Xbox 360 is about "halfway through" its lifecycle, estimates Xbox's EMEA VP, Chris Lewis.
Asked if Xbox is still growing at this "late stage in a console lifecycle", Lewis said:
"We see it as about halfway through. But yes you are right, Xbox is defying the normal curve you might expect. There's no doubt that Kinect put a huge shot of adrenaline into the business.
"What we are now seeing is massive swathes of families and younger audiences flocking to it. As you saw at the press conference, we are now in line with what we projected at E3 2010."
Lewis went on to explain that Microsoft deliberately focused on families and kids first with Kinect, and now it's moving on to provide "complimentary" experiences for core gamers.
"What you won't see is us contriving that," he said. "What you will see is us using Kinect to enhance the experience and not detract from it. I don't think our core gamers will tolerate anything else from us."
Comments
36 comments so far...
KMakawa on 24 Jun '11 said:
6 years if half way?, is he on drugs?!
..Glad im back to upgrading my PC Rig tbh...
jim2wheels on 24 Jun '11 said:
Could be basing that on the overlap of the next gen release? The PS2 is still chugging away after 5 years of PS3, dirt cheap too.
almanac2015 on 24 Jun '11 said:
Difference is the success of the PS2. Whilst the 360 has certainly been successful, the PS2 sales are absolutely mad. It dominated a generation. Whilst I can imagine a crossover period, I can't imagine it will be too long.
shogunknight on 24 Jun '11 said:
Xbox 360 'about halfway through' its lifecycle?
Is he Serious? So sony and microsoft are saying the same thing.
Aww
neogreyfox on 24 Jun '11 said:
maybe the 360 will have the same type of old gen success, like the ps2, if they drop the price below $100 when the new one comes out.
who knows?
KMakawa on 24 Jun '11 said:
Agree with Almanac, There is definitely going to be a crossover period, but PS2 started something serious in a sense, and is still selling strong, mostly in asian markets but it is still strong. Xbox 360 doesnt have that much of a guarantee that it will sell strong once the new console arrives.
Still though.. 6 years = halfway. That is definitely quite worrying.
I am unsure how many times they can price cut, and how many times they can bring out "new models". Some spark needs to light if it wants anotherr 6 years...
StonecoldMC on 24 Jun '11 said:
Gears 3, UC3, Skyrim, Rage, Batman, Tomb Raider et al.
This gives me the confidence that we could well be at the half way point of this cycle.
TykerD3 on 24 Jun '11 said:
Kinect has added a shot of errr nothing. Im hoping some decent games come out for it, but i do doubt it.
Please MS show a new console at E3 2012 and release it 2013.
DAEDALUS79 on 24 Jun '11 said:
Well if you do the math its not that crazy. At the very least another year till the 360's successor comes along, and you would expect natal to add another good 2 years on top of that so thats already 3 years. Then after depending on how the sales go on, another 2-3 years could be pushed out the system. In 6 years time we will probably be 3-4 years into "next generation" so to speak, the ps2 was still going strong at that point in this gen, and arguably the xbox would have lasted nearly that long had MS not killed it off so soon.
Wozzakl on 24 Jun '11 said:
Nah, three-quarters.
Mobius01 on 24 Jun '11 said:
A shot of ketamine, more like!
Which I think the EMEA VP must be on too, to make claims like this.
Atinetro on 24 Jun '11 said:
So it's finally settled down with a partner and now thinking about children....
So...
That only leaves us with the mid life crisis, mental breakdown and divorce?
ricflair on 24 Jun '11 said:
To be honest, I don't pay much attention to anything that the European arms of Nintendo, Sony or America have to say.
'About' is a very ambiguous term too!
HeavenlyGamer on 24 Jun '11 said:
Well if it really is, than it's pretty good news for the Wii U then!
sh4dow83 on 24 Jun '11 said:
i second that! console developers are absolutely delusional.
360 and ps3 are at the end of their cycle, period! and i won't even talk about the disgrace that is "wii u".
i'm looking at screenshots of crysis 2 directx 11 right now and already can't wait for battlefield 3 - the pc version! because that is going to look like a game these days is supposed to look!
boskersrevenge on 24 Jun '11 said:
I wouldn't be surprised.
Cogglesz on 24 Jun '11 said:
I find it pretty hard to think it would last another 6 years, i'd say 2 at the max personally, perhaps money is the problem here with the next gen, i think there trying to turn the 360 into a wii, the GC was 7 years old when the Wii came, the 360 aint to far from being 7 years old, if you look at the pc market its already cheap to go beyond what the ps3 and xbox 360 can pull off and theres lots of more hardware comming to pc's by next year, a brand new generation of videocards and processors, ram isn't really a problem i got a mid-ranged motherboard that can take on 16gb of ram and 2 top of the range gpus, it wont be cheap to max it out but christ it would be powerful, but a £100 graphics card and a £60 quad core processor and £60 worth of ram my new rig easily destroys the consoles, the console market can take it back though, but i'm afraid if both Sony and Microsoft wait for this "10 year old cycle" the ps4 and 720 will already be outdated like the wii was compared to the pc gaming market, where has the great fight for the most powerful console went to? That was one of my favourite topics of my childhood, i felt we were in need of new consoles this year, but nothing came along so turning my s**tty 5 year old desktop pc into an absolute beast that runs crysis 2 on max (obviously not 11, we'll see) with a few hundred was the best thing i ever did gaming wise, and all the games are atleast £10 cheaper brand new, so i'm saving a ton on games right now, its actually cheaper on the pc now a days in the long run and 90% of games out today use the 360 pad so keyboard and mouse aint a problem either.
only_777 on 24 Jun '11 said:
Good, I'm glad MS and Sony are going to make this generation run for a long time. I'd love to see both machines run on for a while and really push the hardware. Plus the longer this gen goes, the cheaper it becomes for games to be made which is better for everyone in the industry.
But Kinect adds nothing but fail to the 360. Interactive adverts? Do one.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 24 Jun '11 said:
/\/\ keyboard and mouse a problem. Are you mad, Keyboard and mouse is a million times better than a pad. Well for fpss and rtss anyway. for everything else a pad is much better.
Cogglesz on 24 Jun '11 said:
i'm not the one that thinks its a problem, just maybe it is for console gamers thinking about getting a gaming pc.
Padua on 24 Jun '11 said:
...half a life cycle? That would mean the next xbox to arrive just after Wii U(2) and Kinect: Let's Dance 6
slick loose on 24 Jun '11 said:
Sounds like a desperate attempt to keep up with SONY. The 360 did very well because it was released a year before the PS3, I think it would be wise again to release earlier...much more than 6 years!
The 360 seems like it has already hit the ceiling. I reckon Halo 4 will come out on the 360 and Halo 5 will be a launch title for the 3rd Xbox.
KesMonkey on 24 Jun '11 said:
"A million times better" is an opinion, not a fact though. It would be hard to argue against the mouse and keyboard combo being more accurate, and faster than a gamepad, but for many gamers, more accurate and faster doesn't equal better.
I, for one, no longer play FPS games with mouse & keyboard. I much prefer using a gamepad. Why? A few reasons.
Firstly, myself and a couple of friends all suffered varying degrees of repetitive strain injury from years and years of playing twitch shooters on PC. I've never had that problem with gamepads (apart from some stiff fingers after an 18 hour CoD4 marathon, once).
Secondly, I love to be able to sit back in front of a huge tv with my legs stretched out in front of me.
I also much prefer the 'sensation' of pulling a trigger (not a million miles away from firing a real gun), and getting that rumble feedback.
It's also worth mentioning that, with a few exceptions, gamepad players are all using the same hardware, it levels the playing field. When playing on PC, I could never be sure if I just died because my opponent had more skill, or if he/she had a more expensive/accurate mouse than I did.
And, lastly, I'm much much higher up the gamepad 'food chain' than the mouse/keyboard food chain. What I mean is, I usually kick ass with a gamepad, not usually with a mouse.
Just to clarify, everything I'm saying here applies to my experience with the 360 gamepad. I find the 360's analogue sticks to be much more accurate than a DualShock.
However, when it comes to RTS games, I'm with you. I'd hate to play something like Company of Heroes with a gamepad.
tl;dr - 'Better' is subjective. For me, a gamepad is better than a mouse & keyboard.
Tom tom tom on 24 Jun '11 said:
I see it going for another 3 years and then the successor coming out. If halo 4 nails it with multiplayer it could very well go on longer. Just look at how many still played halo 2 in it's final days.
boskersrevenge on 24 Jun '11 said:
Believe it or not they don't work that way. They do compete but this news (if true) does give weight to two things:
1. The only voice calling out for more powerful hardware is the voice of gamers on-line; which are in the minority with respect to how much we spend.
2. The investment in this generation has been enormous. Freakishly massive, seriously big... it would also be a mistake to start making such a big investment obsolete during the formative years of a new, even more expensive console. Leaving in it's wake a complex business model.
I am not sure how this generation will peter out but it's going to be around for a while longer yet, in my opinion.
slick loose on 24 Jun '11 said:
I hope it does Bosk, I'm loving this gen!
yourmumwasfun on 24 Jun '11 said:
Somebody shoot this guy with adrenaline.
boskersrevenge on 24 Jun '11 said:
Aye - well chuffed the PS3 is coming down in price so I am hoping for some really juicy bundles and having this gen last longer means I get to enjoy it for a decent amount of time.
wasted-again on 24 Jun '11 said:
Well, good luck finding anything to play on it, from here on out it's just Sims and WOWs, with the odd Valve game thrown in at random.
Fr33Kye on 24 Jun '11 said:
Good point! I forgot about how much money went into kinect. I'm not sure if kinect will ever payoff but they certainly are giving it the time. It remains to be seen whether developers will just give up on it or not. I just wish sony would put some devs behind move, they publish work from some seriously creative devs. I can see how sony think the ps3 has a few years left. Games are looking better, its supposedly getting a price cut, and its just recently hitting its stride. For new hardware they have both move and ps3 vita connectivity, so its not like we'll run out of new ways to play games. Game development will get even cheaper so i doubt the consoles will be void of creativity. psn and xbla are on the rise as well. I can see the ps3 lasting a few more years, but idk how much kinect will do to extend the 360's lifecycle. Microsoft are putting all their resources into it, and for good reason, but it might not do much for the console. Either way the 360 is a success.
I can hear the ridicule from pc gamers now....then the cries when they get a port from ten year old hardware!
Megatrons_Fury on 24 Jun '11 said:
People always want new things, its just how society is nowdays
I personally believe Microsoft will go again with a new console by winter 2013 which means the 360 would have lasted around 8 years which is a fantastic achievement and even then will prob go for another 2 more years as the newer model takes hold.
If you look at what Microsoft have exclusives wise its getting slightly thinner year in year out which is a clear indicator that publishers are looking around and getting itchy feet etc, right now im more than happy with my next gen consoles, i love them all to bits but i see why a lot of people want more.
I think its important to enjoy what you have when you have it, we all want things that will be out in 6 months right now and thats natural but just kick back and have fun with the sheer shed loads of games available on the current microsoft console, another thing to remember is that a lot of consoles in the past produced their best games during the latter part of the console lifespan and i see no exception with the 360.
I hope that microsofts next console brings as many cool things to the table as the 360 has, not too keen on Kinect interface stuff at all and everything i have played on that just screams add-on gimmick, maybe when the next gen version of it is intergrated as standard into every new microsoft console then developers will use it better. We seem to be stuck at the start of this whole body motion gaming arc just waiting for the real killer app to make everyone take notice or for the bubble to burst, im looking forward to going back through articles and magazines in a few years time and seeing how it all panned out from a retro standpoint.
I hope the 360 stays around for as long as it wants, it's been a great servant to the games industry much like the original xbox as well which never got the recognition it deserved.
sh4dow83 on 25 Jun '11 said:
are you at all familiar with the proverb "better to remain silent and be thought a fool..."?
battlefield 3
skyrim
rage
tomb raider
arkham city
modern warfare 3
...
plenty of stuff to play and all of these games have at least the potential to look considerably better than their console counterparts.
BenThomasFoster on 25 Jun '11 said:
urgh HONESTLY! 6 more years of this crap.
Dapz on 25 Jun '11 said:
I hope this is true. The amount of time we've been in this console generation is normally how long it is before the next one starts arriving, but in spite of that I still don't want the new gen. And no, it's not because I won't be able to afford a new console. Actually it's partly that, but even when I have money I'd rather just spend it on new games for my current console.
Right now in terms of tech we're in an interesting position: we've never had it so good while appreciating it so little! Look at Crysis 2 or Mass Effect 3 or pretty much any new or upcoming games on an HD TV. Our consoles are capable of producing such realistic experiences graphic wise, and looking at games like Red Dead Redemption, or upcoming games like Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur, we have nothing to worry about in terms of the size our consoles can handle either. We should take some more time to savour this generation because unless you won't be satisfied until you can make out individual ridges in the fingerprints of a character standing a mile away, there's no reason to move on!
Another reason people are using for a new gen is that our consoles are running out of memory, which is to be expected with the large amount of downloadable games and DLC we have these days, but if you're on a 120gb hard drive or less, you simply need to buy a new one with 250gb, and while obviously it's considerably more than a week's pocket money, it's far cheaper than getting a new console for that reason alone. And if you already have a bigger hard drive and it's full (really?) then surely you can delete some of your downoads? You'll be able to reinstall them for free you know?
Finally, in addition to costing us money, new console gens also cost game devs money, and it means that less great games start being released. 2010 was an amazing year for games and i could literally name 50 great games from it! We're only halfway through 2011, and we've already had plenty of great games and we know there's loads more to come. And even though 2012 is some way off, we already know of several that will be coming out then. The truth is that more great games start being released when we're far into a console lifespan because the devs have had time to get to grips with the technology, so if we go for another six years with great games being released this often I can only see it being a bright future indeed. I mean, the 360 and PS3 both launched with some decent games, but how money would you still play today? And how many are going to go down as true highlights of the console. I can count them on one hand. Even if the hand had all its fingers chopped off!
So in summary, I'd much rather go on being able to choose from about 50 great games a year, to enjoy on our current, still pretty damn good tech, safe in the knowledge that if my 120gb hard drive runs out I can simply replace it with one twice the size. Now can anyone tell me that doesn't make sense?
jehovahswitless on 25 Jun '11 said:
sounds about right, my 5th one by all rights is probably half way through its life cycle!
sillysadmachine on 27 Jun '11 said:
Is he serious? Because almost all of the first runs of this console crapped out because of heat sync failure. Red Ring of Death, anyone? None of those consoles are halfway through their life cycles ... they're all scrap. So what timeline is he really basing this on? Version 2.0?