Still ranting about MS pre-launch policies and U-Turn *spawn

[Deleted member 86764]

I don't believe that the NFL deal was just for the Xbox stuff. MS is doing a lot of promotions with the NFL, especially with Surface. It's probably the entire number spent by MS on deals with the NFL. They used that number to sound more impressive and generate hype.

Oh I'm sure it went towards promotions over a period of months/years. But for me, a European, the only time I have ever heard anything about it was during the reveal. It's never registered as something that's affected me since. I, understandably, haven't been a recipient of those promotions.

Obviously as a non-sport interested Europan I thought the money could have been better spent elsewhere. You know, with the console itself.

And again, a little while afterwards, Microsoft announced that they'd bought Minecraft for 2.5b. I'm fairly sure they could have better spent that on the hardware itself.

(Yes, I definitely understand the value of the Minecraft brand - I have two sons)

 

[Scott_Arm]

Nah, they just went about it wrong. Other earlier consoles have shown the device for entertainment is a valued proposition. People had been using their consoles for disc films, streaming services, music playing even (PS3's music visualiser), as well as gaming. The market just shifted emphasis onto other devices (smart TVs and STBs) leaving MS a bit behind, while their messaging stank and made the worst of it.

To be honest, I think a bunch of the ideas were good, but the implementation was poor. If they'd had DVR functionality from release, or the ability to replace the cable box, it would have done a lot to make that feature more attractive. Cord cutting is a real thing, but a lot of people still watch a lot of tv. The other issue was apps. The app story never materialized. The OS and the tools were not ready. The HBO app should have been there on day one, but it took a long time to come out. They needed all of the common media apps to plugin to OneGuide, but as far as I can tell there's only a couple that do. A pure gaming device still may have been the best idea, but if you want to appeal to a broader media market, you need to execute, and they didn't.

 

[tuna]

Obviously as a non-sport interested Europan I thought the money could have been better spent elsewhere. You know, with the console itself.

And again, a little while afterwards, Microsoft announced that they'd bought Minecraft for 2.5b. I'm fairly sure they could have better spent that on the hardware itself.

It's not like M$ (sorry, I just had to go there ) is lacking cash. If they would have thought that spending more on HW would lead to bigger profits they would have done that.

 

[Persistantthug]

Oh I'm sure it went towards promotions over a period of months/years. But for me, a European, the only time I have ever heard anything about it was during the reveal. It's never registered as something that's affected me since. I, understandably, haven't been a recipient of those promotions.

Obviously as a non-sport interested Europan I thought the money could have been better spent elsewhere. You know, with the console itself.

And again, a little while afterwards, Microsoft announced that they'd bought Minecraft for 2.5b. I'm fairly sure they could have better spent that on the hardware itself.

(Yes, I definitely understand the value of the Minecraft brand - I have two sons)

Football is HUGE here in America.....and afterall, Microsoft is an American company, that's near the home of one of the NFL's currently "hot" team (Seattle Seahawks). Microsoft's NFL deal wasn't a half bad idea at all, in fact it was a very good move. Well, it would have been a good deal had Microsoft actually been able to function the XBOX One as an actual cablebox. Then you could have watched every single game like a cable package. Instead, the whole idea is half baked, and all the XBOX One is able to do is be a menu maker.........basically. Microsoft apparently didn't have the juice and/or muscle to make actual cable happen, rendering the whole idea stupid, and again, half baked.

But I do think the Minecraft thing was a good move......it can do alot for Microsoft....think schools, and other social projects, where Microsoft likes to make/keep their presence felt. Had Minecraft been an exclusive Windows mobile specific app, it might have sold more phones for them too.

 

[Deleted member 86764]

Sure it was a good move if you're both from the USA and you like American Football, for everyone else, it was a bad move.

If your target audience is people that like one sport from one country then I completely agree. Alternatively, if you're trying to appeal to the entire planet, then it's a pretty bad idea.

Edit: I'd never heard of Seattle Seahawks before you mentioned them. Genuine fact.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

... (Seattle Seahawks). ... menu maker....

Using different colours can make things hard to read for people using different forum skins. Your 'menu maker' is unreadable for me with the dark skin. They're best avoided in posts other than colour coding lists and things using bold colours that are obvious no matter the theme (other than Primary Colours theme...).

 

[Persistantthug]

Sure it was a good move if you're both from the USA and you like American Football, for everyone else, it was a bad move.

If your target audience is people that like one sport from one country then I completely agree. Alternatively, if you're trying to appeal to the entire planet, then it's a pretty bad idea.

Edit: I'd never heard of Seattle Seahawks before you mentioned them. Genuine fact.

I hear you, and I'm not mad that you don't like football.
But again, Football is HUGE in America......Microsoft is an American company.
For all intent and purpose, the XBOX One is American.


But yeah.....You other guys are allowed to use it too though.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Their focus on the US audience and the HUGE NFL has a correspondingly low adoption worldwide. Coincidence?

 

[tuna]

It would have been cool if MS had done something special with NFL, like being able to watch any game on XBOne and having some integration with Madden. But what MS provides now seems a bit mediocre.

 

[Michellstar]

This deal was about branding, the same that sony´s been doing for the champions league for more than 10/15 years... competition that means nothing in the states.

I agree that they should strengthen its position in Europe, but the first step that they missed was give them a competitive product, which they didn´t

 

[Deleted member 86764]

Microsoft is an American company.
For all intent and purpose, the XBOX One is American.

It's actually interesting that you say that, that's kinda how I felt between the reveal and until Spence took over. It just didn't feel like a device that was aimed at me. It was something built by Americans and for Americans, some of us probably felt a bit like an afterthought (yes, I know FIFA was there too).

You other guys are allowed to use it too though.

My thoughts for a long time were "Nah, I'll pass", now they're simply "I don't need it". Shame really, loved my 360.

 

[Prophecy2k]

What seemed wierd to me was that in an era when Sony (a Japanese company) was moving away from giving it's home territory's gamers too much special treatment, by ensuring simutaneous worldwide launches and really pulling out all the stops in the various different regions, MS just seemed to be going the opposite direction with their console platform...

I mean, the Xbox 360 wasn't particularly a US-centric console. Well, it certainly didn't feel that way. Last gen, when Sony's different regional divisions were floundering in the dark trying to get services live the PSN TV/Movie store available in every territory, MS's Xbox 360 jsut seemed to work with everything out of the box in every region.

 

[GrimThorne]

You're recollection of events is at significant variance with mine

Mine too. At times it took on the escalation of a witch-hunt. Everything from loss of personal freedom to NSA tin foil hat conspiracies was surfacing in articles from some of the most well known gaming sites. What it actually proved was that the words Gaming and Journalism didn't belong together.

 

[Rikimaru]

I mean, the Xbox 360 wasn't particularly a US-centric console. Well, it certainly didn't feel that way. Last gen, when Sony's different regional divisions were floundering in the dark trying to get services live the PSN TV/Movie store available in every territory, MS's Xbox 360 jsut seemed to work with everything out of the box in every region.

Official Xbox Live launch in Russia was 5 years after 360 launched in US. 2012 in several countries.

PS3 had russian language support on japanese launch. I think russian PSN was available with EU launch or within a year.

Sony is much better with international support/localization. And diverse games.

 

[Prophecy2k]

Official Xbox Live launch in Russia was 5 years after 360 launched in US. 2012 in several countries.

PS3 had russian language support on japanese launch. I think russian PSN was available with EU launch or within a year.

Sony is much better with international support/localization. And diverse games.

Maybe in some areas, but last gen it didn't seem so in others.

EU TV/Movie store came years after it launched in the US. As it was with many other features.

Of course some smaller international gaming market regions will lag, but Europe is the biggest market besides the US, and last gen SCEE struggled to ensure the timely release of some features in what ended up being their biggest market for PS3.

 

[egoless]

Mine too. At times it took on the escalation of a witch-hunt. Everything from loss of personal freedom to NSA tin foil hat conspiracies was surfacing in articles from some of the most well known gaming sites. What it actually proved was that the words Gaming and Journalism didn't belong together.

Agreed. Here is some requisite backup information for the inevitable dispute. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...o-claim-ps4-used-for-terrorist-communications