Editorial: Xbox 360 to Remain Strong Through 2015

Xbox1up writes: "Almost 8 years later and the console hasn’t showed any signs of weakness both in sales and Xbox Live members. In the last couple of years the console has outsold the Wii and PS3 by a margin and more people are putting down Xbox 360 games on their Christmas lists. With such a wide range of triple AAA titles like Skyrim, Halo 4, Forza Horizon and Call of Duty games. There are plenty of options on the console."

[Cinotix]

Yea i think that it will go through 2015. Not because of Halo new trilogy but because it's what microsoft feels is comfortable and it has established a large base of fans. Also it'll cut the price of the xbox 360 which will sell even more units.

[Ziriux]

Well anything will sell more once it's cheaper. Everyone knows that, but will the games match up to the Wii U's quality once the Wii U is used to it's core.

[Cinotix]

Yea the Wii U will never surpass the graphics of Mass Effect 3, Assassins Creed 3, Halo 4 and any call of duty game when it comes to graphics on the Xbox 360.

[MikeMyers]

Microsoft will drop support for AAA games as they shift to new hardware. So far they just have a new Gears game lined up for 2013. They have over 70 million units out there and sales are still quite strong so I don't see a complete drop from 3rd party. It will also keep supporting XBLA games. Plus there's still room to drop existing hardware prices.

I don't think the word strong in the headline is the right word. Not when we already see year over year decreases. I don't expect a huge drop like the Wii but a gradual year over year reduction.

[darthv72]

has been at the mercy of the 3rd parties for the last few years. People complain how there isnt enough 1st party or even 2nd party exclusives for it recently.

That was not the direction MS wanted to take the 360. Just because that is the direction of one company does not mean it has to be the same for another. MS built the 360 to be a 3rd party system.

They made it to be the starting point to create content that could evolve to be released on other platforms like the ps3 and even on phones and pc. To put it into perspective, the PS1 was a 3rd party driven platform as was the case for the PS2. There were more 3rd party games released than there was dedicated exclusives.

The key to success is a strong 3rd party relationship for continued support for when the parent company begins their next endeavor. Sony stopped supporting the PS2 (game wise) several months before the launch of the PS3. They did the same in the transition from PS1 to PS2.

That doesnt mean they gave up on the platforms, it means they turned their attention towards what was on the horizon while continued support came from the 3rd party developers. I believe MS secured the 360 as a solid system for continued support from other companies after they themselves have moved on to their next release.

It isnt that uncommon for such a practice to happen. Halo 4 is the last halo game for the 360 and man is it one hell of a last hurrah. The next installments will be 720 bound (or whatever they call it). It just makes sense for it to happen like that.

360 marked the end of one halo trilogy and the beginning of another. The next system will continue the new fight.

[MikeMyers]

darth,

"has been at the mercy of the 3rd parties for the last few years. People complain how there isnt enough 1st party or even 2nd party exclusives for it recently.That was not the direction MS wanted to take the 360. Just because that is the direction of one company does not mean it has to be the same for another. MS built the 360 to be a 3rd party system."

Their direction has been pretty clear, to promote an online service while attaining revenue. Also to use the Xbox as a media hub that can take over your living room. This isn't about making the best games.

"They made it to be the starting point to create content that could evolve to be released on other platforms like the ps3 and even on phones and pc. To put it into perspective, the PS1 was a 3rd party driven platform as was the case for the PS2. There were more 3rd party games released than there was dedicated exclusives."

There will always be more 3rd party support on any game system.

"The key to success is a strong 3rd party relationship for continued support for when the parent company begins their next endeavor. Sony stopped supporting the PS2 (game wise) several months before the launch of the PS3. They did the same in the transition from PS1 to PS2."

They still had software of their own after the PS3 came out. Ape Escape 3 is one of them.

"That doesnt mean they gave up on the platforms, it means they turned their attention towards what was on the horizon while continued support came from the 3rd party developers. I believe MS secured the 360 as a solid system for continued support from other companies after they themselves have moved on to their next release."

Microsoft dropped franchises all along the history of the Xbox 360. They started out pretty strong with games like Kameo, Blue Dragon and Crackdown only to end the past few years with Kinect titles and 4 key games, Fable, Halo, Forza and Gears. They seemed to have taken the role from Activision and that is just concentrating on proven franchises and only using Kinect and XBLA for new IP's.

"It isnt that uncommon for such a practice to happen. Halo 4 is the last halo game for the 360 and man is it one hell of a last hurrah. The next installments will be 720 bound (or whatever they call it). It just makes sense for it to happen like that."

The problem is it takes time to build a library on new hardware. This is what's holding me back on the Wii U and thankfully I have other systems to tide me over. Will Microsoft once again falter with backwards compatibility?

"360 marked the end of one halo trilogy and the beginning of another. The next system will continue the new fight. "

Just like they did with the original Xbox. The difference is back in 2002 the console shooter were few and far between of actual good ones. Now they are a dime a dozen. They will need more than just Master Chief to keep them going.

[Anon1974]

"In the last couple of years the console has outsold the Wii and PS3 by a margin."

What?
Calendar 2010-2011: 360 - 26.5 million PS3 - 28.2 million. 28.2 > 26.5, last I checked. And didn't the Wii do over 30 million in those two calendar years?

Can someone please tell me why, when writing an article like this, it seems like these sites are completely incapable of doing even the most basic fact checking? I'm just curious.

And remain strong through 2015? It's having a hard time remaining strong now. According to MS, sales for the first 3 quarters of 2012 are down almost 40% for the 360, and even in the US during the busy month of Nov, sales were still down dramatically compared to last year with who knows what happening worldwide for the month. If I walked into a boardroom and said "Hey everyone! Sales are down almost half worldwide for most of the year. We're remaining strong!" how well do you think that'd go over?

And "Entertainment Dominance"? Wasn't it just revealed that in North America the PS3 is the console of choice for Netflix? Please show evidence of this "dominance" of which you speak.

I don't think the 360 is going anywhere soon, and I believe Microsoft will continue to support the system until 2015 as well, but let's not kid ourselves. Remaining strong isn't likely until 2015 is a stretch. I love these articles that claim to know the future, when they can't even accurately comment on the present. It's called google. Please take a moment to check your facts before writing. Sincerely, People who know how to fact check.

[cb810]

The Wii U will outlast everyone, considering it was just now released when it should have 4 years ago.

[Ziriux]

Very true, you're probably right, since it came out 4 years after the Xbox 360 and PS3.

[smurfz]

Yea but Nintendo doesn't like to support third party like their in house development when it comes to games.

[Ziriux]

It's not their job to support a developer. Its the developers job to advertise and make their game known. I'ts the way it should be.

[Cinotix]

@ Ziriux,

That's why Steam is the best there is. Look at the developers offering deals on games to get their name across than raise the price back than the people that bought if for cheap pass the word that the game is was great than the money is made back.

[Veneno]

@ Ziriux

When it comes to the Wii U, well, it actually is Nintendo's job to support 3rd party developers because Nintendo is claiming that you will get all the great 3rd party content that you get on Xbox and Playstation on the Wii U. Nintendo has to convince developers that it's worth their time to develop on Wii U and it's not gonna happen by simply ordering them to do it and not doing anything else.

Microsoft throws money at 3rd parties, You really think Nintendo is going to do that? Their own 1st party sells hardware so they don't even need to do that.

And with next gen xbox and playstation coming in 2013 like everyone thinks (not me), you really think third parties will want to develop for Wii U when there is better hardware that will sell their games better? Nintendo should have never promised heavy 3rd party support. They should have just promised the same, family friendly 1st party hardware they always come out with.

[smurfz]

I just bought the Wii U and am looking forward to my next three years till the next system hahaha.

[Cinotix]

That's their track record dating from the gamecube.

[Belking]

No doubt it will. It has a great online service and a huge library of awesome 1st and 3rd party games.

[GraveLord]

No way. Can it be selling in 2015? yeah I can see that but I don't see sales being strong. Next-gen will be the focus from day 1 since it launches.(Holiday '13 or early '14) and that will really take away from 360 sales. The Wii is proof that a cheap price isn't enough to sell once there are a lot of alternatives out there.

One more thing: Microsoft has never supported a console this long before, they've never handled 2 consoles side-by-side. They will make mistakes. They will either market the cheap Xbox 360 TOO MUCH and it will be competing with the 720, or they will market it too little and lose out on millions of sales.

[darthv72]

on if the next system supports the existing library of 360 games or not.

if it does, then they could pretty much stop production of the 360 and market the new one as being able to support those games in addition to its own.

Something i think nintendo should do now. Stop making wii hardware and let all remaining stock sell out but at the same time promote the full wii software/accessory support for the wii-u.

That way they wouldnt be competing against themselves. Games for wii class hardware could still continue as there are millions of wii owners that newer games could appeal to. Companies have that discretion of if they want to continue to support something or not.

Meaning they can finish their games in the pipeline for the wii or hold off, ramp up development and release it as a wii-u game.

Sony is facing problems Sega faced with spreading themselves too thin. i mean sony still supports ps2, ps3, psp and vita. 4 platforms at once but the title goes to sega.

during the dreamcast days they had that and the saturn and genesis, cd, 32x, gamegear and (in some countries) the master system. That is 7 platforms at one time. No wonder they bowed out of the hardware side. Not enough $$$ to spread around AND deal with the overhead.

[iNathan]

After that i couldnt care less about 360, i want MS to focus on 720 with great exclusives and content.

[Veneno]

Me too. There is nothing new going on with the 360. Same old stuff year after year. It sells but for me and my tastes, which are always looking for something new and exciting, have made me leave the 360 years ago.

Microsoft will not give us anything new if its still mostly supporting older hardware.

[aesmith1988]

Doubtful as soon as the new XBOX comes out microsoft will abandon the xbox 360 like they did the first xbox

[darthv72]

was a risky move that paid off for them. Sony should have been so bold to at least scale back their own support for the PS2 and focus it on the PS3. It could have been beneficial for them to have given a stance of we are backing this new release with all of our efforts.

instead, they released it and were playing bounce back and forth between keeping the ps2 crowd happy and listening to the woes of the ps3 crowd. Asking, if not pleading for more support.

if the idea is to promote your latest and greatest, sony just didnt do that enough. They could have left the ps2 in the capable hands of 3rd parties to continue to make games for it while they did everything they could to make the ps3 launch go off without a hitch.

in some ways, it did but in others it didnt. Mainly the lack of proper marketing. But that was then. I doubt they would do that again.

As for Ms, sure they could drop the 360 like a hot rock. So long as they feel confident that the successor does what the 360 does and then some. Put all the marketing into the new product and gain consumer attention with flashy advertising.

I dont disagree with you on them scaling back 360 support. but "abandoning" is a harsh term with no merit. they had to abandon the xbox and push forward with the 360. it worked then but abandoning the 360...not quite the same. They will just let the 3rd parties handle that one. its been 3rd party driven since day 1.

[NoFanboyRequired]

Lol i knew some misinformed kid would come in here and say that. For about... the ten millionth time, they HAD to stop production because of crappy nvidias ridiculously overpriced hardware. They wouldnt drop the prices so microsoft was losing money on each console sold, forcing them to drop the product.

I swear you kids have no brains. Theres this thing called google. USE IT.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

With 360s already severe lack of Exclusives and the system having been in a downward drought for games... This system has scrapped by for 2 years already I'd say, I don't see it having longer legs after this year at all!

[metroidfusion2]

The wii u will sell more then 5.5 million consoles by march 2013 and I'm sure it will sell 10 to 20 million by the end of 2013 then in 2013 if all of the big name games come in 2014 nintendo will destroy every thing in sales and with new 3rd party ports and exclusives and indie developers its gonna be crazy but I don't think nintendo will come out with all of their big name games in 2014 and in 2013/2014 nintendo is only coming out with 1/3 of their games then again with the 3rd party and indie developers the wii u will sell the most and I can't wait to see what's coming out in 2014/2015

[isyourhouseonfire]

Life is too short to keep playing the same hardware year after year. They need to consider shortening console life to just 3 years. Real gamers want to play on the latest and greatest as soon as possible.

Please Microsoft lower these dang console life cycles!!!

[Veneno]

I'm not so sure about 2015. How will Microsoft suppport the 360 if, as everyone seems to believe, that the nextBox will be out by 2013?

Cross gen games? what would be the point of buying next gen Xbox when we can play its games on the 360's we have now? Only exclusive, better software is going to sell the next gen consoles.

Kinect? Again, if next gen Xbox has Kinect, and built-in as everyone seems to believe, why would we buy into next Xbox when the same games are on 360.

3rd Parties? 3rd parties are what Microsoft uses to sell hardware, cause their 1st parties, while popular, aren't enough to sustain a healthy console cycle.

Microsoft seems to have put itself in the exact same position as they did in the transition from original xbox to 360.

They'll have to choose whether to still strongly support the 360 and let the Next Box slowly develop, or again abandon the 360 and go full steam on Next Box. or support each platform equally and have mediocre progress for each.