Microsoft announced this week that the Xbox One will be released on 22 November 2013. This comes exactly eight years after the 360 was launched to the world and changed the way we game forever, but the company has no intention of stopping support for the older console; in fact, we’re going to have the hardware around for another three years at least.
Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference this week, Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi said: “If you look at Xbox 360, that platform has lasted for seven to eight years and it’s going to go for another three years. It’s incredibly profitable now in the tail.” This is good news for gamers as it means we can still have the Xbox experience without shelling out near £500 for a One. This also gives us a definitive deadline as to when to make the switch and hopefully by then the price will have dropped.
Mehdi also said there’ll be plenty of new games released for the ageing system: “We are going to continue to invest in Xbox 360 and the two devices can work in concert. So it isn’t just like the day we ship Xbox One, Xbox 360 won’t work; we will continue to support it. In fact, we are going to ship over a hundred new games on Xbox 360.” I hope this means that some good titles will be launched on the current hardware and not a load of throw-away games that weren’t good enough for the next-generation. What Microsoft should be planning is to release some of the big-name titles on both consoles but also producing their own set of exclusives.
Mehdi has promised us three more years for the Xbox 360.
Those planning to make the leap from the Xbox 360 to Xbox One will be able to upgrade a number of current-generation games to next-generation versions for just $10 or £10. Microsoft being Microsoft, this charge could have been a lot worse; if you’re going to upgrade a handful of your titles this isn’t too bad, and you don’t have to do all of your games at once.
Microsoft Game Studios vice president Phil Spencer told Game Informer earlier this week that the Xbox One availability ‘should feel a lot better than it did for 360′ back in 2006. He also said: “You want people to be able to walk in the store and buy one on day one, so you’re trying to manage the inventory that isn’t pre-sold. I want parents who don’t think about pre-ordering electronics to be able to walk in and have a chance to find a box. There might be a line, but I don’t want it to be that if you didn’t pre-order in September, you can’t get one. That doesn’t feel like a great consumer experience.” I agree with this because you don’t want parents stressing out about whether there kids are going to have an Xbox on Christmas Day or not.
Your child will have an Xbox on Christmas day.
So all in all, it’s good news from the Microsoft camp; it’s great news that the current-generation console will be supported for a while longer yet. As long as the games that will be released on the machine are worthwhile, I don’t see why the Xbox 360 can’t still be a major player and a serious alternative in the upcoming war.
