It might appear that this is another typical year on Xbox 360. A handful of top-tier games sold millions of copies, many others struggled, and Xbox Live Arcade produced a few stellar titles. But there has been a very subtle shift leading into the release of Kinect, one that may change the Xbox library moving forward.
There's this mythical white whale for games marketing folk called "the mass consumer." Even though millions of people play games and buy multiple games every year, billions do not. And it's that casual non-gaming group that Microsoft has failed to reach for the past nine years despite some strong efforts. But Kinect may change that.
You can already see Kinect's effects on the Xbox 360 library. The focal point prior to the November launch of Kinect was Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Halo: Reach, Fable III, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. All M-rated games and all targeted at true gamers. Microsoft's casual focus this year has been almost completely aimed at Kinect sales. What does this mean? Microsoft is splitting its audience.
Expect few if any grabs at the casual gamer on anything but Kinect from now on. Microsoft is unlikely to put any marketing money to targeting its "regular" games at a non-Xbox audience, instead using Kinect as its sole attempt to harpoon the aforementioned white whale. If you get really annoyed by games like Lips trying to horn in on the shelf-space of your favorite shooter, don't worry. These and other casual games will now be Kinect-centric.
That's not to say Kinect won't be used to interest Gears of War or Halo fans in 2011, but already you can see a division being made. That could actually push non-Kinect Xbox 360 gaming more hardcore as Kinect is used to play to the casual and non-gaming crowd exclusively. It will certainly be interesting to see where things go.
- Reach ends Bungie's Halo days
- Black Ops sold best on X360
- Kinect is judging you
If Kinect is a long-term success, it will be in spite of Microsoft defying a number of questionable decisions. The two biggest: Changing the name and focusing on a casual audience from the outset. Remember that until E3 last June, we only knew Microsoft's motion-sensing camera as "Natal." For a year, gamers came to know that name. Providing an official name, one that was completely different, so late in the game was risky. But overcoming the second hurdle is more impressive.
There is a tried-and-true law of business that you must first convince the early adopters (people who wait in line all night for cool new tech) that a product is cool. They then tell their friends, who eventually prove to the broader audience something is worth buying. But Microsoft leaped right past these core users and marketed directly at the broader audience, a strategy that generally fails. But, it seems, the gaming audience is so knowledgeable, they found the info they needed anyway and made the choice to pick up a Kinect.
By year's end 17 titles will ship for Kinect, a hefty number for any console/peripheral launch. Harmonix produced the best Kinect game, Dance Central, but there were a handful of other good releases (Kinect Sports, Kinectimals, Sonic Riders). Kinect's reception might have been lukewarm among critics, but I've heard nothing but enthusiastic stories from people who bought and played Kinect. So chalk up much of the negativity to critics and gamers not understanding who Kinect was made for -- people apparently terrified of a controller.
That's Microsoft's grab at a new audience. Though $500 million dollars are being plopped down to market Kinect, the focus of the Xbox 360 console remained on big-budget sequels for most of the year.
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