The Microsoft Chairman visited the largest video game exhibition of the year to promote the bold idea: “Play Anywhere,” where gaming devices, mobile phones, and computers are interconnected.
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| Source: Reuters |
Gates introduced an ambitious plan called “Live Anywhere,” leveraging the success of the Xbox Live service as a stepping stone to penetrate the market of over 150 million users currently gaming on Windows PCs. This does not include more than 1 billion mobile phones ready for gaming.
Elevating “Live”
Microsoft is currently a leader in online gaming services with Xbox Live, a service that enables players worldwide to compete directly, download new games, and chat. Similar functionalities will also be integrated into the upcoming Windows Vista operating system.
“This is an opportunity to elevate ‘Live’ to a new level. We will move from ‘live’ to ‘Live Anywhere’,” Gates stated.
The tech giant jumped into the video game hardware business in 2001 with the original Xbox. However, the Xbox division operates independently from the rest of the company, including Windows.
Gates’ appearance at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, abbreviated as E3, underscored the growing importance of the global video game industry (valued at nearly $30 billion) to Microsoft and the highly anticipated Windows Vista operating system.
However, launching a new gaming console is costly – the losses for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division reached $388 million in the last fiscal quarter, compared to a $175 million loss a year ago.
Returning to “Live Anywhere.” This service will allow users to compete in certain games, regardless of whether they are on a PC, Xbox, or mobile phone. Additionally, it will enable users to start a game on Xbox and then continue playing it on their mobile or PC.
Although Microsoft was late to enter the video game market, it managed to outpace its competitor Sony by launching the Xbox 360 console last November, a full year ahead of Sony’s PlayStation 3.
What is the Next-Gen Game?
However, the price of this advantage is not cheap. Production costs for Xbox surged last quarter as Microsoft ramped up Xbox shipments to the market.
Sony officials remain optimistic and undeterred by Microsoft’s early moves. In fact, the head of Sony’s gaming division in the U.S. declared yesterday that “Next-gen games cannot emerge until Sony announces them!”
“I think they were overly bold to claim next-gen games will only come with PS3, considering that 10 million users have already voted for Xbox 360,” Microsoft replied.
Analysts believe that Sony – which holds nearly two-thirds of the global console market share – will face significant challenges ahead.
“Microsoft is an extremely formidable competitor. Sony needs to seriously and carefully consider Microsoft,” said Van Baker, vice president of research at Gartner.
At this year’s E3 expo, Microsoft also unveiled a short video clip of “Halo 3,” the latest installment in the renowned “Halo” series. Halo 3 is scheduled for release in 2007.
Destiny
