Post by §†orm§hadow on May 20, 2007 22:46:51 GMT 6
Left For Dead:
Microsoft's big black box finally meets its end. Or has it?
At the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Bill Gates's company stepped onto the crossroads and never turned back. Microsoft put on a massive publicity blitz for its new starling console, the Xbox 360, while simultaneously stating it would no longer support the Xbox. Specifically, Microsoft said it would no longer make first-party titles by year's end, though we we did get Conker's Bad Fur Day, Fable: The Lost Chapters, and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes. By announcing such a measure, it sealed the system's fate. Goodbye Xbox, hello Xbox 360.
That was May 2005. It's now February 2007. There was a last ration of Xbox games in 2006 from the usual sorts -- Electronic Arts, THQ, Activision, Midway, and 2K Games -- but this year looks even more dire. It seems clear the Xbox has run its last lap in the "past gen" console race. One of the running jokes in the IGN offices was that there was only one game slated for Xbox in 2007, a Dreamcatcher title by the name of Fuel, which had been delayed so many times we wondered if it would ever come out. A phone call to Dreamcatcher this week clarified that Fuel, indeed, has been cancelled. Check EB's "upcoming list" of Xbox games and it's empty. So, can we finally say the Xbox is dead?
The answer is surprising. For all intents and purposes, support for the Xbox should be over. Why support a system that's been cast aside by its creator? Microsoft has officially stopped manufacturing the original Xbox. Sure, there is that enticing statistic that there are officially 24.5 million Xbox consoles in homes across the world. Pretty slick numbers -- though nothing compared to the PS2's 120 million-plus units. So, why doesn't this article end right here?
The Thrill Is Gone:
We searched Websites, consulted NPD's TRSTS reports, and made phone calls to assess the current state of the Xbox. IGN phoned and/or emailed 2K Games, Activision, Atari, Buena Vista Games, Capcom, D3P, Dreamcatcher, Eidos, Electronic Arts, KOEI, Konami, LucasArts, Microsoft, Midway, Namco, SEGA, Sierra Entertainment, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft. Of the 20 publishers with which we spoke, two are absolutely, 100% publishing games on Xbox. Three others are still deciding. The remaining 16 are officially moving on. Digging deeper, we found that their decisions were based on a number of factors, from projected sales numbers to the state of the first-party's support, to retailer reactions.
Each publisher gave their own reasons for their departure. One publisher put it this way: "[We] do not develop for Xbox simply because retail will not support it unless it has a huge brand attached to the game. We will continue (for the time being) to publish on PS2 as it's so strong that retail will still support titles at a lower price point--$29.99 or $19.99 is pretty typical right now."
Atari's Nique Fajors, vice president of marketing and sales, emailed IGN this statement: "Atari's decision to stop publishing Xbox games was based on three related data points. First was consumer interest in the system. At no time in the history of our business has there been so many viable gaming platforms for consumers. We count eight strong platforms. Given the options available to publishers it is relatively easy to select those platforms that offer the best potential return on investment. The second data point was related to retailer activities. With the launch of Xbox 360, the strong performance of Nintendo DS, and the planned launches of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii our retailer partners made a clear and deliberate shift in resource allocation away from Xbox. Our final data point was the position of Microsoft and its aggressive commitment to Xbox 360 well prior to the launch. [So] Atari has stopped all third party publishing and development for Xbox."
Ubisoft's Senior Corporate Communications Manager Jaime Borasi put it this way: "In a nutshell, there are no announcements for the Xbox. It's fair to say that we won't be putting out any Xbox games from here on in. Looking over our recent fiscal reports the breakdown of sales was clear: the Xbox accounted for 2% of our overall sales, the Xbox 360 accounted for 28%, the Wii 21% and so on. So our focus is on the next-generation of consoles."
Guess that means you'll have to scratch "Lost" from your Xbox wanted list.
A Few Hold-Outs:
There are a few hold-outs. Take-Two's 2K Sports line is definitely publishing MLB 2K7 on Xbox in 2007. The publisher wouldn't, however, disclose its plans for its 2K8 sports line-up. It's still assessing whether to publish their games on Xbox. THQ also will officially announce a movie-based game later this quarter for Xbox.
Electronic Arts feigned left, but played coy with a right jab. Public Relations Director Jeff Brown clarified the company logic without concretely stating EA's decision. "We track the first-party publisher. So like Sony, we're making PlayStation 2 titles. Microsoft has made it pretty clear they're backing off from Xbox. You'll notice that both Def Jam Icon and NBA Street Homecourt are specifically next gen titles."
What about Madden NFL 08? Brown continues: "The lead sku will be Xbox 360 and PS3 for Madden. But we have not made any announcements for Madden on Xbox and we haven't made public our plans for NCAA Football. Consumer demand decides these things -- if there is first party support, then we'll follow that." Apparently, EA is still accessing Xbox too.
Activision and Konami are still potentially in the Xbox race. Activision's Public Relations Director Michelle Schroeder remained as ambiguous as possible. "We have not announced our slate for the year," she said. When asked about Transformers (which is definitely coming to next gen consoles), and rumored games Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Rex Havoc and Bee Movie, Schroeder restated her original position.
Like Activision, Konami remained unwilling to commit naming games just yet. "I'm not aware of any Xbox titles in the pipelines at the moment, although we have continued to support the Xbox after the release of the Xbox 360 with titles such as DDR Ultramix 4 and Xiaolin Showdown," said Konami's Kit Ellis. "Especially in the case of DDR, the Xbox had a very loyal fan-base that supported the series and its Xbox-specific features; so it made sense for us to continue to service that existing base with new games and even downloadable content. But I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive yes/no answer on whether we'll have any Xbox games for 2007. We just don't have that kind of visibility into our Japanese studios to rule it out entirely. We very well could have DDR Ultramix 5 on Xbox for the end of the year."
What these companies are seeing beats us. According to TRSTS's NPD records, the top selling games on Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2005 and 2006 were Madden NFL 2006 and Madden NFL 07. The drop in EA's Madden sales from 2005 to 2006 was significant, however, decreasing 36%. In comparison, sales dropped much less on PlayStation 2, 14.62%. Perhaps those numbers are still worthwhile compared to the new consoles, with their low installed base.
In the end, supporting the Xbox comes down to the biggest publishers: EA, Activision, THQ and 2K Games/Sports. It is certain that the only remaining games on Xbox in 2007 will be big-name, movie-based games that will satisfy a massive lowest common denominator consumer.Retailers are only willing to support huge brand games,like movie games,EA's Madden and possibly even NCAA Football because they sell in such huge numbers to a mass audience.Other than that,the Xbox has finally reached the end of its rope.
xbox.ign.com/articles/763/763259p1.html
cheers.
Microsoft's big black box finally meets its end. Or has it?
At the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Bill Gates's company stepped onto the crossroads and never turned back. Microsoft put on a massive publicity blitz for its new starling console, the Xbox 360, while simultaneously stating it would no longer support the Xbox. Specifically, Microsoft said it would no longer make first-party titles by year's end, though we we did get Conker's Bad Fur Day, Fable: The Lost Chapters, and Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes. By announcing such a measure, it sealed the system's fate. Goodbye Xbox, hello Xbox 360.
That was May 2005. It's now February 2007. There was a last ration of Xbox games in 2006 from the usual sorts -- Electronic Arts, THQ, Activision, Midway, and 2K Games -- but this year looks even more dire. It seems clear the Xbox has run its last lap in the "past gen" console race. One of the running jokes in the IGN offices was that there was only one game slated for Xbox in 2007, a Dreamcatcher title by the name of Fuel, which had been delayed so many times we wondered if it would ever come out. A phone call to Dreamcatcher this week clarified that Fuel, indeed, has been cancelled. Check EB's "upcoming list" of Xbox games and it's empty. So, can we finally say the Xbox is dead?
The answer is surprising. For all intents and purposes, support for the Xbox should be over. Why support a system that's been cast aside by its creator? Microsoft has officially stopped manufacturing the original Xbox. Sure, there is that enticing statistic that there are officially 24.5 million Xbox consoles in homes across the world. Pretty slick numbers -- though nothing compared to the PS2's 120 million-plus units. So, why doesn't this article end right here?
The Thrill Is Gone:
We searched Websites, consulted NPD's TRSTS reports, and made phone calls to assess the current state of the Xbox. IGN phoned and/or emailed 2K Games, Activision, Atari, Buena Vista Games, Capcom, D3P, Dreamcatcher, Eidos, Electronic Arts, KOEI, Konami, LucasArts, Microsoft, Midway, Namco, SEGA, Sierra Entertainment, Square Enix, THQ and Ubisoft. Of the 20 publishers with which we spoke, two are absolutely, 100% publishing games on Xbox. Three others are still deciding. The remaining 16 are officially moving on. Digging deeper, we found that their decisions were based on a number of factors, from projected sales numbers to the state of the first-party's support, to retailer reactions.
Each publisher gave their own reasons for their departure. One publisher put it this way: "[We] do not develop for Xbox simply because retail will not support it unless it has a huge brand attached to the game. We will continue (for the time being) to publish on PS2 as it's so strong that retail will still support titles at a lower price point--$29.99 or $19.99 is pretty typical right now."
Atari's Nique Fajors, vice president of marketing and sales, emailed IGN this statement: "Atari's decision to stop publishing Xbox games was based on three related data points. First was consumer interest in the system. At no time in the history of our business has there been so many viable gaming platforms for consumers. We count eight strong platforms. Given the options available to publishers it is relatively easy to select those platforms that offer the best potential return on investment. The second data point was related to retailer activities. With the launch of Xbox 360, the strong performance of Nintendo DS, and the planned launches of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii our retailer partners made a clear and deliberate shift in resource allocation away from Xbox. Our final data point was the position of Microsoft and its aggressive commitment to Xbox 360 well prior to the launch. [So] Atari has stopped all third party publishing and development for Xbox."
Ubisoft's Senior Corporate Communications Manager Jaime Borasi put it this way: "In a nutshell, there are no announcements for the Xbox. It's fair to say that we won't be putting out any Xbox games from here on in. Looking over our recent fiscal reports the breakdown of sales was clear: the Xbox accounted for 2% of our overall sales, the Xbox 360 accounted for 28%, the Wii 21% and so on. So our focus is on the next-generation of consoles."
Guess that means you'll have to scratch "Lost" from your Xbox wanted list.
A Few Hold-Outs:
There are a few hold-outs. Take-Two's 2K Sports line is definitely publishing MLB 2K7 on Xbox in 2007. The publisher wouldn't, however, disclose its plans for its 2K8 sports line-up. It's still assessing whether to publish their games on Xbox. THQ also will officially announce a movie-based game later this quarter for Xbox.
Electronic Arts feigned left, but played coy with a right jab. Public Relations Director Jeff Brown clarified the company logic without concretely stating EA's decision. "We track the first-party publisher. So like Sony, we're making PlayStation 2 titles. Microsoft has made it pretty clear they're backing off from Xbox. You'll notice that both Def Jam Icon and NBA Street Homecourt are specifically next gen titles."
What about Madden NFL 08? Brown continues: "The lead sku will be Xbox 360 and PS3 for Madden. But we have not made any announcements for Madden on Xbox and we haven't made public our plans for NCAA Football. Consumer demand decides these things -- if there is first party support, then we'll follow that." Apparently, EA is still accessing Xbox too.
Activision and Konami are still potentially in the Xbox race. Activision's Public Relations Director Michelle Schroeder remained as ambiguous as possible. "We have not announced our slate for the year," she said. When asked about Transformers (which is definitely coming to next gen consoles), and rumored games Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Rex Havoc and Bee Movie, Schroeder restated her original position.
Like Activision, Konami remained unwilling to commit naming games just yet. "I'm not aware of any Xbox titles in the pipelines at the moment, although we have continued to support the Xbox after the release of the Xbox 360 with titles such as DDR Ultramix 4 and Xiaolin Showdown," said Konami's Kit Ellis. "Especially in the case of DDR, the Xbox had a very loyal fan-base that supported the series and its Xbox-specific features; so it made sense for us to continue to service that existing base with new games and even downloadable content. But I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive yes/no answer on whether we'll have any Xbox games for 2007. We just don't have that kind of visibility into our Japanese studios to rule it out entirely. We very well could have DDR Ultramix 5 on Xbox for the end of the year."
What these companies are seeing beats us. According to TRSTS's NPD records, the top selling games on Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2005 and 2006 were Madden NFL 2006 and Madden NFL 07. The drop in EA's Madden sales from 2005 to 2006 was significant, however, decreasing 36%. In comparison, sales dropped much less on PlayStation 2, 14.62%. Perhaps those numbers are still worthwhile compared to the new consoles, with their low installed base.
In the end, supporting the Xbox comes down to the biggest publishers: EA, Activision, THQ and 2K Games/Sports. It is certain that the only remaining games on Xbox in 2007 will be big-name, movie-based games that will satisfy a massive lowest common denominator consumer.Retailers are only willing to support huge brand games,like movie games,EA's Madden and possibly even NCAA Football because they sell in such huge numbers to a mass audience.Other than that,the Xbox has finally reached the end of its rope.
xbox.ign.com/articles/763/763259p1.html
cheers.