Microsoft recently announced their price cuts on the Xbox 360, effective today, but what is motivating them? Microsoft’s not going to make much additional money by passing off the savings to the customer but they will, more than likely, sell a bunch of great new Xbox 360‘s to a new crowd of gamer.
Motivation? Sony.
“I’m not at a point where I can say we’re going to beat Nintendo,” says Don Mattrick, senior vice-president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business. Indeed, Nintendo is likely to run away with the lead in the current generation of console gaming, leaving Microsoft and Sony to battle for second place. (businessweek)
Who would have thought Sony and Microsoft would be battling out this generation for second place while Nintendo breezes through with their Wii console and a handful of games with mediocre game reviews? Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. If you saw this coming and you’re not on the marketing or project planning for one of these console makers you better prep your resume!
The battle isn’t cooling, Microsoft drops their price to compete with their big competitor Sony which also brings it closer to the price tag on the Wii getting two bird with one stone. The reason Wii is winning is clearly due to its broad demographic of grandpa and grandma non-gamers along with hardcore gamers who have to collect all the consoles and younger gamers that want to fit the trend.
Microsoft’s clearly shooting for second place by installing more units into the consumers home as possible. They’ve got a great library of first person shooter titles, a few RPG’s and RTS titles and the typical contraversial titles like GTA and Saints Row with more hot blockbusters (read: Gears of War 2) arriving soon.
I see this as a great opportunity for casual game developers to get into the Xbox Live Arcade market and start making themselves (and Microsoft) some money off the new gamers that will buy their first Xbox 360 for $199 and up. Microsoft’s getting closer to the low-budget gamer crowd with their price cuts so it would be great if they can take advantage of that market with lower cost titles as well.
If you’re a game developer looking for console stick time and you want to grab the attention of a large pool of gamers, the Xbox 360 isn’t a bad start!
While Microsoft isn’t aiming at Nintendo just yet, there is no doubt Nintendo will be in their sights if they can smoke the pants off Sony in the near future (by this holiday).
One of the great downfalls of an acquisition or merger, in the game industry, is the loss of great franchise titles. Sierra, or
To clarify a part of Jonah’s post, my last episode as a regular co-host of the show is to be the next one.
So, we’ll do follow-ups for some of the older news items. Cool!
@Jay Wilson steps down from Diablo III stewardship
Eh, I guess that’s what happens when you focus a bit too much on making money instead of making a game. Jonah, I’m 100% with you.
I wouldn’t put the blame on the lead game designer though: if you’re not the top dog in the hierarchy, your freedom is limited.
Hmm, Brevik ? Maybe.
@The Secret World sees ‘400% increase in activity’
Buy2Play is a bit weird, since you still have server maintenance to pay for. Dunno. I can see it for an MMO that would use a p2p network system to alleviate server loads, but for a classic client-server architecture? Dunno. To me it sounds like putting a limit to the lifespan of the game.
Time, prove me wrong.
@Mojang: Minecraft XBLA outsold Minecraft PC in 2012
And here’s the XBLA gold rush 🙂
Like the iPhone gold rush before. And the other XBLA gold rush before the iPhone rush.
Joking aside, I can see people interpreting this as a sign to where to publish. Truth is, a good game sells. Regardless of the platform.
@Sony settles lawsuit with Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert
This is screwed up. It’s his freaking face. It’s not like Sony owns it. But what the heck, what do I know.
@Pachter: Nintendo is “a few years late” in everything they do
I think the guy has a point. In terms of performance, he’s right. In terms of peripherals, they were left behind by Kinect. As for a games library, again, he’s right.
Paul, I guess you’d like to make a zombie out of him? 🙂
@QOTW
STALKER, but! The former GSC team is working on Survarium, and the STALKER brand did get a new roof, but with a different studio.
So sure, I do want something STALKER like, it’s just I’m not sure it’ll be STALKER2 (not announced) or the Survarium game.
Dan, good news about your employment! You will be missed.
@Diablo 3 beheaded (I wish)
Meh
@Secret World
Double Meh
@Sony and Kevin Buttler
Tripple Meh. Boredom COMBO.
@Minecraft XBLA
The answer is simple. PC version is far to easy to pirate. It’s less than a megabyte and you can store it on a floppy disk. Furthermore, as funny as it sounds Minecraft multiplayer is very processor heavy. The XBLA version is a lot more stable (and even then someone gets dropped once in a while). It may be pricy and lack the mods but there is nothing like it on the Xbox.
@Nintendo is a step behind
If you may recall, I was talking about this for the past year. Nintendo’s problem is that it is fueled by tradition. The Wise Old Men who run the company call all the shots. They make what they THINK the consumer wants. And you can’t define the world by Satoru Iwata’s personal tastes. The reason why Xbox is doing so well is that Microsoft is running a business. Tablets are successful? Que SmartGlass. 3D sucks? Drop it. Kinect is popular? Make Kinect 2.
On another note, I can’t wait till you discuss the newly revealed Wii U titles. I am brewing up a shitstorm in my cauldron as we speak.
@QOTW
Man. Way to many. It’s sad to a see a franchise die just because people spend all their money on COD and FIFA. The obvious answer is Shenmue 3. The story was finished for the last 15 years. They just don’t have the funds to put it into a digital form. How sad…
A proper sequel to the Duke Nukem franchise is another. The game made a profit. They should make a new game. This time for real.
Hello long time listener, love the show especially Paul.
@QOTW : I’m going to cheat and pick two if it’s fine with ya gents, always wanted sequels to these.
1). The Brave fencer Musashi: This was my favorite kirby game growing up.
2). Misadventures of Tron Bon:Its like having your own army made of small huggable Lego people.