MS Chief Xbox officer: We'll beat Sony with Xbox 2

Posted on 30 Mar 2004 at 11:09

Chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach was in belligerent mood at last week's Game Developers Conference, insisting that his company will beat Sony's PlayStation 3 in the next console war.

Speaking in a rare interview, following his keynote speech announcing XNA, the senior vice president of Microsoft told us: 'When we think about the next generation, nobody should be confused: we're in the game to win.'

PlayStation 2 has dominated the current generation since day one, building 'PlayStation' into one of the most recognisable youth brands in the world, this hegemony is seen by analysts and industry watchers as certain to continue with the forthcoming release of PSP (PlayStation Portable) followed by PS3.

Yet Bach, while acknowledging his company is playing catch up, is convinced Xbox can - and will - be first past the post next time around. 'One of things you have to keep in mind is that, in this generation as it always has been in the past, installed base drives a lot of behaviour. That's been true every generation: there's sort of a topspin to more installed base, breeding more games, which breeds more installed base.

'[But] I don't think it's, ooh gee, [with Xbox 2] we can add another five points. We want to be there to win.'

When asked explicitly if it was realistic to expect to emerge as the market leader in the next generation, Bach said: '"Expect" is an early word to use at this stage, but that's our goal. You got it.'

More incredibly, and a measure of the collective confidence felt by the Xbox team at present, buoyed by XNA, Bach went as far as to suggest an outright win in the unforgiving Japanese market was on, though he acknowledged there was still a mountain to climb: 'Do I think we have the same possibility of winning [in Japan as in the US and Europe]? I suppose yes, but it's certainly going to be a hell of a lot harder.

'Our goal is going to be to improve the business and that starts with better content. If we can get better content in the Japanese market place, we think we can make a dent.'

A full interview with Bach will follow later this week.

Author: Johnny Minkley