Xbox Marketing VP Says 10M 360s In First Year 92
Peter Moore, the VP for Xbox marketing, has publicly stated that the Xbox 360 will sell 10 million units by the end of the first year. From the article: "The advantage of launching first for Microsoft, though, is that it has the chance to establish itself as a prominent next-generation format without initial competition. 'The target of 10 million units gives tremendous momentum to a platform,' said Moore at the ELSPA event. The target is certainly an ambitious one, as the current lifetime to date total for Xbox consoles sales worldwide is only around 21 million after almost four years on sale."
Sounds reasonable... (Score:3, Insightful)
If I had to hazard a guess as to why they've picked the 10 million figure, I'd say that they've decided: a) that it sounds a nice big number to people who don't know the console market b) that they're probably not going to have to give embarrassing explanations when they fall short of it and c) that there's a good chance they'll exceed it, in which case they can have a good gloat.
Oh, really? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, jackass, the sale of 10 million units gives tremendous momentum to a platform. The target just gives you an excuse to run your mouth off and get it printed by gullible editors.
Re:Sources? (Score:3, Insightful)
The Dreamcast? (Score:3, Insightful)
Microsoft has had a great deal of success with the Xbox, by some measures overtaking one of the biggest names in the industry (Nintendo) and by many more leading the pack with their online gaming service - something that many would consider to be the next Big Thing for consoles after it changed the PC gaming industry so drastically over the last decade.
All of this is of course ignoring the fact that MS just won't let this fail. The Xbox is a massive end-run to get a Microsoft device in the living room, to get their brand recognition up for people that don't go near computers, and to use as a platform for the rest of their intentions such as in IPTV. It's a Microsoft reach around so you won't notice the pounding they're going to give you, and I doubt they'll be willing to pull out early.
So to speak.
Not too unrealistic (Score:1, Insightful)
I know that more people will question the potential sales of the Revolution, but in all honesty, the XBox 360 will need to be far more successful in order to generate a follow-up system. The reason for this is that Nintendo's only buisness is making videogames (and their systems) and Nintendo is a profitable at this buisness; on the other hand Microsoft has tons of other buisnesses and is loosing a lot of money trying to establish a presence in this industry. If Microsoft continues loosing money in this generation, I suspect that they will need to steal a ton of market share in order to justify the continued losses to their shareholders.
Price point could make this happen. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think if they release it for around $200-225, then it will definately be do-able.
Before you start telling me how they won't release that low, remember the hype around PSP: at first there was "no way that it would be less than $400
If you combine this with the $60+ (and rising!) price point for newer games, I think the whole thing is plausible.
I know I'll get one. Then again, I plan on getting a PS3 as well (but only after the first gen hardware is gone).
Possible - if they are available. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:The Dreamcast? (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft may have captured second place in North America but Worldwide the XBox and Gamecube are practically tied; they lost billions of dollars to gain this position and, if earlier reports are true, are unwilling to allow the XBox 360 to loose nearly as much money as the original XBox lost them. This means that if the XBox divison is not self sustaining, or if it doesn't suddenly capture a large portion of market share, don't expect much support from their parrent company.
Online gaming, inspite of it's popularity among the PC gamer crowd, is not a very popular service among the general public. The next version of XBox live does little to change this; about all it is is XBox live that has more features that will apeal to people who already subscribe. Subscription fees and Micropayments will discourage average gamers from picking up on online gaming; lets face it, if early online multiplayer games came out on the PC and were trying to sell you that 'extra map' and only charged you $50 a year to play Online PC gaming would have never caught on.
Finally, Sony already apears to be winning the Hype war with the Phantom Menace 3; no real information about what we can expect has been released yet by simply talking to more average gamers (or overhearing them in stores and what not) you would believe that the XBox 360 is an XBox that plays games at 'High Definition' whereas the PS3 is a supercomputer that will do everything that your girlfriend is unwilling to do. If Microsoft really wants to apeal to the general (unwashed) masses they're going to have to find something better than Gamer-Cards, Micropayments, High-Definition Display, and XBox Live to talk about.
The last thing I will say is that neither Sony nor Microsoft understand that Games, not hardware or services, are what sell systems; if neither company ensures that their line-up is worth the expense of their systems they could be in for a rough ride. Microsoft seems to be betting on Rare to deliver the 'must have' titles in time for launch and, as any Nintendo fan can tell you, this may be a big mistake. Rare is not known for releasing games on time, in fact Rare is not known for releasing games within 18 months of their original estimates; also, with how long it has been since Rare has released an original game one has to wonder whether they are still up to the task of producing the system selling game. Certainly, Valve did a fantastic job with Half-Life 2 with 6 years between it and it's original, but can Rare produce a game on time that meets (or surpasses) their previous games quality?
Re:Doesn't mean much in the long run (Score:3, Insightful)
- Turbo Graphics-16 killed by Sega Genesis
- Sega Saturn killed by PS1
- Dreamcast killed by PS2
Of course, M$ has something no other first launch company ever had. That's a billion dollar windows operating system.