Xbox Series S/X: Thread 05

[hudson]

It's ok for the casuals. But you really need a console or something it can run natively on for games like fighting, shmups, action RPGs etc. Well if you are planning to play "seriously"

[Neon Ignition]

Watching it again and reading some of the discussions elsewhere it really starts to ring out just how poor a marketing approach they've gone for which really helps to underline why Xbox is in the ditch it's in to begin with.

The advert doesn't communicate to audiences that aren't niche in any way. It says different devices are 'Xbox's' but seems totally unaware how how niche some of those devices showcases are, doesn't communicate any information at all on how it works/costs/requirements etc beyond some brief small text etc. It's not even marketing Xbox - Xbox is the name of the division and the consoles - Game Pass via Cloud is the actual product being showcased here which it overlooks, the other devices can't do what the hardware can. If you're savvy enough to 'get' what they're aiming for, you're likely not the target audience as you'd know it wasn't the best avenue and already be sold/not sold on their content - something else that isn't referred to in any way.

I've already seen it described as essentially being an advert for the Xbox ecosystem that exists in MS's head rather than the one they have, something where they're already well known for having a successful, accepted and full feature set set-up rather than the half arsed frankenstein's side project they have now where feature support varies massively dependent on what device you're using and they can't get consumers on board for hardly any of it.

It's been a devasting year for Xbox's marketing and PR team and this really hard feels like another nail on its way around the edges of the hardwares coffin lid.

[Neon Ignition]

.......

[Wools]

I would love to be a fly on the wall at Microsoft’s HQ to see how the gaming division justify the past 10 years to their COO’s.

From the big cuts back in 2010 where new games got culled and dickheads like me got let go, to the big spunk up and acquiring of studios for their old games, to the recent slashes letting thousands go, to where we are now.

Aside from Atari, I can’t think of a single Publisher & Developer who’ve ****ed themselves so hardly and roundly in Computer Game history. You can argue Sega, but at least they made some good ****ing games during their Dreamcast blowout.

It’s such a shame to see MGS (Not Snake) attempt to buy their way back into relevance. They may still do it and perform a monumental turnaround with COD & Minecraft on board (With more acquisitions on the way apparently) but somehow, I still wonder if those developers will be around in 5 years time.

[Neon Ignition]

They're in such an awkward state and to be honest I think they're at the point where the real problem in the room that there's still a reluctance to directly address is - the consoles.

If Microsoft didn't have to drag the sales corpse of the Series S/X behind it then their advertising would be much more effective. They wouldn't really need these convoluted ads, they could largely do what third parties do and place the focus firmly on their software with the end of the advert making a much clearer message of 'Available Now on PC, Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and via Game Pass Ultimate'

All they'd need then is the occasional dedicated advert specifically promoting Game Pass and its availability on devices. Here, instead, we got an entire campaign that pretty much just repeats the word Xbox and expects you to know Game Pass exists, what it is, what it costs, how it works etc.

[Neon Ignition]

The irony isn't lost on me either that they launched this the same week that they axed the Game Pass phone app and turned the mobile service to dog**** also.

[Dogg Thang]

I did not understand the commercial at all. I have zero idea what they are doing with this.

Other than harm to their brand.

[Neon Ignition]

"You are an Xbox and you are an Xbox and YOU are an Xbox!"




In lesser covered news but infinitely more straight forward - new screens of Avowed:

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/xbox-console-future-cloud-ceo-phil-spencer-1235166597/

Spencer says that MS will definitely still do more Xbox hardware but that in terms of growing their market the console market is effectively cooked for Xbox and they will be focusing elsewhere.

I'm still betting that the next Gen Xbox is the last one.

[wakka]

That advert posted above is part of the same campaign I mentioned in a previous post I'd seen heavily promoted on the tube.

I agree with the points made, I don't think it's effective at all. I can't imagine a lot of people taking action on the basis of it. A particularly poor component of it is the emphasis on things that aren't especially recognisable. There's a lot of phones plugged into Backbones and portable gaming PCs and other pretty obscure stuff. Most people don't own those things and won't recognise what they are.

I don't think it's a great idea to promote this in general, but even taking the brief as it is, it's not what I would personally have come up with.

More effective would be to simply focus on phones and show someone zapping from their WhatsApps straight into a full blown Xbox game using on-screen controls. I think that get the message across more clearly.

It's ok for the casuals. But you really need a console or something it can run natively on for games like fighting, shmups, action RPGs etc. Well if you are planning to play "seriously"

I'm sceptical that this 'casual' audience who don't own or want a console yet want to play console games really exists to be honest. I agree it's who MS are trying to target, so they clearly think they do. But I feel like anyone who even just wants to play the yearly CoD and maybe some Fifa/Fortnite/etc is happy enough to just buy a PS5. It's not ridiculously expensive considering you get many years of use out of it.

[hudson]

I was thinking for a second of a good (very specific) use case where if you had a party for your child and his/her friends came over, you could throw GP on their device (all kids are born now with device in hand), then they could all squad up in Fortnite, but I forgot about subs costs and login creations etc.

[fishbowlhead]

Ah yes, MS once again entirely missing the point yet again, but keep spending those billions instead of earning them, you'll get there one day.

[dataDave]

I was thinking for a second of a good (very specific) use case where if you had a party for your child and his/her friends came over, you could throw GP on their device (all kids are born now with device in hand), then they could all squad up in Fortnite, but I forgot about subs costs and login creations etc.

LOL. It just took me two full evenings (around nine hours of my time, total) setting up my son's new Minecraft account on my old laptop so that we can play together. The MS Family Safety ecosystem and glitched out permissions were mainly to blame, followed by the latest version of Java not playing nice with with Win10 firewall settings within the LAN.

Total bollocks. IN future please remind me to think VERY carefully about sending Microsoft a single penny of my money ever again.

[charlesr]

Remember when we played 240p games on N64 at 16fps and then split that on to 4 player splitscreen

[egparadigm]

Remember when we played 240p games on N64 at 16fps and then split that on to 4 player splitscreen

Those were the days. ♥️