Moore on the Future of Xbox 360

Microsoft's VP talks up the company's new marketing approach and that whole 'billion gamers' thing.

While the Xbox came across as a console for hardcore gamers, Microsoft is planning to erase that image, making Xbox 360 a console for the masses.

Microsoft VP Peter Moore looking devilish

"A lot of our message [for Xbox 360] will be focused on building a brighter and more optimistic brand," Peter Moore, a vice president at Microsoft, told Next Generation.

Moore admitted that the "testosterone fuelled" image of the Xbox needs to go so that Microsoft and other companies can start reaching out to audiences of the size previously the domain of TV and movies.

A good example of the company's broader campaign was the pre-E3 MTV special that saw the unveiling of Xbox 360. Many decried the lack of solid information about the console in the special, especially in the UK where local broadcast policies meant that Britons got to see a lot less of the console than did their American counterparts.

"We never intended to speak to the guy who sits on the sidewalk from midnight the night before we launch Xbox 360," Moore said of the special. "We have other ways to speak to that consumer."

But perhaps more important than getting the word of Xbox 360 out is convincing potential buyers that Microsoft's machine is the one to get over the PlayStation 3. Microsoft, which finds itself overpowered (at least on paper) by Sony, is now playing the games-over-tech hand.

"It's all going to be down to the experience and the games," Moore said.

And when the games come, so will the gamers. Microsoft is aiming big for the next generation. The company famously said at E3 that it plans to expand the market to a billion people over the next few years.

"Hollywood and the music industry touch billions of consumers every week," Moore said, speaking of Microsoft's ambitious visions of expansion.

"We touch hundreds of millions potentially, but we certainly don't touch billions," he continued. "I really think that our medium is so superior that it will continue to catch up on movies and music."

Moore is confident that if games start reaching out to bigger audiences, developers will be able to enjoy bigger budgets and go on to make better games.

"Touching a billion consumers is a goal we should all have; not just Microsoft but Nintendo and Sony and Activision and Ubisoft," said Moore. "Somebody needs to say 'let's grow this business' and really drive it'."

If the company has its way, that "somebody" will be Microsoft.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games