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Subscribers have the unique experience of interacting with other gamers, streaming media, and even buying add-ons to games. This differentiation strategy has proven extremely successful, and even in the recession has a record number of sales" (Field, Patterson & Cyndecki 2009).
Microsoft's Xbox team, by virtue of listening to the needs of PC developers, was able to introduce specific innovations that were attractive to game developers. For example, the PIX, or Performance Investigator for Xbox, "allowed a developer to have an unheard-of level of introspection into why a part of the game was or wasn't working. They could pause the game, focus on something as small as a pixel, and see the entire sequence of computations that led to the pixel showing up on the screen at that particular time. No one else had created such a tool" and PIX acted as a motivator for many developers to create specific, new games for the emerging device (Takahashi 2011:5).
The Xbox was released around the time of the attacks upon the Twin Towers. This was initially feared to be a potential disaster for the company, given the disdain for frivolity at the time and consumer wariness about spending money. However, despite the somberness of the mood nationally and internationally, the games on the new console were appealing to gamers looking for something light and fun to divert their attention from the serious events around them. "Halo, the sci-fi shooting game from Bungie, turned out to be the smash hit on the Xbox…which had everything from haunting, pulse-pounding music to stunningly beautiful...
When the first Xbox did not outsell Sony's PlayStation 2, rather than giving up, Microsoft added additional features to its new Xbox 360, doubling bandwidth and offering expanded memory and processing power (Field, Patterson & Cyndecki 2009). New games and a faster playing speed attracted new gamers.
Microsoft continues to push the envelope with new technology for the Xbox. Its latest feature is the motion-controlled add-on Kinect. The company "sold 8 million in two months and recently entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling consumer electronics product in history" (Tishgarten 2011). It enables the Xbox 360 to recognize voices and its motion-sensitive software can capture facial expressions in 'real time' (Tishgarten 2011). This humanizing component to gaming is hoped to attract more female gamers or first-time gamers to the Xbox.
References
Field, Caroline, Patterson, Jimmy, & Cyndecki, Chris. (2009). Microsoft's Xbox. Marketing strategies. http://teamxbox.wikidot.com/start
Takahashi, Dan. (2011).The making of the Xbox: How Microsoft unleashed a video game revolution. (part 1). Venture Beat. Retrieved: http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/14/making-of-the-xbox-1/
Tishgarten, Tomer. (2011). Why Xbox Kinect technology will be the next frontier for marketers.
Mashable. Retrieved: http://mashable.com/2011/03/23/kinect-marketing-strategy/
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