MS says Sony has no strategy for on-line

[mckmas8808]

Sony has no strategy for an online service," according to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who also says Microsoft is "going to beat Sony overall" in the next-generation console business.

"We're off to a very good start," he told Investor's Business Daily last week, before repeating Peter Moore's claim that Xbox 360 will ship between 4.5 and 5.5 million units by the end of June.
The launch was "phenomenal", says Ballmer, who admits, "We knew Japan was going to be tough."

"I'm not sure we're going to beat Sony in Japan this generation. Maybe," he adds. Xbox 360 launched in Japan on December 10th but was soundly beaten by sales of all the other consoles in the period that followed, particularly Nintendo DS, which outsold everything else in the region by a significant margin.

Ballmer's no stranger to fighting talk, of course, and he had plenty for Sony, whose PlayStation 3 console he openly derided on features and price. "[N]obody knows when PlayStation 3 is going to come. The rumours are it will come out in the spring, but only in Japan. And nobody knows what PlayStation 3 is going to cost. PlayStation 3 has a (Blu-ray Disc) drive built in, so who knows what the heck they're going to charge for the thing, because those are very expensive drives. Who the heck knows what the games are going to look like for PlayStation 3?" he joked. "So, a lot of questions. And Sony has no strategy for an online service."

http://gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=14059

So it looks like Sony keeping quite is actually keeping MS guessing. It makes me think that on a daily basis they are looking for news on the internet forums as much as we are. Steve better hope that the Feburary Playstation meeting does prove him wrong.

Discuss!

 

[Serenity Painted Death]

I could comment on that second bolded portion but it would just be too easy.

Though, I suppose, you have to say /something/.

 

[winstonsmith1978]

I love how Microsoft always brings up the online thing even though Sony hasn't said a word about their service. because what Microsoft is basically doing, is comparing their 360 Live service to PS2's online service. Their comparing next gen with last gen. this is a little unfair. but Sony could have the last laugh, if they offer something similar to live and free.

Sony has shown in the past that their really good at taking other consoles tech. and making it better.

 

[Nicked]

But but but Sony said they do

Who to believe...who to believe....

(the correct answer is neither for those playing at home)

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! PR thread! Kill the PR thread with hammers!

 

[fulcizombie]

Well,it's true that Sony doesn't emphasise on online gaming and i think that this is the correct tactic unlike MS.

Exclusive games is what sells a console not online services and that's one of the reasons that the ps3 will kill the 360 in sales on all territories.Online gaming should be seen as a plus and not as the focus point of a console but i guess MS is satisfied with being 80 million units short of Sony.

That Balmer doesn't seem to have a clue about the console industry.Here's a tip Balmer:If you really want to beat Sony you should try and get more big 3rd party exclusives(like GTA).If not the MS console will always be a distant second.

 

[Titanio]

Ballmer must have his head stuck in the sand. "If I can't see it, it's not there."

 

[fulcizombie]

The funny thing is that MS isn't even trying to win or they sure as hell don't seem to do so.

I remember when MS entered the console industry crazy rumors bout huge MS "buy outs" would surface almost daily.Instead MS never really became agressive (like Sony for instance).They didn't buy any big software companies(except Rare),they didn't get any significant 3rd party exclusives and nothing seems to have changed this generation.

For a company that is one of the richest in the world and that is "ruthless" they haven't done anything impressive.

 

[MrWibble]

Ballmer must have his head stuck in the sand.

If only it would stay there....

Can anyone take this man seriously any more?

I don't get it - he's one of the richest men on the planet, worth many billions, yet all we see of him is this ranting ape-man, throwing chairs and screaming at people or gibbering like a loon. Hell I'd make a complete fool of myself for a few million, let alone billions

How did *he* manage to help turn Microsoft into such a success? What is wrong with this picture?

 

[MrWibble]

For a company that is one of the richest in the world and that is "ruthless" they haven't done anything impressive.

Well they've sold a console at a loss throughout it's entire life-time - that shows a fair amount of aggression. I mean as far as I understand it, the XBox project to date has only been a loss-making venture for them. I consider it fairly impressive/ruthless that they'd pursue a market sector to the extent that they're prepared to haemorage money for years on end to try to secure themselves a significant slice of it.

They also bought Bungie, snagging themselves a pretty impressive exclusive title (arguably the single biggest reason anyone bought an XBox) and threw a few money hats around (though to be honest, without too much to show for them - but it was still an agressive move).

Microsoft's commitment to becoming a/the major player in the console market is very clear - often misguided in my view, as I think many of the expensive things they've done have been rather wasteful and unproductive - but nonetheless impressive.

A lesser company would probably have wimped out by now.

 

[fulcizombie]

Well they've sold a console at a loss throughout it's entire life-time - that shows a fair amount of aggression. I mean as far as I understand it, the XBox project to date has only been a loss-making venture for them. I consider it fairly impressive/ruthless that they'd pursue a market sector to the extent that they're prepared to haemorage money for years on end to try to secure themselves a significant slice of it.

They also bought Bungie, snagging themselves a pretty impressive exclusive title (arguably the single biggest reason anyone bought an XBox) and threw a few money hats around (though to be honest, without too much to show for them - but it was still an agressive move).

Microsoft's commitment to becoming a/the major player in the console market is very clear - often misguided in my view, as I think many of the expensive things they've done have been rather wasteful and unproductive - but nonetheless impressive.

A lesser company would probably have wimped out by now.

Selling the product at a loss was the only way to stay on the market and from one point of time it was due to the bad deals they had with the xbox's parts' makers.

How is "buying Bungie" a sign of agressiveness???They were in need of some sudios to produce 1st party software and one of them was Bungie which wasn't even an expensive one.They just got lucky with the halo franchise ,nothing more.Even their policy on their own published game is laughable at times.You have Sony buying studios and securing franchises for them and you have Microsoft buying "games" and that results in things like "Jade Empire 2 on the ps3"(whether it's true or not doesn't matter,the possibility exists).You wouldn't see "God of War2 on xox360" for example.

I mean look at Sony:through excellent PR they have actually made sequels to horrible games(like killzone or Getaway) actually seem exciting to some people.They are bringing forgotten franchises like warhawk (which wasn't even a huge hit at the ps1 days) back and make people excited about them.

Microsoft:very qickly killed "crimson skies"(for example),no sense of franchise power whatsoever, no sense of the importance of exclusives whatsoever and al that coupled with this atrocious(in the sense of units shipped) launch show that they still have no clue whatsoever about the console industry.

 

[MrWibble]

I never said Microsoft were doing things right - I think they've made some very stupid decisions. However you claimed they were doing nothing "impressive" or "ruthless". I personally consider the amount of effort/money they're ploughing in, regardless of its effectiveness or profitability, to be an impressive showing.

I'm not sure even Sony would have persisted this long if the original Playstation had been hugely loss-making.

 

[Sis]

If only it would stay there....

Can anyone take this man seriously any more?

I don't get it - he's one of the richest men on the planet, worth many billions, yet all we see of him is this ranting ape-man, throwing chairs and screaming at people or gibbering like a loon. Hell I'd make a complete fool of myself for a few million, let alone billions

How did *he* manage to help turn Microsoft into such a success? What is wrong with this picture?

Come on, MrWibble. Have you ever interacted with Ballmer? Do you know anything about him other than the little snippets of him you see in news reports? I find it interesting that the chair throwing incident is so readily believed given the source was at the center of a lawsuit.

All that aside, it's very questionable that Steve Balmer had anything to do with Microsoft's success.

 

[Sis]

I love how Microsoft always brings up the online thing even though Sony hasn't said a word about their service. because what Microsoft is basically doing, is comparing their 360 Live service to PS2's online service. Their comparing next gen with last gen. this is a little unfair. but Sony could have the last laugh, if they offer something similar to live and free.

Sony has shown in the past that their really good at taking other consoles tech. and making it better.

The assumption you seem to be making is two fold: 1) Duplicating the Xbox Live service is easy to do and 2) Duplicating the Xbox Live service is cheap. I will be very impressed if Sony is able to immitate Xbox Live with their first version. I'll be even more impressed if it's free.

 

[MrWibble]

Come on, MrWibble. Have you ever interacted with Ballmer? Do you know anything about him other than the little snippets of him you see in news reports? I find it interesting that the chair throwing incident is so readily believed given the source was at the center of a lawsuit.

But that's kind of my point - what's the missing link between his success, and his persona as we get to see it, and the random statements he seems to make (and this is far from the most bizarre). I have no idea if he actually threw a chair (he says not, obviously) - but the fact that it's so readily accepted by people that he might have done shows the sort of image he's managed to project.

All that aside, it's very questionable that Steve Balmer had anything to do with Microsoft's success.

He's been in very senior positions there from very early on, I find it hard to believe he would have held on to those positions were he not actually successful. I find it all a bit anomalous.

 

[Ragemare]

If only it would stay there....

Can anyone take this man seriously any more?

I don't get it - he's one of the richest men on the planet, worth many billions, yet all we see of him is this ranting ape-man, throwing chairs and screaming at people or gibbering like a loon. Hell I'd make a complete fool of myself for a few million, let alone billions

How did *he* manage to help turn Microsoft into such a success? What is wrong with this picture?

Force of personality and motivation, he can make people do stuff. I'v seen all of my bosses run around the office going ballistic, generally makeing a twat of themselves. You should read up on what makes a good business man, it's not very pleasant

 

[Sis]

He's been in very senior positions there from very early on, I find it hard to believe he would have held on to those positions were he not actually successful. I find it all a bit anomalous.

I would first say that my statement was hyperbolic to prove a point; it's absolutely true that Microsoft was successful. The thinking is: is it due to anything Ballmer has done or despite it? Or, was he just along for the ride?

I'm not actually one of the naysayers. I think Ballmer knows what he's doing and projects the image he thinks is right for the audience he's talking to. The oft-ridiculed "Developers! Developers! Developers!" thing was brilliant, since he was obviously clowning around but at the same time cheerleading a room full of developers--how great must that have felt, if you were an ISV for Microsoft and you had this billionaire CEO of Microsoft on stage singing your praises?

I'm usually impressed with his take on the software industry. It may be that he doesn't have a good feel for the video game industry and relies on his staff to tell him what to say, in which case it is just PR fluff. Or perhaps they believe Sony has made some mistakes with PS3 that haven't come to light yet.

 

[MrWibble]

I'm not actually one of the naysayers. I think Ballmer knows what he's doing and projects the image he thinks is right for the audience he's talking to. The oft-ridiculed "Developers! Developers! Developers!" thing was brilliant, since he was obviously clowning around but at the same time cheerleading a room full of developers--how great must that have felt, if you were an ISV for Microsoft and you had this billionaire CEO of Microsoft on stage singing your praises?

Is that kind of motivational display just an American thing? Because where I'm from, I wouldn't find it the least bit motivating - it was just embarassing to watch. If I had been in the room I'd just have sunk into my chair and started asking myself why I was having to deal with this company, and whether anyone would miss me if I sneaked off down the pub instead of turning up for the rest of the conference...

 

[Sis]

Is that kind of motivational display just an American thing? Because where I'm from, I wouldn't find it the least bit motivating - it was just embarassing to watch. If I had been in the room I'd just have sunk into my chair and started asking myself why I was having to deal with this company, and whether anyone would miss me if I sneaked off down the pub instead of turning up for the rest of the conference...

It may be an American thing. I think Ballmer is one of the few "charicatures" able to pull it off, though (or to better word it: I think most other CEOs doing something like this would look even sillier). I also think it plays better live and wasn't really meant for re-broadcast.

 

[Kb-Smoker]

if you don't know about this guy....

Check my sig got to watch the video!!!

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