They have recruited to a number of different engagement, community and marketing roles lately. Although the top level hasn’t changed completely there’s still been recent changes which will need time to come into effect.
I also think this would be a really interesting move (assuming Gabe will sell and it gets through regulators). I also feel there would be a number of issues with licensing but I think long term it would be worth it.
I don’t think consoles will die anytime soon but eventually (likely decades from now) I think PC will become the ‘norm’ for those that still want a dedicated gaming device, rather than an app on their TV/Phone.
When this happens we will likely see lots of third party manufacturers just like we have now with the PC handhelds (Asus, MSI, Valve & Lenovo etc).
Yeah I see where you coming from here, although there’s plenty of titles I have personally enjoyed I don’t think there’s been any ‘movers’.
As you say I hope they start using COD effectively to market Xbox and tighten the cross gen crossover.
This made me chuckle but I can’t agree more.
I also agree that marketing and localisation are huge factors, it’s bonkers how they still ignore this.
YES! I was really hoping to see a huge overhaul by merging in Battle Net but based on some of the recent things we’ve seen RE: ABK integration this is looking unlikely.
Really interesting links and sorry for not referencing your original topic, I’ll try dig that out now.
The broadcast rights would definitely be an interesting move , they really do need to push the COD - ‘free’ argument with COD, GTA and FC topping the European charts every year.
Nintendo does seem to have strong presence here, so there must be something to it. I’ll have to dig out the article but at one point they said 1 in 4 physical games sold in Europe was published by Nintendo.
EDIT: it’s in the 2020 link above, Nintendo had 28% market share of boxed games across Europe.
Just to follow it up it seems that Amazon buying rights resulted in record prime subscribers
Do the same with gamepass get them in through the football which will be stream via the game pass app via cloud then hit them with the video games, market the shit out of playing games via Xbox iPad phone tv this is the casual audience in the palm of your hand. They’ll try it hopefully realise i liked that halo I’ll get an Xbox for the best experience…. Boom they are locked in
Highest signups since 2007! That’s pretty insane.
Not trying to go off topic but I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon go all out trying to secure more games.
I hadn’t really appreciated this angle before but this is a fantastic idea. Especially if Xbox can release a Xbox store on Android & IOS just like Epic has announced.
Impressive numbers but don’t think it brought in the money Amazon wanted, as from what I recall on the next bundle sale a few years later they didn’t win an auction for a single package of games.
It also shows how far in advance these deals are made and for how long…
EDIT: Here’s one of the stories on it - 24/25 season is their last one, they’ve got nothing for the 4 or 5 years after:
I remember buying the 360 at launch here in The Netherlands how Sony definitely was playing catch up. But the hype for PS3 was real, it was insane. It had plenty of people just not bothering with 360 at all and waiting for PS3.
But it was awesome to see how great overall a Xbox system was doing in my country, and it’s super sad to see in what state it is now. I honestly have no idea what MS can do to even remotely improve this, I can only see it getting worse, I know that’s a very negative way to think but yeah.
When Starfield had the deep dive, everyone was talking about it. In the months leading up to release it would have been awesome to see a ad now and then of the game at my cinema theatre, for example. But nope. All we get are either PS or Nintendo ads. I’ve never ONCE seen a Game Pass ad on the big screen, it’s just sad.
It’s almost as if MS just doesn’t care too much about Europe, that’s just how it’s starting to feel after all this time.
Delivery means or hardware is a problem for Xbox. The console is already too expensive to make limiting how many the produce and streaming is equally expensive, and they already seem at capacity on that. So, I doubt signups are the issue here. Perhaps that idea would be good for their PC store.
That’s not much and I think Xbox has made it clear they are not after the same old preexisting market; they have said they want to grow the market and go after new gamers. They are not trying to go after the gamers on PlayStation or Nintendo. They certainly could learn from Nintendo though. I also don’t think gamers make choices btw Xbox or Switch. Switch pretty much stands alone in the market at least until Microsoft and Sony bring in their own handhelds.
It’s up to Microsoft to do the onboarding. If the console manufacturer leads the charge others will follow. First NextGen game for series X was Starfield, but it should have been Hell Blade 2 as most of what we’ve seen appears possible for last gen. If the leap for Nextgen is like Sarah said and they launch with real Nextgen games people will buy.
Don’t worry, I feel we shouldn’t be afraid of criticizing people who have a public presence (so they are open to critic by definition), expecially super overpaid top managers, who care more about shareholders than customers and that’s a fatal mistake for entertainment businesses in particular.
Going back to IT, my personal issue is that they know the problems which nuked Xbox “in the rest of the world”, some of them are a decade old or they didn’t exist under more competent management a long time ago, they simply raised white flag after losing X1 gen and I guess that’s when Xbox died outside NA, numbers, MS behaviours, management lies (yeah, lies, they promised better support several times), etc all point to that. Guess what, less and less people are buying their product outside USA, good job.
I waiting like the old chinese sage them crying a river in a couple of years because Xbox went down the drain because of their self-inflicted wounds. I also feel it’s earned, never seen a company so clumsy and deluded within entertainment space, all the money on Earth, but nobody who ever read the room.
Here an easy example relatable to Xbox: Amazon (another silicon valley giant particularly clumsy in their entertainment ventures) paid a shit ton of money to advertize Rings of Power and they got people to see it for the first episoed. Then the show was a dumpster fire and people dropped, but the meaning is you can make people aware of your shit if you REALLY want.
Words are wind, I’ll believe it when I see it with my own eyes. Also, looking at the full context, this is more a DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) thing than a regular marketing&advertising one. I think they were already more than ok in the former camp, but they are non existant in the latter, a little balance?
“The framework, which Xbox has been using and evolving since 2019, provides a set of actionable resources to help game developers weave intentionality and inclusion into their products and games.”
It’s not really something related to marketing and regional presence.
Also, I found these endevours very hypocritical, because then they have different rules for middle east and asian regions, where inclusivity is a no-go. I guess money is money, but meh.
Given how popular PC is in the Asia-Pacific region compared to the rest of the world (DOTA2, Starcraft, World of Warcraft etc. are huge in the region and all PC-only), can definitely see Xbox making more moves to push PC Game Pass there.
It’s why I’m a bit surprised they’ve let Sony steal the march on cosying up with many of the big Korean and Chinese developers, as many of those are PC or mobile first with PS5 a secondary market - so they’d be ideal for PC Game Pass tie-ups to explode it’s popularity in the region…
(Off topic I guess as it’s not Europe, but it would also benefit us if those relationships happened!)
, they really do need to push the COD - ‘free’ argument with COD, GTA and FC topping the European charts every year.
