Man behind XBox quits Microsoft

[Nemesis77]

<< Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of Microsoft's Xbox and one of the company's most prominent spokesmen for the game machine, has resigned from Microsoft, a company spokesman confirmed Monday.
"He's left Microsoft to pursue other opportunities, and we wish him the best in the future," said Microsoft Xbox spokesman James Bernard.

Bernard said the resignation would have no effect on Microsoft's plans for the console. "We're really confident moving forward," he said.

Blackley, whose title was chief Xbox technical officer, did not have a high-level position in Microsoft's organizational structure. But he was considered a key element in giving the company credibility with gamers.

The skateboarding, creatively attired Blackley was called on to represent Microsoft at numerous key Xbox events, including the console's public unveiling, where Blackley demonstrated games for Chairman Bill Gates.

A veteran of the game development arm of the SKG DreamWorks entertainment studio, Blackley joined Microsoft three years ago, originally to work on DirectX, the library of graphics programming instruction used by most PC games. He was with the company a few months when he proposed the idea of Microsoft making its own game console.

Blackley's spokeswoman told Reuters that Blackley would not be ready to discuss for another two weeks at least the details of the new business venture he is pursuing. She gave no indication as to what type of business the new company would be.

The news of Blackley's resignation comes just a few days after Microsoft said it would miss current sales target for the Xbox by 500,000 units or more, a shortfall it blamed on weak sales in Japan and Europe. Microsoft responded by cutting the European price of the Xbox by almost 40 percent.

Microsoft has seen several high-profile personnel changes in recent months, including the departure early this month of President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Belluzzo >>



Source

It seems XBox isn't doing that well....

 

[Bluga]

good

 

[LH]

Hes creating a start up game company. You do know he was a game developer right? His plan is to make Xbox exclusive games. Gamespot has an interview with him up on their site. Xbox is doing extremely well in the US, its bombed in Japan(yet is the best selling non-japanese electronics product ever in Japan, shows a little insight on MS's Japan problems).

 

[LH]

Interview

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

I'll take any opportunity to bash Microsoft, but in this case I do place my doubts. How do you conclude the X-Box isn't doing well from the fact that one of the people working on it got bored with his work and decided to do something else?

He apparently got bored with his previous job too, otherwise he'd not have left DreamWorks. He was hired to work on DirectX, but started working on the X-Box instead. Two options:
1) He didn't like working on DirectX either, and was still looking for something else, which he apparently didn't find in the X-Box either. (Maybe he wanted to start his own business?)
2) He wanted to work on stuff like DirectX, but was put to work on the X-Box instead, and as he didn't like that kind of work he left.

If Microsoft had fired half the people, or a lot of X-Box employees suddenly quit I'd have said 'Ok, something is not well there', but this is only one person. Not like DreamWorks died out when he left them either.

 

[Atrac]

If the Xbox ran on MiniDiscs instead of DVD's, it would have been a HUGE hit in Japan.

 

[Nemesis77]

<< Xbox is doing extremely well in the US >>



To my knowledge, PS2 still outsells Xbox in USA



<< its bombed in Japan >>



And in Europe.

 

[Nemesis77]

<< How do you conclude the X-Box isn't doing well from the fact that one of the people working on it got bored with his work and decided to do something else? >>



From the fact that PS2 (which supposedly is inferior to Xbox) outsells Xbox, even in USA, from the fact that Xbox flopped badly in Japan and Europe, from the fact that MS has already had to cut it's price overseas to make it even remotely appealing and from the fact that MS is way behind it's sales-forecasts.

 

[Bluga]

<< yet is the best selling non-japanese electronics product ever in Japan, >>



How many electronics in Japan are NOT from Japan




<< << its bombed in Japan >> >>



and in Australia.

 

[dc]

wow, i finally just realized why xbox isn't doing so good in japan, i dunno why it took me so long to realize it. xbox needs love simulator games for the masses of otakus.

they do all the marketing and research but unfortunately forgot to cater to lonely otaku which gamers there are largely comprised of. microsoft should've hired me as a consultant or something. haha

 

[LH]

Compare Xbox first six months to PS2's first six months, in the US, the Xbox has a wide margin. Xbox has had the best North American launch, for any console EVER. Everyone says consoles live in die on Japan. Im here to tell you, times ARE changing. With the US market growing so rapidly, the north american market which is totally opposite of Japan's gaming market, is the key market. Xbox is doing extremely well in north america, is a console that has 200+ games and has been out for 18 months doing better? Yes, but comparing numbers, first 6 months to first 6 months, the Xbox is doing damn good. Not to mention for every Xbox sold, there are still on avg 3.5-4 games sold per unit, better than PS2 or GC. Xbox is #2 in North America, the GC won't challenge it to much. If MS has a big E3, which its expected, with alot of "big" announcements(not just Xbox Live), Xbox will continue to sell extremely well in the US. Will the Xbox beat the PS2 in world wide sales? No, thats impossible the PS2 has to big of lead, will it eventually catch the PS2 in the US, Id expect it to happen by Dec 2003..

 

[Atrac]

<< yet is the best selling non-japanese electronics product ever in Japan, >>





<< How many electronics in Japan are NOT from Japan >>



Hilarious, yet very true!

 

[joohang]

<< If the Xbox ran on MiniDiscs instead of DVD's, it would have been a HUGE hit in Japan. >>


hahaha

LOL. It would've been even funnier if those MD recorders could be modded to copy pirated X-Box games.

 

[gopunk]

why are people so eager for any sign that xbox is failing? is it because they don't have one?

 

[manly]

They essentially terminated Rick Belluzzo. It wouldn't be a stretch to figure they canned this guy as well.

 

[joohang]

<< why are people so eager for any sign that xbox is failing? is it because they don't have one? >>


Because it is Microsoft-branded? I have no clue.

I personally prefer the GameCube since I grew up with Nintendo but I still think that the X-Box is a very nice console. I want to buy both eventually.

 

[Nemesis77]

<< why are people so eager for any sign that xbox is failing? is it because they don't have one? >>



In USA Xbox does OK. Worldwide, it's taking a beating. People in Japan or Europe are just not buying the thing. We'll have to wait and see how the price-cuts help out.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

<<

<< How do you conclude the X-Box isn't doing well from the fact that one of the people working on it got bored with his work and decided to do something else? >>



From the fact that PS2 (which supposedly is inferior to Xbox) outsells Xbox, even in USA, from the fact that Xbox flopped badly in Japan and Europe, from the fact that MS has already had to cut it's price overseas to make it even remotely appealing and from the fact that MS is way behind it's sales-forecasts. >>



It doesn't outsell it in the USA, it just had sold a lot already before the X-Box got on the market. If 8 million PS2s are sold already in a year time, and X-Box is selling at 2 million/day then sure, there have been sold more PS2s still after X-Box is on the market for 3 1/2 days (Ok, so it's slightly exagerated, but you hopefully get my point), but anyone claiming PS2 is outselling X-Box at that point and believing it is on crack. X-Box is selling much faster, so unless it is brought to a halt X-Box will outsell PS2. Microsoft has enough gaming companies willing to code games SOLELY for X-Box (It's called threatening and bribing) to ensure a constant stream of high-quality games which aren't available for PS2. I don't like that method, but they use it anyway.

In Europe X-Box was released with a much higher price than the US, probably cause they presumed that anyone willing to pay those rediculously high prices the software and music industry asks in Europe would also be willing to pay a lot for the hardware. They also noticed that this doesn't work (the prices is the reason there is a lot more piracy here than in the US), and therefor they dropped the price of the X-Box here by 180 Euros. Still it's 299 Euros, compared to the Gamecube being only 199 Euros. Don't know if they follow the same tactics in Japan, but if they do it's no wonder they sell a lot less than expected, if they put a console into an market where the established names (with more games available) are a lot cheaper to start with.

They wanted to put a far better console on the market than their competitors, but failed to see that the reason consoles are so popular is that it's a cheap machine with which you can play the latest games. Instead they released a console for the price of a low price computer, which means that anyone who wants/needs a computer for wordprocessing/emailing/downloading pr0n anyway will instead buy a medium or high price computer, and just copy all the overpriced games to safe money. (Not arguing the legal side of it, it's just what people do.)
Of those who want a console only those with too much cash and a liking for certain X-Box only games will buy it for that price.

P.S. They didn't advertise the games much here anyway, just the console (with a commercial that didn't even show a game). If you want to give people a reason to buy it, at least bother to show them what they will get.

P.P.S. Never thought I'd give lessons in Marketing to Microsoft

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

One other point: Microsoft has the problem that they want to make money out of it, but need to sell a lot of games if they want to keep the hardware price down. And until they are smart enough to take the early losses and just sell it for $150 a while, they aren't going to get enough demand for the games either. I'd buy one as a present for a friend if it was $150, no way I'm doing that while it's $250 here though.

Edit: Sony and Nintendo release sh!tloads of games, and use the sales of those to get their profits.

 

[Nefrodite]

<< why are people so eager for any sign that xbox is failing? is it because they don't have one? >>



yup, bunh of lame whiners. lexus sucks because i only have a geo metro! bah.

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

<<

<< why are people so eager for any sign that xbox is failing? is it because they don't have one? >>



yup, bunh of lame whiners. lexus sucks because i only have a geo metro! bah. >>



Or maybe some people here don't like consoles that much. At least with a Gameboy you could take it along with you in the car and stuff (didn't like those either btw), here you have something as stationary as a PC, but with less functionality and no way to upgrade it after the hardware becomes totally obsolete (e.g. 2 months from now).

 

[esc]

it's quite stupid that japan doesn't like the xbox that much. they always like "cutting edge" electronics and xbox is pretty much one but maybe they don't like the fact that it's big. i dunno. the ps2's graphics and sound sucks as compared to the xbox. and i'm pretty sure geeks would choose the xbox over the ps2. correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Nemesis77]

<< It doesn't outsell it in the USA, it just had sold a lot already before the X-Box got on the market. If 8 million PS2s are sold already in a year time, and X-Box is selling at 2 million/day then sure, there have been sold more PS2s still after X-Box is on the market for 3 1/2 days (Ok, so it's slightly exagerated, but you hopefully get my point), but anyone claiming PS2 is outselling X-Box at that point and believing it is on crack. >>



PS2 outsells Xbox in Japan by a wide margin. Also, I remember hearing that PS2 clearly outsold Xbox in USA during christmas.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

who cares how systems do at launch, look at the dreamcast launch...and look at where the dreamcast is now

it's the long run that counts, and the long run looks bad for microsoft...they have one killer app. since launch Halo...all the other games released have been ok but nothing special...and who designed that freaking shaq-sized controller?!

i own a ps2, x-box, and gamecube so don't go calling me a ps2 fanboy cuz im not...just calling it like i see it

 

[Nefrodite]

Or maybe some people here don't like consoles that much. At least with a Gameboy you could take it along with you in the car and stuff (didn't like those either btw), here you have something as stationary as a PC, but with less functionality and no way to upgrade it after the hardware becomes totally obsolete (e.g. 2 months from now).


depends on how you use it a console is great when friends come over. a pc is not lan partys are fun, but thats so much trouble its like an event its just different. i can spent 200-400 a year on my pc's video card alone. its a big big different