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Microsoft: "We're no longer just competing with console companies"

S

shinobi602

Member
Microsoft's VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business, Phil Harrison, has acknowledged that the company's internal development studios are no longer competing with just traditional console manufacturers, but web and tech companies including Google and Apple.

Speaking at the London Games Conference this evening, Harrison said that his game development teams are now multiformat studios, working not only across Xbox but Windows 8, Surface and mobile devices.

"We are now really a multiplatform studio," he told the audience. "We are not just building games for Xbox 360, we're building experiences for smart glass, we're building dedicated games for Windows Phone 8 and for Windows 8."

Around 30 titles released for the Windows 8 launch period were developed in-house at Microsoft Studios, according to Harrison. Thinking multiformat at Microsoft is part of a wider remit at the corporation, he said, pulling other developments such as cloud computing into the entertainment business.

"We think this expands our competitive map," he said. "We're no longer just competing with the traditional console companies, but our competitive landscape includes the likes of Google, the likes of Amazon, it includes obviously the likes of Apple."

"We think that's great. We think it's good for us, we think it's good for the industry and we think it also moves us into this network generation more aggressively and with more determination. And this is in turn powered by the cloud, and this is another corporate investment that Microsoft is making the future of how technology and devices interact. We think of Microsoft as now being a devices and services company.

"There isn't an organization that embodies that strategy more precisely and concisely as Microsoft Studios inside the interactive entertainment business."

He also went on to shed some light on the recently announced tablet and mobile phone studio in London, headed up by former Rare developer Lee Schuneman.

"We are trying to build a new kind of studio," he said. "We describe it as being a 21st Century studio.

"It will not make retail products. It will be making products largely based on the Windows 8 platform and technologies. And it's more about exploring new business models and pioneering new ways to play on devices that we think are going to be powering the future of our industry over the next five or ten years. We're hiring from the console industry, the web 2.0 industry and from the online gaming industry."

Source
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O

onQ123

Member
Slide4.jpg


Slide7.jpg

We Know!
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
As their last few E3's have shown.
 
D

DragonSworne

Banned
I hope they aren't going to make a Frankenstein box that does all sorts of things no one wants causing them to lose focus of the true appeal, gaming.

The last few E3s from MS have been worrisome
 
P

Pakkidis

Member
Hellsing321 said:
Glad they're finally starting to realize this.
Click to expand...

Microsoft has realized this since before the original Xbox. The whole point of Xbox was so that Sony would not dominate the living room. Xbox used videogames as the starting point to get into people's homes, now comes everything else.
 
C

chris3116

Member
I think they want to have an unified machine with the next Xbox. Windows 8 will probably be there along with Kinect and somehow with the tablet surface. The convergence will be huge on the Microsoft side next gen.
 
H

Hiltz

Member
... Don't tell me Microsoft's going to put Windows 8 into the next Xbox.... then there's Kinect! The two things gamers and developers don't want!

Smokey said:
wow i did not know Phil Harrison was at Xbox?!

wtf lol
Click to expand...

Yep. He joined in March after announcing his depature from Sony at the end of February 2012.
 
R

Rollo Lawson

Banned
chris3116 said:
I think they want to have an unified machine with the next Xbox. Windows 8 will probably be there along with Kinect and somehow with the tablet surface. The convergence will be huge on the Microsoft side next gen.
Click to expand...

Yea I'm seeing this too. I guess I really don't see a problem with it since they're at least nurturing their products and staying competitive. Only thing I don't like is the whole "closed-off environment" thing like Apple.
 
B

Brera

Banned
Looks like this is Microsoft's misstep...next gen will be tough for them!

The curse is starting to hit!
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
MS better tread carefully because I think they can get really burned next-gen if they come out with a box that's a jack-of-all trades, master of none and then try to tie it behind a paywall.

I think Sony can be in a good position if they tie themselves more closely with Google and Android.

If Apple were to talk their AppleTV more seriously, they could prove to be really disruptive to MS's plan in the entertainment space. I image an AppleTV with an A6X chip and better leveraging of the millions of iOS devices would provide sufficient horsepower and ecosystem to cover casual gaming and all other entertainment.
 
K

Karsticles

Member
kadotsu said:
I hope they don't forget that they are also still competing with console companies.
Click to expand...
It would have been hilarious if the OP misquoted and said:
"We're no longer competing with console companies"

How many GAF members would have burst in outrage without reading anything beyond the title?
 
H

Hiltz

Member
Carl said:
? He left Sony ages ago.
Click to expand...

My mistake. I misread the article. He resigned from Sony in Feb 2008 to join Infogrames Entertainment SA + Atari . He then resigned in April 2010 and joined cloud gaming service, Gakai. In March 2012, he then joined Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Team.
 
S

Stuart444

Member
I do wonder if this will affect them next gen by focusing on what they have the last few years (just entertainment stuff rather than gaming like they did earlier in the gen).

We'll see I guess.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
Speaking of. Do Microsoft have ANY windows games in development?

One would think after GFWL failed partially because Microsoft themselves showed zero interest in releasing games for it that they would try harder for Xbox for Windows but it doesnt seem to be the case.
 
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