Seeing how they recently made Windows 10 an universal operating system that runs on computers, Windows smartphones and, in a modified form, on the Xbox One, do you think that the lack of popularity of the Windows smartphones and tablets influences the popularity of the Xbox One? Do you think that if the Windows Phone-based smartphones and tablets were as popular as the Android ones, the Xbox One would be more popular among gamers?
Is the Xbox One's popularity influenced by the Windows Phone?
- Thread starter lb
- Start date
Not at all.
The Xbox One isn't as popular with gamers for a number of reasons that have little to do with their smartphone division (well... directly at least, they do share some issues which are inherited from Microsoft themselves). The major reason the Xbox One isn't popular is simply a terrible launch. When they revealed it they were marred by concerns over used games and a focus on TV/sports over games. Then there was the price reveal ( only for them to be $100 more expensive than their chief rival). And of course the "mandatory" kinect they pushed so hard that only really pushed gamer away.
The underlying theme with those issues though was the fact that Microsoft just wasn't listening to their consumer base. They had these grand ideas of what THEY wanted and what their customers wanted didn't matter. (Except, of course, until their competition used every opportunity to cut them to pieces.)
And you can see shades of their reluctance to listen to consumers echo throughout all of their products... The whole Windows 8 "Metro" UI and lack of start menu were pretty big indicators.
Also, there are a few reasons they made Windows 8 (and later 10) a more universal platform:
1- to cut development costs (instead of having 3 teams working on separate projects, one larger team that manages one project that works on 3 platforms).
2- to make it easier to port programs across platforms. This way the code they used to make, for example, Skype work on desktop would be easy to put on a tablet with minimal fuss.
3- to provide a unified look. This way people familiar with one would be somewhat more familiar with others (or consider giving others in that family a shot. )
The Xbox One isn't as popular with gamers for a number of reasons that have little to do with their smartphone division (well... directly at least, they do share some issues which are inherited from Microsoft themselves). The major reason the Xbox One isn't popular is simply a terrible launch. When they revealed it they were marred by concerns over used games and a focus on TV/sports over games. Then there was the price reveal ( only for them to be $100 more expensive than their chief rival). And of course the "mandatory" kinect they pushed so hard that only really pushed gamer away.
The underlying theme with those issues though was the fact that Microsoft just wasn't listening to their consumer base. They had these grand ideas of what THEY wanted and what their customers wanted didn't matter. (Except, of course, until their competition used every opportunity to cut them to pieces.)
And you can see shades of their reluctance to listen to consumers echo throughout all of their products... The whole Windows 8 "Metro" UI and lack of start menu were pretty big indicators.
Also, there are a few reasons they made Windows 8 (and later 10) a more universal platform:
1- to cut development costs (instead of having 3 teams working on separate projects, one larger team that manages one project that works on 3 platforms).
2- to make it easier to port programs across platforms. This way the code they used to make, for example, Skype work on desktop would be easy to put on a tablet with minimal fuss.
3- to provide a unified look. This way people familiar with one would be somewhat more familiar with others (or consider giving others in that family a shot. )
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- Credits
- 8,968
I wouldn't say that it is down to the phones. Microsoft as a whole are struggling but honestly it doesn't seem down to the reputation of one division, but more so the poor choices of the business as a whole. For instance, when Xbox One was announced, Don made a lot of poor decisions that turned gamers away from the brand. Phil will take a while to rebuilt that trust.
I suppose that if the Windows Phone was more popular it would have helped boost sales a little bit, but I don't think the lack of popularity of the phone has the opposite effect of hindering sales. Phones and consoles have little to do with each other, even if they run on the same OS. Gaming on phones is more casual where console and PC gaming is more formal and in many cases, even competitive.
I really doubt that cutting development cuts was taken into consideration. I mean, Microsoft's earnings are about 4 times those of Apple, and we don't see Apple making a universal platform to cut development costs.
The other two reasons, yes, I can agree with.
iOS is used on multiple platforms (their phones, tablets and even music players). Plus it shares frameworks (Core Foundation, Darwin kit and Foundation kit) with OSX. So yeah apple does share a dev team to cut costs in that regard. (Though some of those kits have settings disabled, like in Darwin to prevent user access to the unix shell.)