Parker: Xbox 360 Could Get D(e)-listed
It’s not exactly the type of rumour that Microsoft would like spread, especially not by a generally reputable games analyst on the world stage at the Nordic Game Conference in Malmo, Sweden. Sometimes it’s at these smaller (ie. not E3) conferences that the true glory bits are dropped, intentionally or no, for the slavering journalist hounds to revel in.
Nick Parker, former VP of strategic planning at Sony Eurpoe predicts that the future of the Xbox 360 may not be so rosy. Aside from coming in third in console quantities out of the current generation machines, he cites a lack of global market understanding and a too-heavy reliance on North American segments of the gaming population as major barriers to the the 360’s longevity.
Parker suggested that part of the problem was that:
“The trouble with Xbox 360 is it hasn’t managed to shake off this urban, irreverent adult male feel; so it hasn’t gained traction in the more casual gaming markets of mainland Europe such as France, Spain and Italy, where it’s stalled. And there are already rumours of Xbox 360 being delisted from certain retailers [emphasis mine]…I think they started off badly with the Xbox itself: blood and breasts. This alienated it immediately to a lot of consumers around Europe, and they never got over that. The brand image never went away.”
Fellow analyst David Cole with DFC Intelligence mildly disagreed, saying that strong performance was possible within the core audience of the system, but seconded the idea that the big white box is a bit one-dimensional, saying that:
“their efforts at marketing outside of the first-person shooter crowd have been disastrous. [We expect to] see the Xbox 360 start to struggle in the market”
Ouch.
The discussion panel did mention that the Wii also faces challenges, like keeping a constant supply of new titles coming out for its users, and avoiding the fad fade out of temporarily “cool” things.
Via | GamesIndustry.biz
Image courtesy of Microsoft
