Robbie Bach, the head of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, has said in a recent interview that Sony is feeling the strain after managing both a console and a portable gaming system.
Claiming that developing the Xbox 360, launching the Zune and trying to make a portable game system would hinder Microsoft, Bach didn’t hesitate to take a shot at Sony for doing just that. “I think Sony, frankly, suffers a little bit from this problem, which is they’re spread really thin across all these areas. And trying to do PSP, competing with Nintendo, PSP to DS; competing with us, 360 to PS3, I think it does strain – it would naturally strain any organization,” he added.
When asked about how Microsoft would break into owning 40 percent of the market rather than encounter a three-way tie between the console companies, Bach said that, “There are a couple of things you have to look at. You do have to look at the content. Where’s the best content? Is it cross-platform? Where was it first developed? I think that does matter in the marketplace. The second thing you have to look at is economics. You have to ask the question, over the life cycle, who has the cost advantage? Who can price most effectively? Who can reach the price points quicker? That has a huge impact on what gets driven.”
Bach still indicates that Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, where the Xbox 360 resides, should be profitable by fiscal year 2008. In the mean time, the company continues to lose billions of dollars on the combined ventures.
Source: Mercury News Blog
