Microsoft's Gamefest Explored

1up was there to cover Microsoft's annual Gamefest event, and came away with some interesting information. Across all of its gaming platforms (Xbox Live, Games for Windows, MSN Games, etc.), the company claims 100 Million gamers per month. Xbox Live, in particular, received attention at the event. The company talking about more demos, downloads, and microtransactions being the hallmarks for the future of the service. From that article: "While Microsoft wants demos and add-ons to be a critical part of the plans for games, they also iterated the importance of other parts of the Marketplace. The personalization options offered by the Gamer Pictures and Themes is something Microsoft will continue to encourage developers to create. However, the notion that these 360-pieces of flair would regularly appear free on the Marketplace should be squashed, for now. Microsoft indicated that they have very strict limitations on free content and that they intend on keeping the gamer pictures and themes pretty consistently priced."

Comments

How dare they

[twistedsymphony]

How dare developers try to give away next to worthless items like icons for free...

I might actually considering BUYING those things if they added the super cool features to actually SEE what you buy on the console before you buy it. Maybe a 5 minute trial for themes instea of just buying it blindly for $2. If I'm going to spend money on something that's nothing more then a pretty picture, at least let me determine if the pretty picture is actually pretty.

What kind of marketing plan is this?

[drachenstern]

From TFA:

Microsoft recommends releasing add-ons between 60 and 90 days after a game's release.

The article starts by discussing the success and popularity of DOA4, and then says that the game developers shouldn't want to release add-ons to the game for a full quarter? I can understand when the add-ons have not been developed yet (such as The SIMS), but certainly many add-ons can be developed in line with the game and released at a closer later date (ie war games that focus on mid-20th century Europe, or games such as the venerable C&C and all of it's subsequent titles).

If MS is going to cater to the gamer market, don't they need to realize that the best way to sell a lot of titles is to build on immediate success?

Re:It is a feature

[Anonymous Coward]

This is just a result of the buisness model that Microsoft has adpoted. They sell their system at a loss, so they need their customers to buy as many pieces of high-margin content as they possibly can; through the XBox Live Marketplace, Microsoft can take a cut of every $2 cow or theme that you purchase (and they probably end up with a healthy profit from it). Developers need more money to add normal maps, and material effects, to the coffee cups in the games you play so they need their customers to give them more money; they will charge more for games, give gamers the "benefit" of episodic content, add advertizing and sell themes.