Is Microsoft Placing Too Many Eggs In One Basket?

With the latest releases of two great exclusives in the form of Halo Reach and Fable III, also adding to the equation the new dashboard updates with Kinect just around the corner, prepped and ready to serve up 19 all-new titles for the highly anticipated peripheral and on the surface things are looking quite stellar as we end out 2010 for the Xbox 360.

However, looking ahead to 2011 does paint a different picture. Of course this is not your typical doom and gloom opinion piece pointing the finger at Microsoft’s future woo’s, but rather more of what seems to be an intentional direction taken by the manufacturing giant.

[rroded]

their all out of baskets

now they're just throwing eggs right at people...

n ya kinect = the end of the ms gaming division.

[Killed4Less]

and you're all out of bubbles..

so now we complain that MS is doing too much?

People don't know about MS's announces for next year so they go doom and gloom. Silly.

[NothingToGainButLove]

Well they're releasing the Kinect this holiday which means it has to have some sort of prominence throughout the next year.

If it doesn't then what's the point of it anyway.

I basically think Microsoft is shifting it's consumer focus to casuals which isn't amazing for the hardcore gamers. Imagine all the 1st party games that could have been made.

[kancerkid]

I hope Microsoft fleshes out some exlsuives and announces something by March, because we have Gears (not my type of game) definetely, but what about these?

Forza with Kinect (working title)
Haunt
Project Draco
Codename D
Release date unknown
Milo and Kate
Codename: Kingdoms

[D4RkNIKON]

I read that the gap between PS3 and 360 console sales to date has just about closed. Kinect can do one of two things for the 360.. It can market to casuals and have a great response where it continues to sell well keeping the 360 in 2nd place this gen.. OR it backfires after the holidays and sales drop leaving the PS3 to steal 2nd place leaving 360 in 3rd. To be honest I am not sure what will happen because the casual market is much much larger than the core audience. That is why the wii is where it is today, and that is why the creators of Farmville are now worth more than EA. The fate of the 360 rests in the hands of the casual market.

[Parapraxis]

"so now we complain that MS is doing too much? "
Too much for Kinect, too little for the core gamer. Yes.
That would be what is called "putting all your eggs in one basket" .....

[HolyOrangeCows]

Don't forget that they're "counting their chickens before they hatch"

[jony_dols]

Reach is a great exclusive.

Fable 3 however is not.

[Christopher]

Too many? No, they have billions of eggs. Literally.

Now do I believe they're spending too much on Kinect? Personally, yeah. I think they're going to end up spending so much that they won't see any profit unless the product takes off faster than the Wii or the DS and maintains the momentum.

[PHOSADRA]

Its true that companies like to keep things secret....
But we're talking about simple games...Not a new console

Its nice to have a surprise, but we haven't even heard much about anything big they may be working on...

If they had a new game...they could at least start a small hype base until its release
Anything that is revealed at next years E3 most likely won't be released until 2012 or later

Which makes us question their 2011 year

[DelbertGrady]

Do you also write these articles or are you just always the first to troll them?

The Kinect bashing on N4G is taking religious proportions. I tried creating an "Official Kinect Hate Thread" in the forums but it was locked instantly.
Imagine the time it could have saved the mods to have a place where the nutjobs could vent themselves instead of destroying the main page.

[gtamike]

I feel sorry for the 360 hardcore gamers they got no games coming 2011 fact.

[deadreckoning666]

"n ya kinect = the end of the ms gaming division."

Very ignorant thing you just said. Casual gamers throw more money at this industry than hardcore gamers. Kinect is the most marketed casual device since the Wii. If anything, Kinect will open Microsoft's games division to a new audience...thus making them more successful.

[NothingToGainButLove]

The question is, are you willing to see SO much invested into a casual device that could have been used on its gamers at hand?

The fact of the matter is, the PS3 has so many more exclusives put out as compared to the 360.

Something tells me that you, and most people that currently own a 360 for that matter, would prefer more exclusive hardcore games than games aimed a casual crowd.

[Parapraxis]

"What makes you (and SO many others) think that MS is taking money away from hardcore games to put into Kinect?"
The 360's 2011 line-up for one, and it's holiday games slated for this year.

Tell me, which exclusives do you think the average core gamer has to look forward to on 360?

[Godmars290]

Still, its annoying that no one is asking - no one can ask apparently - what happens if Kinect does in fact bomb? What happens if MS goes to all this effort, spends all this money, and the casual gamer just doesn't bite?

Are we going to see another console within 1-2 years that wholly ignores Kinect?

[PirateThom]

You won't see another XBox at all if Kinect bombs.

Microsoft's Entertainment Division doesn't make enough money to have yet another big loser like Zune.

[Eu]

as much as I see Kinect being just a very forcefull PR stunt to keep its gaming division alive, MS knows it will sell. HEck, we all know it will sell, at least in the very begining.

The target users of this will buy it because Ellen said its good, because Bieber said its good, God...OPHRA said it s good!!! See that! It'll simply sell because of those 500 million USD worth of advertisment.

For all we've seen its not worth, the tech is clumsy and doesnt have that many options to be innovative (and it makes the user an awful rag doll to boot...) but it will sell, and thats the worst thing about it. People will buy it because some company spend millions advertising the heck of it.

Great how the misinformed buyer mind works, right.....

[ChozenWoan]

The real question is how many units will be returned shortly there after.

From what I've seen, you need to have just the right environment for Kinect to work in. Setting up this environment is more work than most casuals will be willing and/or able to do. Once the casual gamers get frustrated with trying to get their Kinect working properly, they will return them in a timely manner.

Think about it, casual gamers had a hard enough time figuring out how to get the Wii bar in just the right place. Still the biggest complaint, even among casual gamers, is that the Wiimote is not accurate enough. With how great Kinect works in the vids I've seen, even with MS personally setting it up, Oh it's going to be interesting come Dec 26th.

I'm just saying. ;P

[Chaostar]

As worrying as it is for an Xbox owner to think about, that is a very good question. I'm not gonna answer it myself as, in all honesty, I just don't know. I'm hoping someone has an insight into Microsoft's 'Plan B' that would make an interesting article or blog.

[alb1899]

Windows 7 sells pass 250millions does that respond your question?

[NothingToGainButLove]

I think we can all agree we were talking about the Xbox division here and their foothold in the gaming market

[alb1899]

Even me agree with you, jeje sorry!

[etownone]

Xbox is having a great year ... probably the best year since it's release as far as exclusives, redesigned Xbox, sales and now Kinect.

But .... the only thing I have to look forward to next year is Gears 3. Am I wrong?
Gears is by far one of favorite, if not, my favorite franchise ...... but just Gears??

Hears hoping MS is prepping up for the next gen Xbox!

[Raoh]

why would you need a next gen xbox? what your asking for is more games..

so new console will bring new games? why not get more games with the current system?

that's why MS gets away with what they do, people are too eager to give MS their money

[etownone]

I've had my Xbox since launch in 2005 .... that's five freakin years already with the same console.

I'm sorry if you don't agree but Im already looking forward to an announcement for the next Xbox. I'm hoping 2011, but most likely 2012.

I actually thought Gears 3 would have been release with the next Xbox showcasing the next Unreal engine.

[alb1899]

Do you really fill more intelligent or prepare or maybe you think you have more qualify people working for you to make decisions than Microsoft...really?

Man when they put the eggs in that basket is because is more than 80% possibilities of success so wait and learn.

[Strikepackage Bravo]

this happens every year, Sony hypes up its line up the year before, only to have half the games flop and the other half delayed, with a couple AAA exclusives squeak by to compete with the exclusives that MS will undoubtedly announce in 2011 when they SHOULD be announced.

You people are slow, come folks keep up with the games these companies play or stop commenting.

[blizzard_cool]

OhohoHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... oh wait, you serious?

[mrv321]

Alan Wakes
Gears of War 3
Kingdom
Kinect games
Forza
FInal Fantasy

Just a short list of games ANNOUNCED 2+ years before they will realease

While Sony takes time they also use that time, I mean one of the best games this generation was Uncharted 2, one of most anticipated is Last Guardian. Sonys games aren't just AAA they DEFINE AAA.

[jack_burt0n]

DEFINE AAA

Amen. Even Miyamoto has conceded that now.

[Memo-Xen x3100]

Anything worth being announced for the 360 next year has already been announced in some way. Gears 3 should be good, I really need to go back and finish the campaign of Gears 2. For you to pretend that there are a whole load of cool first party games Microsoft is waiting to bust on your lower back before end of next year is just naive.

[MsmackyM]

+ bub anyway for being funny.

[rekof]

It is cheaper for them to loose to Nintedo than to fuck with Sony,.. They would just get rapped,.. Sony has to much of hardcore AAA games,.. It is actually scary how many great developers they have,.. and the quality of their games,.. is just unparalleled,.. I am so glad to be a gamer,..

Sorry fanboys,.. but those are facts,..

[divideby0]

MS knows what they are doing. Unfortunately for me they are focusing on a casual market and just not getting it done for a hardcore gamer like myself..
I only bought 2 360 games this year (BC2 and Reach). I have the $$, I have the time, just dont see the games to buy..

[mrv321]

Kinect would be great for you, it's costs the $$'s and you'd get bored of it in no time.

[etownone]

What's funny is that at first I was hyped for Kinect,
Then I saw all the games being released and lost all interest,

Now I'm thinking of getting one to show friends, especially non-gamer girls I know ... kinda like how the Wii was when I got it 4 yrs ago.

[N4OGs]

do they even have a basket at this point?

I think gamers are placing to many eggs in the wrong basket if all they own is a freaking x360. I wouldnt put any eggs in the x360 basket because that means you are gonna have to pat 60 dollars and later down the line even more to enjoy your games while everywhere else its free online.

M$ needs to buy a exclusive games basket and put some eggs in that one because the x360 has no games.

[CryWolf]

Your right MS is shifting it's focus to only money instead of game exclusives like XBox Live pricing and project natal, I mean Kinect isn't going to make a big difference to the hardcore gamers but in 2011 most of the newer games are coming to kinect and with XBox Live new pricing a lot people are Canceling their accounts cause they can't paid to keep XBox online its ridiculous how F*ck up is this.

[MsmackyM]

Microsoft is pulling out all the stops when it comes to Kinect. Oprah, Ellen, Justin Bieber; it's clear who MS's is target. With as profitable as the casual market has been, MS feels it is prime time to try an corner it, just look at the 1/2 billion marketing budget. Is this make it or break it for MS in the gaming arena?

[btk]

They are throwing around the money that is earned from Office and the OS in desperate attempts to get other market share.

In short - no, they will spend another 5 Billion on the next fad.