Bach: No Blu-ray Xbox, 360 to profit by being different than the Wii
By Dave Parrack
Microsoft and the Xbox 360 are going through a bit of a crisis at the moment. Oh God, I can just see smoke coming from the keyboards already of people eager to comment, but it’s true. It seems to have lost it’s place in the gaming spectrum, so what is Microsoft going to do to reverse that trend?
Robbie Bach, President of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division gave an interview to SFGate over the weekend, and had a few things to say about the Xbox 360, how it differs from the Wii, which is continuing to kick its butt every month in terms of sales, and the quashing (or not) of various rumours.
First things first, he addressed the intense speculation about those constantly returning Xbox 360 Blu-ray rumours. The quashing is timely as a tipster on CrunchGear has hinted that Microsoft are preparing a big announcement on Monday aimed at upstaging Apple’s iPhone 2 unveiling by Steve Jobs at the WWDC.
I‘ve got a close friend who works at Microsoft, previously with the HD-DVD division and now in the E&D division (Xbox, zune).
I’m told MS will upstage Apple with a Monday 9am PDT announcement (1 hour before WWDC) via press release that the Xbox 360 will get Blu-Ray before Christmas. Price was “under the current Elite”, but i couldn’t get any more details.
Which means either the tipster is taking out of his a-hole, or Bach is, as when asked “So no plans for Blu-ray in the next generation Xbox?”
“No. There is nothing to even talk about right now with regard to the next generation. That is so far out that there isn’t anything to talk about.”
While he was talking about the next gen, you’d assume that he would have dodged the question had the current gen Xbox been about to get Blu-ray. So we need to wait and see tomorrow whether that’s going to happen or fizzle out to nothing.
SFGate also delights in talking about the success of the Wii and how that is affecting the Xbox 360. Bach responds by detailing how the Xbox is inherently different from the Wii, and the target audience is another animal altogether.
“Nintendo and Microsoft have different target audiences and pretty different aspirations. If you think about Nintendo, their audience will tend to be quite a bit younger than our audiences. They will skew on more games that are more casual. They buy fewer games per console. Their ecosystem around the console is very Nintendo-focused. If you look at the top 20 games on the Wii, almost all of them are from Nintendo.”
“It’s a very different approach. They’re not trying to be a digital entertainment platform. They’re not trying to do movie video downloads. They don’t have the same type of Xbox Live service we have. Because (the Nintendo Wii) is at a lower price point and reaches a little bit more casual audience, they will do better on units proportionally than we will over time.”
“(But) business is in very good shape. We said 12 months ago that Xbox would make money this fiscal year and we are on a path to do that. That’s a big milestone for us.”
Microsoft expects to make some profit from the Xbox 360 this year, which is good news. However, detailing how the Nintendo Wii is just for casual gamers seems a bit at odds with the reports that Microsoft, along with Sony for the PS3, are going to try to veer more towards that side of the business in an attempt to grab some of the incredible success that the Wii has enjoyed.
So in hindsight, no Blu-ray capable Xbox any time soon, and just more of the same. Microsoft seems to be determined to keep plugging away with the same strategy that as I said in my intro has seen the console lose it’s place in the industry to a certain degree. Risky?
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June 8th, 2008
They are not going to let this die, are they?
June 8th, 2008
Come on guys . . . how long will these Blu-ray stupid rumors keep coming?
MS isn’t doing it . . and Xbox owners DON’T WANT IT.
optical format = old and busted
downloadable instantly watched movies = new hotness.
let me translate that for everyone.
Blu ray optical 50GB hugely expensive format = old and busted.
Downloadable netflix movies instantly available and in high def = new hotness.
ok, now I’ll translate that for the morons.
PS3 = old and busted
Xbox = New hotness
June 9th, 2008
ohh no…
a blu ray player would be a PR suicide… because this contradicts their “digital downloads are the way of the future” comment…
Also… how much is the add on going to cost?? and IS there going to be an add on?? or do 360 owners have to buy a WHOLE new 360??
Meh.. I dont care… I hope they announce God Of War !!! this E3…
WHy the hell do people keep saying 360 is losing ground??? LIVE has more subscribers than World of Warcraft… and thats saying something… if the current DVD drive and 9gb dual layer space DOES bite it in the ass… it wont be now.. it will take a long time… when 360 games take more than 1 dvds… unless they get a BD player…
June 9th, 2008
Some guy from Microsoft (Kim possibly?) said that if BD won the war, it will create a BD drive for the 360 if demand warrants it. From what I can see, demand is definitely there from the public.
I am hoping for their sake (and mine, dvds look like crap on a big screen tv) that they’re just holding this announcement for E3 or something similar.
June 9th, 2008
Some one shut this site down….
June 9th, 2008
X box is dieing. Dieing like Sega. Only with more money. They Drop there price so they could be in the same rang as the Wii. They not have anything to save them. there company’s dieing so are they. Sorry to have to hurt you’s feelings They Have one console left if it don’t save them nothing will. Glenn Quite crying about the site just cuz the we think the Xbox is hurting.
June 9th, 2008
hey dave, doesn’t it strike you odd that you are the only one who thinks the 360 is in a crisis? it’s still outselling the ps3 in the two largest markets (NA, UK) while experiencing some growth in japan even.
to say the 360 has lost it’s place in the gaming spectrum WITH a higher attach ratio than the competition, hardware outselling the competition and an online infrastructure the competition can’t match, really underscores your inability to read this industry very well.
oh well…..bloggers…. who needs facts when you can make up your own, right? geez….
if you want to see crisis, look that the ps3 and compare it to the ps2’s userbase only a few years ago. the loss of 95% of their last gen userbase is a crisis… second place in hardware sales is not.
June 9th, 2008
Kev, have you ever considered a career in politics?
You could be a top class ’spin doctor’.
June 9th, 2008
who knows maybe he is…
maybe he’s Working for Hillary’s Campaign and still yelling “WE ARR NUMBAH wAn!!!”
xD
June 9th, 2008
erm there is the rest of the world to care about kev, with regards to ps3 sales, such as the rest of europe, japan australia, where ps3 is all outselling 360.
June 9th, 2008
erm there is the rest of the world to care about kev, with regards to ps3 sales, such as the rest of europe, japan australia, where ps3 is all outselling 360.
June 9th, 2008
bourne - yeah..that’s what you keep saying, yet sony has not shown any numbers proving their outselling the 360 in the EU. believe what you want, but until ps3 closes the multi million console gap, they’re stilll and will remain, in last place.
still waiting to see this “crisis” the 360 is supposedly in. a true “crisis” is watching sony’s loyal customers turn their backs on them.
June 9th, 2008
@Jonathan - I love digital downloads, but I don’t think there is any kind of ‘digital distribution revolution’ coming any time soon. People like shiney things they can hold.
Also nothing is really stopping sony from making content available on the PSN. Sure it might clash with blu-ray a little, but I am sure they would find a way to market both.
I personally would love to download all my games if I could be certain that download speeds on launch day wouldn’t flounder - which they always do at present.
June 9th, 2008
Bourne, 360 is still way ahead of PS3 in Australia by about 130,000 units according to Vgchartz. At the rate it is selling, PS3 won’t catch up till around 2015.
June 10th, 2008
Xbox is hurting!?!? Some one forgot to tell us. I better get a PS3 so I can play…um…ah…MGS4…oh wait only MGS1 was a game the rest were movies..I’ll just catch the story on wiki…Oh well, if the xbox goes down I’ll just play my PS2…I’m not forking over cash for a lackstation3…
June 10th, 2008
Well My Point is that Wii sells more consoles, sells its extensions and sells its Games. But Xbox is going down and Sony and Nintendo will kill Xbox. It will take one or two more console three at the most so I give it 6 to 10 years unless Microsoft shuts don’t and only makes Xbox. Of course there will only be like 4 more consoles and then it will be some virtual helmet thing then we will have to make games that have really good stories cuz they will look so real no one who wants play them because they lead to post traumatic stress disorder and other disorder linked to war.
June 10th, 2008
ps3 wont catch up to 360 to 2015? lol dont talk shit
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10544&Itemid=2
June 10th, 2008
ps3 wont catch up to 360 to 2015? lol dont talk shit
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10544&Itemid=2
verbal diahhorea has spread from kevin to you
June 10th, 2008
Glenn, some of us feel about the 360.
But we don’t degenerate into rabid fanboys foaming at the mouth.
The day the Xbox brand shakes in fear is the day the MS penny watchers say ‘hey that gaming division is losing us alot of money, show us some proof it will actually turn a profit at some point’.
June 10th, 2008
I personally think that Microsofts download service is superior to the Blu-ray at the moment. I just go through the list and download. If you have a good internet speed it will be no issue for you. Microsoft really does not need Bluray because it offers the same thing without leaving the house and the quality is great. Besides I’m not paying $40 to watch a movie and put it on my shelf after. Microsoft has the right idea.
June 10th, 2008
bourne - i would wait to celebrate. if you remember, sony and you fanboys said:
1. the ps3 would outsell the 360 at launch. didn’t happen.
2. the ps3 would outsell the 360 during the holidays… didn’t happen
3. bluray would propel the ps3 into the #1 position…didn’t happen
4. GTA would move a TON of ps3… didn’t happen.
5. MGS would move a TON of ps3… didn’t happen.
yet you continue to try to predict the future. when will you ever learn. the ps3 is a worldwide flop.
come back when the ps3 has ACTUALLY outsold the 360… until then… it’s just more of your verbal diahhorea..and blind faith…
June 10th, 2008
Kevin
Your first comment was on point. What Crisis? How does second place in console sales and 1st place in Games sales and quality equeal 360 loosing the race. Looks like this site and the rest of the loosers that think 360 will come in last need to go back to school or pick up the book “Math for Dummies”.
June 10th, 2008
davep - could you expand on how and why you think ms lost its place in the gaming spectrum. the 360 has more games, higher average reviews, more hardware sales, and more online users. so what exactly did they lose? thanks.
June 10th, 2008
“5. MGS would move a TON of ps3… didn’t happen.”
Erm, its not out yet, but did instantly sell out at amazon and then they started taking more orders, it sold out again!
So let us wait and see! Your ‘mouth’ gets more foamy with each post.
Its not going to propel the PS3, but its going to add some sales for this mothn I would think, just like any release does. However its going to be skewed maybe because of the Walmart thing, so it may look much better that it really is.
@CAD
I agree in principle, but for a new hot release, I don’t think it will work out. E.g. I take a new game from direct2drive, I want my full 10mbps, but d2d struggles to give me 1.5mbps. That sucks for anything DVD size, It’d be way quicker to drive two cities over and buy it (altho of course I would buy the game from my own city
).
Even so, I stand by my thinking that people enjoy ’shiney things’ e.g. boxes etc. Esp. videophiles who are into HD (esp. 1080P) content.
June 10th, 2008
SW
It’s like I said if you have a good internet connection then it’s worth it. Someone from Microsoft gave a timeline on how long it take to go from the theatre to the 360 but I really can’t remember what that timeline is but I would guess about 5 months later. There are already tltles on there that have been released in 2008 that is on the list of movies on the 360. But yes there are thoes people that want the hardcopy but you can buy it on DVD which is cheeper then Bluray.
June 11th, 2008
BOL @ BOURNE!!
So the head of Sony says that his console has outsold a rival’s, and you gobble that shit up with a spoon!
Why didn’t you take the hairy sack’s advice and leave this site for a few days? You’re obviously on tilt and are making the most assinine (word of the week) comments. Have you noticed that none of your fellow PS3 owners haven’t chimed in and backed your comments up? It’s because they’re ashamed of you. Kinda like how people think of Ivan_PSP.
Seriously, take a break from posting on this website for a few days and get your head together.
June 11th, 2008
Winner,…first of all….thats a gay name…..second i do sometimes back up Bournes comments……but i always agree with him…so shut the fuck up…and get a life….ok, pretty much the only country that ps3 is losing is the US…the 3shitty will NEVER shine ANY light at all in Japan..what kind of dumbass would think it would?…jesus…and UK hate the 360…..uk people are sterotype…they dont like america alot…ao why whould they like 360 when they call it “coffin 360″?….geez why dont you get you facts straight before you say something….i have many friends from the UK…why dont you get some….wait i dont think you ever will…and the fact that US is pretty much infested with Microgay…so why would 360 be last in US..and if Bluray sucks, then why would Microgay want it?…because it is the hotness now…not downloadable shit…every movie company was switching to bluray before it won the battle….and why would you want to download a movie to your 360 when it wont be really fast…and the fact that the 360 has crappy harddrives?…on ps3 you can have a 250gb harddrive..and i could download ALOT of movies with that and still have ALOT of space for music, photos, and game data…..and ps3 is going to have a movie store…but i dont knopw if it will be this year…but the 2.40 update is part of it…and besides ps3 has bluray live….thats 100times better than downloadable movies for the 360…and gta4 didnt push ps3 bc the fact that it went multiplatform…bc bill gates had to bribe rockstar…and the fact that the game sucks balls…and MGS4 is coming out tomarrow…and that game is going to be better than any 360 game out there…and many 360 players are jealous because they cant have it….just wait….ps3 will OWN 360..
June 11th, 2008
Winner,…first of all….thats a gay name…..second i do sometimes back up Bournes comments……but i always agree with him…so shut the fuck up…and get a life….ok, pretty much the only country that ps3 is losing is the US…the 3shitty will NEVER shine ANY light at all in Japan..what kind of dumbass would think it would?…jesus…and UK hate the 360…..uk people are sterotype…they dont like america alot…ao why whould they like 360 when they call it “coffin 360″?….geez why dont you get you facts straight before you say something….i have many friends from the UK…why dont you get some….wait i dont think you ever will…and the fact that US is pretty much infested with Microgay…so why would 360 be last in US..and if Bluray sucks, then why would Microgay want it?…because it is the hotness now…not downloadable shit…every movie company was switching to bluray before it won the battle….and why would you want to download a movie to your 360 when it wont be really fast…and the fact that the 360 has crappy harddrives?…on ps3 you can have a 250gb harddrive..and i could download ALOT of movies with that and still have ALOT of space for music, photos, and game data…..and ps3 is going to have a movie store…but i dont knopw if it will be this year…but the 2.40 update is part of it…and besides ps3 has bluray live….thats 100times better than downloadable movies for the 360…and gta4 didnt push ps3 bc the fact that it went multiplatform…bc bill gates had to bribe rockstar…and the fact that the game sucks balls…and MGS4 is coming out tomarrow…and that game is going to be better than any 360 game out there…and many 360 players are jealous because they cant have it….just wait….ps3 will OWN 360……o yeah this wasnt all for winner….just the top part.
June 11th, 2008
matt - you said “just wait”…LMAO.. if you only knew how many times sony has said that exact same thing since the ps3 launched.
keep waiting…. meanwhile… i pay to play…not to wait..
June 11th, 2008
lol kevin. I was just about to say that. Apparently I don’t have a life too. That’s 2 sony fanboys who have no idea who I am telling me to get a life.
Matt - are you really going to put yourself in the same pidgeon hole as Bourne and Ivan_PSP? It’s your choice, but I thought you were smarter than that. I guess I was wrong.
June 11th, 2008
Hahaha winner. They have no answer for you, so they tell you to get a life! I am surprised they haven’t said something about your mother yet.
These guys are losers. They give ps3 owners a bad name. Not all ps3 owners are douchebags, just these 2.
June 11th, 2008
Matt, I just want to retort one thing in your last post of gibberish. You said that GTAIV didn’t push the PS3. Did it occur to you that the PS3 version wasn’t in hi-def, whereas the 360 version was? Or did you want to leave that part out? And while we’re on the topic of multi-platform games, why do you think that the majority of 360 versions are better than the PS3 versions? And don’t give me that ‘developers are lazy’ bullshit. You have no idea how developers work.
I agree with the hairy sack, not all PS3 owners are douchebags, just these 2, at least Ivan_PSP has a sense of humor. Hell I may own a PS3 by christmas if the new exclusives are up to the task and am hoping to play a few games with Spidey.
June 11th, 2008
Winner,
I wouldn’t compare anybody on this site to Ivan_PSP. He is THE BIGGEST FANBOY ON THE INTERNET. He makes Kevin look cool-headed and reasonable.
-Arvis
June 11th, 2008
Yeah, but he is funny though.
I’ll see you then winner
June 12th, 2008
heh Arvis and Spidey. I just loved it how when I asked Ivan if he was going to put his pic on his PS3 and kiss it goodnight every night his response was that he is good looking. Maybe I took that the wrong way, but I love narcissists.
June 12th, 2008
we want ivan_psp. or possibly DAVE PARRACK
June 12th, 2008
http://nexgenwars.com/ Read the numbers read’em and see the clear winner also remember PS3 is very VERY Blinged out and that puts Game designer 1 year and $100,000 on the side of Uncomfortable.
As I say play the PS4/5 GET POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER!!!! Cuz as PS and Xbox can only make overly serious games that tend to have Dark or ITS AMERICA HERE TO SAVE THE DAY or release tilte Racers.