Exclusive: Bach on Xbox 360 Unknowns

Still have burning questions about Xbox 360? Pack-ins, pricing, global launch, strategy? Chances are that Xbox's top man answers them in his latest interview.

As a coming out party, E3 could have gone better for Microsoft. Before the show even began the buzz was about PlayStation 3 and that Killzone 2 footage, and showgoers seemed underwhelmed by the half-finished games on the floor. But Microsoft isn't giving up.

Bach predicts that Microsoft will come out
on top in the next generation

This Christmas, the company will launch Xbox 360, the self-proclaimed herald of the high-definition era of interactive entertainment, and attempt to build on the solid foundation laid by Xbox.

"In five years I see us in a leadership position in the video game space," said Robbie Bach, Microsoft's chief Xbox officer, speaking to Kikizo. "That's definitely what we're focussed on."

To do that, Microsoft and Xbox 360 have some not-insignificant obstacles to vault.

Unlike its competitors, which, according to Bach, have taken a "launch and leave mentality" to hardware releases in the past, Microsoft is intending to launch Xbox 360 nearly simultaneously in North America, Japan and Europe.

Microsoft will also keep stock coming in all three regions, to avoid the shortages that have plagued the debuts of past consoles.

The standard Xbox 360 pack will include the console,
one controller, a hard drive, a headset and a remote

Less thrilling, at least to Europeans, are Bach's comments on pricing.

Xbox 360 is expected to launch at around $300 (£170) in the US, which is the same as the debut price for both Xbox and PlayStation 2. While Bach admitted that Microsoft has yet to make a final decision on the price, he did say that the company is mindful of the past.

"We understand price points," said Bach. "We understand consumer preference and we understand history."

But Europeans expecting to cash in on the weak dollar could be in for a surprise. Bach admitted that Microsoft's pricing decisions for Europe have less to do with exchange rates and more to do with perceived value and cost.

"When you're in Europe, people have an expected price point for things in local currency," Bach said, "So we price to local currency."

Xbox launched for £299 in the UK in March 2002, but this was reduced to £199 just a month later. Considering the poor sales of Xbox at the higher price point, it's unlikely that Microsoft will launch at £299 again, but final decisions have yet to be made.

It's also unclear exactly what you'll be getting for your wad of cash. There were several reports earlier in the year that suggested Microsoft would release multiple versions of Xbox 360.

Bach admitted that Microsoft is still considering its bundling options. As it stands now, the primary retail package will contain the console, a hard drive, a wireless controller, a headset for Xbox Live and a remote - the latter suggesting that, unlike Xbox, all Xbox 360's will be able to play DVDs right out the box.

And while Xbox 360 will come with a wireless controller, those attached to wired manipulation won't be left out. Microsoft will have identical wired controllers available, as will third parties. You will likely not, however, be able to use your current Xbox controllers. Bach admitted he doesn't know whether an adaptor is in the works, but it's obviously not a high priority for the company, as it would rather push its swanky new wireless pad.

The main returning feature for Xbox 360, though, is Xbox Live. Microsoft is putting its faith in the well-received online service, which currently has more than 2 million subscribers.

Live is a crucial component of Microsoft's next-gen strategy

Two tiers are being planned for Xbox 360: Xbox Silver, which is focussed on communication and community; and Xbox Gold, which is the equivalent of the current Xbox Live service and includes everything Xbox Live Silver offers plus online multiplayer.

Apart from standout first-party games such as Halo 2 and Project Gotham Racing 2, Xbox Live is Microsoft's biggest winner from the current generation, and it's going to be even more important going forward.

"Xbox Live is critical part of what we're doing," said Bach. "Our goal is to have 50 per cent of our customers connected to Xbox Live, either as Silver members or as Gold subscribers, and we think that number is very achievable."

While a 50 per cent subscription rate would be much higher than the single-digit penetration of Xbox Live, it does fall far short of the expectations of other companies, such as Nintendo, which is hoping to get up to 90 per cent of DS players online when its free online service for the handheld launches later this year.

But as the old adage goes, it's the games that matter, and it's perhaps here that the biggest changes are in store for Microsoft. The company will be putting more faith into third-party publishers to fill in the genre gaps Microsoft doesn't tackle itself.

An example of this is EA, which is working on 25 games for Xbox 360. EA will be bringing Xbox 360 versions of all its genre-topping sports franchises to the console, which perhaps eased Microsoft's decision to sell its own in-house sports development studios last year.

Companies like EA (with Madden 2006) will cover
the holes in Microsoft's portfolio

Instead of quantity, Microsoft is focussing more on the quality of its games.

"Our first party studios will do fewer games," said Bach. "They will be bigger titles - more focussed, more AAA titles than we've done in the past."

If Microsoft wants to touch the billion gamers it predicted it would at E3, the way games are made and marketed is going to have to change. Part of giving games a more casual-friendly facade is making them more approachable to those who don't necessarily have the skills of longtime gamers. Bach said that titles for Xbox 360 will have better scalability in their difficulty, allowing both neophytes and hardcore gamers to get the most out of every experience.

Microsoft will also be paying more attention to the timing of its game releases, such that they coincide with the debut of new features.

One expected timed roll-out is that for Project Gotham Racing 3, which will bring with it the prospect of a true spectator mode, allowing gamers to tune it to watch races over Xbox Live without taking part themselves. Taking the idea further, this could lead to complete online tournaments where gamers vie for cash prizes in front of a worldwide audience.

First-party releases will be timed to coincide with
the roll-out of new features

But the breadth will still be there. Bach confirmed that there are currently more than 160 games in development for Xbox 360. Around 16 of these will be ready for the console's launch, which will likely be in November, while 25 will make it onto shelves by the end of the year.

More importantly, Microsoft and third parties will have a steady stream of games, avoiding the post-launch doldrums that have strangled the momentum of recent platform debuts.

"The line-up is very rich and it's going to continue beyond just the launch period," Bach said. "There are going to be great experiences every month after we launch [Xbox 360]."

Just don't look for Microsoft to release any more in-house games for Xbox.

Xbox is in the hands of third parties now