The Cellar - View Single Post

vsp · 05-27-2002, 03:32 PM

But they're still the minority player in the field. Microsoft doesn't take over and rule every place that they stick their corporate nose into, and they're not the 900-pound gorilla in this arena. It's not to say that a new player can't quickly become dominant, obviously -- else Sony wouldn't have struck it gold with the PlayStation -- but they have one hell of a hill to climb with the Xbox, because Sony already owns that house big-time.

Microsoft has ONE route to dominance, and it's an obvious one -- spending major bucks to gain exclusivity rights to major game companies and properties. When Xbox is the only place for EA Sports, for killer apps like GTA3, for Tony Hawk, for the biggest games coming out, people will start flocking to it in droves. If you're a ten-to-one underdog, how do you convince developers to abandon the market leader and not produce cross-platform products? Money, baby, and big truckloads of it. Even Microsoft may not want to churn out THAT kind of dough, though it is something they do have in abundance...

05-27-2002, 03:32 PM	#8
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	But they're still the minority player in the field. Microsoft doesn't take over and rule every place that they stick their corporate nose into, and they're not the 900-pound gorilla in this arena. It's not to say that a new player can't quickly become dominant, obviously -- else Sony wouldn't have struck it gold with the PlayStation -- but they have one hell of a hill to climb with the Xbox, because Sony already owns that house big-time. Microsoft has ONE route to dominance, and it's an obvious one -- spending major bucks to gain exclusivity rights to major game companies and properties. When Xbox is the only place for EA Sports, for killer apps like GTA3, for Tony Hawk, for the biggest games coming out, people will start flocking to it in droves. If you're a ten-to-one underdog, how do you convince developers to abandon the market leader and not produce cross-platform products? Money, baby, and big truckloads of it. Even Microsoft may not want to churn out THAT kind of dough, though it is something they do have in abundance...