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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Microsoft CEO Nadella: don't confuse Xbox with company's "core"

Machiavellian on 16 July 2014
Nate4Drake said:
I'm wondering if we will see another XBox...

If you check the Xbox Empire thread you would see that MS is hiring people to their Xbox Platform Developer Experience team.  MS is also hiring someone for their industrial Design Studio which looks like will be planning the next Xbox.  For such doom and gloom, it sure looks like MS is putting their money still in hiring people for the Xbox division so I would say its a good chance you will see another Xbox.



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Arkaign on 16 July 2014
Machiavellian said:
Nate4Drake said:
I'm wondering if we will see another XBox...

If you check the Xbox Empire thread you would see that MS is hiring people to their Xbox Platform Developer Experience team.  MS is also hiring someone for their industrial Design Studio which looks like will be planning the next Xbox.  For such doom and gloom, it sure looks like MS is putting their money still in hiring people for the Xbox division so I would say its a good chance you will see another Xbox.


LOL Hiring is no guarantee of continual commitment, that's just HR going with what they already had in their budget. The bigger moves take longer to shake down the chain, and more moves will certainly follow if quarter after quarter show falling margins and increasing losses.

http://s28.postimg.org/djg2dzlh9/3_DNA319.gif

EDIT : The source for that hilarious image must be shown!



S.T.A.G.E. on 16 July 2014
Arkaign said:
S.T.A.G.E. said:


Yep. Balmer has been ignoring shareholders for years. Its only because Sony has a multimedia OS and threatened the PC market with their dominance in the console realm why Bill Gates even signed up on the Xbox project in the first place. If Sony wasn't a visible threat to Microsofts multimedia OS monopolizing dreams they wouldn't have entered the gaming industry. They would've stayed right on Apples heels and kept publishing Flight Simulator like happy little boys. I have to hand it to them, they didn't increase the gaming market but they did take a chunk out of Sony's  expected marketshare last gen. ;)

P.S.

Microsoft will continue to pursue trying to discourage Sony's market growth. If Sony destroys them it will only encourage investors even further that the gaming industry is distracting them. Profit in gaming is nothing for Microsoft. They don't need to be here, but as long as Sony thrives, they have all the reason they need. Well either that...or Sony gives up and probably agrees to partner with them, because thats half the reason they are breathing down their necks as well.

 

^ That doesn't sound logical to me. iPod threatened them more than home consoles ever have, because it was a door into tons of young consumers with disposable income (and leads to Macbook/iPhone sales of course).

Microsoft's answer was Zune. It tried. It was actually a great product. But it failed, and MS canned it.

Microsoft doesn't care one crap about Sony's 'market growth'. Sony is INFINITELY less of an issue in relation to Microsoft in contrast to Apple/Google. Why do you think they're buying phone companies, screaming 'MOBILE/CLOUD is NUMERO UNO!"? Apple and Google can cause real harm to Microsoft, and have already in fact. Sony? They could sell 100M Vitas and 200M PS4s and it wouldn't mean jack squat to MS. In fact, if MS Game Studios made software and provided servers for those platforms, they could actually out-profit Sony on their own devices. Do you think it's lost on investors that Activision and Rockstar EASILY made more money off of Xbox than Microsoft ever did? Fat chance.

Trust me...i've been reading up on this stuff for years. Microsoft is 100% in the gaming industry eyes fixed on Sony and no one else. There are many reasons why but from all the videos ive seen and things i've read this seems to be the primary issue:

1) Sony brought multimedia OS devices to gaming and dominated that increasing their marketshare and influence with said OS. It scared bill gates.

2) Sony would not partner with Microsoft. 


 The Ipod serves the same purprose to fuel Microsofts ascent to the industry. Sony had made videogame consoles multimedia devices which is EXACTLY where the IPOD was headed. 

I assure you, if the Zune could've put a major dent in Apples Ipod profits like Microsoft did to Sony they would've kept it.

Look up the reason why Microsoft joined the gaming industry. Sony is written all over it. The core developers of the Xbox genuinely wanted to go into the gaming industry, but Sony was the reason Microsoft joined. 

Nintendo was never a threat to Microsoft....it was Sony. They dominated the industry with record setting sales, expanding the industry and changing its focus to being multimedia devices as well as gaming consoles.

 “The main reason was to stop Sony. You see, Sony and Microsoft…they never had a very friendly relationship, okay? And this wasn’t because Microsoft didn’t want that. Sony was always very arm’s length with Microsoft.

Yeah, they bought Windows for their PCs but when you really take a hard look at that, they were never Microsoft’s friend. And Microsoft in a way wanted them to be a friend because they knew they had a lot of things we could have co-operated on because they are, in a way, an entertainment company, you know?"

- Former Microsoft executive Joachim Kempin

http://www.vg247.com/2013/02/07/microsoft%E2%80%99s-entered-the-console-race-to-stop-sony-claims-former-exec/

More from Kempin on Sony and Microsofts relationship

http://www.dailytech.com/ExMicrosoft+Exec+Sonys+PlayStation+Worried+Gates+Convinced+Him+to+Make+Xbox/article29857.htm



Aura7541 on 16 July 2014

Dang, Nadella just inflicted a big boo-boo on the Xbox brand. I would've expected him to say something like "Xbox is an integral part of Microsoft's vision", but this was very unexpected.



Porcupine_I on 16 July 2014

So, the name for their next console may be XBOX Zero then?



“It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grams a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grams a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.”

- George Orwell, ‘1984’

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Arkaign on 16 July 2014

Yes, but that's ancient history when the thought was that it could lead to something that might threaten MS's bottom line.

Consoles don't, at least not from 'competitors'. If anything, the entire Xbox console project is a self-inflicted wound on Microsoft's behalf.

When that thought process prevailed in the 90s-2000, the phone/tablet/mobile revolution wasn't even a blip on anyone's radar. It proceeded to completely take Microsoft by surprise and present a REAL and serious threat to Microsoft on a level never before seen.

Look at Surface, Windows Phone, Zune, Windows 8 (Metro), etc/infinity. Virtually every move they make in the consumer space now is ALL about fending off mobile threats and trying to crack those markets. All while consoles prove profitless and with zero teeth.

If you're in a fight with a bear, a lion, and a slug, who do you focus on first?

Ten+ years ago, they mistook the slug for a bear, but now the real rivals have Microsoft by the neck and are an ever-present danger.

As I said before, Sony could sell an infinite amount of Playstations and Vitas and other bullcrap, and it's meaningless to Microsoft's bottom line.

But can Google sell huge numbers of Chromebooks and other devices which infringe on Microsoft's core products? Can Apple continue to grow their adoption rate in businesses as well as solidify their core user base who will never give Windows Phone a chance?

Logic.



S.T.A.G.E. on 16 July 2014
Arkaign said:
Yes, but that's ancient history when the thought was that it could lead to something that might threaten MS's bottom line.

Consoles don't, at least not from 'competitors'. If anything, the entire Xbox console project is a self-inflicted wound on Microsoft's behalf.

When that thought process prevailed in the 90s-2000, the phone/tablet/mobile revolution wasn't even a blip on anyone's radar. It proceeded to completely take Microsoft by surprise and present a REAL and serious threat to Microsoft on a level never before seen.

Look at Surface, Windows Phone, Zune, Windows 8 (Metro), etc/infinity. Virtually every move they make in the consumer space now is ALL about fending off mobile threats and trying to crack those markets. All while consoles prove profitless and with zero teeth.

If you're in a fight with a bear, a lion, and a slug, who do you focus on first?

Ten+ years ago, they mistook the slug for a bear, but now the real rivals have Microsoft by the neck and are an ever-present danger.

As I said before, Sony could sell an infinite amount of Playstations and Vitas and other bullcrap, and it's meaningless to Microsoft's bottom line.

But can Google sell huge numbers of Chromebooks and other devices which infringe on Microsoft's core products? Can Apple continue to grow their adoption rate in businesses as well as solidify their core user base who will never give Windows Phone a chance?

Logic.


Microsoft created the Zune to deter Apple from expanding its empire. Microsoft created the Xbox to stop Sony from expanding its multimedia empire. Thats what they do. Thats who Microsoft is. If they cant work with Sony they'll break the bank trying to take them out. Bill Gates felt threatened and you can't stop a man that feels that way about Sony.



Aura7541 on 16 July 2014
kowenicki said:
Aura7541 said:
Dang, Nadella just inflicted a big boo-boo on the Xbox brand. I would've expected him to say something like "Xbox is an integral part of Microsoft's vision", but this was very unexpected.


he pretty much did just that.  to put the direct quote here for everyone to read...

I also want to share some additional thoughts on Xbox and its importance to Microsoft. As a large company, I think it's critical to define the core, but it's important to make smart choices on other businesses in which we can have fundamental impact and success. The single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world is gaming. We are fortunate to have Xbox in our family to go after this opportunity with unique and bold innovation. Microsoft will continue to vigorously innovate and delight gamers with Xbox. Xbox is one of the most-revered consumer brands, with a growing online community and service, and a raving fan base. We also benefit from many technologies flowing from our gaming efforts into our productivity efforts – core graphics and NUI in Windows, speech recognition in Skype, camera technology in Kinect for Windows, Azure cloud enhancements for GPU simulation and many more. Bottom line, we will continue to innovate and grow our fan base with Xbox while also creating additive business value for Microsoft.

Huh, interesting... Then why such inconsistency from MS? They're jumping all over the place with their messaging that I don't know what their actual stance is anymore...



fps_d0minat0r on 16 July 2014

I dont think anyone did think it was the core.



vivster on 16 July 2014

Mainstream consumers don't know/care about the business so it's only natural that they perceive the most visual business as core business.



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