Well said.
I think thereās a difference from someone who likes buying different consoles and wanting there see different brands competing in a space as it can push innovation to being a full blown console warrior.
I find sometimes I see people being precious on both sides.
You can find some that go over the top going in to full blown meltdowns over decisions made
But also thereās plenty of high horse crusaders that will look down on anyone who may not agree with the current direction
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I donāt know I get the feeling of much ado about nothing. If anything, I think these worrying questions should be focused on PlayStation. Xbox is fine and, in my opinion, this multiplatform thing might be something else totally different from what many are thinking. The court ruling to open up the app stores is a big W for Xbox seeing the ABK deal was for mobile and a big chunk of it just opened up. This will undoubtedly generate way more money than putting games on other competing platforms.
Microsoft Xbox app for Android will turn into a game store, thanks to the court injunction in Epic v Google!https://t.co/9zJc3dPwg7
ā Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 11, 2024
Put rear mirrored buttons on their base controller. It becomes the best platform to play first person and third person games on.
Push developers to support 8 local players on the Xbox version of their games. It gives all sports games an exclusive feature.
Take pride in their unique exclusives and market it that way. Thereās nothing out PlayStation or Nintendo offers that can compare to games like Sea of Thieves and Grounded. Thereās nothing that either competitor has that compares to Flight Sim or Forza Horizon. Neither have a game that can compare to Halo Master Chief Collection or Halo Infinite. Instead of letting the mainstream gaming media tell people what a worthy exclusive is, show yours off.
When I have friends (all of which who own PlayStations) come over and play these games they are blown away. They have never experienced anything like splitscreen Halo Infinite on the PlayStation. Features like a Quick Resume seem like magic to them. They look at all the games that I have access to over Game Pass, including EA Play, and get excited. We have access to pretty much every sports game out there, even Cricket. They just didnāt know about this stuff.
Xbox has a huge awareness problem.
We played 6 player TMNT, something you canāt do on the PlayStation. Most people donāt know this.
Xbox is dealing with an unfair reputation and the lack of pushback is a big part of the problem.
Thereās so much they can do. I donāt have enough time to get into everything but in a nutshell itās all about the brandās standing and its perception. Itās not seen as a competitor to the PlayStation at this point.
This is all a marketing problem.
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100% agree
The sad thing is Xbox have actually managed to market 1 thing really well & that is that they lost the generation that matters so theyāve basically no choice but to give up trying to doing the old way of doing things
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Would be interesting to see what Sony launches a PS6 at, if Sony gets too comfortable and launches the PS6 at something crazy like $700-$800 I think a $400-$500 Xbox would do really well.
If the prices are competitive then honestly I think Microsoft is just okay with selling 50-60m consoles. I think they have enough studios and massive IP to not only compete with Sony but overtake them but I donāt think theyāll ever go down that road and are happy with their current strategy.
Do the thing they should have been working on for a decade now: merge their Xbox and PC development platforms. Just like Nintendo did with their traditional console and handheld platforms.
Imagine a world where an Xbox is a gaming device that plays every game that releases on Xbox+PC. That means Xbox games, PC games, PlayStation games, and Nintendo and Mobile games if the end user is comfortable setting up emulation. Thatās a hard device to skip IMO.
Yes it would look much different than the current traditional console we have today but I wager youād get a LOT of people who play on PC only that theoretically want something in their living room but donāt want to leave their PC library behind. Those people would appreciate a custom interface for big/small screens that is navigable via controller and/or KB/mouse, their entire digital library, and could bring their game pass sub with it too.
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YES. Iāve been shouting this to anyone who will listen for a while now. Back BUTTONS are so, so, SO much better than paddles. Paddles are unintuitive for 99% of people and also harder to use.
Iāve been using the Thrustmaster Eswap X Pro Xbox controller on a while now on PC and the back buttons are sooooo much more intuitive and easier to purposefully actuate than the back paddles on my Elite v2.
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Nobody is selling a high-powered consoles for $500 anymore. Ever. Not only have component prices not come down like they used to but inflation has rendered the $500 price point 20% cheaper today than it was in 2020, much less what it will be in something like 2026 or 2028.
Well, thatās going to be a hard sell. No doubt the next console generation audience will shrink a lot as the prices enter premium territory. I doubt consoles will be able to support gaming next gen, the way I see it this gen will be the last gen they gain a sizeable audience. I find hard believing a 800 or above PS6 can sell over 20 million unless payment plan is initiated for it, most will stay on PS5 or move to more affordable options like streaming.
In a sense they might have started that with the Xbox app. If they brought the PC Xbox app over to Xbox for example PC games could be playable. Iām of the view that the so called project latitude might be a project rebuilding the Xbox app to work natively on all platforms. I think Jez has said that things like the compact mode are all test that Xbox is using for their rumored handheld.
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The team did so much right with the Series X and just needs to build on that IMO itās a near perfect console.
Xbox must learn and spend big on TV promotions and try and get some PR staff from the likes of Apple and SONY because XBox marketing has sucked eggs for decades and bored of Xbox fans defending Xboxās utter tripe marketing and lack of any presence on TV or in major sports events.
Xbox needs to make great use of its Xbox BC team and bring more of the classic games to the new console. It was one feature that helped the Xbox One and itās an area that Xbox is so much better than its competitors so use it.
Bring back Live Arcade it was an awesome feature and service. I still have no idea why Xbox stopped it.
End the stupid practice of making 2 consoles in the same line which splits developing support. Please no more Xbox 360 Arcade or Series S models Just make one console and make the next Xbox the most powerful console you can and if it costs a lot at retail so be it.
Console gamers will find the money more so in the days of paying instalments over 3 months Ect, etc
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Iām not sure TV is the way to go. Atleast over 40% watch streaming TV and majority of todayās audience seems to be more online involved in some sort of social media. Personally, I think their marketing is fine they just havenāt had the content to market. During launch they were doing some cool marketing, and I think you will see more of that next year.
I disagree, explaining game pass to adults using social media doesnāt work.
You need tv ads explaining what it in commercials for big sporting events driving home the value. They should have been hitting parents of casual kids in the face with the value of a series S and gamepass before Christmas
Dedicated ads on social media and Word of mouth isnāt enough
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Perhaps they should utilise placement ads in TV/Film much more. As streaming is now more dominant for the newer generation over traditional TV they could get characters in your favourite TV shows and films playing a Xbox or at least using an Xbox controller.
It can be something as simple as the character saying āIām playing the new Diabloā when asked what they are doing on the phone.
Often these subliminal techniques can work better than your traditional in your face ads.
I still think they need to drastically improve their marketing, for example your billboards and traditional TV. The older generations are probably a big chunk of the sales buying it for their children and grandchildren.
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TV is the way to go and itās what costs Xbox dear. COD is a massive game and yet Activision/Xbox feel the need to have TV advertisements but for some unknown reason, Xbox and some of their fans donāt feel the need for an Xbox console.
Apple, Google, and Samsung feel the need to promote their products on TV and also on social media despite their products well known have good word of mouth Etc, etc. So it baffles me when Xbox and some of their fans feels Xbox doesnāt need to or say a trillion-dollar company canāt afford to.
I was watching the Champions League last night and you saw PlayStation adverts and sponsorship while we get sod all from Xbox or maybe a tweet if weāre lucky. Itās pathetic and simply not good enough.
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And did you buy anything from Sony after seeing those expensive ads? If you didnāt, then itās a waste of money as they had no impact.
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Some of these suggestions are high cost and low likelihood of success, which is why they arenāt pursuing them.
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Itās all about building brand awareness and also people who havenāt bought your product to think about buying it.
Weāll have Call Of Duty promotions on TV. A game that needs no introduction, no help selling has a massive word-of-mouth and online presence
BTW, if want to be clever The Google advert I saw worked on me and havenāt long switched from Samsung to my new Google Pixel
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To be honest they most likely need to be focusing most on younger generations to keep growing the audience, rather than the older people who watch TV. Spending time on socials and TikTok probably is cheaper than TV and more likely to actually get new customers than going all out for most of their ads. And social does seem to be an area Xbox pays more attention to than their direct competitors. If they keep doing stuff to make it easy to play their games, theyāll be fine, and every indicator is that thatās what theyāre focused on.
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Kids still watch TV and more importantly, so do mothers and fathers
In the run-up to Christmas, it would be lovely to see Microsoft hammer home what a wonderful Christmas present a new Xbox Series X would be with Gamepass which features the new Indy and COD game just for starters as a teenagerās main Christmas present.
Hammer home what good value Game Pass really is and how it included the new Call Of Duty game.
Think Xbox will have a good Christmas anyway but it could be a little better with PR on TV more so during major sporting events and where people watch those in the home or down the pub.
Down here in Tenby you had families and even their dogs down the pub watching the football.
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