Microsoft’s Office 365 Fumble a Prelude to Xbox 720′s Market Challenges

Jon Ireson of RealGamerNewz discusses Microsoft's looming digital strategies within the gaming sector as well as recent occurrence involving other software they have put into digital spin and how their strategy with next gen Xbox can be improved because of it.

[Romudeth]

I still think all digital isn't going to happen this generation but we'll definitely see a bigger push in that direction.

[Hitman0769]

I am ready for the Xbox to be great either way. I would prefer they don't go all-digital from my personal opinion but others disagree. I just want to see them wrap it all up in an advertising package that makes sense. The next gen consoles need to each have their own solid and unique identity so they each have a chance to flourish and enrich the industry in their own way.

[JRivera92]

I totally see digital being a WAY bigger part of the next generation. As for 100% digital, I don't know.. but we'll just have to wait patiently to see what happens. Looking forward to it.

[theWB27]

The next gen consoles need to each have their own solid and unique identity so they each have a chance to flourish and enrich the industry in their own way.

I wish more gamers saw it this way. I actually like that all three offer TOTALLY different experiences.

PS3- they focus on their great exclusives. Churném out more n more.

Xbox- Yes you can play all the top 3rd party games with no letdown to other versions(save PC) and we have a few great IP's to enjoy. But we want your whole living room..entertainment.

Nintendo- we offer the unique and alternative way to play and you get our extensive line of exclusive titles you've come to love all these years.

Why is this such a bad thing?

[PhiMattic]

Whether people like it or not, digital distribution is here to stay and will play a big part of next gen gaming. It is a scary thought though considering for example playststion saying all psn purchases will not work on ps4. I am impartial when it comes to digital gaming but I think it should be cheaper than retail.

[1nsaint]

really? didnt even know that, i thought its was just the ps3 games that weren't playable on ps4. i thought the psn stuff would transfer..

[BrianC6234]

It makes sense that PS3 digital games won't work on the PS4 though. It won't play them. You just have to keep a PS3 around. Eventually you probably won't care about playing those old games anyway.

[PhiMattic]

True, but what if your PS3 breaks right when you get a PS4 and you are still interested in playing PSN games you have? Than you will have to buy another PS3 after just buying PS4. That is what I am worried about.

[dcbronco]

They may not work but I'm sure you will be able to re-download the games. They should be attached to your PSN Name.

[BrianC6234]

Hopefully Sony will drop the price of the PS3 way down when the PS4 comes out. Then you could buy a new PS3 eventually if your old one dies. To me Sony is being smart on this though. Long term it's better to have 8GB of GDDR5 RAM than to be able to play PS3 games on the PS4. I think Sony looked at features they could include in the PS4 and decided since developers wanted lots of RAM that was more important.

[BrianC6234]

Are they saying all Xbox 720 or whatever games will be digital? I find that hard to believe. If they did that stores would refuse to sell their console. Why sell hardware you can't sell software for? They need to offer both. They also need to include a Blu-ray drive in their console. The next generation will definitely need more disc space than DVD can handle.

[darthv72]

could still sell the vouchers for the digital content. Just because it isnt a physical copy doesnt mean the store would continue to lose out.

Amazon sells vouchers for digital games for xbox and ps3 and retail chains like gamestop does the same. It would be no different than how we are able to buy gift cards for itunes or homedepot at retail stores like target and walmart.

Plus, the stores can also price the vouchers accordingly as time goes by.

[BrianC6234]

They wouldn't sell that many vouchers though. If you're buying digital games are you really going to the store to buy a voucher? I wouldn't.