Q&A: Microsoft's Bryan Lee does a 360

[LegendaryArcturus]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6143414.html <br />
<br />
It's an interview with Bryan Lee, Bryan Lee, corporate vice president of the entertainment business section of Microsoft's entertainment and devices...

[Firewarrior]

GS keep Saying Right are they Being Sarcastic or is it Anyways Nice Interview

[Fordgasm]

It's an interesting interview but there are some things that bug me.

Unless I had a wee whoopsy with my comprehension did he say the Rev is not competition to them?
I think MS are just ignorant enough to not consider Nintendo as competition.
They may have beat them in Sales in their first outing but I think the Rev will fear better than most people expect this time around.

I think Nintendo may just have it right if they launch around the same time as the PS3. Parents go into a store to buy their kid a videogame they'll walk out with the cheapest system and you can guarantee that will be the rev.

[Shrinnan]

Unless I had a wee whoopsy with my comprehension did he say the Rev is not competition to them?


He really didn't. He said that Nintendo and Microsoft were moving away from being direct competition because their strategy was so different, they would attract different audiences unless I, myself, misunderstood him.

Anyway, it's not like Microsoft is the first company to say (something like) it, Ken Kutaragi said that Microsoft wasn't competition to him. I'm not saying Sony is the only ones doing it, Microsoft has done it before, just saying.

Before you ask me for a Ken Kutaragi quote I provided one for you:


“Microsoft is trailing behind us, but they are not a threat. They are good at improving [on products], but we will be advancing to the next level with revolutionary technology.”

Again, I'm not saying that Sony is the only one that does this but every company usually says something like this.

[CashMoney]

BL: But if you consider the PS3 competition, it'll be interesting to see if they launch in the holiday and, if so, what kind of quantity they have. And in a world where they don't have much quantity--which I think is what most smart money would tell you--they'll have their own production challenges. They're going to sell everything they make because the number won't be that big. In a weird way, all they're going to do is help us sell stuff, because they're going to drive consumers into stores who want to buy something and there's no PS3 there. And so they'll say, "Great. I'll take a 360." The reason I say that is we saw a lot of that happen around the Xbox 360 launch, where we created a lot of demand and had a certain quantity. It helped PS2 sales.

Wrong... they'll sell 6 million units at xmas if they can produce that many... this is just another coat of candy on their smack talking...

oh... and I don't think someone's gonna say "You're sold out of the one thing my Tommy asked for this whole year, as he loves it more than life itself... GREAT, gimme a 360!!!" :lol:

It wasn't their shortages that just pushed PS2 sales... it was Sony's Software that helped do that... DQ, RE4, S3, upcoming KHII...

Another fatal flaw on their part...

Last I checked, Nintendo makes game consoles... so, i suppose they're not in competition? Their games aren't going to be that FAR off from each other besides the one's with the usage of the funky controller... it's not a market battle of a Honda Civic and a Lexus IS...... Nintendo can easily take 2nd place from MS in consoles sold, as they were really close last time... They shouldn't write off Nintendo just yet... what are they gonna say? "Well, we placed third in console units sold, but we came in second in our market targeted area, the 18-21 year olds... Mission accomplished..."

[Dasimpse]

true in some terms cash money but i did have MANY customers that couldnt get their 360 on launch so they bought a PSP while they were in the shop, saying ill get one of these to tide me over.

so he talks truth.

Also he is in NO WAY dissing Nintendo, he is just explaining how he believes they are aiming at a different audience of games, which is right.

Ninty arent selling their console on powerhouse graphics and all that.

[CashMoney]

true in some terms cash money but i did have MANY customers that couldnt get their 360 on launch so they bought a PSP while they were in the shop, saying ill get one of these to tide me over.

so he talks truth.

Also he is in NO WAY dissing Nintendo, he is just explaining how he believes they are aiming at a different audience of games, which is right.

Ninty arent selling their console on powerhouse graphics and all that.

Here's my point...

Nintendo is building a VIDEOGAME CONSOLE... This isn't a Honda Civc vs. a Lexus IS here... Nintendo IS a major competitor for MS, and they should at least acknowledge them that way... not that Nintendo is going after 30million ppl that never played games before, and no one else... Nintendo could take sales away from MS and Sony very easily... and, while Sony losing 10million users to Nintendo, from their 100million user base could hurt, well, what about MS losing 10million from their 20-30million user base???

oh... and... I also remember another company saying that same thing when their competitor's unit availability was low during the holiday season... that they'd push soo many sales then... any guesses??? you in front... Sega talking about the Dreamcast when Sony wouldn't have enough units available at xmas? you get an "A"...

Deja-Vu is a creepy feeling...

[siren]

Yep, Sega also did benefit from the PS2 launch as that holiday they had some of their best sales because Sony only shipped about 900k units that holiday, total. Less than the 360 even managed to get out this past holiday.

Sega's problem wasn't that, it was that they couldn't seem to get any games out for over a year afterwards. Sega launched a year earlier with some great games. Mainly Soul Caliber and Crazy Taxi. The problem that they faced was that after the PS2 launch, they really didn't get many games out. Approximately 1 per month for the next 3 months.

By April, Sony was pumping out close to 1 Million units a month to the US alone. Without any new games, no one was going to keep buying the dreamcast.

One thing is certain, MS won't have this game drought. EA supporting the Xbox360 alone guarentees it about 3 games a month by this time next year. Unlike the Dreamcast, even the original Xbox averaged about 20 titles released a month, in 2004 the Xbox released only about 20 titles less than the PS2 in the US. Trailing by about 10%.

I wish people would stop trying to use vague reasons to try to make the Dreamcast and the Xbox360 seem similar. Sega had so many more problems than MS. They lacked the money to even advertise decently vs the PS2. They had about 1/5th the 3rd party support of MS. They just didn't have the games or money. People were also afraid that Sega was going to ditch the dreamcast before the end of the generation like they did with the Saturn.

MS on the other hand has increased sales of the original Xbox year over year throughout its entire life. They increased the number of developers supporting the systems year over year. They also have increased marketshare year over year. They are on an upward trend, rather than a downward like Sega was.

[CashMoney]

Question is... will this trend continue though after the launch of it's competitors? though, i don't doubt MS will stick it out this gen... and try to launch another system earlier than planned... unless, somehow, shareholders get nerved...

[siren]

Question is... will this trend continue though after the launch of it's competitors? though, i don't doubt MS will stick it out this gen... and try to launch another system earlier than planned... unless, somehow, shareholders get nerved...

This trend continued in the face of the Sony Juggernaught that went on to sell over 100 Million systems. Why would you believe it won't?

At the end of the day it is all about the games. MS does have the games, a lot of games that a lot of consumers want. Even though you personally have not found anything interesting beyond CoD2 on the platform, many other have, as is evident by an attach rate already over 4:1 on the platform. (of note, at the same post post launch, the PS2 only had an attach rate of about 1.8:1 and the PSP was sitting at about 1.5:1).

That means that Xbox360 gamers have bought over 4 titles per system sold, not including Xbox Live Arcade games that are also going with an attach of about 3:1 (higher if you consider that only about 50% of 360 users might have downloaded a single live arcade game).

Btw, the Xbox360 was not launched before planned. MS planned to launch it at this time as they expected that Sony would be launching right around the 2005 holiday, which, they are relatively speaking. I wouldn't be surprised if the next Xbox isn't planned to release until 2010 or 2011. Time will tell, but it is in MS best interest to have a console last longer as this will result in more profits. Especially with a system like the 360 that is designed so that MS will profit on the hardware in the future, unlike the original Xbox.

[XSpike_SpiegelC]

true in some terms cash money but i did have MANY customers that couldnt get their 360 on launch so they bought a PSP while they were in the shop, saying ill get one of these to tide me over


so if it is going to tide them over are they not going to come back and buy a 360 later.....

[Crazy Phat]

Yeah Nintendo will be succesful in Japan as well Fordgasm. Nintendo are also doing extremely well in the handheld market. Probably get a Revolution myself.

[samoa_20]

Sony will launch the "Get in the Game" initiative in the UK tonight, offering five lucky indie developers £10,000 apiece to fuel their PlayStation Network game projects. The platform holder has partnered with Northwest Vision and Media on the initiative, a principal aim of which is to support the industry in the UK's north-western regions.

According to GamesIndustry.biz (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/50-000-offered-for-playstation-network-prototypes), a workshop will be held in December to give participants some idea of what it's like to work with Sony. A panel of executives and producers will subsequently select five companies to receive the cash, and game ideas will be prototyped across the first three months of 2009.

Providing Sony Computer Entertainment Europe likes the results, these prototypes will eventually see life on PSN's hallowed pages. Guess it's not so grim up north, after all.

[The_Only]

Live.