(Business Insider) "With the next Xbox, Microsoft has a 4-part strategy to end the console wars once and for all"

Started by the-pi-guy, Jan 20, 2020, 12:03 AM

previous topic - next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

the-pi-guy

(Business Insider) "With the next Xbox, Microsoft has a 4-part strategy to end the console wars once and for all" | ResetEra

Quote
This holiday season, both Sony and Microsoft plan to launch new, so-called next-generation versions of the PlayStation and the Xbox.

 These days, the "console wars" are a head-to-head between Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox. But in 2020, it looks as if Microsoft is shifting its business strategy in a way that might end them for good.

1. Microsoft doesn't mind if you don't buy its new Xbox console, as long as you buy the game.
Quote
Do you want to play games on an Xbox? A PC? Your phone? Microsoft wants to reach you there -- ideally across all three.

 To that end, Xbox has major initiatives across all three platforms: a new game console (Xbox Series X), a cloud gaming service (Project xCloud), and a Netflix-like gaming service (Game Pass).  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
Quote
"That remains core to what we're trying to do," the Xbox leader Phil Spencer told Business Insider in an interview last June. "To allow creators to reach the customers that they want, allow players to play the games that they want with the people they want to play with, anywhere they want. And it fits right into the opportunity ahead."

 It's part of a broader effort at Microsoft to bring Xbox games to as many people as possible -- even if those people don't buy a new Xbox console. To that end, all first-party Xbox games across the next two years will also head to Xbox One.  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
2. The new Xbox is just the latest box, not a whole new ecosystem.
Quote
The next Xbox console will play Xbox One games. It will also play all the original Xbox and Xbox 360 games that already work on the Xbox One. It will also work with all the current Xbox One accessories, from gamepads to fight sticks.

 "The original Xbox games and Xbox 360 games that are backward-compatible now on your Xbox One, those will play. Your Xbox One games will play, your accessories will play," Spencer said last June.  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
Quote
This is an important precedent that was set with the Xbox One, and it's continuing with the next generation of Xbox consoles: Your digital game library carries forward, like app purchases on smartphones or movie purchases on Amazon Prime. It establishes your Xbox library as a continuing digital platform, something no game console maker has done thus far.

 The compatibility actually stretches further -- games with large existing communities will continue to grow those communities on the next Xbox.

 "I don't want to announce anything about what another game team is doing," Spencer said, "But I think what we would say at the highest level is if you talk about these games that have such massive communities today, a lot of those developers and studios are going to want to think about how they grow their community -- not how they take it to zero and try to rebuild it."  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
3. Going forward, it's just "Xbox."
Quote
The Xbox Series X is part of the fourth generation of Xbox consoles from Microsoft, following the original Xbox, the Xbox 360, and the Xbox One generations. It's a real murderer's row of bizarre names.

 The Series X, however, isn't a whole new line of Xbox consoles -- it's just the name of the latest in the Xbox console brand.

 "The name we're carrying forward to the next generation is simply Xbox," a Microsoft representative told Business Insider in December.  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
Quote
It's a small branding change, but it clarifies Microsoft's position with its console line: You can expect your Xbox digital library to work on Xbox devices, similar to Apple's approach with the iPhone.

 You might get an iPhone 11 Pro, or you might get an iPhone 8 -- they all run the same stuff, albeit in varying degrees of fidelity. Such is the case with the Xbox brand going forward.  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
4. With Game Pass, Microsoft could win the race to create the first major "Netflix of gaming" service.
Quote
Thus far, no company has had success with a comparable service for gaming. There are a few services that offer streamed video games, like Google Stadia and PlayStation Now, but neither has really taken off.

 Microsoft, however, has had wild success with Game Pass -- an instant library-type service where each game must be downloaded to your console before playing.  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
Quote
With Project xCloud, Microsoft may be the first to actually succeed with a subscription-based video game streaming service with an instant library, à la Netflix, that pairs Game Pass' vast library and existing subscriber base with an option to stream games as well.

 "I want it to be about choice, but I do think the strength that we've already seen in the last two years with Game Pass is an important component of this," Spencer said when asked about the business model for xCloud.

 "There's paying for access, and then there's paying for a library of games," he said. "And the Game Pass component is really critical, because you want to have access to hundreds of games that you can go play. That is more your Netflix-type example."  Click to expand... Click to shrink...  
And there you have it. Nothing new in this Business Insider article of course, but I think it does a good job in tying together and contextualizing Microsoft's statements and decisions over the last several months, and provides a good case for them in winning back some marketshare next gen. "Ending" console wars is subject to debate but it's hard not to feel like they're in a better position now than they were a few years ago, and there are reasons to be hopeful. Of course, this mentions nothing about the games themselves, and with their recent acquisitions, I expect them to have a sizable amount of quality first party software that they can release at a steady clip, so that their release calendars don't look empty and dry for most of the year.

 More at the link:
https://www.businessinsider.com/playstation-xbox-console-wars-end-microsoft-sony-2020-1  
[/size]

Xevross

Weird article. Don't really see how any of these strategies are unique, never mind going to bring the end to the console wars.

Also ignoring the argument here, what does ending the console wars even mean? One company gains a monopoly? We all know that ain't happening, and if any company is getting a monopoly on consoles in the future it'd be Sony.

the-pi-guy

Weird article. Don't really see how any of these strategies are unique, never mind going to bring the end to the console wars.
It's just the general plan of somewhat moving away from consoles.  Can't have a console war if there aren't any consoles.  

kitler53

i suppose they are right,.. the console wars are over now that MS has conceeded...


Featured Artist: Vanessa Hudgens

Dr. Pezus

It's great that your digital library and accessories can be carried forward. Hope sony does that too