Defending Microsoft's E3 (as best as we can)

E3 2013 happened this week, and if you're even remotely connected to any one of the numerous gaming forums, blogs, and news sites, you pretty well know what happened.  For those of you who don't have their pulse on the gaming world, Sony more or less completely invalidated Microsoft's strategy and were declared the winner of next generation before it's even happened.

Friends know me as a Sony supporter, and I have been for the last year or so, turning when they offered the Instant Game Collection (IGC) at last year's E3, so this news has made me happy.  But what I want to do here is play devil's advocate for Microsoft and try to explain why they're doing what they're doing, and maybe throw in a Simpsons reference along the way.

Yep, that'll do nicely.

Microsoft Didn't Make This Decision Lightly

When major corporations make decisions about the future of their company, there's quite a bit of research and industry knowledge that goes into it.  What they have is a Vision that is backed by a Road Map.  What their Vision is is anybody's guess, but it seems to follow their original strategy of becoming the one box in your living room that controls all of your entertainment needs.  Sure, right now it needs to be hooked up to a cable box to get full use out of it, but what if it didn't?  What if you could plug a coax cable right into the Xbox and let it handle everything?  Maybe not this generation, but last generation could barely handle TV.  The Xbox One is the natural progression to their goal of controlling the living room.

But gamers want games, not TV!  Well, take a look at the data that was collected on you while you used your Xbox these past 8 years.

All of these things are just like the others...

We told Microsoft that we use the Xbox 360 for watching Netflix when we're not playing the latest big release, so they enhanced those features.  Since there's only a handful of major titles that release in a year, Microsoft analyzed how we're utilizing our consoles and developed features to accommodate our perceived wants that meshed with their vision.  Win - Win in MS's eyes.

The Steam Approach

Years ago, Valve debuted Steam which we all know turned out to be a massive success that PC gamers tend to love.  What many have forgotten, however, is that when it first came out it was universally reviled by PC gamers because of the always online, DRM supported, can't sell or trade games away product that they were offered.  It took some tweaks to its presentation, and some time aided by massive discounts via Steam Sales, but it eventually became the greatness that it is today.

Microsoft may be setting themselves up to do something similar.  If they are, they're playing their hands close to their chest and may give gamers a reason to want to subscribe to such a model.  Time will tell on this one.

Making Money for Investors (because they're legally obligated to)

Take a look at This Article from The Motley Fool stating the following:

In what alternate universe did this happen?

From a business standpoint, they're not wrong.  Microsoft as a publicly traded company has a legal obligation to protect its finances and make its investors a return on money they've put into the company.  At and around E3, Microsoft let its investors know how they're protecting publishers and a few ways that they will be making a profit. 

This is, of course, a short sighted approach.  For at least a short time Microsoft will be profitable and backed by Wall Street because of the business decisions they have made protecting their investments.  Sony on the other hand is not making as much money as they could be, instead shooting for a long term investment in its customers.  It's hard to say which one will be more beneficial, but quick money is always seen as better.

A Possible Trick Up Their Sleeves

 

In pure speculation, Microsoft likely has plans that involve their always online component and DRM system that will benefit and be embraced by their player base, but isn't ready to show them to the public (or their competition) yet.  As we have seen how other companies have mismanaged their customer's expectations (looking at you Blizzard and EA), it's hard to picture how this could be a good thing. 

If Microsoft can make this service not only palatable, but down right demanded, they're going to be dominating control of the living room.  They're not done yet.  Years from now we may look back on these announcements and realize how in control Microsoft was the entire time.

E3 Predictions - 2013 Edition

E3 2013 is upon us, and we've got some predictions what the Big Three will be talking about this time around the block.

Current Gen

First off, this will be the last we see of the current generation of consoles.  There will likely be a couple of gems hidden in there.  Many consoles have that one game that was released towards the end of its lifespan that people didn't pick up because newer things were being released.  There's a really good chance we'll see those gems being shown here.  Every publisher has things in the pipe that they want to get finished up and out the door so they can turn their attention to the XBone, PS4, and Wii U.

Wii U

Nintendo, in its death throes, will remain mostly silent this year at E3 having cancelled their E3 stage presentation.  Instead, Best Buys across the country will host events that will allow its fans to come in and same some of their upcoming products.  This is a pretty neat idea, but doesn't feel well put together.  There'll be some announcements after the show for sure, and don't count big announcements from Ubisoft and other big publishers (maybe not EA...).  The Wii U is about to face the competition that will begin killing it off in the next couple years.  However, fortunately for Nintendo, a wild card has been thrown onto the table in a move that nobody saw coming...

  Xbox One

In a series of astonishingly bad decisions, Microsoft leaped after the drowning Wii U system to show everyone how to really screw up a system launch.  DRM, nearly always online connectivity requirements, a bundled Kinect sensor that is always on listening to you, and a big used game sale debacle makes Nintendo look like they actually know what they're doing.  Microsoft had the chance to take their Live service and bring it to the same level as the PlayStation Plus service and decided to put all their energy into any kind of entertainment that didn't involve video games. 

So what's Microsoft going to do at E3?  Well, there's two real options here.  They've lately made a series of very bad announcements as to the requirements for the system, so they're either getting those out of the way so we can talk nothing but good stuff at E3, or they truly don't see anything wrong with what they're doing and we're going to get more of it at E3.  With the news that Microsoft has cancelled after E3 round table meetings, our guess it the latter.

Edit 6/10 10:45am - This is in before the Microsoft conference at 11:30, but I want to predict that Microsoft will attempt to steal the show with a $99 subscription based price point on the XBOne at a $15/month rate, making the actual price point of the system $459.

PlayStation 4

Sony's been relatively quiet about their system since the initial announcement.  They have sent some elbows Microsoft's way for bungling their announcement, and have responded to fans who made the #NoDRM Twitter movement happen with enthusiasm, but much is still secretive about exactly how things will work with the system.  

At E3, we're going to see the console, we're going to see lots of games, a price, and they're either going to counter Microsoft's mistakes, or spin them a different way.  PS+ is rolling along great and there will probably be no further changes with it minus the announced new Instant Game Collection and how many games their subscribers have received for free since it's announcement last year.  

This is Sony's E3 to lose, and will set the first shots of the next gen console war.  Microsoft isn't looking good with their position, and Nintendo has a niche carved out by their loyal customers.  So long as Sony recognizes what the other systems did wrong and actively telling us how they're doing it right, the next generation will belong to the PS4.