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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Natal won’t hurt our core focus/360 has at least more 5 more years left

vaio on 06 March 2010

MS: ‘Natal won’t hurt our core focus’

by Christopher Dring

2010 will be the biggest year in Xbox history, says Euro boss

The mass-market friendly Project Natal may be grabbing all the headlines, but Microsoft insists it won’t lose sight of the core gamer audience.

There’s a slew of major titles due from the platform holder this year, including Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Halo: Reach and Fable III. And Microsoft’s European Xbox boss Chris Lewis has told MCV that this line-up – combined with Natal – will make 2010 the biggest year in Xbox history.

“From the beginning, Xbox has always had a very deliberate strategy to focus on core gamers and then expand the market,” said Lewis.

“Project Natal is meant to complement, not replace, the experiences on Xbox 360. We’ve reached new heights in creating a more natural and responsive gaming and entertainment experience for people of all interests and skill levels, whilst maintaining our commitment to deliver quality core games that consistently exceed expectations.”

Lewis also stated that the 360 still has at least five years of life left in it, and that Natal will push the machine to new heights when it arrives this year.

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“There is nothing like Project Natal available in entertainment and with us not even halfway through the 360 lifecycle, we’re confident that our 30 million owners will be as excited about this new way to play as we are,” he added

“2010 is set to be the biggest in Xbox history and a major year for the games industry, where we will witness a fundamentally change in the way we experience and share entertainment with each other.”

MCV reported last year that Project Natal is on-course for a November release in Europe, with a possible price point of around £50.



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supercat on 06 March 2010

How can they honestly say this?

If microsoft is planning on spending X dollars on games every year they will have to divide them now between natal type casuals and core games.

One or both will suffer either way, at least sony isn't putting a lot into this and they wont have to waste $$$$$$ on something that its market just wont support, i mean americans like shooters and adventure games, not playing pinball wtih your arms or whatever.



Twistedpixel on 06 March 2010

Natal will be great for HTPC/Gaming rigs. You could use it without a keyboard/mouse I think for launching games which will essentially give you the same experience as a console except with all the nice PC perks like awesome framerates.



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KingFate on 06 March 2010

Awesome to hear that both MS and Sony want to keep this gen alive for as long as possible! My broke ass can rejoice!



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Seece on 06 March 2010
supercat said:
How can they honestly say this?

If microsoft is planning on spending X dollars on games every year they will have to divide them now between natal type casuals and core games.

One or both will suffer either way, at least sony isn't putting a lot into this and they wont have to waste $$$$$$ on something that its market just wont support, i mean americans like shooters and adventure games, not playing pinball wtih your arms or whatever.

I agree, furthermore even if sony were going 50/50, they have way mor studios so they can afford to take that risk, Microsoft have a handful. They realllly need to buy some studios ..



 

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themanwithnoname on 06 March 2010

Let's see, so far for Natal we know Rare is making something, and Lionhead is doing Milo. Rare has never made anything targetted at what would be considered the core X360 gamer, and Lionhead is making Fable III alongside Natal. So yeah, that's how they can say that, it isn't too hard to grasp.



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Joelcool7 on 07 March 2010

Five more years? I know Gamasutra revealed Microsoft was hiring developers to work on several next generation titles. If Microsoft is already developing these next generation titles then how exactly does the X-Box 360 have another five years left. Also with dropping marketshare I think Microsoft will have another X-Box either at this E3 or E3 2011!



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AlkamistStar on 07 March 2010

I'm going with Crytek on this one, and looking forward to the release of new consoles in Fall 2012, or at least the info of them.
OT: Meh, they'll say anything to keep the core gamers, but i think they will do a great job at keeping both parties happy, the casuals and the core, after all...they have no choice, seeing as the X360 has come all this way thanks to it's core audience.



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theprof00 on 07 March 2010

wow, 10 year plan? Didn't they rip on Sony for that kind of thing?

Still, great news. Every console gen should last that long. I'm tired of upgrading and waiting for devs to figure shit out.



JaggedSac on 07 March 2010

MS has been on a hiring spree. They are probably doubling their workforce. So yes, they can execute this plan. Anyway, MS has relied on third parties for most of their core games.