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I have jut heard that the XBox is Dead because
LOS ANGELES--For the software publishing industry, video games are a numbers game. And for now, Microsoft is on the losing end.
That's the upshot from the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the game industry's main trade show, where new games for Microsoft's Xbox have largely been limited to "me too" titles--games already appearing on other consoles. Microsoft has said it expects to have more than 200 games for the Xbox by the end of the year, but less than two dozen of those will be exclusive Xbox titles from third-party publishers.
Sony, by contrast, is touting high-profile exclusives from game publishers. "Grand Theft Auto III," the top-selling video game for the past few months, will remain available only for Sony's PlayStation 2, with publisher Take Two Interactive Software scrapping previous plans for an Xbox version. New versions of Eidos' "Tomb Raider" and Electronic Arts' "Medal of Honor" franchises will also be available only for the PS2, as will upcoming online and offline updates of the "Final Fantasy" series from longtime Sony booster Squaresoft.
Game publishers say it's a simple matter of economics. With Sony having sold more than 30 million PlayStation 2 units worldwide and the Xbox just edging up to the 4 million mark, they have to put their money where the market is. The result is that even the biggest Xbox supporters are producing two PlayStation 2 games for every Xbox title.
"We love the Xbox; we love Microsoft," said Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate communications for leading games publisher EA. "The worst thing that could happen to EA is to wake up one day to find Sony out there by itself. But when you make decisions short term, you have to look at the installed base. It's pretty clear if you're running a business selling games, you're simply going to sell more units on the PS2."
Console makers can try to tip the balance by offering marketing assistance to game publishers and even helping to pay development costs, but such efforts only go so far, said Luc Vanhal, president of Vivendi Universal Publishing. Vivendi earlier announced that "Malice," a game Microsoft touted as an exclusive at the Xbox's public unveiling, will also be available for the PS2.
"Microsoft is much more aggressive going after exclusive deals," Vanhal said. "They realize they really need to give an incentive to publishers to focus on the Xbox.
"But it still comes down to economics," Vanhal said. "It costs quite a bit of money to develop a game. I need to recoup that money, and it's easier to do that when you're selling to a market of 30 million."
Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said publishers have found it more expensive than many had expected to produce multiple versions of a game.
"There's a significant investment to having multiple retail packages," said Hirai, who kept E3 buzzing by declaring victory in the console wars. "At some point you have to say, 'Time out: Does it make sense for me to do a PlayStation exclusive? How much value do I get from doing other versions?'"
Publishers say the recent round of console price cuts will help Microsoft build an installed based for Xbox more quickly. Leading retailers have reported sales increases of up to 800 percent for both consoles since the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 were each lowered to $199.
But Microsoft also needs to break out of the commodity market that game consoles have become, they say. Despite clear technological advantages enjoyed by the Xbox, especially its built-in hard drive, Xbox games so far have pretty much played like those for competing systems.
"I believe the marketing mistake has been in letting people believe the Xbox is the same product as the other consoles," said Bruno Bonnell, president of Infogrames. The game publisher recently dealt another blow to Xbox by announcing plans to publish a PlayStation 2 version of its upcoming game based on "The Matrix," despite Microsoft having invested $1 million in recent Infrogrames acquisition Shiny Entertainment to fund development of the game.
"Xbox has a lot of features nobody's really taken advantage of yet," Bonnell said. "If someone built a game that fully utilizes the hard drive, the voice capability, people would see there's a real difference. The best evidence is the price: Microsoft knew they couldn't get people to pay extra for better technology, because they don't have a case yet for how that improves the games."
Don Coyner, Microsoft's director of marketing for Xbox, said it's typical for developers to need time to fully exploit a new console. He's confident that "Blinx," a Microsoft-created jump-and-run game that allows players to record and replay segments, will show developers how a hard drive can improve game design.
"'Blinx' is really the first game that takes full advantage of the hard drive," Coyner said. "Console developers are not used to working with a hard drive. It takes awhile for a developer to think about what it can do, and it takes someone who sees the potential to take advantage of it and really push gaming concepts forward."
Nintendo's survival strategy has been to come up with its own system-selling franchises, including characters such as Mario, Pokemon and Zelda. Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo of America, said Microsoft could learn a thing or two from the Nintendo approach.
"We're worried about Microsoft," Kaplan said. "They've spent all this money building an online network, and they've lost focus on the games. Microsoft is doing technology, versus investing in content, and content drives this business."
So what do you think now ?????????
Ria
LOS ANGELES--For the software publishing industry, video games are a numbers game. And for now, Microsoft is on the losing end.
That's the upshot from the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the game industry's main trade show, where new games for Microsoft's Xbox have largely been limited to "me too" titles--games already appearing on other consoles. Microsoft has said it expects to have more than 200 games for the Xbox by the end of the year, but less than two dozen of those will be exclusive Xbox titles from third-party publishers.
Sony, by contrast, is touting high-profile exclusives from game publishers. "Grand Theft Auto III," the top-selling video game for the past few months, will remain available only for Sony's PlayStation 2, with publisher Take Two Interactive Software scrapping previous plans for an Xbox version. New versions of Eidos' "Tomb Raider" and Electronic Arts' "Medal of Honor" franchises will also be available only for the PS2, as will upcoming online and offline updates of the "Final Fantasy" series from longtime Sony booster Squaresoft.
Game publishers say it's a simple matter of economics. With Sony having sold more than 30 million PlayStation 2 units worldwide and the Xbox just edging up to the 4 million mark, they have to put their money where the market is. The result is that even the biggest Xbox supporters are producing two PlayStation 2 games for every Xbox title.
"We love the Xbox; we love Microsoft," said Jeff Brown, vice president of corporate communications for leading games publisher EA. "The worst thing that could happen to EA is to wake up one day to find Sony out there by itself. But when you make decisions short term, you have to look at the installed base. It's pretty clear if you're running a business selling games, you're simply going to sell more units on the PS2."
Console makers can try to tip the balance by offering marketing assistance to game publishers and even helping to pay development costs, but such efforts only go so far, said Luc Vanhal, president of Vivendi Universal Publishing. Vivendi earlier announced that "Malice," a game Microsoft touted as an exclusive at the Xbox's public unveiling, will also be available for the PS2.
"Microsoft is much more aggressive going after exclusive deals," Vanhal said. "They realize they really need to give an incentive to publishers to focus on the Xbox.
"But it still comes down to economics," Vanhal said. "It costs quite a bit of money to develop a game. I need to recoup that money, and it's easier to do that when you're selling to a market of 30 million."
Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said publishers have found it more expensive than many had expected to produce multiple versions of a game.
"There's a significant investment to having multiple retail packages," said Hirai, who kept E3 buzzing by declaring victory in the console wars. "At some point you have to say, 'Time out: Does it make sense for me to do a PlayStation exclusive? How much value do I get from doing other versions?'"
Publishers say the recent round of console price cuts will help Microsoft build an installed based for Xbox more quickly. Leading retailers have reported sales increases of up to 800 percent for both consoles since the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 were each lowered to $199.
But Microsoft also needs to break out of the commodity market that game consoles have become, they say. Despite clear technological advantages enjoyed by the Xbox, especially its built-in hard drive, Xbox games so far have pretty much played like those for competing systems.
"I believe the marketing mistake has been in letting people believe the Xbox is the same product as the other consoles," said Bruno Bonnell, president of Infogrames. The game publisher recently dealt another blow to Xbox by announcing plans to publish a PlayStation 2 version of its upcoming game based on "The Matrix," despite Microsoft having invested $1 million in recent Infrogrames acquisition Shiny Entertainment to fund development of the game.
"Xbox has a lot of features nobody's really taken advantage of yet," Bonnell said. "If someone built a game that fully utilizes the hard drive, the voice capability, people would see there's a real difference. The best evidence is the price: Microsoft knew they couldn't get people to pay extra for better technology, because they don't have a case yet for how that improves the games."
Don Coyner, Microsoft's director of marketing for Xbox, said it's typical for developers to need time to fully exploit a new console. He's confident that "Blinx," a Microsoft-created jump-and-run game that allows players to record and replay segments, will show developers how a hard drive can improve game design.
"'Blinx' is really the first game that takes full advantage of the hard drive," Coyner said. "Console developers are not used to working with a hard drive. It takes awhile for a developer to think about what it can do, and it takes someone who sees the potential to take advantage of it and really push gaming concepts forward."
Nintendo's survival strategy has been to come up with its own system-selling franchises, including characters such as Mario, Pokemon and Zelda. Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo of America, said Microsoft could learn a thing or two from the Nintendo approach.
"We're worried about Microsoft," Kaplan said. "They've spent all this money building an online network, and they've lost focus on the games. Microsoft is doing technology, versus investing in content, and content drives this business."
So what do you think now ?????????
Ria
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Indeed, PS2 has sold more in the US than Japan by about 2 million units.
Wookiee is the man with the facts....but I think PS2 has had a larger majority of its sales in the US when compared to Japan. Only a few million difference if i recall though.
Or†ega wrote:
> What the hell?
>
> I think you forget that a majority of X-box sales have come from the
> US where the X-box has been out for over 5 months.
But he's only accounted for a year for PS2 (I think) whereas it has been out a lot longer in Japan. A lot of the PS2 sales will be from Japan.
> What the hell?
>
> I think you forget that a majority of X-box sales have come from the
> US where the X-box has been out for over 5 months.
But he's only accounted for a year for PS2 (I think) whereas it has been out a lot longer in Japan. A lot of the PS2 sales will be from Japan.
fosbe wrote:
> xbox has been out about 7 weeks and sold million well if you devide 7
> by 52 (because of 52 weeks in a year) then times the result of that by
> 4mill you will get 29 mill only a couple of mill off ps2.
What the hell?
I think you forget that a majority of X-box sales have come from the US where the X-box has been out for over 5 months.
> xbox has been out about 7 weeks and sold million well if you devide 7
> by 52 (because of 52 weeks in a year) then times the result of that by
> 4mill you will get 29 mill only a couple of mill off ps2.
What the hell?
I think you forget that a majority of X-box sales have come from the US where the X-box has been out for over 5 months.
Yeah I traded in my PS2 towards my X-Box. :-) I think X-Box Live might help to shift a good number of consoles around Christmas time. I'll have my broadband up and running next week so I'll be ready for it. ;-)
Future sales of xbox look bright, and as someone said Christmas will be the time of demand, for all consoles.
I know a few people who want an xbox for christmas, I can't believe they have decided already. I know one person who is getting one over the summer and I know another who is geting one for his birthday. Shockingly, my PS2 owning friend is trading in is PS2 to get an xbox because he loves playing Halo so much.
The futures bright, the futures, er, black and green. :)
I know a few people who want an xbox for christmas, I can't believe they have decided already. I know one person who is getting one over the summer and I know another who is geting one for his birthday. Shockingly, my PS2 owning friend is trading in is PS2 to get an xbox because he loves playing Halo so much.
The futures bright, the futures, er, black and green. :)
Delorentis wrote:
> WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Good for you, you hero of the gaming world.
>
> Wookie - one thing to say chap. Respect. Good accurate post, tight
> case, no criticism that was untoward. Good Job. I posted on the
> "Anyone with an xbox read" this thread (I think that is what
> it is called) and the point I was trying to get across was we play
> games for the experience. And every game offers a differnet
> experience, and if a game on one platform offers a good one, why pass
> up the chance to try it becuase of short sighted stubborn
> "loyalty"? A gamer who understands his passion will give
> anything a go if he can, sod the platform/controller/manufacturer. I
> tried explaining it with parallels and all kind of rubbish but the
> message was the same: Games are designed to be fun on any platform,
> looking like anything and played with anything.
>
> How many times have you walked into an arcade, all the cabintes look
> the same, the manufacturer is not immediately apparent but the game
> was fun? The gamer wasn't bothered who made it or approached it with a
> preconceptions or anything like that, he stuck his quid in and gave it
> a go. And if it was fun he added it to his list of plays, if it wasn't
> he moved on.
>
> I have a gamecube and I have owned god knows how many consoles over
> the last 15 years. I would love to play other games on other
> platforms, so I will - becuase I don't want something great to pass me
> by.I want it all- cos that's what my passion demands of me.
>
> L8terz
GOOD 2 C SOME PPL HAVE A GOOD IQ
RESPECT
> WòókieeMøn§†€® wrote:
> Good for you, you hero of the gaming world.
>
> Wookie - one thing to say chap. Respect. Good accurate post, tight
> case, no criticism that was untoward. Good Job. I posted on the
> "Anyone with an xbox read" this thread (I think that is what
> it is called) and the point I was trying to get across was we play
> games for the experience. And every game offers a differnet
> experience, and if a game on one platform offers a good one, why pass
> up the chance to try it becuase of short sighted stubborn
> "loyalty"? A gamer who understands his passion will give
> anything a go if he can, sod the platform/controller/manufacturer. I
> tried explaining it with parallels and all kind of rubbish but the
> message was the same: Games are designed to be fun on any platform,
> looking like anything and played with anything.
>
> How many times have you walked into an arcade, all the cabintes look
> the same, the manufacturer is not immediately apparent but the game
> was fun? The gamer wasn't bothered who made it or approached it with a
> preconceptions or anything like that, he stuck his quid in and gave it
> a go. And if it was fun he added it to his list of plays, if it wasn't
> he moved on.
>
> I have a gamecube and I have owned god knows how many consoles over
> the last 15 years. I would love to play other games on other
> platforms, so I will - becuase I don't want something great to pass me
> by.I want it all- cos that's what my passion demands of me.
>
> L8terz
GOOD 2 C SOME PPL HAVE A GOOD IQ
RESPECT
rahh!!!!!!!! this sort of topic riles me rotten!
so what if there r more ps2's in households than xbox, the ps2
has had almost a 2 year head start...
im not gonna rant on much more cus frankly this sort of post
doesn't deserve it...
let me put it like this...
if u had a choice between a megadrive and a playstation which would
u have??? correctamondo dude, a playstation, why?
cus its more powerful, u can play 3d'ish :) games rather than
2d platformers, so whats the lesseon we have learned today?
more processing power means better games, only time this becomes
incorrect is when the mug buying public buy a games machine on
its name alone and not how good the performance/games r, al la
dreamcast, that machine could of easily of taken on the ps2 but
no, ooh i gotta have a ps2....mmmm sony....mmm... fooking tyrants
give it a dvd capability that a sell the sh-it to the ppl
so what if there r more ps2's in households than xbox, the ps2
has had almost a 2 year head start...
im not gonna rant on much more cus frankly this sort of post
doesn't deserve it...
let me put it like this...
if u had a choice between a megadrive and a playstation which would
u have??? correctamondo dude, a playstation, why?
cus its more powerful, u can play 3d'ish :) games rather than
2d platformers, so whats the lesseon we have learned today?
more processing power means better games, only time this becomes
incorrect is when the mug buying public buy a games machine on
its name alone and not how good the performance/games r, al la
dreamcast, that machine could of easily of taken on the ps2 but
no, ooh i gotta have a ps2....mmmm sony....mmm... fooking tyrants
give it a dvd capability that a sell the sh-it to the ppl
garbe123 wrote:
> fosbe wrote:
> If you use a calcualor, you will find out that if xbox has sold
> 4mill
> and sony 30mill and the sonyplaystation has been out MORE THAN A
> YEAR
> then
>
>
> xbox has been out about 7 weeks and sold million well if you devide
> 7
> by 52 (because of 52 weeks in a year) then times the result of that
> by
> 4mill you will get 29 mill only a couple of mill off ps2. But you
> have
> to accept that you will sell more xboxs in the first couple of weeks
> than any other time, but then you have people seeing how well it
> does
> first. So if you think about it all the consoles are very close.
>
> Not stricktly true, the Xbox in fact could be doing better! The PS2
> camout 1 and a half months before christmas so more people would have
> bought them for this, the Xbox however had an early release and no big
> events surrounded it so the Xbox is doing very well for the time of
> year that it is!
That is totaly true i know 15 people out of about 50 who got an xbox for there birthday. I cant wait to see what happens this xmas, but xbox need to make sure they are in a strong postion for xmas, and maybe a slight decrease in price again not much because they cant reduce ti much more, but if they did it would put sony in a bad postion.
> fosbe wrote:
> If you use a calcualor, you will find out that if xbox has sold
> 4mill
> and sony 30mill and the sonyplaystation has been out MORE THAN A
> YEAR
> then
>
>
> xbox has been out about 7 weeks and sold million well if you devide
> 7
> by 52 (because of 52 weeks in a year) then times the result of that
> by
> 4mill you will get 29 mill only a couple of mill off ps2. But you
> have
> to accept that you will sell more xboxs in the first couple of weeks
> than any other time, but then you have people seeing how well it
> does
> first. So if you think about it all the consoles are very close.
>
> Not stricktly true, the Xbox in fact could be doing better! The PS2
> camout 1 and a half months before christmas so more people would have
> bought them for this, the Xbox however had an early release and no big
> events surrounded it so the Xbox is doing very well for the time of
> year that it is!
That is totaly true i know 15 people out of about 50 who got an xbox for there birthday. I cant wait to see what happens this xmas, but xbox need to make sure they are in a strong postion for xmas, and maybe a slight decrease in price again not much because they cant reduce ti much more, but if they did it would put sony in a bad postion.
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