Xbox One Ships Vague Console Number In Microsoft Q4 Fiscal 2014
Microsoft PR strikes again! Recently, Microsoft revealed their financial report for the fiscal 2014 year’s Q4, stating that the company shipped “1.1 million [Xbox] consoles in the fourth quarter.” The report did not state how many consoles were then sold directly to the consumer, nor differentiated how many consoles shipped were for the Xbox 360 or for the Xbox One.
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More important of note is that the report included that they sold the 1.1 million Xbox One units as the company “drew down channel inventory, compared to 1.0 million consoles during the prior year.” This indicates a diminished demand from retailers, many who had substantial units still remaining in their stores to the point as to not require to purchase any more from the manufacturer. It’s very likely to be one of the reasons that Microsoft had to continue to abandon their original visions of the Xbox One by unpacking the Kinect device from the SKU completely in order to compete in the console marketplace at $400.
It’s never a sign of strength when you have to hide sales figures for a product by bundling numbers with another product, especially when you compare the 1.1 million shipped to the 1 million Xbox consoles shipped last year (before the Xbox One was on store shelves). It wasn’t that long ago that Microsoft were boasting about their sales figures for both the 360 and the One in monthly NDP reports; keeping quiet now during financial reporting season signifies that the company has something to hide.
The Xbox One is still doing a lot better than the Xbox 360 did during its first year, especially after all of the red ring of death failures that caused billions of dollars of damage to the company profits. But the way that Microsoft is spreading the console’s message is not doing the console any favors.
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