Microsoft Foresees Boosted Xbox 360 Sales Next Year
By Chris on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 7:51 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Games Industry, Microsoft, Microsoft
With new games coming from Japanese developers for the Xbox 360, Jeff Bell and Microsoft are expecting to see an increase in sales of the Xbox 360.
“We will sell more consoles next year than this year,” Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft’s games business, told Reuters. “We don’t want to trade places with anybody.”
While Bell didn’t cite specific examples, Devil May Cry 4 and Ninja Gaiden 2 spring to mind as games that could potentially increase the 360’s install base. He mentioned Europe as being a major target for expanding the system’s sales, perhaps indirectly acknowledging the complete failure and arguable futility of the Japan marketplace.
“Europe for us is still the swing,” Bell said. “The biggest challenge is that Sony as a brand has had greater staying power than in other areas. Not just PlayStation 3, but Sony as a brand.”
Continuing the trend of recent idiotic game company exec statements, the man infamous for his “What’s your contribution to society?” line took a swing at Nintendo and the Wii.
Speaking of the lack of success for third parties on Wii, Bell said, “Clearly, we have a competitor where they win and no one else wins. That is not sustainable, it’s never been sustainable.”
Apparently Mr. Bell hasn’t seen the sales figures for Carnival Games.
I just cant see any improvement at all coming in the EU and I doubt very much it will sell as well here next year as it did in this one. What exactly have they got coming exclusively next year that will sell more units here than Bioshock, Lost Planet, Halo 3 & Mass Effect? The PS3 is set to explode next year (in a good way) and that will surely have a negative effect on 360 sales. There are lots of reasons why the PS3 will be a lot more popular next year but I cant see one to back up this guys predictions about the 360.
What exactly is going to tempt the 100m+ PS2 owners who still haven’t upgraded into buying a 360 instead of a PS3 in the coming years especially when you remember how many exclusives they have been playing on their previous PlayStation’s they will be missing out on if they choose Microsoft? If the low price and great lineup on the 360 hasn’t tempted them so far then what on earth will? You have to remember that most of the stuff that tempted them to buy their last console is going to be on the PS3.
how about GTA? i’d think the exclusive content thing would drive a few more folks to buy xbox versus ps3. think this was the case with madden as well with all the press around frame rate – whether a user could see it or not. i think if you want to come off as a credible ‘comment poster’ you should be willing to at least highlight the upside of both console platforms. believe sony’s install base is fiercely loyal, but that said, of the 100M installed ps2 customers, i’m guessing some have already made the move to xbox… the 13M 360 owners came from somewhere afterall, they’re not all new owners or xbox V1 owners… anyway, i have no visibility around future game releases / exclusives, but the unique content for GTA seemed like a big one to overlook.
I have recently moved from a ps2 to a 360 and am really please with it.
2 reasons to go down the 360 route and not ps3 (which is nothing to do with games, technology etc):–
Sonys recent patents (why patent it if your not going to use it)
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/11/08/playstation-3-wont-play-used-games/
and the Sony Root-kit fiasco (google sony rootkit for more information how Sony views its customers)