Some have questioned the wisdom of Microsoft launching its Xbox 360 so soon in order to get a lead on the competition. That was in November of 2005. The debut of the game console proved to be rather dubious as there were less than enough machines to go around.
People have accused Microsoft of launching a game machine that was not fully ready to be released. Case in point: the ubiquitous occurrences of the dreaded Red Ring of Death, which stops the Xbox 360 dead in its tracks.
Robbie Bach, boss of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, not only defended his company’s former position, but also added that he would love to see Microsoft launch its next Xbox ahead of the competition once again.
All we can say is that if Microsoft plans on being first to launch again, we hope they’ll release a game console that will last more than 9 months before breaking. Bach said of the Xbox 360’s launch:
"The last cycle for the original Xbox was a little shorter than typical (at four years). We started way late. If you take the question of whether it was the right thing to try to be first [with Xbox 360], the answer to that is definitely yes. It has given us a leg up in a number of places that are super important."
He said that although he can’t say when the next gen Xbox will launch, he’s hoping that it will be the first next gen on the block, just as it was with the 360.
"It has given us a leg up with game developers. It has given us a leg up from an economics perspective. It helped us expand Xbox Live quickly. At a strategy level, if you asked if we wanted to be first again, I would say yes."
So if yes, when?
"We start thinking about the next generation before we shipped the Xbox 360. It doesn’t start with a date. It starts way upstream with silicon development. From that comes a series of data points. You start making early technology choices. It’s an evolving thing. Stuff doesn’t become concrete until you get inside a window of when you have to ship, more than 18 months or so out."
So in other words, wait and see. But the problems associated with the 360, and presumably because of the rush to get the game console out, have left a bittersweet taste in the mouths of Xbox supporter because of extensive reliability issues. So just as Bach has given a wait and see statement as to when the Xbox 720 will launch, some gamers may also give him a wait and see response in buying the next iteration of the Xbox at launch.
Until Microsoft proves that its next game console is solid and dependable, a lot of people will be sitting on the sidelines until these points are validated. After all, who wants to go through the agony of turning in their game consoles every few months to get it repaired?
[via venturebeat]
