As a teenager, my son has become addicted to the gaming platform. Casual games are nice, but he truly loves the immersive experience and the big screen to play his games. We started with Wii and Playstation and graduated to XBox 360 just as he became a teenager. And with the release of new gaming systems from Sony and Microsoft, he has been vacillating between buying the next generation Playstation and XBox One. It has not been an easy decision.
So in our latest conversation, the XBox One is currently in the lead and he is disappointed that he is past the window pre-ordering at Game Stop and worriend that they will be out of stock for weeks after its launch. But his choice for gaming system never took into consideration the added non-gaming features. "The Xbox One is designed to support a TV content ecosystem that will
generate ongoing revenue for Microsoft in parallel with the video game
ecosystem at the core of the Xbox franchise." He could care less. For my son, the choice is all about the next generation of games and which box his friends might get in order to have a shared social experience in the game.
And so I wonder, is a box capable of handling more than just its core function of gaming, of value to the consumer or not. Will they appreciate that their same box can access videos as well as exclusive content from a Microsoft library or do they just want a box for gaming? Can this all-in-one box give Microsoft new entry into a competitive product to Apple, Amazon, and Google, as well as synergy to its Surface tablet, or will consumers find limited interest outside the gaming platform? Once in the home, I am interested to see how my son embraces these added features. Certainly, it is the direction that Microsoft needs to take and I wish them well in driving this strategic plan to a successful end.
