Why did MS kill the Xbox?

Joebob · 28 Jan 2007 at 19:35

Just wondering why MS completely stopped production and support etc for the Xbox when the 360 came out?

Surely if they copied Sony's model and carried on production of a smaller, more production cost effective system, and then sold it at about £100 they could sell to a younger generation of gamers ensuring future sales of 360 when said gamers want next version of their console!

Seems like a no brainer to me so I was wondering if there's actaully a valid reason or is it just short sightedness on MS's part?

FeFiDoh · 28 Jan 2007 at 19:41

dont they still release games for it? or they did for a while at least :confused:

Stellios · 28 Jan 2007 at 19:42

Nah, not seen any xbox games for a fair while.

silversurfer · 28 Jan 2007 at 19:42

MS has more limited production options. They have two versions of the 360 and their scales of economy probably best lie in making as many 360s as possible.

Also the contracts made with the original xbox were not in ms favour, nvidia got the benefits of reduced costs and did not pass this onto MS.
I doubt they had much profit left to make, it was their entry to the market and a setup for the 360

GarethDW · 28 Jan 2007 at 19:45

Don't know... they did sell it at near enough £100 for a while towards the end of its life.

Maybe because the price difference between a £100 XBox and a Core 360 isn't that much, so they were worried that the non-hardcore people might go for the XBox when they want all new purchases to be for the 360..? Dunno, it's just a thought.

TriedandTested · 28 Jan 2007 at 20:07

Why would they want to divert sales from the xbox 360?

Sony wouldnt have released the Slim PS2 if they had their PS3 on the shelves.

McManicMan · 28 Jan 2007 at 21:26

they wasn't making much profit on them, the same thing thats gonna happen with the ps3 as the roles have reversed this time in hardware costs, thus the longer than norm predicted life span of 10years for the ps3 compared to the the expected 5years for the 360

barnettgs · 28 Jan 2007 at 22:10

Joebob said:
Surely if they copied Sony's model and carried on production of a smaller, more production cost effective system, and then sold it at about £100 they could sell to a younger generation of gamers ensuring future sales of 360 when said gamers want next version of their console.

I guess it's to do with the number of xbox sold. Microsoft sold 24 millions xbox while Sony sold 111 millions PS2, still selling.... it is selling even more than PS3 in Japan due to being cheap so PS2 market is still very much alive.

Sone · 28 Jan 2007 at 22:13

more importantly why did sega kill the dreamcast, now that was a great console

BloodWolf · 28 Jan 2007 at 22:16

Stellios said:
Nah, not seen any xbox games for a fair while.

Think theres still games coming out for it though.

Memphis · 28 Jan 2007 at 22:29

Sone said:
more importantly why did sega kill the dreamcast, now that was a great console

Sega didn't kill the Dreamcast. Sony did.

sid · 28 Jan 2007 at 22:31

BloodWolf said:
Think theres still games coming out for it though.

Yeah there are, I picked up an xbox for £50 just before xmas and its great for gaming. I don't play often enough on it to justify the costs of a 360 with all the accesories and expensive games.

It also fills an empty slot in my tv cabinet lol.

sid

Joebob · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:38

Memphis said:
Sega didn't kill the Dreamcast. Sony did.

I actually think that Sega never recovered from the Saturn tbh, and then lack of cash for advertising etc killed it.

Memphis · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:42

Joebob said:
I actually think that Sega never recovered from the Saturn tbh, and then lack of cash for advertising etc killed it.

Yeah, I would agree.

What I was kinda meaning by my post is that, had Sony not managed to get the PlayStation into the public mind as it did, Sega 'could' have recovered. But with a total lack of advertising, Sega could never have competed.

Either way, Sega didn't "kill" the Dreamcast, there is just no way they could afford to keep it going. Shame really, as (in my opinion) it was the far superior machine.

Joebob · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:42

Tried&Tested said:
Why would they want to divert sales from the xbox 360?

Sony wouldnt have released the Slim PS2 if they had their PS3 on the shelves.

They wouldn't be diverting sales as it would capture a amrket which couldnt afford the 360 and enforce the product brand in the process. There are a lot of the young generation who are just getting into gaming who will buy a PStwo as an introduction to console gaming and will no doubt upgrade to a PS3 in a few years. Microsoft could have done the same and it would have made good business sense even if they didn't make much profit on each Xbox sold.

IMO

P.S. The PS3 has been on the shelves (gathering dust some might say) for several months now and the PS2 is still selling as Sony are still releasing it!!!

Memphis · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:45

Joebob said:
P.S. The PS3 has been on the shelves (gathering dust some might say) for several months now and the PS2 is still selling as Sony are still releasing it!!!

Remember though that the PS3 is still very much in short supply, so that might have something to do with it.

Out of curiosity, have Sony made any sort of projections as to how long they will keep producing the PS2 after world wide release of the PS3?

Joebob · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:56

Memphis said:
Remember though that the PS3 is still very much in short supply, so that might have something to do with it.

Out of curiosity, have Sony made any sort of projections as to how long they will keep producing the PS2 after world wide release of the PS3?

If this is anything to go by then the PSone had an 11 year production span and a Six year overlap with the Playstation 2. Which would mean they will pull the plug on the PStwo in 2011.

"Having lasted over 11 years, the PlayStation has enjoyed one of the longest production runs in the videogame industry. On March 23, 2006, Sony announced the end of production." - Wikipedia

Joebob · 28 Jan 2007 at 23:57

Joebob said:
If this is anything to go by then the PSone had an 11 year production span and a Six year overlap with the Playstation 2. Which would mean they will pull the plug on the PStwo in 2011.

"Having lasted over 11 years, the PlayStation has enjoyed one of the longest production runs in the videogame industry. On March 23, 2006, Sony announced the end of production." - Wikipedia

Now does anyone think that by only having a 4-5 year shelf-life MS are selling their customers short?

Ooops, sorry - double post!!!

Memphis · 29 Jan 2007 at 00:03

Joebob said:
Now does anyone think that by only having a 4-5 year shelf-life MS are selling their customers short?

Hmm, depends really on how you want to look at it. How long had the PS2 been out when the Xbox was launched?

You have to remember also to look at it from a business point of view. Microsoft clearly decided that the "Next Generation" was going to be the next big technological jump (with High Definition becoming more mainstream). Microsoft HAD to beat Sony to general release of their next console. The original Xbox, it could be argued, never succeeded due to being so far behind the PS2 release, even with better technology under the hood.

fish99 · 29 Jan 2007 at 00:43

Joebob said:
Seems like a no brainer to me so I was wondering if there's actaully a valid reason or is it just short sightedness on MS's part?

Well they were selling the hardware at a loss, and with interest in the xbox waining with the 360 available, there probably wouldn't be enough games sold to make it worthwhile for them to continue with the xbox. Plus with it needing the harddrive they couldn't shrink it much.