mktg@msft

Speed Dating Exec Interview Commuinty Mashup

We're always trying to come up with new ways to involve our gamer community bloggers and podcasters.  I wrote up one thing we did at a recent trade show, E3, to get some face time for independant bloggers/podcasters with our executive staff, who normally only speaks with mainstream press.  Originally posted on Gamerscore Blog.

On Wednesday night, we held our first ever “speed interviews” sessions. Because E3 is such a short time with a lot of journalists and analysts, our executives were booked doing interviews or demos from 8am to 6pm, and every night there were meetings, parties, and other events that our executives were expected to attend. There just isn’t enough time in such a short period to include everyone who wanted one on one time with our execs.

We’ve done a few successful “blogger breakfast” sessions in the past, but we decided that doing a big, formal roundtable with several different might not be the best way to give our community members time with our execs. To keep it intimate, only a few sites were invited to the breakfast meetings, and even that format didn’t allow for much of a personal touch. Our community members didn’t get any one-on-one time with the executives, and didn’t let each site ask the questions for their particular communities (or were afraid of getting scooped if they did). The sites we invited tended to be the largest sites that really should be getting full appointments during the day (like Joystiq, Engadget, Kotaku, etc.), leaving out some of our most passionate community podcasters, bloggers, forum posters, and fan site owners. We know we invite everyone we can to our C3@E3 party, and our execs all love hanging out and chatting with community members there, but even a long conversation at a party doesn’t substitute for a formal interview.

We thought through the options, and figured that if speed dating could give you a feel for a possible “love connection” in a few minutes, maybe it would work for us not the love part, but maybe the “personal connection” part ;) ). Whether “speed interviews” was going to be a boom or a bust was anyone’s guess, but everyone liked the idea (at least in principle), so Tony, Chris, and April from our events staff set it up, and our executive staff agreed to give it a try.

Xbox.com posts a 360 degree panoramic view of the room.

We set up eight tables across a room, and had eight executives from different parts of our business sit at each one. The list included Peter Moore, Jeff Bell, Peter Molyneaux, Chris Early, Kevin Unangst, Aaron Greenberg, John Rodman, and Bungie’s Brian Gerard and Frank O’Connor.

We then chose leaders from several community sites, including Xbox360Fanboy, Evil Avatar, GamertagRadio, Achievement Junkie, and active forum posters from sites like TeamXbox, and Xbox.com.

Each group met for four minutes, then took one minute to move to the next table. After a round of eight interviews, we took a five minute break, and brought in eight more groups. I know four minutes doesn’t sound like much, but because each interviewer came prepared with questions, everyone jumped right in, and got to ask some questions nobody else had thought of. I haven’t seen any reports of the meetings, but everyone who participated thought it turned out great.

We hope our community leaders got to know our execs a little better, and gathered some unique information to report back to their community.  We were able to try a format that got as many community members through as we could. Our execs got a break from the journalists and analysts they’d been meeting with all week, and had a chance to get to know some of our community leaders, and hear what their community members are asking.

I hope it gives you a glimpse of the value we all put on the community. We appreciate all your passion, your support, your suggestions, your patience when things go wrong, and even your criticisms. From our executives to all of us who dedicate all our time to supporting community, our games business wouldn’t be where it is without you. For those that couldn’t be there this time, you should know we’re always looking for more ways to involve all of you whenever we can.

I posted a few photos of the interviews on Flickr, and I’ll post links to the stories/write-ups/podcasts as I can.

Gamertag Radio
E307 Coverage: Bungie Interview
E307 Coverage: Peter Molyneux from Lionhead Studios Interview

Evil Avatar
[E3 2007] - 4 Minutes with Microsoft Execs

Xbox 360 Fanboy
X3F interview: 4 minutes in the dark with Peter Moore

Major Nelson on the Dashboard Update

Also posted on the Gamerscore Blog (seeing a trend here?).

Age of Empires III Patch

Posted on the Gamerscore Blog

BHG Producer Tim Train on Rise of Legends

Posted on the Gamerscore Blog.

New Asia Pacific Launch Dates for Xbox 360

Just after the earnings announcements today, we announced some new launch dates in Asia Pacific for the Xbox 360. From the media alert:

“The new launch dates have been set due to unprecedented global consumer demand stemming from challenges in ramping supply for a complex product like the Xbox 360. This is a short term manufacturing challenge and steps have been taken to increase supply to meet the strong consumer demand for the console.”

In Hong Kong and Singapore, the Xbox 360 will now be released on March 16, 2006. In Australia and New Zealand, the new launch date is March 23, 2006.

This just sucks if you’re a gamer waiting patiently (or impatiently) in one of these countries, but with the console already in short supply, this is going to make it easier for you to get hold of a console on launch day.  Sorry for the delay, guys (and gals).  I suppose I could point to all those complaining about our “global launch strategy,” and tell you they’d prefer that you get them in six months or one year after the first shipment, but that would be wrong of me…

Xbox News from Today's Earnings Announcement

With our Q2 earnings announcement complete, a bit more of the story emerges from the number crunchers.  As a public company, there’s a lot we can’t say, especially in a blog post.  Because the company is owned by shareholders, we have to tell them what they’re doing all at the same time (i.e., publicly), if it’s going to affect the price of the stock at all.  Otherwise, you’d all be in trouble for insider trading, and I’d be writing this from a federal prison (or from home with an ankle bracelet attached).

You can hear a podcast (okay, not really a “podcast,” but at least a recording) of the announcement call by clicking on Microsoft.com/MSFT.  Listen in at about 18:30 or so, for the start of the bit on Xbox business.

Update: I'm told a full transcript of the earnings announcement conference call is on SeekingAlpha's Internet Stock Blog.

Some highlights:

• We sold 1.5 million Xbox 360 consoles in Q2 (i.e., from Nov 22 to Dec 31), with 900,000 consoles in North America, 500,000 consoles in Europe, and the 100,000 in Japan.  That number actually would have been 1,500,001 if we didn’t give one console to Paris Hilton.   
• This was lower than we, you, analysts, EVERYONE expected due to component shortages stemming from challenges in ramping supply of a complex product like the Xbox 360.  We believe that this is a short term manufacturing challenge (honest!).  Don’t blame us for secretly holding them in a warehouse at Area 51, or giving them all away to celebrities and drinkers of Mountain Dew.  Okay, maybe you can blame us a little for that…   
• Lots of folks watch attach rate—how many units on average are sold divided by number of consoles sold--to figure out how healthy a platform is.  According to NPD (ya, we listen to them too), software attach for the Xbox 360 in the US was more than 4 per console and accessory attach was more than 3 per console for the quarter – both are records with consumers purchasing nearly double the amount relative to any other console launch in history. 
• Since the launch of Xbox 360, Xbox Live members have downloaded over 4 million pieces of high definition games, music and movie content from Xbox Live Marketplace.
• Not only that, our Xbox 1 platform remains a great value for consumers.  We sold over 2.2 million Xbox 1 consoles in the first half of our fiscal year bringing the installed based to over 24 million worldwide with 16 million in North America and 6 million in Europe.  Who said the Xbox 1 is dead?  Not us… 
• Okay, now it’s official.  We lowered our estimate of Xbox 360 console sales in the first 90 days from launch from 2.75 – 3.0 million units to 2.5 million units.  Or 2,499,999 if you count the one we gave Paris Hilton.  Even so, we estimate that consumers will spend over $1.5 billion in total retail value on Xbox 360 consoles, games, and peripherals in these first 90 days.  You might call our Xbox 360 launch a horrendous failure, but after only six weeks, that’s not bad…
• You guys already know we are bringing on a third manufacturing partner, Celestica, next month to help us build more Xbox 360s.  That makes three plants working day and night to get these into the market.  For that reason, we are not adjusting our previously announced fiscal year console sales guidance of 4.5 to 5.5 million consoles and our revenue guidance is based on unit sales within that range.   
• By the end of June, Xbox 360 will have more than 50 high definition games from the best names in publishing.  In the next few months, look for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks); Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports); Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft); Dead Rising (Capcom), and Full Auto (Sega). 
• By the end of March, Xbox 360 will be available in nearly 30 countries! (31 if you could the space in Paris Hilton’s head)

Dance Dance Revolution in West Virginia Schools

I know when I play Xbox, I tend to firmly plant my buttocks into the corner of our couch, pop my feet up on the cushions, and grab the controller in a very ergonomically-unfriendly position--for hours at a time.  Gotta get this game!  (I know my kid's would love it, too.)

Some folks from our US Marketing team worked with Konami to incorporate Xbox and Dance Dance Revolution into an education program in West Virginia. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Video dance game to be used in schools

West Virginia taps Konami's system to help fight obesity

State and school officials there have struck a partnership with Redwood City's Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. to use its Dance Dance Revolution in all of its 765 public schools, Konami announced today. The innovative plan, the first statewide program to employ the dance video game, is intended to attack West Virginia's youth obesity problem.

Dance Dance Revolution, a favorite at arcades, has built up a solid following among youth and adults, who enjoy the game's fast pace, fun music and sweat-inducing challenges. In the game, players must dance on a large pad lined with sensors, timing their rapid steps carefully to the music and to video prompts on the screen. Since the game was introduced on American video consoles in 2001, Konami has sold 3 million units. [read more...]

Highlights of 2005: Lost Tooth, Xbox 360

Yesterday, I got an email from the father of a nine year old girl (not an employee), who reads this blog.  He wrote:

My 9 year old daughter came home last week with an in class assignment of creating a poster board about her highlights of 2005. To our surprise, the Xbox360 made it on her poster as one of the highlights of 2005 (December). I guess I may have been a little excited when I bought the unit during the Christmas Holidays.

I asked his permission to share it.  Another girl gamer in the making! 

 

The 360 Song

From the TeamXbox forums, I ran across this beauty by XTeCnoX.  Not sure the marketing team will be paying the rights to have this played at our next press event, but for those of you who have an Xbox 360, you know what you'd do if someone got between you and your Xbox.  Listen to this haunting, yet compelling melody...

Archie Gates: Archie's Theme (The 360 Song).mp3

Oh, our lawyers want to remind you to please refrain from killing or otherwise threatening our executives...  or the police...  or the general public...

Keep Xbox Away From Sand & Water

Let this be a warning for those of you thinking of taking your Xbox 360 to any upcoming beach parties…  Beatrice Murch was walking along the beach in Northern California, when she found the remains of what looks like an Xbox.  She posts more photos on her flickr site. 

Xbox Customer Service informs me that in all likelihood, a replacement for this unit won’t be covered by the warranty!  Gizmodo readers offer several possibilities for how the Xbox got washed up onshore…