The title of this topic may sound like one chosen by a typical 360 fanboy so I'll start by saying that I do not own a 360. I got a Wii at launch and I got a PS3 one week ago but I don't own a 360. Like many people on this site, I simply have an interest in video games, and particularly in what leads to their success or failure in the marketplace. That being said, let's get onto the topic of discussion: What's the secret of Xbox 360's success?

Granted, the 360 is not in the lead this generation but it appears to be doing much better than its predecessor, the original Xbox. As a matter of fact, it has now outsold the original Xbox in the "Others" territory: http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=2305.

So how did Microsoft manage to achieve this success?

Here are my thoughts:

Head start: The 360 was released about one year in advance of the Wii and PS3. This head start certainly didn't hurt. It allowed the 360 to start building a user base that to this day surpasses that of the PS3, in spite of many people's predictions of Playstation brand loyalty.

HD graphics: In addition to being the first console on the market this generation, the 360 was the first console in history to support HD graphics in all of its games. While the debate over whether better graphics make better games is one for another thread, it's apparent that many gamers found the improvement in graphics to be an attractive feature.

Pricing: A fully featured 360 (with a 20 GB hard drive) cost $399 at launch. Currently, this is the price of the cheapest model of the PS3. Microsoft has managed to continually drop the price of their system and it appears that consumers can now get a fully featured 360 (with a 20 GB hard drive) for $220 (see: http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=2298). This is $30 less than the price of a Wii, $180 less than the cheapest (80 GB) PS3, and $180 less than the fully featured launch 360, which had a similar 20 GB configuration, making it the cheapest fully featured console on the market; even cheaper than the Wii.

Online experience: Arguably, the biggest strength of the original Xbox was the online gaming experience provided by Xbox Live. Microsoft built upon this foundation and it has become a central feature of the 360. While the PS3 and Wii offer free services while Microsoft's service still requires a subscription fee, Xbox live is receiving more support from developers than PSN or Nintendo's WiFi service.

3rd party support: This one is a bit more complicated as it's somewhat of a chicken/egg situation. Just as Sony got many 3rd party developers to make games for the PS1, Microsoft has gotten some impressive third party support for the 360. While many top tier games are going multi-platform, there's little question that the 360 currently has more developer support than any other console on the market, even Wii for the time being. The reason that this factor is more complicated is that it's unclear if developers were drawn to the 360's large user base or whether more people bought the 360 because of its library of games.

It appears that all of these factors combined to help the 360 overcome hurdles like the low adoption rate of the original Xbox, a negligible adoption rate in Japan, a devoted Playstation userbase in the "Others" territory, the failure of HD-DVD leading to a useless add-on drive, lack of built-in wireless networking capability, and of course, an unprecedented hardware failure rate known as the red rings of death.

joeschmoe kowinicki confirmed?

This is a lot better worded than your previous post but my opinion still stands.

@LOL MATURE: Sorry but I must not read the forums enough to know who kowinicki is or was. When you refer to your previous opinion was that in reference to my post or the suggestion that I'm actually another user?

Regardless, thanks for your compliment of my wording. I spent the better part of an hour writing that post. It's good to know that this Masters degree is good for something!

You've pretty much hit each nail squarely on the head. I really can't add a whole lot to what you've already explained.

 I saw the low post count and the similiar thread to his right before he got banned and jumped to conclusions. But I looked at your posting and saw you were around before he got banned the first time. so sorry for the accusation

Secrets of success for Microsoft:

Stealing Exclusives, and when they're first party, straight up ripping them off (Lips = Singstar, Scene it = Buzz)

Buying Exclusive games (too may to name, lol)

Price the system as if you don't care about profit. (Two EU price drops in less than 6 months)

Release your system early, so early that it has a huge design flaw that renders millions of consoles useless. (no explanation needed)

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The one thing I will give MS credit for is the online system, which is second to none.

they just let sony fan's hype the machine to the roof, hype the game,
even sony themself hype machine from the start, like dual hdmi, 100% BC, funny thing now the only BC console are x360, they said the only 1080p capable etc.

2006 they said multiplatform titles will be better start on 2007
2007 they said the same thing
and now 2008, they not even come close

Good to see an American console do well in the global marketplace. I won't buy it, but it's good to see.

DMJ faults Microsoft for going out of their way to make sure 360 owners have a great selection of games?

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2008/08/23/microsoft-is-king-of-the-vapor/

This and those things you already mentioned.