What's new

Is X-Box 1 on track to fail? (1 Viewer)

Kevin Alexander

Screenwriter
Joined
Apr 17, 1999
Messages
1,365
I don't understand why anyone would want the Xbox to fail. As gamers we should all want the same thing...constant innovation in gaming technology and the release of ever improving games. More competition in the marketplace can only help to speed this process.
I have been saying this for a year now. Can someone tell me what we have to gain by having only one console on the market? I don't trust Sony's PS series to be the only game in town. Otherwise it's PS2 all over again.
 

Michael St. Clair

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 3, 1999
Messages
6,001
X-Box is a "failure" in the sense that it is not living up to the promises made to developers. Microsoft has been through this road before (Bob, UltimateTV)
What promises were made to developers that have not been delivered? What promises were made to developers about 'Bob' and 'UltimateTV'?
 

Chris

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 4, 1997
Messages
6,788
quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

X-Box is a "failure" in the sense that it is not living up to the promises made to developers. Microsoft has been through this road before (Bob, UltimateTV)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What promises were made to developers that have not been delivered? What promises were made to developers about 'Bob' and 'UltimateTV'?
Developers were told at COMDEX that 10M units would be an installed user base by summer - and I still have that flier from their developers forum. They informed us that they thought by Christmas, 2002, they would be #1 in market share. They told developers that the X-Box would offer expansion through periphials to allow for net connectivity.

I haven't seen any of that (and as I said, I own one)

The promises on Bob and UltimateTV have far more to do with their stock holders and general idiocy. Microsoft promised that Bob would (and I'm quoting from their own literature) "revolutionize the computer desktop" and that several software developers (Broderbund, Sierra, and others) were developing "titles that will integrate into Bob" allowing users to "have a friendlier desktop" but Sierra and Broderbund never brought their products out, and consumers, who were promised these things in the information that came in the box ended up with nothing but crappy Bob as a standalone. UltimateTV was promised in the sense they promised UltimateTV. So far, I haven't seen it live up to the name "Ultimate"

Developers were "promised" in a sense a large installed base to provide them with an audience for software titles. An aggressive effort by Microsoft to sell their product. And continual innovation to keep the product fresh. So far, the user base isn't near what MS thought it would be, and the innovation is still behind.

As with all things, these "promises" were based on what MS believed, and no developer can blame them for projecting incorrectly. At the same time, if you were a developer (and EA has publically stated that the X-Box will always be an "also-ran" in recent interviews) and you know what Microsoft told you (and told a lot of people at COMDEX and other similar shows) about what would happen and what they thought would happen, and now you see the reality, don't you think in the back of your mind your saying "hmm.. wonder what they are thinking of the results now..?"
 

Carl Johnson

Senior HTF Member
Joined
May 6, 1999
Messages
2,260
Real Name
Carl III
Every arguement that's being made against X Box could have been said about Playstation 1 five months after it launched. There wasn't much software avalible and I'd be willing to bet that it #1 in terms of console sales. It is hard enough trying to make an educated guess as to what the box will be doing this time next year and people are already predicting the fate of X Box 3.
 

Dan B

Screenwriter
Joined
Sep 17, 1999
Messages
1,389
I wasn't going to look at this thread, but I couldn't resist. I just don't understand why people panic about a console's success after just over 4 months on the market.
I already know how this generation of consoles will end...yes, I can see the future ;) & I predicted it in another thread months ago...if you can find it. (in case you are wondering, Xbox is not going to "fail", whatever that is supposed to mean)
One more thing I want to add. I agree with Dave.
-Dan
is spending the rest of the night playing Project Gotham Racing
 

Demetri K

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Dec 29, 2001
Messages
133
Who cares what system ends out on top. Whatever system is ontop will be replaced by a more powerful system. And so on and so on. It is natrual order. I don't see anyone complaining about there p2 400 computer when they r up to 2 gigs. Something new is boand to come out. I could care less if they stopped making ps2, xbox, gamecube games tommorro. But As long as I still play the systems they will never die. To hell with all this that system is better, this system has more games. I think it's time to get back to just enjoying the games. And if the system dies. Trade it in for a diff system. that's all!!!!! This is a stupid argument with no real answer. No side is right or wrong so no side will win. Only time will tell!!!! Sorry if this does not make sense or if there r errors But it is late and I am going to bed. hope I didn't piss anyone off. I just wanna say ENJOY THE GAMES not the platforms!!!!! PEACE!!!
 

Sean Oneil

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
931
Do you have any idea how much it would cost Microsoft to pay for all those games? They'd have to pay for the all development costs, millions of dollars, and then they'd have to pay even more to cover the fact that Final Fantasy 37 might not sell as many copies on Xbox compared to PS2
Yes, I thought about that, and the millions would be worth it in the end. The thing about those games is that they are system sellers. If Microsoft could work something major out, where all of those games were coming to the X-Box, then the system sales would go through the roof.

They have to do something to get these well known gaming franchises onto the X-Box, and IMHO, that $500 million in ad campaign money could have been better spent buying out some established gaming titles. The way it is being spent now on advertising is not paying dividends... if they are going to blow 500 million dollars, they should do it right.

If not that, then go cherry pick the top talent from all of those development houses and develop new studios to publish some really great games for the Box. I am talking top TALENT, not some creative 'overseer'. Get all of the best artists, designers, code masters, writers, musicians, etc.

There is no excuse for a system to fail with as much money as Microsoft has behind it. If they won't pay for established gaming franchises, then they need to drop the price on the system.. Especially in Japan and Europe.

I don't think Microsoft will let themselves fail, but they are loosing ground rapidly and need to act fast.
 

Daniel Swartz

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 3, 2002
Messages
448
Well, to understand why Microsoft hasn't purchased the franchise rights to many popular series is to understand the economics behind the XBox. MS plans on losing about $2 billion from the sale of hardware alone. They intend to pay for this, and eventually turn a profit, through the sale of self-developed game titles. It's the only way they can break even.

If they were to spend another $100 million on franchise rights, it would just worsen their financial situation. As a product line, the XBox breaks even for MS on MS-produced games. They are thus dancing a very fine line with their developers by competing with them (everyone else does as well).
 

Jeffrey_Jones

Second Unit
Joined
Nov 6, 2001
Messages
283
Sean,

No offense, but you can't possibly know that buying all those franchise games would pay off in the end. Unless you have insider information about the Xbox and have done extensive market analysis for those games there is no way for you to make an accurate assumption.

Having worked for MS in the past I know that the people behind the Xbox are not stupid. They will do whatever it takes, within their power, to make the Xbox platform a success.

As I said before, I think there is room for all three consoles. The Xbox is very young and I'm excited to see where console technology goes from here.

Thanks,

Jeff
 

Allan Petersen

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 1, 2001
Messages
168
Is it really that common for the average consumer to own two console systems of any given generation?
I mean, gaming forums hardly reflect the real world in terms of purchasing priorities. Most of my friends would never dream of going outside the PS2 market because, at present, there aren't all that many games available for the XBOX. The Gamecube hasn't launched yet, but the range of titles available at launch aren't that many (20 or so).
The PS2 is well established (lots of titles) and the price is slowly dropping. The XBOX launched recently over here and the price is comparable to the PS2 when that system launched.
Now, I could care less about which system ends out on top. My point is that as a student I have the money to buy ONE system of this generation. I do believe that the same applies for quite a few people. Consumer electronics are hideously expensive in my neck of the woods.
Anyway, the link below makes an interesting point regarding the state of the console market. Whether this is true or not I don't know.
http://www.actsofgord.com/page46.html
 

StevenK

Second Unit
Joined
Jul 16, 2000
Messages
266
My opinion of that article was that it was way to biased to be taken of seriously. Few facts, mostly conjectures, and just lots of opinions.

I find it funny how so few people can honestly be completely objective about a $300 machine. What happens when they have to defend their vehicle purchase decision to someone else?
 

Sean Oneil

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
931
Jeff, those are the top selling games... what more do you need then the hard numbers? Also, there have been many threads including discussion as to why Final Fantasy was largely responsible for the initial success of the PSX/Playstation.

Of course those games would sell. Of course it would pay off to get those franchises on the X-Box. There are no numbers out there to support the contrary. Final Fantasy games hold the all time sales records. To think that you can just market a game system without having the most wanted games to play on it is silly. It's like launching the DVD format with only obscure foreign films on the release schedule, and expecting it to sell just because the picture and sound is better. They need the popular titles to generate the big sales numbers. It is all about generating excitement. The kind of BIG excitement that Microsoft needs to generate to sell the X-Box to the huge numbers of people that it needs to in order to break even and turn a profit, simply can not be generated by unknown and non-established brands/titles. Doing it that way will take YEARS to establish new game franchises, and in the meantime, Sony will continue to increase their lead over Microsoft.

They only have one chance to get it right.

Everybody knows that I am an X-Box supporter at heart. I want it to succeed as much as anyone else. Microsoft started off making some smart moves (grabbing DOA3 and Tecmo) but since then, things have slowed down quite a bit. They need to do something(s) to generate more excitement over their system again, and keep it going.

I guess we will see if the people at Microsoft really know what they are doing or not soon enough.
 

Allan Petersen

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Oct 1, 2001
Messages
168
The article is definately subjective! I'm not saying otherwise.

But we're not just talking about the US and Japan here, are we?

In Europe (In my case, Denmark) items like these are EXPENSIVE.

In Denmark, the launch price of the XBOX is $430 (higher if you buy them in the shops). This price is the absolutely cheapest I could find. You can find Halo at a price that's comparable to a PS2-game, but again the shops charge more (10-20 dollars more).

The German prices are slightly lower, but not significantly. A few US dollars at most.

It is my impression that consumer culture in the US and Japan is quite different from what you would experience in parts of Europe. Many European countries have high income taxes and as a result people have less money to spend on stuff like game consoles.
 

Kelley_B

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2001
Messages
2,324
It was not until around the end of '94 to the middle of '95 that the SNES finally outsold the Genesis in North America
Not to side track the thread, but this only happened after Sega for all purposes had left the Genesis and was concentrating on Saturn. Nintendo stuck with the SNES for another 1-2 year release 3 Donkey Kong Country games, Killer Instinct, etc. Now with this Sega did go ahead and release some really crappy Saturn ports to the Genesis, like a 2D Virtua Fighter 2...its a nasty game.

To make things even more interesting during the launch of the Nintendo 64 you could still buy a NES brand new...and they were Nintendo made, unlike the Genesis III which was made by Majesco.
 

Mike__D

Supporting Actor
Joined
Dec 27, 2000
Messages
617
Ummmm, Xbox must not be doing to bad, as Acclaim is focusing on it for 2003:
Link Removed
You think Acclaim would put it's money into something that is gonna fail? And this talk after it's only been out for a few month's is well, stupid. Even though the DC failed, I still enjoyed it for over 3 years... Let's stop this nonsense and just have fun playing games. It's the best time ever to be a gamer right now...
 

paul h

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 14, 1999
Messages
544
Agreed, some new threads would be good that weren't about sales figures or the demise of the XBox ;)
I wouldn't say Acclaim were focusing on the XBox, i'd say they were hedging their bets and throwing games around all of the big 3:
XBox - 18 games
PS2 - 17 games
Gamecube - 14 games
Going back to another topic, you can gurantee there will be plenty of 'ports' in there!!!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,814
Messages
5,123,791
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top