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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Al Ries Comments
Al Ries stopped by to comment on the last post:
"Microsoft should get a lot of credit for using Xbox, a new brand name, for its videogame player. We have said so in a number of articles. And certainly using Zbox for a product with little change would be a mistake.
On the other hand, we would recommend that Microsoft introduce a next generation game player which is truly revolutionary. That's the only way to overtake PlayStation."
Therein lies the challenge! Do you strengthen the Xbox "branch" while further diverging from the "video game console" trunk, or diverge from the Xbox branch by coming out with something entirely new? How much emphasis goes to "better" versus "different"?
Posted at 12:52 PM in Books | Permalink
Comments
Making the Xbox 2 too different will alienate the current audience. Microsoft has to focus on creating good content and building their third party relationships. Good content is what makes it in the entertainment business. If you don’t have it, you can forget about it. Look at how much content Nintendo has lost out on in this generation. This has severely hurt them and will continue to hurt them into the next generation.
Posted by: Byron Gaum at Oct 12, 2004 7:28:41 PM
I agree 100% with Byron (as you know from our emails). Xbox1 has good content, but if you force us to leave it all behind when we're ready to upgrade then there's nothing keeping us from moving to PS2.
Xbox2 needs to be "better than Xbox" *and* "different from PS2" while *not* being "different from Xbox1 such that Xbox1 games won't run on it." Given MS's past history with backward compatability, I don't expect that to be the case, but one never knows. Anyway, much of this is directed at the engineering/design group not really at your marketing folk I suppose.
You just get the fun of telling the story of *how* it's "better than Xbox" and "different from PS2."
-Steven
Posted by: steven at Oct 13, 2004 2:32:23 PM
Good point – Xbox 2 definitely needs to be compatible with Xbox 1 games – not doing so would be suicide. Look how great it worked for Sony. It was a great segue for PS1 users to eventually upgrade to a PS2. Microsoft’s strategy with “Live” has been far superior to Sony’s ad-hoc on-line system. Although Sony has more on-line users, it’s due to their larger install base. Continuing the “Live” strategy into the next generation will continue to be a strong differentiator for them. My prediction is that MS will overtake Sony with Xbox 2 in North America – in terms of install base.
Posted by: Byron Gaum at Oct 13, 2004 4:12:33 PM
As long as Bungie keeps making the Halo series I firmly believe any type of xbox they release will do quite well.
I know for a fact that if I did not own an xbox right now that I would be buying one this weelend so that I could play Halo 2 on it this coming Tuesday.
Posted by: Joe at Nov 4, 2004 5:12:53 AM
