keep my from playing it, but it's really confusing..  I feel like I have to dig and do more clicks than I should to just get to settings..

The PS4 gets the most use in my house.. But, I still don't play that enough.. Maybe, I will start it up this weekend.. 

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

I can't stand the Xbox One's interface.. It doesn't keep my from playing it, but it's really confusing..  I feel like I have to dig and do more clicks than I should to just get to settings..

The PS4 gets the most use in my house.. But, I still don't play that enough.. Maybe, I will start it up this weekend.. 

 

Hah this is where "Xbox, go to Settings" and the Kinect come in handy :P

[fusi0n]

Hah this is where "Xbox, go to Settings" and the Kinect come in handy :p

Yeah, that never works for me.. lol.. Usually brings up bing search or something..  But yes, that would be ideal if it worked right for everyone.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Sony learned the hard way with the PS3 selling higher then there competitor hurt them badly at the start of last console generation.

 

The beginning of this console generation (between Sony & Microsoft) seems to be a complete flip of last one. 

[spacer]

What do you guys expect him to say? That PS4 is doing better because it has better games, better performance & has been cheaper since launch?

 

Obviously he is not going to say that.

Simple:

 

"The Xbox One hasn't sold as much as the PS4 because the PS4 is available in more regions and it's cheaper. We're looking to even the playing field by offering the Xbox One without the Kinect for the same price point and launching in Japan and 25 other markets in September."

 

Hey look at that. I said clear, concise statements that are true. Used no spin. AND I clearly stated how Microsoft is going to get back in the game. As a person whose personality and profession are the farthest you can possibly be from a marketing CO, it took me all of 15 seconds to formulate that response.

[jerzdawg]

Yeah, that never works for me.. lol.. Usually brings up bing search or something..  But yes, that would be ideal if it worked right for everyone.

or the start button (now 3 lines) can bring you to the menu that has an option for settings, or you could just pin the settings icon.  Ill agree the interface isnt an improvement but if you refuse to use it correctly it will always be "confusing" to you..

 

OT - I didnt read the whole article but I hope he mentioned the $100 price difference at least as a contributing factor

[Brian M. Veteran]

IMO, it's one reason - price. At launch, you could get a PS4 with 2 top games for the price of an Xbox one with Fifa, and have change left over.

Making everybody pay for a Kinect unit whether they're going to use it or not was a risky move, and I guess it didn't pay off. There was very little between the two hardware wise, and if they had been the same price, I'd have probably gone for the Xbox over the PS4 due to the better media stuff. But I don't need a Kinect, and don't really want to pay for one either.

[Lord Method Man]

Pretty pathetic comments from Medhi. I was thinking Sony was looking bad with their embarrassing Watch Dogs comments and that snarky Tweet about June 9, giving MS a good opportunity to take the high road, but then this idiot comes along.

[Kreuger]

The new price does nothing for myself and for a lot that I know because it removes the kinect.

[LaP]

360 owner there. Have yet to buy a next gen system.

 

The reason is not because i like my 360 too much. The reason is because the One was too much expensive and i did not want to pay 100$ more for kinect since i don't care about kinect at all. I play games to relax not to talk to my TV or wave my hands in front of it. We have a daughter and i would rather buy her something than waste 100$ on kinect. 100$ is not a lot but it's still money.

 

Also i did not like the 24 hours online check cause we don't have an internet connection at our cottage.

 

I know Microsoft now backpedalled on both but the reason they did is because the ps4 sold more so i'm happy i did not buy a One so far. I'm still kinda mad and still leaning toward the ps4 for that. It might change next fall but i'll take more than Titanfall it's a nice game but nothing to write home about imo.