Xbox : What should MS do next? *spawn

What are their goals?

If they win the US and maybe the UK, just call it a day?

Or do they want to compete in all regions outside of Japan?

To compete in Europe, they may need to invest more in the brand. Sony sponsors or used to sponsor F1 and UEFA so the Playstation branding in prominent in those events. Is MS going to do something similar? There was a rumor that they'd buy naming rights to the Bernabeu, not for Xbox brand necessarily, or for the general MS brand. Guess that fell through.

Otherwise, if they conclude they can't win on worldwide sales, maybe time to think about a reset, i.e. go next generation sooner than later.

But are they committed to trying to claw back the position they had with the 360?
 
IMHO, right now they should cruise with XB1 and build Windows to the a universal OS used everywhere with the ecosystem being the ecosystem of choice. I don't see the relevance of a discrete console to MS any more. EU relevancy for XB1 isn't necessary as long as PC is supported by Eurodevs.
 
liolio said:
JPT I don't speak about not making the HDD mandatory but having a SKU that ships without one, completely off-loading the responsibility to the customer.
Click to expand...

And add more confusion into the market space, like Sony did with the PS3 and to some extent MS did with XB360.
Lots of parents going to be annoyed when they get to the store and want to buy that $150 X1 and then learn that they have to add another $50* for HDD.
When ever I end up in a situation where its "Ohh and you need this to make it work and it just $xx" I get royally pissed off. They must sell a minimum package that actually works, without having to add on items.

*No idea what a HDD costs, it's an example.
 
JPT said:
And add more confusion into the market space, like Sony did with the PS3 and to some extent MS did with XB360.
Lots of parents going to be annoyed when they get to the store and want to buy that $150 X1 and then learn that they have to add another $50* for HDD.
When ever I end up in a situation where its "Ohh and you need this to make it work and it just $xx" I get royally pissed off. They must sell a minimum package that actually works, without having to add on items.

*No idea what a HDD costs, it's an example.
Click to expand...
Well there are workarounds, as we speak of hypothetical download only platform the HDD-less SKU could for example only be available online to (supposedly) more educated customers.

EDIT

I've seen no reaction to the possibility of a redesign from "real" senior /in the business members. I think that the software model MSFT chose for the One (not so close to the metal it seems) opens a real opportunity . Advancement in tech also helps, I tracked a couples of posts from sebbbi (among others) on the topic of FP16 and it seems like a candidate for pixel shader, if I get it right it won't save you half the work but a significant amount of : computation, bandwidth and memory place.
 
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liolio said:
Well there are workarounds, as we speak of hypothetical download only platform the HDD-less SKU could for example only be available online to (supposedly) more educated customers.
Click to expand...

And if a kid sees a commercial for the ultimate game experience, that pushes the XB1 DD (HDD sold separately) you think the parents will double check the info?

Also, now your fragmenting your communications strategy for your products, which might be additional costs, what do you do about commercials, put an * and say, if you are getting the DD then you need to buy an extra HDD to play HALO6 in its full glory
Nothing is in a vacuum, with a DD version MS might have 4 products

1. XB1 with Kinect
2. XB1 without Kinect
3. XB1 DD with Kinect
4. XB1 DD without Kinect

I would welcome a DD version, but I doubt the marketing department are doing cartwheels over it.
 
Only sell XB1 Kinect with HDD, or ditch Kinect bundles altogether. If you're wanting to remove HDD to shave dollars off the price, you want a minimum spec. XB360 with it's 4 GB card or whatever it was is similarly 'gimped' to the idea of an HDD XB1, and I don't recall the internet being up in arms in confusion.

Definitely doable. If you only want to reach an informed audience who knows what they're doing, only provide it through certain retail outlets like online shopping and MS store.
 
JPT said:
And if a kid sees a commercial for the ultimate game experience, that pushes the XB1 DD (HDD sold separately) you think the parents will double check the info?

Also, now your fragmenting your communications strategy for your products, which might be additional costs, what do you do about commercials, put an * and say, if you are getting the DD then you need to buy an extra HDD to play HALO6 in its full glory
Nothing is in a vacuum, with a DD version MS might have 4 products

1. XB1 with Kinect
2. XB1 without Kinect
3. XB1 DD with Kinect
4. XB1 DD without Kinect

I would welcome a DD version, but I doubt the marketing department are doing cartwheels over it.
Click to expand...
I think Kinect is out, so to me there would be 2 SKUs. The old version should be phased out (way too expensive for what it achieves(ed) ), and the new one (significantly cheaper, no optical drive, reworked inners, etc.) would come in 2 flavors, one only available online.

My pov is different than most here that see no problem with the XB1 because it does well in the US. For me coming after the 360 it does not do well in US, MSFT keeps changing SKUs (kinect, then no kinect) and its plan, they have more than occasional rebates // shortly put they are sustaining the devices by pouring lots on money whereas Sony hardly touch the PS4 price. Elsewhere I think gap between both system will only grow with time.
MSFT needs to reboot it or accept that XBOX done for won't survive as a brand by grasping ~50% of the US no matter the US market size.
To put it shortly I think the XB1 is a pretty disastrous product, MSFT invested for many years to get into the living room, made huge strides with the 360, swallowed the huge Rrod losses and then... a clusterfuck
So Scott_Arm a HDD less product could make sense to attract geek that want to replace the HDD with a SSD, or want a second system for cheap and have HDD in spare, budget conscious buyers that know what they are doing (and have HDD in spare).
 
NRP said:
liolio,
You are way too negative.
Click to expand...
It is true I'm pushing it but it would not surprise me too much if by fall Sony were to let out a bomb about how many systems they sold and the extend of their lead surprises a lot of people. The situation could degenerate into a PS2 vs the world fast.
XBox One won't die if MSFT doesn't kill it though if they manage to remain really relevant only in US (and not making money /subsidizing a lot) I think the brand is if not done for a bit irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
 
If MS can get the manufacturing cost of Kinect 2 down then they can just sell it as an accessory for those that want it and not worry too much about a bundle.

Two years on, surely they can make inroads on the power and cost of the internal processors and the sensors?
 
function said:
If MS can get the manufacturing cost of Kinect 2 down then they can just sell it as an accessory for those that want it and not worry too much about a bundle.

Two years on, surely they can make inroads on the power and cost of the internal processors and the sensors?
Click to expand...
I mean why bother? They gave away the resources reservations, nobody is developing for it, they made change around the UI, etc.
The issue is no longer the price, it is a dead product as far as I can't tell.
 
Shifty Geezer said:
XB360 with it's 4 GB card or whatever it was is similarly 'gimped' to the idea of an HDD XB1, and I don't recall the internet being up in arms in confusion.

Definitely doable. If you only want to reach an informed audience who knows what they're doing, only provide it through certain retail outlets like online shopping and MS store.
Click to expand...

A key difference is that the X360 4GB fllash worked with 99% of the games. So even if you had no clue, it worked. The HDD less XB1 won't work.

And I assume you have to account for that when you market it.
Question then is, the niche/knowledgeable market is big enough to sustain it and recoup the development cost? Or is it an armchair solution?
 
I think MS are (rightly) just trying to pretend the Kinect doesn't exist any more. Great technology but woeful implementation for games.
 
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