Microsoft May Halt Xbox One Production

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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May 9, 2000
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What was once a scarce commodity is now readily available, so overly available that Microsoft may suspend the manufacture of the Xbox One until present inventory is sold off and demand picks back up.

We know that the company has shipped 5 million consoles to retailers since launch, but Microsoft hasn’t been as forthcoming with actual end user sales data.
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Oh wow, a console that hasn't even been out a year having to halt production is not good.

Maybe they just pissed off too many people with their initial marketing campaign. I know I'm not interested in one because of the level of contempt they displayed for their customers and I was quite happy with my Xbox 360.
 
They can't lose compatibility with the units already out there. If anything, it's time for a real price cut (not the secret/not so secret $50 cut retailers have been using to clear out inventory).

I can't believe how much they screwed the pooch this time around. I had an Xbox and Xbox 360, and I switched to the PS4 this generation -- something I never thought I'd do.
 
Megalith said:
Here comes the refresh/2.0 version.
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So they are going to take the stock they have, slap some stickers on them, or paint them funny, maybe drill an air hole?

I'd love to have one -- but the pricing is all wrong. I really only wanted it for Forza, turns out that was a pay to win suck fest. Forcing me to buy a Kinect too? meh, I'll keep my money for now :)
 
Megalith said:
Here comes the refresh/2.0 version.
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Exactly what they should be to be honest. The XBONE stinks. Every game is running at some random resolution and still can barely squeak 30FPS. It's embarrassing. The UI is also horrible and missing tons of basic features and the simplicity factor that the 360 had.

Should just write off this disaster completely. Biggest mistake was making a Home Theater System Receiver and not an actual gaming console.
 
Interestingly enough, as much of an XB1 opponent as I have been, I disagree with it being the horrible thing some of you are stating. Now I currently own a PS4 and while I am waiting for a few games I will "eventually" own the XB1. It went off my list when Ms had their head in their ass with the privacy/kinect bs, but I was willing to pay attention when they backed off. Though I wasn't willing to reward them with a pre-order or early sale after the garbage they pulled.

That said, a Refresh is definitely in order though perhaps not in form factor. While I think the current box is flatly too big, the reality is my only real complaint is the Kinect. Lose that, drop $100+ off the price and it suddenly becomes a Great deal more tempting.
 
Walked away from Xbox when I had 4 consoles get RROD, figure this time I wait atleast a year to see what kind of screw up the xbone had and see how they patched it up. But price wise, its still too high compared to ps4 and on top of that hadware wise ps4 has better.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Interestingly enough, as much of an XB1 opponent as I have been, I disagree with it being the horrible thing some of you are stating. Now I currently own a PS4 and while I am waiting for a few games I will "eventually" own the XB1. It went off my list when Ms had their head in their ass with the privacy/kinect bs, but I was willing to pay attention when they backed off. Though I wasn't willing to reward them with a pre-order or early sale after the garbage they pulled.

That said, a Refresh is definitely in order though perhaps not in form factor. While I think the current box is flatly too big, the reality is my only real complaint is the Kinect. Lose that, drop $100+ off the price and it suddenly becomes a Great deal more tempting.
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That's one of the things. The Kinect when it just randomly came out on the 360, was nothing more then a cutesy-artsy-fartsy toy. Motion control is a seriously beta idea as many of us saw with the Wii. It was hilarious the Wii actually had FPS games in the first place. The Kinect wasn't something everyone wanted, yet Microsoft pushed it on everyone. We later found out the cost wasn't built-in, it was an additional cost that could easily be tacked on or off if they wanted.

We all would have thought both sides learned their lessons regarding $499+ consoles. NOBODY WANTS THEM. A complete fools mistake thinking they could pull it off, let alone all for the Kinect and an INFERIOR performance based system. The Original X-Box was very rudimentary showing its raw PC first born entrance. The 360 was somewhat elegant for its time. The XBONE returns back to this raw design that's big and bulky like the original and just not very appealing at all from a design point.

The privacy issue was just one of the issues they had before launch and even then I don't think many people still trust them especially given the recent NSA leaks. Microsoft has openly admitted since the 90's that they work hand-in-hand with such agencies for best practice "security" reasons. Perhaps everything could have been executed better, but from the very beginning, that first PR disaster set the stage for disaster after disaster.
 
Yes, the XB1's Win8 inspired UI stinks, and Microsoft should've been focused more on games than entertainment apps.
However, what really killed them this generation is the lack of 1080p games and the $500 price tag... Why would anyone want to pay $100 more for an underpowered console?

To get back in the game, Microsoft needs to do three things:
1) Drop Kinect and match Sony's price.
2) Release an XB1 revision 2 with GDDR5, and a 1080p patch for past and present games.
3) Offer a reasonable upgrade path for existing owners.
 
JediTerminator said:
12) Release an XB1 revision 2 with GDDR5, and a 1080p patch for past and present games.
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That's something they simply cannot do. That hardware set has to remain consistent for all players, otherwise some people could have an unfair advantage.

They went through the same thing with the 360 when they converted it to an SoC. They had the opportunity to make the system MUCH faster, but instead they talked about how the engineering challenges of internally-limiting the new hardware to match the old hardware exactly so that the end-user experience remained consistent and non-fragmented.

If they released a faster version, they would SERIOUSLY piss off a huge number of early adopters.
 
Unknown-One said:
That's something they simply cannot do. That hardware set has to remain consistent for all players, otherwise some people could have an unfair advantage.

If they released a faster version, they would SERIOUSLY piss off a huge number of early adopters.
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Well, that problem only applies to MP games. If the MP tick rate (the number of times per second that your position and status info is updated over the net) matches the frame rate, then yes, doubling the frame rate would give players an unfair advantage. But as long as the tick rate is not changed, there would be no advantage. BTW, BF4 has a tick rate of only 10Hz, so while 60fps might feel smoother, any perceived advantage is only an illusion.
As for the bump in resolution, I don't think having fewer jaggies would turn a newb into a vet.

As an early adopter, I would be very pleased with an inexpensive upgrade path.
Would others be upset at trading in their XB1 along with an upgrade fee (let's say $99) for a true 1080p console? Maybe, but such is life.
 
Everyone keeps saying that MS should drop Kinect but how exactly does that solve their problem of being less powerful which you also cite as the reason for lack luster sales? The console is still less powerful at the $400 price point. And now the main feature it had over the PS4 is gone, it wont change the sales.

The only way for them to bring value back to the console is to leave Kinect on the console and still sell it for $400.

We also heard that they had supply and yield problems so its reasonable to think that they might have a refresh coming with and SOC that is shrunk or just has far better thermals / yield allowing them to reduce costs on heat sinks and slim the console down.

The main rumor I have heard is that they will actually try to ship a diskless version at the lower price point. This actually makes more sense. MS has nothing invested in blu ray but they have a lot invested in Kinect.
 
Its what I would do if I wanted to sell of the existing stock before shutting things down.
 
Megalith said:
Here comes the refresh/2.0 version.
Click to expand...

No. The posts in this thread that MS should make a new Xbone with better hardware are baffling. They're not going to break compatibility with existing hardware. The amount of backlash would sink xbox as a brand for good.

This half in production is due to retailers having stopped reordering more units, because their shelves are already full and they're staying that way.

Kinect-less SKU is probably next. May as well drop it, developers have demonstrates they have no real interest in it.
 
Unknown-One said:
That's something they simply cannot do. That hardware set has to remain consistent for all players, otherwise some people could have an unfair advantage.

They went through the same thing with the 360 when they converted it to an SoC. They had the opportunity to make the system MUCH faster, but instead they talked about how the engineering challenges of internally-limiting the new hardware to match the old hardware exactly so that the end-user experience remained consistent and non-fragmented.

If they released a faster version, they would SERIOUSLY piss off a huge number of early adopters.
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The 360 originally didn't have HDMI, now its commonplace.
Define huge number? 2,3 hundred maybe....?:D
Early adopters ALWAYS get pissed off because the first run or two always sucks ass (low chip yields, burn up quick, ect) and something always gets added later. Hell the 360s were trash until the Jasper units came out.
 
SGA76 said:
The 360 originally didn't have HDMI, now its commonplace.
Define huge number? 2,3 hundred maybe....?:D
Early adopters ALWAYS get pissed off because the first run or two always sucks ass (low chip yields, burn up quick, ect) and something always gets added later. Hell the 360s were trash until the Jasper units came out.
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Irrelevant. The people spouting "they should just make an Xbone 2.0 with more powerz & stuff" are talking about a more powerful CPU/GPU/Memory/whatever. Not adding HDMI.
 
I'm guessing that DX12 will be the key with it's mantle-like reduction in overhead. There are rumors that top-tier developers have access to it and it's enough of a difference to allow a bump in res to 1080p.
 
cesium666 said:
I'm guessing that DX12 will be the key with it's mantle-like reduction in overhead. There are rumors that top-tier developers have access to it and it's enough of a difference to allow a bump in res to 1080p.
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I don't quite buy that. Considering where the X1 is hardware wise it's performance definitely matches it's capabilities.

Plus, that 32MB of eSRAM is a bottlenecking bitch!
 
I refuse to Buy an Xbox one with kinect. I have no need for that crap. Lose kinect, lower the price to $350, and I'll buy one. I have been am xbox live member since 2004 and have yet to buy a xbox one because kinect Is forced upon us. As far as I'm concerned kinect is a joke.
 
JediTerminator said:
Yes, the XB1's Win8 inspired UI stinks, and Microsoft should've been focused more on games than entertainment apps.
However, what really killed them this generation is the lack of 1080p games and the $500 price tag... Why would anyone want to pay $100 more for an underpowered console?

To get back in the game, Microsoft needs to do three things:
1) Drop Kinect and match Sony's price.
2) Release an XB1 revision 2 with GDDR5, and a 1080p patch for past and present games.
3) Offer a reasonable upgrade path for existing owners.
Click to expand...

1) Doable, but removes the only thing that gives the Xbox One value over the PS4 (assuming price parity)
2) That is not going to happen.

Microsoft has a lot of hurdles to overcome;

- Their console is less powerful and still costs more to make even without Kinect.
- DDR3 prices are likely going to stay where they are or increase over the next 5 years, DDR5 will continue to drop.
- Because of their design goals, it takes forever to get the system ready for 2nd and 3rd Tier countries (language compatibility), there was also the 50Hz hurdle they had to overcome earlier.

- Game development is overly complicated, and no one is designing games with Kinect in mind.

- Public Image was devastated last year, the price, Kinect, NSA spying fiasco, DRM, etc. all couldn't have possibly happened at a worse time.
- The 360 dominated in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. So far the PS4 is outpacing the One in all four countries and is crushing the One everywhere else. Those 4 countries alone put the 360 near the PS3 in WW sales, if this pace keeps up the PS4 is going to be 2:1 or higher by the end of the year just in those 4 countries.
- The Xbox One releasing in Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries will not change the pace we are seeing. When they launch in Japan it's not going to miraculously change its fortunes.

- March NPD has the PS4 selling 60,000 (est) units more than the Xbox One. March saw Titanfall drop, 450 dollar bundles including Live for a year. The Titanfall marketing push was absolutely huge. Far larger than any game I can remember other than Halo.

I was shocked to see that they lost March by that amount. I thought they had it in the bag without question.

What will Microsoft do? I honestly don't know, they only have Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break and the Halo Remaster coming and if Titanfall didn't move consoles I don't know what will.

It sucks because like I said over half a year ago now after E3 the way the system was built and designed it is a logistical nightmare to make changes without affecting everything else in someway. If they keep Kinect and drop the price to 399.99 they will effectively be paying people to buy their console losing millions. I don't think their shareholders want to see that, and at the same time if they drop kinect and goto 399.99 they have nothing that sets them apart from the PS4. If they drop kinect and goto 349.99 they will be losing money again and don't want to get into a price war considering the PS4 was designed with rapid price reductions in mind.
 
I think MS is starting to realize that consumers aren't the suckers they thought they were.
 
It's hilarious that lately a few articles (well blogs) gets posted about ms, with nothing substantiated and the internet nerd rages on and takes it for fact.
 
JediTerminator said:
Well, that problem only applies to MP games. If the MP tick rate (the number of times per second that your position and status info is updated over the net) matches the frame rate, then yes, doubling the frame rate would give players an unfair advantage. But as long as the tick rate is not changed, there would be no advantage. BTW, BF4 has a tick rate of only 10Hz, so while 60fps might feel smoother, any perceived advantage is only an illusion.
As for the bump in resolution, I don't think having fewer jaggies would turn a newb into a vet.

As an early adopter, I would be very pleased with an inexpensive upgrade path.
Would others be upset at trading in their XB1 along with an upgrade fee (let's say $99) for a true 1080p console? Maybe, but such is life.
Click to expand...
it's not a problem that matters anywhere for anyone.

the problem isn't "unfair advantage" the problem is that developers want to make a game that everyone will buy. that's the whole point of a standardized platform like a console. game developer makes a game and knows that 30 million people either can or will buy the game. in terms of hardware development they couldn't care less whether one set of gamers has an advantage over another set.
 
I'm not opposed to the price tag, but having to pay a recurring monthly fee on top of it is a fucking joke. Especially when all that fee does for me is give me functionality that I currently get for free on my other devices.
 
Wrecked Em said:
I'm not opposed to the price tag, but having to pay a recurring monthly fee on top of it is a fucking joke. Especially when all that fee does for me is give me functionality that I currently get for free on my other devices.
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That applies to PS4 now as well at least for gaming
 
Wrecked Em said:
I'm not opposed to the price tag, but having to pay a recurring monthly fee on top of it is a fucking joke. Especially when all that fee does for me is give me functionality that I currently get for free on my other devices.
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That monthly fee is nothing but free money in MS's pocket. I remember the rumors were swirling that the next-gen console MS was going to drop the entire monthly fee. Instead, as things got closer they raised the monthly fee. :D

I think Sony even realized how big of a cash cow charging customers to use their platform can be with the PS4. It might make sense if you were paying for dedicated servers, but you aren't. Hell most games don't even support them.
 
DPI said:
No. The posts in this thread that MS should make a new Xbone with better hardware are baffling. They're not going to break compatibility with existing hardware. The amount of backlash would sink xbox as a brand for good.

This half in production is due to retailers having stopped reordering more units, because their shelves are already full and they're staying that way.

Kinect-less SKU is probably next. May as well drop it, developers have demonstrates they have no real interest in it.
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To put it plainly, the Xbox One has no legs. $150 video cards that run in stock OEM machines beat the piss out of it. Microsoft FUCKED UP BADLY on the Xbox One design. There is no way the Xbox One lasts 5 years before a higher powered version comes out, its too weak.
 
cesium666 said:
That applies to PS4 now as well at least for gaming
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Not all gaming, Sony is wise and doesnt charge you to use the network adapter,they only charge you for the services you want to use. I can Netflix or play F2P games on my PS4 without ever giving Sony another dime.
 
Having both an XB1 and PS4 I actually still prefer the XB1. Granted the PS4 is more powerful I like the XB1 controller much more.

I think they should do a kinectless SKU and sell it for like $379, I'm sure they'll do it later this year.

I don't think its a massive failure as some as made it out to be. The PS3 had a real rocky start and ended up being successful.
 
The ps3 had issues early the last console generation and ended up doing okay.

The differences in hardware quality between the ps4/xb1 are not some vast sea. dx12 should see some of the gap close, though there will always be some difference. . They will lose untold millions, like they have in the past just to keep the brand humming along.

Kinect COULD become a decent feature if penetration/sales reach a point where games can take more advantage of it. But it's just potential.

I think we should look at this more like the playstation is a very good console, and the xb1 just average or lackluster.

But like always, it's in the games. It's gonna be another year or two before we see how all this starts to shake out.
 
Also why does everyone thing DX12 is going to close any gap? lol If any gap can be closed with something in DX12 then why can't Sony do something similar? Oh and wait what happened to consoles always being about bare to metal programming? I guess this whole argument about DX12 fixing the xbox one only proves that bare to metal programming and optimizations was always complete BS.
 
Drop the price to $200 and I would pick one up. As it stands, it's an overpriced, underpowered machine.
 
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