Gamespot reported that the Playstation 4 enjoyed extremely lucrative sales in January, quoting the VP of PlayStation marketing John Koller who said, “PS4 was #1 in sales for next-gen consoles in January, nearly doubling the nearest next-gen competitor.” NPD does not post sales numbers for consoles publicly; only the publishers are privy to that information. But, it shouldn’t be too difficult to suss out the name of that mysterious company. Sony has been taking these little jabs at that company every chance they get. (It’s Microsoft.)
I have never been one of the doom-and-gloom brigade, so I will repeat something that I said last night on the OWR Games podcast; a company isn’t swirling the bowl until it has repeatedly, using the game industry as an example, had sub par sales. We need to use the Scientific Method to see if we should be worried. Now, I am a product of American schools, so I act like I know stuff but I don’t know much’a nothing. But, I do know that something isn’t scientific unless it can be proven more than once or twice…or something.
I don’t think that the dip in sales that Call of Duty: Ghosts has given Activision any cause for concern – yet. If those numbers continue to stay on a downward trajectory, then we can say that Call of Duty is scientifically past it’s prime. I don’t think that these sales numbers are, in the grand scheme of things, important. Xbone will most likely bounce back. They will tighten their belts in Redmond, they will lower the price, and they will revel in their Titanfall money.
Titanfall is going to be a game changer for Microsoft. I played the Beta for a few hours last night and I’ve already started to get that Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare kind of vibe from it. Not that it plays like that game, well…it does, but that is because everything plays like CoD; even Halo. Every game uses CoD controls because that game was a fucking GAME CHANGER! That is what I feel when I play this game. This game is going to change a lot of things for Microsoft. Also, if these guys can make another game that is a cultural touchstone, like Modern Warfare was, then it will be a scientific fact that Jason West and Vince Zampella are the superstars of video games that we have all been waiting for; they will be on talk shows and meet the president and shit. It’ll be cool to finally get our superstars. (Sorry, Cliffy B.)
I think that some of Xbox’s sales are going to be swallowed up by the PC market, but this game is going to be a system seller for Microsoft. Hell, they should bundle this game in with their new OS just so people have a reason to use the new app interface on their desktops.
So, for all of you Sony/Nintendo/PC fanboys, don’t count out Microsoft just because their sales are lagging right now. They know what they are doing. They ended up getting cocky after the last generation, just like Sony did after the PS2 generation. But, Microsoft has the luxury to be able to look back and see that history that is marked in the road. They can see what happens to companies when arrogance leads to flat sales. Death. RIP Sega. RIP Atari