Switch Owned More Market Share Than Xbox One In UK Last Month

Not surprising at all, Microsoft has become a joke on the first party XB1 front. They're going to need some miracle at E3 like Xbox Live Gold being free to regain it.

Microsoft is where Nintendo was a couple years back - bottom of the heap. Hopefully it can rally cos I like to see all platforms doing well.

The thing in the UK with the Switch is way different than the Wii U.
Now I can see lots of Nintendo ads on the street and TV, that is something I don't remember to see around in the Wii U era.
I think they really nailed the marketing this time and maybe, if they can keep the momentum with good games and support from third party devs I can totally see them taking over Microsoft's spot, which would be great for Nintendo as they have never been a strong player in the UK market.
I feel that this E3 will be extremely important for them. It's either do it right to survive or die situation.
Let's not forget that MS has a two hours presentation this E3 so there will be a lot going on at their side.
Competition will be fierce as ever this Xmas.

@NewAdvent I’ve said the same in the past. Licensing an operating system and working with OEMs is a business that Microsoft ought to be very comfortable with.

About this result though - although only one month the pattern is clear. Nintendo needs to leverage this to get equal or greater space at POS.

They’re under represented in stores relative to their share - equalling that would be important for the prospects of third party games.

Frankly I can see why you would buy a Switch and a PS4 or a Switch and an Xbone. But I can't see any real reason to buy a PS4 and an Xbone. PS4 and Xbone have almost entirely the same library of games and functionally are almost the exact same product. And as of the last few years, Sony has had a distinct edge over Microsoft. So if you ask me, PS4 and Switch are the only two real choices.

Of for those who can afford it, PC and Switch. Since really, PC > PS4 or Xbone. Though PS4 has a few exclusives still, to tempt users. (personally I have Switch, PS4 and a PC, but 90% of my gaming over the last 14 months has been Switch based)

@Zuljaras Personally, I'd rather have a Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas port with all DLC included. 4 failed to hook me like the previous two.

@NewAdvent MS won't be exiting the console business which is great for everyone

@Heavyarms55
For me, if i compare who gave me a lot of game choices, it will be like this :

Nintendo >>> Sony >>> Microsoft

From Nintendo (NDS, 3DS, GBA, Gamecube, Wii, Wii U, Switch) i can got More than 130 suitable titles, while from Sony (PS1, PS2 & PS4) just around 64 titles (Mostly by PS2 & PS1). From Xbox, ONLY Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 1- 4 on Old Xbox, DDR Universe 1-3 on XBOX 360 & 4 titles (Exactly same as PS4) XBOX 1 games.

So, if i compare all of them , Nintendo ALWAYS Able to give me something that i want, Sony gave me something ONLY during PS1 & PS2 (i skipped PS3, don't really want follow PS4) , XBOX just gave DDR Only.

Nintendo = Pot of Gold
Sony = Home Arcade (PS1 & PS2), Mess (PS4)
XBOX = Big Jokes, Gave me NOTHING

Non-UK readers may be interested to know that this was down to a government initiative to get everyone in the UK to stop hating Nintendo for one month.

I think MS is at this point retooling the brand to be a more cohesive "platform" rather than the "console with exclusives" model...basically a basic gaming PC for people that don't want to bother with the cost/effort/annoyance of using a dedicated gaming PC. Their focus on backward compatibility, even as far as working to retroactively bring up the back catalog, seems, to me, like an effort to make XBox kind of a "consolified Steam type ecosystem" where digital purchases are long term rather than single generation propositions (X1X runs Jade Empire and KOTR better than my screaming PC did back when they were new!) I think that's kind of a good plan, in some ways since the Microsoft (corporate) goal is to push Cloud Services as the company focus. If they sell the merits of XBox as a good cloud/ecocsystem product, it creates maybe a smaller niche than mass market retail like Nintendo/Sony, but is kind of well connected to their core company structure and goals for the long term (and once they lock people in with old content, like with Steam, they become cemented for life.) The other good part of that is that will likely force Sony to cave to backward compatibility too next time. Nintendo will just keep Nintendoing.

@NewAdvent I, too thought a little while back that MS would exit after this, given how bad the OG XBone went. However, looking at their corporate layout and changes theyve made (elevating XBox as its own division and removing it from the doomed Windows division pool that has made so many of the disastrous decisions it's faced: XBox was made to do what was good for Windows, not what was good for XBox until this past year) it seems clear that they're committed to at least one more gen to see if they can right the ship. Investors wanted to jettison it, and Nadella was open to that (which was on reason investors liked him), but it seems he's for whatever reason committing the right changes to give it another go. I'm guessing that while it's a total failure on the hardware front, it's probably showing the kind of results they're looking for in the cloud/digital space and they want to try to keep trying to build that momentum. That doesn't exclude your open platform idea though. But that introduces with it new problems. Valve is no MS, but they were far from successful with that approach.

One thing with MS, and XBox in particular is they've never shied away from throwing good money after bad if they think they can kind of backdoor an objective they're looking for. They're pushing "cloud" hard as the core function of everything they do....and gaming is a good place to push cloud given customer reception. Sales suck, yes, but the brand image of XBox has recovered somewhat with the S/X kind of erasing the disastrous original One.

Personally, now that I have all 3 (Switch, PS4Pro, X1X), I find the X1X is generally nicer overall for most games, and the PS4 gets used as an exclusives box, and Switch gets used for everything I can get for it!) There's a few things PS4 does nicer than XBox, but overall in terms of "qualtiy of life" "pleasantness to use" the X wins. (of course Pro vs X isn't quite a level comparison, but the comparison would be true of Slim vs. S.) I find myself rebuying digital games I had on PS4 on X1 because they just have a nicer experience there.) It would be a shame if MS did bail. I definitely never want them to win.....they're horrible when they're the leader in anything. But I want them to be "viable" enough to continue.

That picture is from last year when Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was pre order

That's awesome. Go Nintendo!

Why bother with an Xbox One? PS4 has all the same games and more.

Genuinely surprised by the UK here. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in my city and neighbouring towns, Nintendo don't get any shelf space. Not stocked in any supermarket besides ASDA.

Hats off to Ninty, but I also think it's an indicator that Xbox is just doing poorly. The newest model just throws power around. That might be good if there were some nice exclusives.

Yea, I don't know if it's so much Nintendo (though the Switch is doing well for itself) as it is Xbox seeming to fumble everything these days.

True exclusives are few and far between, even moreso if you're looking for one that is critically acclaimed, and Sony is matching MS for value/stability in online service (wasn't that way at the end of last gen) while putting out better exclusives.

I started this gen with an Xbox One but quickly moved to PS4 for those exact reasons.

Nintendo face a lot of 'playground prejudice' in England.

The expensive yet successful port is your answer. As simple as that.

Given how much larger the XBO's UK install base is compared to the Switch's UK install base and the fact that the UK is one of the few strong regions for the XBO, seeing Switch software sales usurp XBO software sales at retail, even if only for one month, is quite the surprise.

Microsoft have been really lacking since the X1 launch. Phil Spencer is good at talking the talk but not walking the walk...

@westman98 Yep the UK is one of those few places outside the states where the Xbox normally does quite well.

But what the **** is Fallout 4 doing there??

I like my Xbox, but it's mainly for backwards compatibility and multiplatform games.

The war between Sony and Microsoft was over before it even started this gen. MS droned on about always online connectivity, Sony just threw out a few buzz words and that was it.

@Zuljaras Yeah, if 4 got ported I would definitely give it another chance. Being able to play on the go would likely really motivate me to finish it properly.