Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" ad campaign is confusing, and above all, poorly timed

[Windows Central]

Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" ad campaign has divided Xbox fans once again. While it's clear what Xbox is going for here, they're at least 2-3 years too early to make the claim that my Samsung Smart Fridge is "now an Xbox."

Microsoft's "This is an Xbox" ad campaign is confusing, and above all, poorly timed : Read more

 

[fjtorres5591]

You own an XBOX console, right?
Then the ads aren't for you.
I own an XBOX. All of them, in fact.
The ads aren't for me.
We don't need cloud gaming to play our owned game libraries. (mine is only 930 and no, cloud can't play all of them. Yet. Because most I bought.)

But you're missing the point: people who *don't* own XBOX consoles can't play *any* XBOX games. If they want to play even one XBOX game, they have to buy a console? $300 is a big commitment for something they haven't done before. That they might not be able to afford.

So what's your prescription? Suck it up? That is Sony's answer. That is Nintendo's answer. Gaming is for those that can find $300. Plus $70 per game. If you don't like the game? Tough luck.

That is not the Microsoft answer.

Their answer is: jump in, the water is fine.
Get a free trial of GamePass.
Then go play on your phone. Or daddy's phone. Or mommy's.
Or a tablet.
Or a PC.
Or a FIRE TV stick. Preferably bundled with a controller. Today, that's about $80.
Don't like the game? Try another. You start out with hundreds of known good games. Shouldn't be hard to find something to like.

Microsoft is trying to grow the pool of gamers. They'll keep on selling consoles for those that can afford $500. They'll keep on selling games for PC for those that can afford $800-1200 (or more) gaming PCs. If you can afford those, nothing changes.

So why are some people out there so freaking offended that somebody who can't afford XBOX hardware is being presented with a path to play at least a few hundred XBOX games.

And, BTW, it might not be every XBOX game ever (no OVERLORD, no INVISIBLE WAR, no XMEN LEGENDS, etc) but it includes every HALO, every GEARS OF WAR, every FABLE, every ELDER SCROLLS, FORZA, CALL OF DUTY. No, not every game. But every genre is in there. There should be something to like. $100 to start. $20 a month to continue.

1- The ad campaign isn't for us. But it doesn't take anything from us.

2- The console gaming business is broken. The market is saturated and, worse, locked-in via the digital walled gardens. It is not growing. Add up the consoles: XBOX, Playstation, Nintendo, for each of the last 4 generations and what do you get? 250 million gamers per generation to be split between Sony, Nintendo, and MS. Games are getting more expensive, the price gets higher, the micro transactions and season passes are all over--and it is not enough. Studios are closing all over, projects are getting cancelled, open studios are reducing staff sizes. None of this is healthy.

3- Microsoft tried a dual SKU model with the SS as an entry model. But in today's economy, even $300 isn't low enough. They tried to do a streaming box but the numbers didn't add up. So they pivoted to cloud on TV and android and iOS and anything with an open browser. They are the only of the three console vendors actually trying to grow *gaming* instead of milking their locked-in installed base. And for this they get criticized?

Doesn't this strike anybody as elitist? Classist? Gaming as a niche only for those that can afford hundreds if not thousands of dollars just to get started? Not to bring in too much of the real world into the never-never land of gaming, but out there the divide between haves and have nots is "gifting" us with an age of populist ascendancy. And that isn't healthy either.

(Look up this book from 2019. Just the first few chapters might do. The digital edition is free. THE Economics of Discontent: From Failing Elites to The Rise of Populism. By Jean-Michel Paul. These are not healthy times.)

It might be a good idea to stop with the kneejerk defensiveness and actually look at what is going out there, the context that MS (and Sony and Nintendo and RA, and UBISOFT and *everybody* else looking to make a living in gaming) has to contend with.

Cut them a break folks; they're trying to grow the ecosystem so they can afford to keep the stockholders happy enough they let them do a HEXEN or a FALLOUT NEW VEGAS 2 or some new games other than new seasons for live service games and a new COD every year.

If the ad campaign works they can grow their ecosystem, the market for their games, the communities that play those games, and maybe convince their competitors that there is a better way than $1000 consoles and $100 games. Everybody can grow and win instead of fighting fruitless console wars instead of just gaming.

Instead of paranoid gripes, how about applauding MS for trying to align their stockholder money-grubbing interests with their gamers'?

Just a thought.

 

[GraniteStateColin]

I'm in an unusual place on this. I fundamentally agree with @fjtorres5591 on the targeting of the ads. However, I shifted from exclusively PC gaming to Xbox gaming for the comfort and family gathering of playing on the couch on Xbox. I love the idea of GamePass Ultimate, but won't get it until they offer a Family Plan so my kids can play THEIR games on THEIR Xboxes (MS seems to think there's only 1 Xbox per family, and maybe I'm rare in every kid having their own Xbox, but those one-time expenses are small over time compared with several monthly GamePass subscriptions).

So, I'm a physical Xbox gamer who wants to do GamePass, but MS doesn't offer the package that I need. I have several Windows PC's, but I no longer game on PC (but my son does both on his PC and his Xbox). I have a Galaxy phone and I've published mobile games back when Android was a #3 or #4 mobile (behind iOS and WebOS and the old Windows Mobile, before Windows Phone), but haven't played anything on phone more complex that Plants vs. Zombies since the days of Windows Phone, which at the time I expected MS to make into the ultimate gaming phone and portable gaming device with the built in Xbox features and Gamerscore connections.

 

[fjtorres5591]

These days XBOX's place in the gaming universe is as "entry level PC gaming" which is why I expect the NextBox to come early and be at least partly PC compatible. That makes Friends and family tricky as it would do nothing extra to boost console sales.

The driver behind Friends and family experiment, as well the ad campaign is obvious: the need to grow the ecosystem (aka Revenues). The test (obviously Bond's idea--she comes from the phone world, after all) was to see if it boosted console sales, dlc, and microtransactions enough to offset the (on paper) lost subscriptions.

All signs point to "no". Instead, we got Game Pass Core.

Best guess is we might get something like Netflix's secondary/add-on simultaneous user model for Ultimate. Something like $10 a month per standard-level secondary users. Not sure that would work for you.

 

[fjtorres5591]

At the end of the day, XBOX needs to grow its revenues. Either by going 99% third-party or by selling cloud games to a console-free market.

Depending on consoles, even if somehow boosting to 360 levels, won't do it.
It isn't working for Sony and it's unclear if it is working for Nintendo. (And their games are almost certainly faster/cheaper to roll out.) The delay in getting Switch2 out the door suggests something is going on back there.

Not enough attention is being paid to Sony's promise of *one whole* AAA first party exclusive per year. And now the word is out that they're trying to buy the parent company of FROM. Which includes manga, anime, and a multiplatform *game publishing* arm.

Hmm... Smacks of Microsoft's plan of using the Bethesda and Activision publishing arms for multiplatform and keeping MSG for first party exclusives doesn't it? Maybe some Sony studios will be using FROM to go multiplatform?

If they are slowly and begrudgingly moving to day one PC and looking to add multiplatform publishers just like MS it sort of validates the position that consoles alone are not enough.

Grind your teeth if you must but *something* needs to happen.
Less exclusives or XBOX everywhere.
Pick yer poison.

(And keep an eye out for Microsoft buying IPs. They don't necessarily need more game studios but more content IP is always good. If I had Nadella's ear, I'd suggest buying at least a controlling interest in WB-D. If nothing else, to prevent their IP being excluded from XBOX ala Spider-man. Cheaper than Activision but potentially more valuable.)