Starfield Has Given Xbox Series X|S Sales A Huge Boost In The UK

Nice to see, the game is a system seller after all as expected! Forza is the next big thing for xbox with Black Friday and Christmas season on the horizon!

Hope they noticed it.
Bring good games and you sell hard- and software.

Once it slows down they should consider a price cut like the PS5. It has obviously boosted sales a large amount for the console and affect software sales as a result. Which may offset the losses from the price cuts.

@Arxagelos nobody is gonna buy an xbox for forza though,starfield is understandable, lots of ps owners are massive fans of bethesdas rpgs,now spiderman 2,thats a system seller.

well i hope Phil learned something here, yes starfield alone wont make you the leader, but releasing consistently great games will...so just release 3 to 4 good games with 1 or 2 of them a GOTY contender..and you will get there

And this is a sub-par game. Imagine when they start bringing the triple A heat.

@Cashews Sony's PS5 price cut, funded by huge PS Plus tiers price rises whilst offering nothing more to their subscriptions.

PS Premium now costs more per month than Ultimate Gamepass whilst offering far less.

@Kezelpaso When is that Starfield game profile card getting edited? Also available for PS4, PS5 has to be a deliberate troll at this point.

Games don’t sell consoles or gamepass 😂
In think the clue is in the name of the items you are trying to sell.
GAMEpass
GAMEconsole

August in the UK Xbox was third as usual.
So hopefully September they will at least get second above the Switch.

Xbox still need to advertise more UK, main stream like on TV and public advertising boards.

In the UK Xbox is still not the main brand to have, but that can change with great advertising and games.

You see Phil this is the power of a fantastic AAA 1st party game. Well deserved as the game is fantastic and easily in my top 3 this year.

@Moonglow
I’m not sure anymore what they doing.
But Starfield and Forza means at least we getting better major games now from Xbox studios.

Just hope the UK increase in console sales get the Xbox team and Phil realising great games sell consoles and gamepass.

Xbox is feeling more like SEGA in the console wars.

I know they are in a far better position in their operations and financially. But them being third in the UK, being the ‘underdog’ trying to fight back actually makes them appealing to me. More power to them.

@Moonglow forza and well gt7 or any racing sim is pretty niche. They are not system sellers. (Many will have a pc set up for them)

@Sifi pspremium and GPU are pretty much identical price/value

Premium is £120/£140 per year. GPU is £12.99 a month £150 for the year.

GPU has more day 1 games, but PS has more games overall

Too little to late for this gen imo, but its nice to see sales rising.
Im afraid the momentum is all with their rival, and the already large gap in install numbers seems unlikely to reverse.

However, its a reminder that most of us buy games machines to play games, if you have too few new compelling titles, few are interested in having your machine.

Still, better times for those of us with an xbox, not just this year, but I suspect much better next year too, and I hope more people will see the value of gp and invest once the ABK deal happens.
It should never have taken three years of this gens life to get here..

@Kienda That was always the main allure of Xbox. From football teams to electronic brands, lots of people, me included, like the underdog nature of something.

@Titntin Why is it too late? I'd argue it's the beginning of this generation since so far we've been playing mostly last gen games. And third place is not bad in the lucrative business of gaming. It's not like a healthy base of Xbox users doesn't exist.

@Sifi it may be more per month and that is only slightly but you can always get a years subscription and then it becomes much cheaper per year than gamepass. That is also if you don't take up any offers or get gift cards from online retailers that sell them for lower than face value. At base prices though there is very little difference in price and the value is subjective depending on the games you like playing.

@Titntin I think this will be a PS3 vs X360 situation. Initially, X360 was way ahead of PS3, had the better hardware and much better games and sold way more. Over time however, with the power of many exclusives, PS3 pulled through and near the end of that gen both consoles felt on par in sales. I think this gen we will see the same. As 2-3 AAA titles from Xbox hit regularly each year. The trend will turn and there will be a large number of Xbox consoles out there. Also remember that when CoD is day one on GP... that alone changes things a lot.

@Amigator Because its three years after launch and the mindshare is clearly with the competition? Even this sales spike is only 76% compared with recent 200 to 300% rises for the competition in some european territories over summer.
Its only too late for xbox to become a market leader this gen, which is clearly more for head office to worry about than us users.
I agree theres certainly more than enough user base for us to be assurred of strong releases for a life time - the ABK aquisition clearly shows MS are here for the long game, which is good news for all gamers who are here for games. The market needs to remain competitive.

Good exclusives sell consoles. For some reason Xbox have failed to realise this for a decade or just done a poor job at getting good games out. Hopefully Starfield is a trend that continues, good exclusives people want to play, the consoles will sell themselves.

@BrilliantBill Good points mate, and as we are looking at the future I cannot state you are wrong 😁 I dont see it that way, and when Phil stated 'we've already lost this gen' I think he had it right.
But im happy to remain with a foot in all camps and see what happens, as I have since this industries inception.
I would not be at all upset if it turns out like you say and xbox gets much more market share. I think that would provide the best levels of competition which would benefit us all.

I was ready to love Starfield, but it's just not for me. Maybe I'll give it another chance someday. Still really happy to see the success it had.

@BrilliantBill I get what you are saying, but Xbox is 70+% up in one week. Sony are 60+% up in a similar time, but the caveat everyone is forgetting is Sony are selling more in the first place so that 60% is probably similar or more to the Xbox increase.

Either way it’s a great shot in the arm and hopefully they can keep the momentum of increases until Christmas period.

@Sifi I wasn't comparing services I was simply talking about how well the PS5 has been doing in Europe after the discounts. they are clearly selling more units of hardware and software since.

Glad to hear that Starfield has managed to move consoles. This is the forward momentum that Microsoft needed to see.

I really want Microsoft to remain competitive in the console market and it can only do that by making games that people want to play. Sure, Starfield has had its criticisms, but it seems to be resonating with people and that's all that is really necessary.

I am looking forward to seeing Microsoft's first-party output in the coming year or two.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner yeah more games (PS1 PS2 backlog) and indieS

just a question what are ps premium games for this month?

@TakeItEasy I dont think they are announced yet

@Titntin it does not matter if PS dominates the generation as much as wether Xbox is in a healthy position. You don’t see Pepsi removed off the shelves simply because Coke dominates the cola market share. So long as they carve themselves enough revenue to keep a healthy business going, they will be fine.

That said, never say never. PS3 was behind for years but managed to catch up to the 360 in the end, internationally. I think XBox still has a chance to catch up with PS5 on the NA market, so long they actually deliver solid game after solid game in the next few years. That would leave them in a position to start the following Gen on very strong footing.

@BrilliantBill Not quite. The PS3 was unequivocally more powerful. Even had a gyro all the way back then. Something Xbox still lacks. The issue was the architecture was so far a departure from anything ever released that it took developers years to start taking advantage.

The main reason the 360 took off initially is because it was $200-$300 cheaper than the PS3.

The 360 launched with two SKUs. The hard drive less "core" for $299. And the "pro" with a 20GB HDD for $399.

Meanwhile the PS3 launched two SKUs as well. A 20GB for $499, and a 60GB for $599.

The Playstation truly started taking off after price cuts and went on to outsell the 360 despite they abysmal launch

@InterceptorAlpha "The PS3 was unequivocally more powerful. Even had a gyro all the back then. Something Xbox still lacks."

It was more powerful, but due to exotic nature of its hardware, outside of exclusives such as Killzone 2 etc, in almost every multi-platform game 360 ran them better. Regarding the gyro, you mean the controller Sixaxis? That was also only used sparingly in some exclusives such as KZ2 and Uncharted 1 on a gimmick level. I had a PS3 that gen. It was a solid machine. But software side only got good near end of the gen.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Yes, the Starfield is definitely giving Xbox a shot in the arm right now. This is great, but it is not every year you get a game this big. Avowed and Hellblade 2 are also solid-looking but I doubt either of them gives Xbox quite the same boost that Starfield is doing.

@Titntin There is a lot of variables that go into it. I think if Xbox continues to manage their studios well and keeps up releasing these good games between now and 2027 -2028 a lot can turn around for them. In terms of number of consoles sold and market statistics Xbox will probably remain the third player. But if the number of Gamepass subs manages to break into 50 to 60 million subs, Xbox as a whole has achieved its targets.

@BrilliantBill isn’t gamepass at around 30mil? I don’t think it’s going to double. GP has stagnated (as has plus) and missed the ludicrous growth targets of ms recently. so I think 40mil may be a more realistic chance.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Dont worry its nier and civilization both left GP ages ago.....so you only get +4 years old games that doesnt worth 5$ on PS Premium for 24$ a month when on GP you get starfield and lies of P and payday 3 this month each worth 70$ on GP ultimate for 12$ a month and you can play on both PC and XBOX......what's your logic in comparing the 2 ? because i see PS fans escaping this comparison by saying GP hurt those day 1 game by beng for free on GP but they never dare to asy PS Plus is anywere near GP

you cant even play spiderman on PS plus lol and thats a 5 yo sony game

@TakeItEasy pretty sure I already said that Xbox offers more day 1. Yet PS gives more games overall. So thanks?

I brought an Xbox Series X last week and very happy with it! My Series S served me well for almost 3 years.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner you said also the same value....they are too far to be the same value

@Moonglow those games you mentioned ,are hardly niche games

@Zenszulu Nope, You can buy Full Digital games and Subscriptions from 3rd parties on Xbox unlike Sony who lock you to their store.
1 years Ultimate Gamepass can be bought for less than £100.

No the value is not subjective, I left out that with Ultimate Gamepass that as well as 1st and 3rd party day one titles you also get.. PC Gamepass, EA Play, Streaming and Play Anywhere games(play on Xbox and PC, you don't have to pay twice as on PlayStation).

@Moonglow come on now ,don't be a silly Billy, let's not start changing the meaning of words now

@Sifi you can buy digital codes from many places for Playstation while not the subscriptions anymore the money can still be used for subscriptions. I often do it so not sure why you claim you can't, you can also pay less than £100. Also yes value is very much subjective with any subscription service as what value one person gets from it will be different to what someone else does. You also don't have to pay twice on PlayStation once you are on the Premium tier as that is roughly the equivalent in price to Gamepass Ultimate.

@Zenszulu You pay twice for example, if you wanted to play a PS5 title available on both the PS5 and PC you would have to buy both, one ps5 subscription or PS5 digital game and one PC version.
If you want to play Starfield on Series X Gamepass and PC you only pay once and can download on both plus you can carry on playing from where you left off.
The PlayStation cannot compete with Xbox on Digital prices its a simple fact, Sony made sure of that when they blocked 3rd party codes. The only codes on PS5 are very old games pre Sony blocking and the occasional Digital games taken from a bundle.
The value, forgetting that you also get PC Gamepass etc with Ultimate Gamepass, the games on the PlayStation subscription are all old titles Sony are giving mostly stuff that Gamepass gave long ago, September or Octobers Brand New Gamepass titles justify it's price alone, First Party exclusives and 3rd party day one games all over the place.
It's not subjective, it's a fact that Ultimate Gamepass is far better value than any other console subscription.

@Moonglow football is a niche market ? Now I know you're taking the piss 😂