Xbox 2 could take 30% market share - EB president

[Devilbod]

Sorry, I saw this and the last parragraph caught me by supprise...

Xbox 2 could take 30% market share - EB president
Cautiously optimistic comments from industry chiefs on Microsoft's next-gen console


Industry bosses speaking at the Piper Jaffrey conference in New York have sounded notes of cautious optimism about Microsoft's next-generation plans, with EB president Jeff Griffiths saying that the system could win 30 per cent market share.

"Yes, they could get a 30 per cent share, " Griffiths told the conference, speaking about the Xbox 2 console which is widely expected to launch by late 2005. "I think if they got less than that they'd be disappointed. If they come out earlier than Sony, if they have the breadth of exclusive titles like Sony had for PS2, I think they'd definitely have potential for market share leadership."

While it's obviously positive that key industry executives such as Griffiths believe that the Xbox 2 could share leadership in the next generation, his statement has a number of important caveats - particularly in terms of Microsoft's ability to deliver on exclusive titles as Sony has.

"I think Microsoft is being more aggressive," agreed THQ CEO Brian Farrell, but like Griffiths, he too qualified his optimism heavily. "Can they gain share?" he asked, "Yes. Do they have to have a solid value proposition? Yes. Do they have to have aggressive marketing? Yes."

The aggressive marketing, at least, is almost guaranteed - reports within the industry suggest that Microsoft has earmarked a marketing spend for Xbox 2 which is twice as large as the massive above the line campaign for the original console.

Xbox 2 is expected to launch well ahead of its competitors from Sony and Nintendo, with the new console potentially arriving at US retail by the middle of 2005 - having slipped past Microsoft's original highly aggressive target of Christmas 2004.

Although many in the industry expect the Redmond-based software giant to grow its market share of the games industry significantly in the next generation, some industry bosses have expressed concern at the prospect of having to support both Xbox 2 - a next generation platform with a small installed base - and PlayStation 2, a current generation system with a massive installed base - for a number of years, as cross-development between the two platforms will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Everything I read about the X-Box 2 makes it sound like it's either going to do ok due to the early release or dissapear, It seems MS is traking a lot of risks..

[OwenTMoL]

It worked for the PS2.
People couldn't be bthered waiting and had no forsight so the PS2's biggest advantanges were it's backward compatibility and it's head start. It did however deal it a deadly blow with it now becoming apparent it's performance is nowhere near as good as the GC and Xbox
I personally am a Gamecube user and before that I was a Dreamcast user and before that N64, SNES.
So with the N64 I got a good preview of the GC. Few titles, lack of multiplatform release, some VERY good titles but not enough to maintain success. I hope Nintendo's new console does ACTUALLY deliver this revolution in the way games are played otherwise I think nintendo will just fade out.

[steve threlfall]

It worked for the PS2.
It did however deal it a deadly blow with it now becoming apparent it's performance is nowhere near as good as the GC and Xbox

Yes but the n64 hardware was superior to the playstation and that didnt make a blind bit of difference.

Its the games that matter. Or rather the games that should matter. If it was really about the games then the dreamcast which hasnt the power of the xbox or GC would be the no1 console.