Analyst: Microsoft Killed The Xbox One Slim Right Out Of The Gate

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Not only does this analyst say that Microsoft has "killed the Xbox One Slim" right out of the gate, they go on to say that it's not if Microsoft will exit the game business, but when and how. I'll go out on a limb here and say that, like the million times before when this has been predicted, Microsoft will not be selling or spinning-off its gaming division any time soon.

“The most immediate problem is Microsoft effectively killed the Xbox One Slim right out of the gate,” it said in an investor update. “If there were many Xbox 360, Wii U and even PlayStation 4 consumers interested in an Xbox One this holiday season they have now been told to wait until Scorpio arrives in 2017. Microsoft can only hope that the buzz around Project Scorpio goes away soon but with the cat out of the bag that is unlikely.
 
“Unfortunately the value of the Xbox brand is in serious flux with much of its advantage tied to the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system.”
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Yes because this makes sense to anyone which just had to much beer or other form of intoxication.
 
While, Seymour's no analyst, I did think it was weird that MS would announce Project Scorpio (even though everybody knew about it) during the same conference as the Xbone S. And then to announce it, without any hardware or software to show off for it - I dunno. I liked how Sony went and confirmed the rumors of Project Neo, but also tapered expectations that it would not be shown at their E3 conference. This allowed Sony to really focus on their gaming lineup (which is starting to finally look really, really good).

At this point, 'ReCore' is the only Xbone game I'm interested in - but the E3 footage didn't really excite me nearly as much as the original reveal trailer. Super interested in ordering a custom Xbone controller for my PC, though.
 
Pieter3dnow said:
Yes because this makes sense to anyone which just had to much beer or other form of intoxication.
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That line from the article killed me. Sure. I'm going to go out and buy an Xbox so that I can tap into all the sweet Windows 10 cross-platform features. Jesus Christ. It would surprise me if the writer even owns a gaming system.
 
I don't think it's going to happen, but I wouldn't mind.

A golden scenario for PC enthusiasts would be if they take the Xbox to the next level of PC integration with Windows 10, and essentially turn the Xbox into a Windows 10 PC with a pretty frontend and bundled controllers.

This would make it much easier for developers who want to launch cross-platform titles to write proper PC games, without the need for shitty ports.
 
Krixon said:
That line from the article killed me. Sure. I'm going to go out and buy an Xbox so that I can tap into all the sweet Windows 10 cross-platform features. Jesus Christ. It would surprise me if the writer even owns a gaming system.
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It would surprise me if he still has more then 1 living braincell ;)
 
When it comes to Microsoft hardware, you WILL be fucked eventually. It is inevitable.

MS has, historically, never had the heart or patience for anything in the hardware arena. I'm astonished the XBox has lasted this long, and probably only due to the lucrative profit margins.

Every piece of MS hardware I have ever owned has been abruptly abandoned.
 
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MS was stuck between a rock and hard place. They couldn't risk people thinking that they didn't have an answer to the Neo, but at the same time, announcing the Scorpio undoubtedly damaged their ability to sell the XBSlim this holiday season.
 
Krixon said:
And if not the next one, then definitely the next one after that. /s
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Just one more drink, then I gotta go.

I guess when you get paid to write opinion pieces eventually you're going to have write something stupid or useless. Soothsaying is for suckers, you're double the sucker if you believe your own soothsaying.
 
The key to the Xbox One S is the 4K support. A good 4K blu-ray video player is about $200 so based on that the new Xbox is not a bad buy.
 
I couldn't care less about Scorpio at this point, but I'm all in for replacing my fat Xbox ONE with a slim one right now, so I don't know what this guy is talking about. The size reduction, internal power supply, HDCP 2.2, and 4K Blu-ray support at a reasonable price are all selling points for me.
 
Armenius said:
I couldn't care less about Scorpio at this point, but I'm all in for replacing my fat Xbox ONE with a slim one right now, so I don't know what this guy is talking about. The size reduction, internal power supply, HDCP 2.2, and 4K Blu-ray support at a reasonable price are all selling points for me.
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Really? Why did you buy a Xbox One in the first place then?
 
So no consoles are being sold right now at all?

Xbox -> wait for Scorpio.
PS -> wait for Neo.
Nintendo -> wait for NX.
 
NeoNemesis said:
MS was stuck between a rock and hard place. They couldn't risk people thinking that they didn't have an answer to the Neo, but at the same time, announcing the Scorpio undoubtedly damaged their ability to sell the XBSlim this holiday season.
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It could. Though given the price it seems like MS is targeting the more price conscious consumer with the S. The Scorpio will likely be at least $700 on release. So there will be a nice cheaper option in the S, especially since I'm sure MS will have good Black Friday and holiday deals on it by the time Scorpio release, and a much more expensive option for people that can afford it. It wouldn't be surprised if Sony ended up going the same route with the PS4 after the Neo comes out.
 
StryderxX said:
The key to the Xbox One S is the 4K support. A good 4K blu-ray video player is about $200 so based on that the new Xbox is not a bad buy.
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I suppose, but I think that if you really break down the problem things get more complicated for Microsoft. And I think the article is not far from 100% right.

By announcing Scorpio Microsoft has taken the "road less travelled". Anyone on the fence at this point about the XB1 will gladly wait for the Scorpio launch. Most people don't know or care about 4k or even rebuying their content on 4K Bluray. Also there are cheaper 4K streaming devices to play 4K on now. So where is the market?

Only an XB1 enthusiast who desires 4K Bluray playback. Yes, some people may buy the slim instead of the existing XB1 (obvious choice) but was that worth it to Microsoft? Will their overall XB1 sales increase due to the new hardware? I doubt it. In any case not to the point they will recoupe the cost of introducing the slim at this time.

Microsoft must have had some idea that Sony was going to announce or launch Neo at E3. Or possibly Microsoft felt like because Sony has PSVR coming to market they needed something, anything to counter with. Sony played a trump card with PSVR, showing decent looking VR content without alienating the PS4 player base. Point here is Sony presented at E3 reasons for staying invested in PS4. That is the whole fucking point of E3 at this point in the console generation.

So yeah, I agree with the analyst. Not sure about the spin off part. I think Microsoft is desperate to keep their hardware in the living rooms of the world and will not relinquish that presence for anything. Not because of what XBOX is, but what they think it could be in the future. They showed their hand at the original XB1 launch. They wanted a media, entertainment hub. driven by Kinect. So that the typical XB1 user would always see the TV world through their interface. They should have stuck with that vision. They would have become the scourge of some gamers and become somewhat a niche device for a while but then they might have won long term. In fact I totally believe they would have been very successful had they stayed with ALL of their initial goals, but it would have taken time. They tried to innovate and got scared and pulled out and you know, boys, pulling out does not ensure that no damage was done.... And we all bitch at Nintendo for innovating, rightly so, it is a risk. But at least they aren't chicken shit to take the risk.

Microsoft made a snap decision to give up on everything, excoriate the gaming community for not accepting their poorly presented vision and then tried to compete against Sony with a (slightly) less powerful console. They shit in their bed and then invited us in. Hilarious. Now they are flailing. They think it is now all about the power of the console. I think it is more than that now. Maybe last year it was about power, now it is different. People didn't judge the console they judged the company. And Sony leaned back and had fun with it. The absolutely right thing to do.


The stupid part. The UNFORGIVABLE part is announcing the Scorpio at E3. "We have this, and this new thing, and something even better for next year so buy all three!!!" Just mind boggling that they cose to do that.



BUT BEFORE YOU GO ALL FANBOI BASHY ON ME>>>>>>

The clear winner here is not MS or Sony, but PC gaming. With VR, lackluster console performance and the endless drama people I think are considering PC gaming more than ever.
Plus all CONSOLE GAMES are now inherantly PC GAMES thanks to the shared x86 business. So PC Gamers rule, and the console comapnies fight over their exclusives. That is the game from here on out. Don't get me wrong, PC Gaming is a different business than the console bidness.

All hail the PC Gamer master race!!!

(I wonder what that sounds like in german.)
 
Well why buy the Xbox Scorpio if the Xbox Scorpio 2 will come out three years later? I kind of got to like 6+ years of not having to upgrade between consoles. Not that I was a big console gamer. I mainly played the download games like Defence Grid and Toy Soldiers. The rest of the console use was streaming and DVD playback.
 
daglesj said:
Well why buy the Xbox Scorpio if the Xbox Scorpio 2 will come out three years later? I kind of got to like 6+ years of not having to upgrade between consoles. Not that I was a big console gamer. I mainly played the download games like Defence Grid and Toy Soldiers. The rest of the console use was streaming and DVD playback.
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That long hardware cycle has happened exactly once in the last 30 years. The last console generation should never have lasted as long as it did but there was no way the economy could support another console at the time so they stayed and drug down gaming for years because of it. 4 years isn't all that bad an amount of time really. 4-5 years is the standard length of a generation.
 
Different markets for different consumers. Not everyone wants to spend a few thousand on a gaming PC or even hundreds on the latest console.

I finally bought an Xbox 360 a couple years ago when the price dropped to around $100.
Combined with the free games from Xbox live and the plentiful cheap used games, it was a good upgrade from the kids Wii.

I can't see buying a console just for 1 or 2 games, so we don't have a WiiU or a PS3.
Since I've also been collecting Xbox One games each month with Xbox live, I might consider buying an Xbox One slim if it gets cheap enough during the holidays.
 
I think two performance and build targets is ok personally. As others have said, it's not that expensive at $300 for a 4k blu ray player that can also play games and whatnot. The faster version will cost more and be more appealing to hardcore gamers vs casual gamers. I don't see how having the inexpensive slim and high performance scorpio will be a problem co-existing. There's always been a market for both price sensitive and performance minded consumers.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
A golden scenario for PC enthusiasts would be if they take the Xbox to the next level of PC integration with Windows 10, and essentially turn the Xbox into a Windows 10 PC with a pretty frontend and bundled controllers.

This would make it much easier for developers who want to launch cross-platform titles to write proper PC games, without the need for shitty ports.
Click to expand...

I was talking about something similar with a friend of mine yesterday. I think if MS focuses on Windows 10 and XBox cross-play, they'll essentially be using a regular cycle of Xbox hardware releases as sort of a steam machine for those that want to plug-n-play experience and leaving the W10 crowd with top notch non-consolized games.

Microsoft is really in the position to do what Valve had intended with Steam and Steam machines. Where Valve couldn't break into the living room with it's Steam machines, here comes Microsoft changing up their whole Windows 10/Xbox gaming platform.
 
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StryderxX said:
The key to the Xbox One S is the 4K support. A good 4K blu-ray video player is about $200 so based on that the new Xbox is not a bad buy.
Click to expand...

What 4K blu-ray player are you talking about? I believe the cheapest 4k (not 4k upscaled) blu-ray player is about $400. The cheapest Xbox One S will be $299, so the blu-ray player alone makes it an even better deal. Microsoft is probably selling the "regular" Xbox One (until new supply is exhausted) for cheap and making the One S the default console, then they'll ship the next one late next year.
 
Honestly, I felt the same way. However, I have a friend that is getting the Slim solely because he wants the 4K support. Confuses me that he can't wait until next year. Just seems like a waste of money. Whatever, it isn't my Tubman's he's spending.
 
StryderxX said:
The key to the Xbox One S is the 4K support. A good 4K blu-ray video player is about $200 so based on that the new Xbox is not a bad buy.
Click to expand...
What 4k uhd blu ray player is that cheap? The only one I know that has actually made it to market is the Samsung UBD-K8500 at $400.

If the market doesn't change between now and the august launch, the Xbox One S will be the premiere way to watch 4k UHD discs at only $300. I expect to see a ton of units sold/bundled with 4k tv's this winter, as it's going to provide access to the most 4k and hdr content.
 
I do think traditional consoles are DEAD. However, console gaming is NOT! There is a distinct difference between the two.
 
OK call me crazy, you wouldn't be the first nor the last, but I think Microsoft may have just built a better Steam Machine than Steam, only it will be tied to the Windows store (which may not be terrible, jury's out on that). If MS can stick to its word that games will scale their settings based on the detected hardware for the XB1, XB Slim, or Scorpio and they have cross platform play with Windows 10 which should cut back on shitty ports I forgot where I am going with this.... That's a lot of 'ands" and "ifs" I know but if MS can pull a rabbit out of their hat this could be good for gamer's everywhere.
 
I think the Slim may appeal to people on the fence or people who are already in the XBOX-universe and want the latest hardware.
Hell if I had a 4K TV I might consider getting one.
The success will be tied to what the consumers who already have 4K really want. If they want Ultra HD Bluray they may tip the scales in MS's favor. But they will have to be aware that Scorpio is looming and Scorpio will sit beside the Neo in due course.

I just wish SNK would release the Neo Geo 4K I have been waiting for. Would be pricey though....
 
Every day many kids are having birthdays and asking their parents for a PS4 or Xbox. They don't give a damn what model it is at any given time, other than maybe that it is the newest. Maybe older gamers and tech savy brand loyalists will wait, but we aren't the only consumers on the market. Gaming industry armchair analysts are nothing more than crystal ball carnival mediums looking for validation.
 
HardUp4HardWare said:
I suppose, but I think that if you really break down the problem things get more complicated for Microsoft. And I think the article is not far from 100% right.

By announcing Scorpio Microsoft has taken the "road less travelled". Anyone on the fence at this point about the XB1 will gladly wait for the Scorpio launch. Most people don't know or care about 4k or even rebuying their content on 4K Bluray. Also there are cheaper 4K streaming devices to play 4K on now. So where is the market?

Only an XB1 enthusiast who desires 4K Bluray playback. Yes, some people may buy the slim instead of the existing XB1 (obvious choice) but was that worth it to Microsoft? Will their overall XB1 sales increase due to the new hardware? I doubt it. In any case not to the point they will recoupe the cost of introducing the slim at this time.

Microsoft must have had some idea that Sony was going to announce or launch Neo at E3. Or possibly Microsoft felt like because Sony has PSVR coming to market they needed something, anything to counter with. Sony played a trump card with PSVR, showing decent looking VR content without alienating the PS4 player base. Point here is Sony presented at E3 reasons for staying invested in PS4. That is the whole fucking point of E3 at this point in the console generation.

So yeah, I agree with the analyst. Not sure about the spin off part. I think Microsoft is desperate to keep their hardware in the living rooms of the world and will not relinquish that presence for anything. Not because of what XBOX is, but what they think it could be in the future. They showed their hand at the original XB1 launch. They wanted a media, entertainment hub. driven by Kinect. So that the typical XB1 user would always see the TV world through their interface. They should have stuck with that vision. They would have become the scourge of some gamers and become somewhat a niche device for a while but then they might have won long term. In fact I totally believe they would have been very successful had they stayed with ALL of their initial goals, but it would have taken time. They tried to innovate and got scared and pulled out and you know, boys, pulling out does not ensure that no damage was done.... And we all bitch at Nintendo for innovating, rightly so, it is a risk. But at least they aren't chicken shit to take the risk.

Microsoft made a snap decision to give up on everything, excoriate the gaming community for not accepting their poorly presented vision and then tried to compete against Sony with a (slightly) less powerful console. They shit in their bed and then invited us in. Hilarious. Now they are flailing. They think it is now all about the power of the console. I think it is more than that now. Maybe last year it was about power, now it is different. People didn't judge the console they judged the company. And Sony leaned back and had fun with it. The absolutely right thing to do.


The stupid part. The UNFORGIVABLE part is announcing the Scorpio at E3. "We have this, and this new thing, and something even better for next year so buy all three!!!" Just mind boggling that they cose to do that.



BUT BEFORE YOU GO ALL FANBOI BASHY ON ME>>>>>>

The clear winner here is not MS or Sony, but PC gaming. With VR, lackluster console performance and the endless drama people I think are considering PC gaming more than ever.
Plus all CONSOLE GAMES are now inherantly PC GAMES thanks to the shared x86 business. So PC Gamers rule, and the console comapnies fight over their exclusives. That is the game from here on out. Don't get me wrong, PC Gaming is a different business than the console bidness.

All hail the PC Gamer master race!!!

(I wonder what that sounds like in german.)
Click to expand...


I want to add onto this with a comment I made over at N4G.com about peoples response to this announcement.

Sadly your argument hinges on the fact that those choices will not fail.

Consumer choices are only winning choices if the product wins in the market, and does not fail commercially. Example, PS Vita. Could you really, honestly say that platform is still alive and well? Same thing here. If instead of supporting a multi-faceted product 100%, we the consumers have given MS, Sony, and Nintendo a reason to market multiple products to us and force us to buy more parts to fatten their wallets. Don't think they will? Just wait until some must have game releases on just that platform as a system seller. Oh well guess your out another $300-$500 just to play it. History is littered with those moments. Denying that means you are fooling yourself.

Just like the android market if a particular phone model fails oh well you didn't buy the correct model. Better go turn yours in and drop another $200-$700 on that top of the line Samsung S7 Note-Edge-Galaxy phone to be fully compatible for the next 6 mos. See the problem there?

Want the best VR experience? Want 4k gaming?
--Better buy a Scorpio
Want the best deal? Better buy a XBox One S
Got an XBox One oriiginal?
Sorry your crap will be out of date, but we got the new Scorpio you should be interested in. What its only been 4 years too bad upgrade with the times. Remember MS answer to the X360 owners crying about backward compatibility and MS answer at the XBone announcement? Yea, do not deny MS would never go there.

If you think MS Sony and Nintendo won't drop a product because it isn't selling the way it should you are deluding yourself. This is where a majority of the arguments are coming from.
Why should we have to invest into multiple devices when they obviously have the know-how and capability to manufacture a device that can do it all in one. I would say the furthest deviation we should allow these jerks to get away with is accessories.
Bit of a history lesson on failed so-called customer choices of the past.
Sega CD (i bought it)
Sega 32x (i bought it)
Sega Saturn (i bought it)
Sega Dreamcast (i bought it)
Neo-Geo CD (friend bought it)
Atari Jaguar (brother bought it)
N64 Disk Drive (released in japan and flopped)
Virtual Boy (avoided it like the plague)

Why should we give these companies a pass to create even more crap?

As a consumer I am sick and tired of manufacturers telling me that my tastes now have to span multiple products instead of placing all functionality into one device. It is possible you just want to gouge my paycheck even more. That and I am tired of being the guinea pig to test market waters.

Thais is just those companies telling me that they have no idea which way the winds are blowing, but they sure as hell want us to figure it out for them at our expense.
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I believe this is a prime example of a company doing all the wrong shit that has been done in the past. I learned my lesson back with the 2nd Gen X360 model, and my subsequent 2 replacements afterward. Never again will I buy their crap engineering.
 
TechLarry said:
I'm astonished the XBox has lasted this long, and probably only due to the lucrative profit margins.
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What profit margins? Xbox is still in the red overall. How investors haven't revolted yet and said "okay enough's enough, you had 15 years to make this division profitable, time to dump" is beyond me.
 
DPI said:
What profit margins? Xbox is still in the red overall. How investors haven't revolted yet and said "okay enough's enough, you had 15 years to make this division profitable, time to dump" is beyond me.
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They investors are probably distracted by every other thing MS fails to make a profit on after sinking billions into.
 
iQuasarLV said:
I want to add onto this with a comment I made over at N4G.com about peoples response to this announcement.



I believe this is a prime example of a company doing all the wrong shit that has been done in the past. I learned my lesson back with the 2nd Gen X360 model, and my subsequent 2 replacements afterward. Never again will I buy their crap engineering.
Click to expand...


Ok, but I am going to cherry pick a bit here.
The Dreamcast came along when the saturn was still failing uber. Sega had no choice. In the end the DC could not compete either and even though it was arguably their best console ever, it went the way of the dinosaur. Then lo and behold Microsoft the scumfucks they are took what they learned from Sega and crushed them like the bugs they were. Viola! XBOX is born.

Sony did a similar thing with Nintendo, "helping" them create a CD based system called of all things the "playstation".

My point being that many of the new consoles that emerged were natural evolutionary developements. We were gouged sure, but you wouldn't have gotten gouged if you didn't want to help pay for a niche products development.

Now that everyone is on AMD shit we are going to see this tick tock BS forever. That is what I hate.
It was fun to see what they would come up with next, how these companies were at war to create more powerful devices, now it is over, it is antiseptic, boring.
If I want to upgrade and get more power I am upgrading the PC. That is why products like the 32X and SegaCD didn't work, the consumers did care. Noone wants to upgrade and third parties know the masses weren't going to upgrade.

So what you are saying is correct. We wont see UPGRADED consoles just new versions of consoles we already have. It is a new world. Old folks like us have to go out to pasture and read books.
 
DPI said:
What profit margins? Xbox is still in the red overall. How investors haven't revolted yet and said "okay enough's enough, you had 15 years to make this division profitable, time to dump" is beyond me.
Click to expand...

^this

Microsoft keeps XBOX on life support hoping for a better day when there is no competition and they can take over the living rooms of the world.
 
DPI said:
What profit margins? Xbox is still in the red overall. How investors haven't revolted yet and said "okay enough's enough, you had 15 years to make this division profitable, time to dump" is beyond me.
Click to expand...
Their Entertainment division hasn't been red in a long time, if you want something that bleeds money for microsoft Bing bleeds them a ton irrc. They mostly bled money from settling RROD issue with the early 360 and carrying around windows phone.
 
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