Just days after reports surfaced that the Xbox One lost out to the PS4 in console shipments for another month, the company made it clear it would not be officially tracking console numbers as its primary metric any more. It would seem as though some of this switch in the way the company is doing business is precisely because Sony just announced they have shipped more than nine million consoles since the device first launched. It seems likely that the Xbox One isn’t really close to that number and so now the company is going to look where it can for positive numbers.
Game Informer reports Microsoft has said the company is more focused on engagement, leading it to choose Xbox Live usership as its leading statistic these days. This change in the way the firm is tracking its key metrics is beginning this quarter. This doesn’t mean that Microsoft will never track their console shipments again, it simply means they aren’t going to be using it as the primary reason to report good news for the firm.
At the same time they announced they won’t be releasing console shipment numbers as often, the company also said it was going to start taking a closer look at how it measures the online aspect of its service. These days, Microsoft is going to be looking not only at the 39 million Xbox Live users reported but they will also be getting a closer look at those users that logged on in the last month. This will allow Microsoft to better track just how engaged their online engagement really is.
