Microsoft: Natal Prioritized over Portable Xbox

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Though Microsoft is still open to entering the handheld gaming market, the company has currently committed its resources to living-room initiatives like the motion-sensing Project Natal camera, according to Microsoft corporate VP Shane Kim.

"For us, it's a matter of focusing on 'when'" said Kim of entering the portable market during an interview with Kikizo.

"If we chased after a mobile or handheld opportunity, we would not have the resources and ability to do things like... Project Natal," he added. "So we've chosen to focus on the living room experience from a hardware standpoint, if you will, but we're building a service in Live that will... will extend to other platforms. No question about it."

When asked whether he thinks the Xbox brand could succeed in the portable market, Kim answered in the affirmative.

"So the question will be, how do we enter into that market--do we do our own device, do we create our own phone--that's a question for the company itself," he said. "Do we continue to go down the Windows Mobile path which is that path that we're on today, etcetera, etcetera."

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  • reply
    July 17, 2009 2:52 PM

    Heck if I was Microsoft, I would avoid the handheld market simply because of the DS and it's domination.

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      July 17, 2009 3:04 PM

      I'm sure they are thinking that same thing. If you can't make a niche for yourselves might as well wait until that niche becomes more apparent. I have a feeling they will be integrating this all into a Zune phone at some point but that would have all the downsides of gaming on the iPhone.

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      July 17, 2009 3:04 PM

      Eight years ago, they had 0% market share in the console industry.

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        July 17, 2009 4:30 PM

        Yeah and how much money have they pissed away trying to fund this Xbox experiment?

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          July 17, 2009 5:06 PM

          It's turning profit now. They knew from the beginning it was a losing division for the foreseeable future. Quite frankly, it was probably the only way to break through.

          Can hardly call it an experiment by now.

          If they really want to do something with the handheld market, they have all the money needed.

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            July 17, 2009 5:15 PM

            I think you may have a point, as long as MS can make a handheld device that will sell immediately at a profit. Otherwise, it will just be a complete loss leader like their other consoles, which took 8 years to turn a profit.

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              July 18, 2009 12:56 PM

              Off subject: As a consumer you have to ask yourself "Where would online console gaming be without Xbox Live"? I don't think any other company could have made online console gaming viable to the masses. Only MS could have taken the the 8 year loss.

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            July 17, 2009 5:50 PM

            It's turned a profit in a few quarterly reports. It has not turned a profit long term.

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      July 17, 2009 3:05 PM

      Well look what Apple did with the iPhone. If MS could even emulate part of iPhone's success, than they could have a very good entry-level device. Think about Live's service on a phone, that'd be sweet.

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        July 17, 2009 3:30 PM

        Yeah but Microsoft has had how many years in the mobile phone market now with nothing even coming close to Apple's success?

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          July 17, 2009 3:34 PM

          Because they've clearly not put much focus behind it. When Microsoft puts resources behind stuff, it gets done. WinMo has been an afterthought since, well, pretty much always.

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          July 17, 2009 4:16 PM

          To be fair WinMo was never a consumer focused OS.

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      July 18, 2009 1:51 AM

      Microsoft just needed 1 (!) console generation to outsell Sony.

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        July 18, 2009 5:13 AM

        I still don't fully understand how I went from "I won't ever buy a MS console as long as I have a gaming PC" to "360 is by far my favourite console".

        I think it's mostly because MS has done a lot of things right, while Sony has done the opposite since their PS2 domination.

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          July 18, 2009 6:36 AM

          At the end of the day most people aren't fanboys and buy what's best.

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          July 18, 2009 7:26 PM

          I agree with most of what you said. PC is still far my favorite platform. The X360 is definitely the console that I've enjoyed most this generation but I' m also a big Nintendo fan and I've had a blast with both the Wii and the DS. I still like my PSP and PS3 but the PS2 games get more play time.

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