DICE 2008: Microsoft on the Defensive

"I remember a couple of weeks ago people thought the Patriots would win the Super Bowl," said Kim, pulling a punt fake and dodging the question entirely. "So I think we should concentrate a little less on pronouncements years in advance. Nobody at Microsoft thinks the war is over."

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Dice 2008: Giants, pants down.

Their attach rate is higher than on the Wii, but the PS3 is coming. What kind of games Microsoft can produce in their studios?
I don't get their reasoning. They say there's plenty of talent, they throw messages like "we have to cuddle developpers" instead of sapping their life force, they say that their strategy for the mass market sucks big donkey balls, yet don't seen to hire that many small units to produce many small first party mass market games to grow their catalogue.

Sure, they're maaking efforts on XBLA, but the more they eat slots on XBLA for their own game, the more they'll eat their own tail and alienate indies, simply because acquiring a slot will become harder and harder, and between the reharshes of old games shoved by big publishers/studios, it will be a harsh environment for those who look at XBLA as a way to properly start their business.

Maybe they should make divisions within XBLA? Like the oldies section (face lift or not) and the true new games one. Does it already exist on their system?