How to sell next-gen consoles, Marketing, Positioning, and Pricing [2020]

[Deleted member 11852]

They may have understood the strategy but they kept harping about the games Microsoft showcased should have dropped Xbox One support altogether & just launched the games on XBSX only. To me, that means they didn't really get it all. Mention once or twice, I can understand, but through the whole video, it was a bit much.

They do get it. In the video around 34:25 John Linneman says "I understand why they're doing it business-wise but I don't think it's the smart move".

Remember that DF's focus is on the technology. By that comment they've already seen a bunch of games they were excited for not looking as good as the had hoped and not running on Series X. Their conclusion is generally that this is a consequence of Microsoft's cross-gen strategy. Think of this from Microsoft's first party studios perspective, they would have only have twice as much optimization/testing/Q&A work as Sony if there was only two new consoles (compared to one PS5 hardware target) but Microsoft have five distinct Xbox console hardware targets (Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X) to develop, test and Q&A. The poor bastards.

Let people vent Tommy It helps with the healing process.

Come on man, that comment's beneath you. It implies the only valid response to Microsoft's conference is one of positivity and anybody who disagrees is basically a whinger.

edit: typos/grammar

 

[eastmen]

The issue microsoft has is not really was something playable or not. The issue is more in that they showed very little that actually ran on xbox. If you go through the digital foundry dissection videos you will get the gist. This made impression where it looks like sony has things running in target hw whereas microsoft doesn't. It's all about perception(marketing). Microsoft came out with bad press whereas sony managed to wow the audience. The one real thing MS did show didn't really make a good case for upgrading to next gen console(halo).

edit. One would have expected microsoft being able to take advantage of sony showing their hand but they didn't. It should have been easier to go second one month after sony as MS knew where the bar was set. This is especially bad for MS as they have been drumming the most powerful console beat and that came out very flat after their event.

It all depends on what you want. Considering we are getting a fantasy obsidian rpg and a new fable it was already more than enough for me to blow past what Sony has.

Everyone is focusing on halo because it was a weak showing but its as if everyone focused on that one random weird looking game that sony had bugsnax or volcano high and fixating on that. Its quite weird. You go to some forums and the whole forum is halo threads.

 

[Xbat]

Everyone is focusing on halo because it was a weak showing but its as if everyone focused on that one random weird looking game that sony had bugsnax or volcano high and fixating on that.

How do you come to that conclusion? Comparing the flagship of one company to some indie game.

 

[London Geezer]

It all depends on what you want. Considering we are getting a fantasy obsidian rpg and a new fable it was already more than enough for me to blow past what Sony has.

Everyone is focusing on halo because it was a weak showing but its as if everyone focused on that one random weird looking game that sony had bugsnax or volcano high and fixating on that. Its quite weird. You go to some forums and the whole forum is halo threads.

Because Halo is quite literally The Biggest Flagship Game on a Xbox.

And now you’re comparing it to a little independent title on PS5 which nobody is talking about for obvious reasons, and is probably made on a budget 100 times smaller than Halo, because there is no argument that holds up.

This is probably the worst failed analogy you’ve come up with in months, which is saying a lot.

You do not need to blindly defend MS on everything.

 

[Billy Idol]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1286653604955381761

hardware is dead

I really wonder why they even care for investing huge money in creating a new console. Their PR is really confusing right now.

It really makes me think if the best option is to by a PC instead. It seems that all MS game exclusives will be available?

 

[London Geezer]

I really wonder why they even care for investing huge money in creating a new console. Their PR is really confusing right now.

It really makes me think if the best option is to by a PC instead. It seems that all MS game exclusives will be available?

That’s exactly my thought. Gamepass looks incredible.

But then why invest Billions on a new platform, at a premium as they want it to be “the most powerful”, then spend more billions to market it as “the most powerful”, only to then effectively leave it as an unnecessary accessory for their real troyan horse (Gamepass) which looks set to disrupt the industry in a positive way, if done right?

And then go on about “we don’t believe in exclusives and we don’t believe in generations” and then turn around and brag about all the exclusives you can play on X, some of which can only be played on SX and not previous gens?

It’s all so messy and it’s frustrating because if MS do things right, I fully expect Sony to overhaul their value proposition as far as PS Plus and PS Now are concerned, which is amazing for me and everyone.

MS are acting like a previous company I used to work with, which is probably why it makes me so mad.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I really wonder why they even care for investing huge money in creating a new console. Their PR is really confusing right now.

Microsoft are hedging their bets with their subscription service and the market's desire for new console hardware and I think this is a slick move.

What isn't so slick is their PR messaging isn't synergetic. It could have been had Phil Spencer not insisted that Google and Nvidia were Microsoft primary competitors (ignoring Sony had a steaming service before both companies) and that Microsoft did not want to "force" anybody into a new generation by having to buy new hardware. This latter statement somewhat undermines the appeal of Series X and Series S.

Ironically, Microsoft are offering an array of options to everybody; existing Xbox owners can carry on playing Xbox games on their Xbox One/S/X and/or upgrade to Xbox Series S/X and/or subscribe to xCloud and play at Xbox Series X quality via streaming on a wide variety of devices. People eyeing up the Xbox platform can pick a cheap Xbox One S/X now, or jump in on new hardware with Xbox Series S/X or just buy an Xbox controller and play Xbox games via xCloud on a wide variety of devices.

There are so many damn options, surely something for everybody, yet Microsoft have managed to stumble into this self-created trap by dismissing next generation hardware having developed two next generation consoles!

It really makes me think if the best option is to by a PC instead. It seems that all MS game exclusives will be available?

Microsoft committed to bringing Xbox games to PC but they did not commit to doing this at the same time as games launch for Xbox. I believe the reverse same is also true, hence why Gears Tactics launched in April on Window but has yet to get a release date on Xbox.

 

[PSman1700]

I really wonder why they even care for investing huge money in creating a new console. Their PR is really confusing right now.

It really makes me think if the best option is to by a PC instead. It seems that all MS game exclusives will be available?

Was thinking this too, right now there's not much going for it to go for an XSX, when all or most of their games the coming years are going to be able to run on..... just about everything, the One S is a 7 year old low end gaming device, just about any pc will run those games.
You get higher resolution and ray tracing effects etc, but if games look largely the same, people most likely wont be buying a new expensive machine for just that, in special not the average console gamer.

Aside from that, the best option is always the PC minus the price then. It's good to be in the middle-land and recieve from both MS and Sony, that is if that trend continues that sony put more and more on pc. You always can have the best version too, with the ability to alter settings and play how you want. What the XSX gives is lower price compared to a pc then.

 

[McHuj]

Microsoft need to do better here. Below is a video from ex-IGN Alanah Pearce following Microsoft's conference. It's not complaining about Halo's graphics or the number CGI trailers or lack of footage from Series X, it's just gushing that all of these games are coming to GamePass.

Microsoft need to start running adverts, just throwing micro-game trailer after micro-game trailer and blast on screen INCLUDED IN GAMEPASS, INCLUDED IN GAMEPASS. 60 Seconds of 3-5 second micro-trailers of the best games on GAMEPASS then cut to black with XBOX GAMEPASS - FOR ONLY $X A MONTH. They need to shove this down people's throats.

That's hypothetically true 2-3 years from now... if some of these titles don't turn out to be vaporware.

Currently, they're trying to sell a next-gen box that they have't made a case for and it's all pinned on future hope (wIth MS' track record)

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Currently, they're trying to sell a next-gen box that they have't made a case for and it's all pinned on future hope (wIth MS' track record)

Worse. Through careless PR they've likened buying hardware as being "forced" into nextgen. This was aimed at Sony while seemingly forgetting they have developed two nextgen consoles that they want to sell, but in any any of "forced" way. Maybe they'll give them away.

 

[Silenti]

If only Sony had some production and retail distribution experience, it may have helped in these difficult times! Coronavirus is impacting every single company, including Microsoft. Over the course of the PS4 generation we've watched Sony/Foxconn expand PS4 manufacturing from China to Japan to Brazil - we know Sony has its own automated manufacturing facility in Japan. If you read the report, you'll see that the reason for increasing of launch window capacity from 6m to 10m is exactly because of shipping lead times. Presumably Sony do not want a repeat of PS3 launch where they couldn't get stock to retail for launch by surface shipping and had to airfreight consoles.

Remember when MS was doing that with the 360 in early days? My mind immediately went to the sheer cost! Just seemed staggering.

Link to an old story about it.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...-Global-Airlifted-Microsofts-Xbox-360-Secrecy

"Between mid-October 2005 and early February 2006, BAX Global operated 87 charter flights on B747 airplanes for Microsoft, transporting Xbox 360 systems from Hong Kong to the U.S. and Europe."

The article explains that even this was arranged as much as a year in advance.

 

[Bickle2]

Sony stopped manufacturing their stuff outside of high end professional gear years and years ago
Why would other people not be purchasing FoxConn’s line time?
The automated assembly plant cannot work without the components produced in China, for which they need aforementioned line time. It only does final assembly.
The PS3 had the issue to blu-Ray laser yields being 10%, which increased the cost of the console by $100 And greatly limited the number they could ship.
If Sony missed their reserved manufacturing times, they don’t get them back. There are always built in buffer spaces, but if the client isn’t ready to start laying traces, there’s not a lot they can do.

If I wanted to make 10m, but only could find the line space for 3 million, then I buy space for another 3, I’ve doubled my order. But I still don’t get the 10 I wanted (these are hypothetical numbers).

 

[Deleted member 11852]

The automated assembly plant cannot work without the components produced in China, for which they need aforementioned line time. It only does final assembly.

Which PS4 components are produced only in China and nowhere else?

edit: sorry this is O/T. I lost track of which thread I was in.

 

[London Geezer]

Worse. Through careless PR they've likened buying hardware as being "forced" into nextgen. This was aimed at Sony while seemingly forgetting they have developed two nextgen consoles that they want to sell, but in any any of "forced" way. Maybe they'll give them away.

I mean, this really can be boiled down a bit like this.

Business develops product.
Business Invests BILLIONS on it.
Business Invests even more than normal just so they can market it as The Best Product.
And then. And then!
Business markets said product with “but you don’t need to buy this!!!”.

Let that sink in.

Imagine any other company in the world with the money to produce a great product (which the XSX is, as far as we know), basically telling their customers that they do NOT need to buy their product.

“We have spent years making the best product in its class, and guess what guys? YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED IT! Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that Pro-Consumer??”

Of course, not having to spend £500 is great for consumers. But your job is to build a product and convince people to bloody buy it! Not to build a product and then convince people that they do NOT need to buy it, and then bitch about your competitors because they are trying to sell a product that they want to sell, which is the bare minimum requirement of a business that actually needs to make money.

The more I think about it, the more completely out of the world this is to me.

It is quite literally a strategy that only a business with way more money than sense would pursue in this fashion.

 

[BRiT]

You dont need to buy it, but you want to buy it...

 

[AzBat]

Might have to buy it if there are no older consoles available to buy since they quit making them. <shrug>

So I guess you could say Series X is for those they haven't already invested in the Xbox ecosystem. Lockhart is part of that too, but can't have that discussion until they announce the launch date, pricing & pre-orders.

Tommy McClain

 

[Scott_Arm]

 

[London Geezer]

Always the best.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I think that MS have just given up on the console business as an area they can conquer. And so they'd rather pretend that the console experience, which is driven by the uniqueness of the content, doesn't exist. They can replace that by becoming the Netflix of the gaming world. The XSX is just a sleight of hand to make PR noise with, but they've just been intent on making the wrong kind of noise. And now they think that gamers will want to trade in the unique experience of gaming in the console world to purchase a subscription for games that always have to target the least powerful platform.

If they were following the same model in the OS space then we'd still be running Windows 10 on IBM XT's. Though its possible that Halo would look better on EGA with all the flat half bright tones it had

 

[eastmen]

I think that MS have just given up on the console business as an area they can conquer. And so they'd rather pretend that the console experience, which is driven by the uniqueness of the content, doesn't exist. They can replace that by becoming the Netflix of the gaming world. The XSX is just a sleight of hand to make PR noise with, but they've just been intent on making the wrong kind of noise. And now they think that gamers will want to trade in the unique experience of gaming in the console world to purchase a subscription for games that always have to target the least powerful platform.

If they were following the same model in the OS space then we'd still be running Windows 10 on IBM XT's. Though its possible that Halo would look better on EGA with all the flat half bright tones it had

xbox growth is skyrocketing and Ms is investing in more and more studios. They certainly want Xbox to succeed and continue to make more money. But they are going to continue to push consoles foward. They just aren't focusing on just consoles anymore because its more than that