PS4 hits 30.2 million sales WW.

[Raven]

It's as if some people have no clue how much Sony is dominating on a global scale. They see only the North American market and believe, either due to denial or ignorance, that this is the picture everywhere. Completely overlooking all of the articles written about the European market and the surprising sales in Japan after the rough start. Seriously, the PS4 has sold 2 million there well before the 2 year mark of its release in Japan. This is also right before a big upcoming year when tons of JRPGs and big name titles over there are about to drop. A year ago people were saying the PS4 would be lucky to sell 5 million by the end of the gen. Now it would take a disaster to stop it from reaching that in a couple years.

This holiday season is clearly not going to be a repeat of last year. Microsoft took October in the States thanks to the Halo 5 bundle and its pre-orders from previous months, Halo 5 itself, and the fact that tons of pre-orders for the PS4 bundles of CoD and Battlefront were not able to be counted for October. The X1 doesn't really have the better deals this time and not even for Black Friday. We're already seeing the $300 Uncharted bundle topping Amazon hourlies with the $300 X1 Gears bundle 4 ranks behind it. Even if X1 somehow managed to win the holidays it will be nowhere near the 600,000 it won by last year.

Compounding the issue is a serious lack of upcoming games to talk about for the X1 compared to PS4. Sure, 2016 looks good enough but beyond that is a giant question mark that both current and future PS4 owners don't have. Now with PSX coming up next weekend and more announcements expected, PS4 owners and fans will have even more to talk about. The last time X1 owners and fans had anything new to discuss was early August. Sony has done a great job of making sure the headlines are constantly loaded with PS4 talk.

[Kerotan]

Lol, the denial. Where? Globally. End discussion

Bu bu bu bu galactically in the globe xbox might sell more.

[Aura7541]

Compounding the issue is a serious lack of upcoming games to talk about for the X1 compared to PS4. Sure, 2016 looks good enough but beyond that is a giant question mark that both current and future PS4 owners don't have. Now with PSX coming up next weekend and more announcements expected, PS4 owners and fans will have even more to talk about. The last time X1 owners and fans had anything new to discuss was early August. Sony has done a great job of making sure the headlines are constantly loaded with PS4 talk.

To be fair, the XB1's 2016 lineup looks much better compared to this year's. On the other hand, will games like Quantum Break, ReCore, and Sea of Thieves move the needle? I feel that in general, XB1 users are primarily interested in multiplayer-focused shooters and sports. Microsoft can boast about their lineup as much as it wants, but if XB1 players aren't interested, then the point is moot. From the 360 to XB1, Microsoft has lost much of the WRPG fanbase. JRPGs and Japanese games, it's an even worse situation to the point that Square has mostly ditched the XB1 (Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Ikeni to Yuki no Setsuna, Nier Automata, Dragon Quest XI, Dragon Quest Builders, World of Final Fantasy, etc.).

[Rorono]

What's ReCore? *shrug*

[Raven]

To be fair, the XB1's 2016 lineup looks much better compared to this year's. On the other hand, will games like Quantum Break, ReCore, and Sea of Thieves move the needle? I feel that in general, XB1 users are primarily interested in multiplayer-focused shooters and sports. Microsoft can boast about their lineup as much as it wants, but if XB1 players aren't interested, then the point is moot. From the 360 to XB1, Microsoft has lost much of the WRPG fanbase. JRPGs and Japanese games, it's an even worse situation to the point that Square has mostly ditched the XB1 (Kingdom Hearts 2.8, Ikeni to Yuki no Setsuna, Nier Automata, Dragon Quest XI, Dragon Quest Builders, World of Final Fantasy, etc.).

The thing is, we don't actually know if all of the games releasing in 2016 are going to make it. Originally, everyone thought Quantum Break was going to be one of the holiday 2015 games and, for awhile, Rise of the Tomb Raider was in the air for its exclusivity. Fable Legends has been in closed beta for over a year now with no release date. I have serious doubts that Crackdown 3 will even make its multiplayer debut by the end of 2016. We still don't know anything about Recore even though that game is supposedly launching next Spring.

As you pointed out, Sea of Thieves is not likely to move any needles considering the typical Xbox demographic. Halo Wars 2 wasn't really that big of an announcement as not only is it a sequel to a game that received a lukewarm reception overall but being a strategy game means most likely the console version will feel inferior to the PC version. Plus, console gamers not only don't latch onto strategy games too well because of the awkward control schemes but, again, the average Xbox owner isn't into games like that. Fact is, if it didn't have the word Halo in the title there would be even less enthusiasm about it and that's considering the largely hollow enthusiasm the hardcore Xbox fanbase is feigning right now.

Going even further, Scalebound isn't exactly up the alley of the typical Xbox gamer either. This Summer's demonstration was really rough in the framerate department, though clearly it was early footage, but it also doesn't seem to be doing anything terribly exciting. The on-foot action looked rather bland and your character's transformation amounted to little more than briefly looking cool while using a hook to attack a big monster in a similar way to Dragon's Dogma. Though in a more boring, less urgent manner. The only thing that might save that game is if the multiplayer aspect and "dragon riding" is a lot of fun. I just don't see that game being a big hit based on what I saw of it. Platinum games has not only seen a decline in their game quality outside of Bayonetta but they're tackling so many projects at once for their studio size.

That leaves Quantum Break and Gears of War 4. A bit unsettling if I were an Xbox fan. Remedy's last game wasn't exactly a system seller and we're talking about a game releasing a few weeks after Uncharted 4. Just to give a possible hint on the difference between the two... Uncharted 4 is currently ranked at 860 on Amazon. Quantum Break is at 6,363. That's even after its exposure in a recent issue of Game Informer. That means Gears of War 4 stands as the only big X1 game for 2016 right now and its initial reveal was met with... well... I'm sure it wasn't nearly the enthusiasm Microsoft was hoping for.

So, I'd say that if you compare 2015 to 2016 for games that will move X1's... the two years don't really look much different. I'll say that 2016 looks slightly better by number of choices but I don't think Microsoft has anything left that will sell like Halo 5 did, even combined, and that wasn't even that great of a Halo launch. It's actually the lowest rated title in the franchise outside the Halo Wars spin-off.

[DerNebel]

The thing is, we don't actually know if all of the games releasing in 2016 are going to make it

Well let's not overdo it with that talk about the X1, you could say the exact same thing about the PS4 as well. UC4, R&C and No Man's Sky were all either confirmed or thought to be 2015 releases. And those are by far not the only ones in that camp, Star Ocean 5, Dragon Quest Builders, Attack on Titan and Persona 5 were all at one point announced for 2015 as well. Am I the only one who thought Rime would be out this year? I doubt it.

Point is that aside from UC4, SFV and R&C I can also see everything else on the PS site being delayed out of 2016 again.

[Raven]

Well let's not overdo it with that talk about the X1, you could say the exact same thing about the PS4 as well. UC4, R&C and No Man's Sky were all either confirmed or thought to be 2015 releases. And those are by far not the only ones in that camp, Star Ocean 5, Dragon Quest Builders, Attack on Titan and Persona 5 were all at one point announced for 2015 as well. Am I the only one who thought Rime would be out this year? I doubt it.

Point is that aside from UC4, SFV and R&C I can also see everything else on the PS site being delayed out of 2016 again.

The PS4 has tons of upcoming games, regardless of when they're releasing. Can't say the same for X1. My point was to illustrate to Aura that 2016 might not actually be that good compared to 2015 for X1. It really had nothing to do with how it compared to PS4. I was explaining why I didn't think X1's 2016 was going to be much better than its 2015, if at all. It was a turn in the conversation.

[Kerotan]

I told you all xbox winning October was worth it.  The November meltdown from crud has begun.  If Sony win NPD November he's gonna ball his eyes out.  I've never seen him this agitated.  Comedy gold.

[Aura7541]

Well let's not overdo it with that talk about the X1, you could say the exact same thing about the PS4 as well. UC4, R&C and No Man's Sky were all either confirmed or thought to be 2015 releases. And those are by far not the only ones in that camp, Star Ocean 5, Dragon Quest Builders, Attack on Titan and Persona 5 were all at one point announced for 2015 as well. Am I the only one who thought Rime would be out this year? I doubt it.

Point is that aside from UC4, SFV and R&C I can also see everything else on the PS site being delayed out of 2016 again.

Persona 5 was the only one that was originally announced for 2015 (thanks, AtlusUSA ). Attack on Titan, Star Ocean 5, and Dragon Quest Builders were announced for 2016 releases in the west, I believe.

[DerNebel]

Persona 5 was the only one that was originally announced for 2015 (thanks, AtlusUSA ). Attack on Titan, Star Ocean 5, and Dragon Quest Builders were announced for 2016 releases in the west, I believe.

They were announced as 2015 releases in Japan though and none of those games made that, just like Hot Shots Golf btw.