- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
While this announcement has me literally out of my chair jumping around the room (seriously), it comes as somewhat of a shock to me. This appears to be a seeming shift in Microsoft's advertising policy: Halo was formerly an Xbox promotion game, leading to a bunch of Xbox 1 sales (people bought the old Xbox just to play Halo 1 when it came out).
However, this is quite an interesting development. As Sony's PS3 comes leering on the horizon, surely it makes more sense to bring out the Xbox 360's sleeping arsenal, Halo 3. Right? Well clearly not...it seems that Microsoft is more interested in promoting the Vista launch (scheduled for sometime in September '06, to meet the back to school purchasing wave). I would assume Halo 2 for PC is also on a similar target date (BUT I'M NOT STARTING A RUMOR SO DON'T TELL ANYONE THAT: IT'S NOT CONFIRMED-IT'S MERELY SPECULATION).
What does this mean? Well I would assume Microsoft is projecting that they will loose marketshare to Apple/Linux (which is admittedly insignificant)...or worse: they are afraid that Vista will be beaten by XP users (meaning that no one will switch to Vista upon release, blowing initial sales and extending shelf life of Vista boxed software).
Wow, now there's a development. Microsoft seems to be genuinely afraid that Vista will not launch as expected. Why do I say this? Because they are knowingly endangering Xbox 360 marketshare. How? Well, it seems that people worldwide are waiting for Halo 3 before they buy a 360. And with PS3 due this spring...it seems interesting that Microsoft would step down from this competition to fight the battle on another field...very strange. Perhaps Vista will have some other interesting developments not yet on the scene, such as a built in music store (to further Microsoft's battle against Apple's music dominance). I suppose we'd have to look at the Microsoft annual report to see how much bigger MSFT's operating department's sales are relative to the game's department, because I'm sure that maintaining the operating system's sales was integral to this decision. Admittedly, games department is just an addon to far broader MSFT conglomerate.
Now for my personal opinion: I know if I were Bill Gates (who certainly greenlighted/masterminded this highly strategic decision..I say that because it's so important to 2006's sales and revenue)...my first move would not be to switch Bungie's "assumed" priorities, aka Halo 3 for 360, but I would just hire more staff. Microsoft has 40 billion in the bank, they can spare 500 mill for a huge deal of 360 marketshare. I would accelerate Halo's production cycle by bringing in the best and the brightest game programmers and rapid developers locally, nationally, and internationally. Bungie would become a large part of the games department annual budget, sucking up, like I said, between 100 million and 500 million a year in order to churn out 2-3 games for 2006, and effectively moving the market into Vista...thus gaining a bit of OS marketshare ground while simoultaneously beating Sony's PS3 launch into the ground.
What games would be released? A dual launch of Halo 3 of course. Merely a marketing ploy. The game need not be significantly better than it is now. Let me give an example to illustrate: would you buy a "Pentium 5" at 4.0 Ghz? Of course you would. "Pentium 5" makes it sound oh so much faster and better than "Pentium 4" or "Pentium D". Same trick here. Spend as much money as necessary and use little time as possible to create two games: Halo 3 for Vista and 360. Launch the 360 version on par with Sony's PS3 launch (like Bill had announced before and taken back). Launch the Vista version on release in September...possibly coupled with a Halo 2 for PC dual launch (think of the marketing possibilities: Halo Trilogy Bundle! Available for PC now with limited edition art book by Craigg Mullins and all 3 PC [and 360 editions!]...now who wouldn't buy that? Collectors editions always sell for more and attract more crowds, because everyone wants to prove they are a true fan right?)
Well anyways, just me ranting how I would bolster a massive product launch like Vista, while kicking serious ass in the 360/games market. Time to put together my resume...=D
[Edited on 2/9/2006]