Ex-MS Kevin Bachus on 360's Chance

Sony's unfettered rule of the gaming roost may be coming to an end says a member of the original Xbox team.

Despite being first to jump into the next generation with the Xbox 360, Microsoft still has a struggle ahead of it if it's to stay ahead of current-gen leader Sony. In these early days, before the PlayStation 3 (and Revolution) have even hit stores, many analysts figure Sony will come out on top again, but one of the men behind the original Xbox thinks that Microsoft could cause an upset.

"360 still has a chance of winning the next-gen battle, but it's far from a certainty," Kevin Bachus, a member of the original team responsible for the Xbox, told trade paper MCV. "If our industry's brief history has taught us anything it's that there are no set 'laws' regarding console adoption - despite what the manufacturers might claim."

Despite the strutting going on, Bachus thinks that customers will look past the whiz-bang technology thrust in their faces and will instead go with the system that has the best games and the biggest names.

"If Sony can leverage its brand, aggressively cut prices on both hardware and software, and deliver just a few platform-driving franchises as they've done in the past with Final Fantasy, [Grand Theft Auto] and others, they can quickly reverse Microsoft's early lead."

And with the lines blurring between what Sony and Microsoft can offer that the other can't, Bachus said we could be in for something we haven't seen in a long time - a close race.

"I believe that regardless of who comes out on top this time, the margin will be the closest it's been since the heady days of Nintendo and Sega. And as always, the winners will be the consumers and the publishers."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games