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Microsoft sells Mediaroom, Xbox to be their TV strategy going forward

I

infinityBCRT

Member
http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_blog/archive/2013/04/08/mediaroom-and-our-tv-journey.aspx

The following is a post from Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business for the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft.

Today, Microsoft and Ericsson announced a definitive agreement for Ericsson to acquire Mediaroom, the number one IPTV platform deployed by TV operators around the world. This acquisition is mutually beneficial and strategically aligned for both parties. Ericsson will continue to invest in the growth and success of Mediaroom to the benefit of customers, employees, and the industry. It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox.

We are proud of the world-class engineering and business achievements within Mediaroom. They have a rich history of driving innovation in IPTV. As early pioneers, they built the infrastructure to stream video on limited bandwidth, and today they enable multiscreen entertainment experiences for pay TV subscribers. Mediaroom has contributed to the evolution of TV and powers 22 million set-top boxes today in 11 million subscriber households.

With the sale of Mediaroom, Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want – whether on a console, phone, PC or tablet. And with 76 million Xbox 360 consoles around the world with 46 million Xbox LIVE members, it is a mission that gets us out of bed in the morning.

It is not a mission that we can achieve alone. We want to partner with the industry to deliver the next wave of innovation in games and consumer entertainment. We will partner with content creators, studios, labels, networks, content aggregators, operators and distributors to make this happen. We believe the future of home entertainment is one where TV becomes more simple, tailored and intelligent. We believe the best is yet to come for this industry.

Our vision and energy for the future of entertainment is more focused than ever. Stay tuned.
Click to expand...
 
M

maverick40

Junior Member
"It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox."

1pbWU.gif
 
K

Kimawolf

Member
"No way, MS would NEVER do that, they are with the Hard Core, just ignore that"

Expect that to be the argument. In any event the writing has been on the wall. They have always said what their end game was.
 
S

surly

Banned
...Microsoft is dedicating all TV resources to Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want...
Click to expand...
How many people will totally ignore the "g" word to focus solely on the "e" word I wonder?
 
C

Crimson_Gold

Member
I think this pretty much seals the deal for a great number of things. Nothing wrong with a media focus if the games don't get left behind. If you forget about the games, GAME OVER.
 
F

FordGTGuy

Banned
This is somehow a bad thing?

What's wrong with offering us more features?

serplux said:
The Next Box isn't going to have games as a focus, is it?
Click to expand...

Xbox in a continued mission to make it the premium entertainment service that delivers all the games and entertainment consumers want
Click to expand...

You guys act as if the PS4 isn't going to follow suite on entertainment?
 
S

Shahed

Member
As long as you offer a lot of compelling exclusives that ere either not timed or DLC related, I don't really mind
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
surly said:
How many people will totally ignore the "g" word to focus solely on the "e" word I wonder?
Click to expand...

Why not piggyback the Xbox brand and push it alongside their media agenda?

It sounds unattractive to me and is the reason that the industry may go down the tubes sooner than later.
 
M

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
Can this mean the Only Online thing is true, then? I mean, I don't have any problem with all these things if games are still considered as an important part and if these services don't have a negative impact on the platform itself, but if this is the confirmation that Nextbox must be always connected, then...
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
FordGTGuy said:
This is somehow a bad thing?

What's wrong with offering us more features?
Click to expand...

Nothing comes for free. People working on the entertainment side could be working on the game side. A balance would be a good thing... but Microsoft doesn't want balance. They want to get those stubborn non-gamers who snubbed their Kinect the first time around.
 
T

Tenumi

Banned
It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox
Click to expand...

But.. But... Isn't this going to be a video game console?

Seriously though, additional features are always nice. I still question the commitment by Microsoft to draw in the gaming consumers, though.
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
FordGTGuy said:
This is somehow a bad thing?

What's wrong with offering us more features?
Click to expand...

Those extra features tend to be US-centric or worse, US-only.

As a European none of those extra features beyond gaming have any attraction for me.
 
K

Kyoufu

Member
I just can't get excited about Durango at all. Microsoft haven't been in touch with me ever since they pushed Kinect, and this TV focus does nothing for me.

They better show why I would want the next Xbox as a gamer.
 
quickwhips

quickwhips

Member
I think this is great I don't have cable tv so I'm really interested in what this will mean. Also who determines what IPTV shows can be shown in what areas?
 
M

Minions

Member
FordGTGuy said:
This is somehow a bad thing?

What's wrong with offering us more features?





You guys act as if the PS4 isn't going to follow suite on entertainment?
Click to expand...

It is more of an issue... because they are focusing on the entertainment side, not the games side in this next console. So the games will be the lesser focus of the overall console... meaning they don't care if you don't buy it due to game restrictions. They expect to sell them based on the entertainment side... and since you already bought it, you may as well play games on it too.
 
W

Wickerbasket

Member
infinityBCRT said:
They sold an amazing IPTV platform because they think the new one they built for Xbox is better.
Click to expand...
I was a bit vague there, I meant more in terms of their console strategy.

I mean "It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox" must be speculation from the writer of the article surely?

They wouldn't design the whole console around a TV box would they?

As long as nothing else is compromised in the console, it should be fine.
 
D

Derrick01

Banned
FordGTGuy said:
You guys act as if the PS4 isn't going to follow suite on entertainment?
Click to expand...

They've said like 4 times already that their focus on PS4 is gamers. Has MS ever said that? Even in vague comments since apparently it's illegal to mention the 720 exists when everyone knows it does.
 
F

FordGTGuy

Banned
KojiKnight said:
Nothing comes for free. People working on the entertainment side could be working on the game side. A balance would be a good thing... but Microsoft doesn't want balance. They want to get those stubborn non-gamers who snubbed their Kinect the first time around.
Click to expand...

You do realize that people watch and consume "entertainment" more than play games on Xbox and Playstation?

Revven said:
For every pointless non-game feature we get, we lose features that matter to us. Or worse, get features that impact us negatively.
Click to expand...

Evidence? For some reason you don't think Sony will match these offerings? You do realize they are both fighting to be the center of your living room right?

Derrick01 said:
They've said like 4 times already that their focus on PS4 is gamers. Has MS ever said that? Even in vague comments since apparently it's illegal to mention the 720 exists when everyone knows it does.
Click to expand...

They don't comment on unannounced products so they haven't said anything at all. You somehow think the PS4 is going to abandon the entertainment market it holds? The PS3 has the largest amount of viewers of Netflix and sold a lot of console just because of it's Blu-Ray capabilities.
 
R

RooMHM

Member
Wickerbasket said:
So what does this mean?
Click to expand...
As I said multiple times : Microsoft is the cancer of video games.

You can't expect a firm whose revenues come from selling the Office Pack or Suite to be a great video games contributor.

FordGTGuy said:
You do realize that people watch and consume "entertainment" more than play games on Xbox and Playstation?
Click to expand...
Video games is the type of entertainment generating the most revenue.
 
I

infinityBCRT

Member
Wickerbasket said:
I was a bit vague there, I meant more in terms of their console strategy.

I mean "It allows Microsoft to commit 100 percent of its focus on consumer TV strategy with Xbox" must be speculation from the writer of the article surely?

They wouldn't design the whole console around a TV box would they?
Click to expand...

The writer of the article is the Corporate VP of Marketing/Strategy for Entertainment at Microsoft.
 
T

Tratorn

Member
You can see in this PR that they really shouldn't and probably won't use "always online":

76 million 360s sold, but "only" 46m Live-Members (gold + silvers i assume).
So like 30m Xbox-systems weren't online (you can't do anything online without an account).
That's a simple calculation, because I don't count things like multiple accounts (that would even increase the number) or multiple systems per user, but it should show that there're many "offline" 360s out there.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
xtrasauce said:
Every console will act as a TV hub next gen, I don't see what the fuss is about.
Click to expand...

So far, the PS4 seems more about social integration and games. MSFT is sounding worse as I read more on it.

Of course they will have games but probably not the ones I want. No reason to even want another Xbox right now. Certainly not with all the crap we've been reading about always online and dilution of the product.

It's to push their stupid agenda and in the end, it will hurt the gaming industry.
 
M

Midou

Member
Kyoufu said:
I just can't get excited about Durango at all. Microsoft haven't been in touch with me ever since they pushed Kinect, and this TV focus does nothing for me.

They better show why I would want the next Xbox as a gamer.
Click to expand...

I got a lot of respect back for Microsoft a couple years into life of the 360 and release of Windows 7 later too. Then Kinect, Windows 8, and now always-online rumours, it's like something happened along the way...
 
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