Very well put and reasoned, and thanks for taking the time to provide your detailed thoughts on the topic. Congrats on the Master’s!
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Thank you! 
Came across this article and this is very much how I remember how it was in the U.K. growing up when the PlayStation released.
I know Microsoft want to reach billions of gamers from all demographics but do you see a marketing ploy as to how they are doing it.
This article is how PlayStation went after the 18-30’s in the U.K.
Do you think MS could do more to agressively market everyone if they want to reach that many people and if so how.
& society has changed so they wouldn’t be able to do the sort of stuff PlayStation did back then. But I’m yet to see a real hard push for game pass other than social media.
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Gamepass.
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Obviously game pass is the hook but are they doing enough to get the word aggressively in the mainstream.
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There’s marketing?
j/k
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Here’s my writeup.
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Don’t think they have to. Call of Duty and Sony pushing $70 are all they need. Gamepass is like gravity…its a force where all things are compelled.
It only works if people are aware that Game Pass exists 
Microsoft’s marketing is still heavily skewed towards USA. They probably do better in Asia though, but I suspect that it is no different from Europe. Xbox still hasn’t reached mainstream appeal (outside USA) that Xbox 360 had.
Maybe they will tackle that next year when more games arrive.
Competition
Let us have competition
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Well, memes sell but still it is more american thing. With their partnership with Netflix and ABK, also hiring of the former Netflix and WB execs, they should have gained something from that experience.
This is a real pet hate of mine. It was SEGA Europe who really started to try and appeal to the older gamer in the 90’s 1st. I remember SEGA sponsoring Football, F1 having sport and TV star’s being seen with SEGA T-Shirts and playing SEGA games and also having demo pods outside Cathy Dennis concert along with the SEGA Pirate TV ads all in a move to try had shed the kids imagine.
Rant Off
I will say mind that both SONY and even Nintendo do a far better job with advertising/ PR is the one area Team XBox is truly terrible at, still to this day IMO
I agree it’s hard to put a finger on what the zeitgeist of this generation is & how to tap into it.
But I rarely see any advertising of Xbox other than YouTube ads and on Twitter.
You’d think they’d at least try to go after the parents looking for value if their kids are wanting a console. I’d have thought to best way to do that would be a tv as marketing campaign. That would get the parents to think if we get this one we aren’t going to be paying a fortune for games all year.
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Whatever it is they are doing, it’s clear it’s not enough. Having the best value service in all of gaming (game pass), the cheapest way to experience current gen games (series s) and the most powerful current gen console (series x), xbox series combined should be outselling playstation 9 months out of every 10. Game pass, realistically, should have many more subscribers than it does.
Until these things come to be true, there’s a failing somewhere in how MS are promoting the console.
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Think the problem with Microsoft is not how they promote their consoles but how they promote their games. We know what pushed Playstation into domination last gen, their blockbuster AAA exclusives. Not that they were responsible for most of their income but they promoted Playstastion as a better platform than Xbox. As we know 3rd party games generate the highest income but what sells console are its exclusive games. Customers think this way as well - ‘I want console to play Fifa and Call of Duty but I will buy Playstation because it has God of War as well’.
So at first glance it looks like Microsoft have to match Sony with quality of their exclusive games. I personally belive Microsoft gave up on that and decided to promote gamepass as a more attractive proposition to play games considered as 3rd party . So I think their main goals is not to make Sony customers scrap Playstation for Xbox but to make them subscribe to game pass alongside having a Playstation. Cheap Series S, Project Keyston and app on TV are clearly pointing in that direction. Them buying Bethesda and the biggest factory of 3rd party bestsellers - Activision also seems to support that theory.
So as to way Xbox is not that visible with their marketing, its because their newest strategy is very young, started with Spencer and it won’t kickstart until they start to put big sellers on game pass regularly. I think it will start when Activision deal will be completed and old Call of Duty games will be coming to game pass with new releases coming regularly.
Well last weekend I saw two God of War Ragnerock commercials on while I was watching College Football. I think different games will get marketing budgets for Xbox. Starfield will get a massive promotion with tv commercials and a Xbox Series X themed console because of Bethesda Game Studios and Xbox backing it. However Redfall, Forza Motorsport and Minecraft Legends will be get the standard YouTube, twitch, tic tok social media marketing. We should get a standard gamepass trailer overall for all these games but who knows
I have a very specific marketing strategy for Japan and it’s Japanese games
It involves buying Sega…
Then using Sega brand to sell xbox in Japan
Sega Series S … Just too good to pass on this opportunity
After this, use Sega Human resources to build up partnership with Japanese developers
Make Japan centric Xbox store run by Sega division
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Nobody is gonna rename Xbox to Sega in Asia even if there will be Sega acquisition.
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The most important thing Xbox needs to do is green light more games and keep Phil Spencer.
I know it’s a bit contradictory to both criticize leadership (for not producing enough games) and consider Phil Spencer Xbox’s most valuable asset but that’s how I see things.
Phil Spencer is a fantastic promoter he just needs more games to promote. Phil is in another league in comparison to Jim Ryan. Just get Phil more games.
(Specifically…Buy Sega for Japan and WB for its IP then also make some partnerships with 2nd party titles like what Nintendo does with Smash Brothers.)
Just something as easy as this but modernised on tv to advertise game pass would do the trick
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