Home Gaming Marketing reasons preventing Xbox One launch date

Marketing reasons preventing Xbox One launch date

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So, Gamescom is well underway; I was expecting solid release dates for the PS4 and Xbox One by now, but Microsoft is still just saying November – giving us 30 possible release dates. But wait, it’s not their fault, it’s marketing’s fault.

Phil Harrison spoke with CVG at Gamescom, and wanted to focus on the games. Understandable, considering all the drama that’s unfolded since Xbox One was announced. Speaking of announcements, when asked if a release date announcement was coming soon, Harrison replied:

We will make an announcement in due course. There are a certain number of marketing reasons why we still haven’t announced a launch date, but we continue to say November.

A number of marketing reasons? What, you don’t want to make posters and have to change the dates or something? Surely you can pick a date and run with it. We are only a couple months away from November, what are you waiting for?

When asked if the Xbox One was still unique enough after reversing so many underpinning policies, Harrison stated:

So we hope we are being seen as a brand that is listening to consumers, and one that gives consumers a choice. People can buy games physically on disc or digitally through our marketplace. Both can co-exist on our platform, which supports both very well.

That’s still a very important part of our strategy, but ultimately it’s the games that make Xbox One stand out, and we have the best line-up of games – we think – in the history of consoles. We clearly have strong exclusive games, and we have partnered with EA to bring FIFA to Europe in a very meaningful way.

Yup, there’s that party line again – listening to consumers. I think the Xbox One will be a cool console with some great games – considering what I’ve heard about Titanfall, that might be enough on its own to sell the console. However, the only real differentiation that is sticking in my head is that Xbox One has an awesome controller, Kinect and reversed on other policies while PS4 is cheaper because it doesn’t have a mandatory eye – otherwise, they’re both just really awesome, impressive consoles. Realistically, I will probably end up forking out money for both, but PS4 first simply because it will be here first.

Last Updated: August 23, 2013

70 Comments

  1. Alien Emperor Trevor

    August 23, 2013 at 12:05

    Instead of hoping to be seen to be listening, how about listening? I despise double-speak.

    Reply

    • Her Highness the Hipster

      August 23, 2013 at 12:08

      I hope I am seen to be replying to what you write here, because it’s not about what i say, but how it’s seen 😛

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        August 23, 2013 at 12:17

        Go home Xbox One, you’re drunk!

        Reply

      • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

        August 23, 2013 at 12:23

        Yeah, I would expect that from a hipster! trolol!

        Reply

  2. Kaya

    August 23, 2013 at 12:07

    If I was Microsoft I would be waiting too, for the PS4 release date. Then I would go back and figure out a strategy to launch before them in the same markets.

    Reply

  3. Hammersteyn

    August 23, 2013 at 12:13

    • Lardus-Respect the beard

      August 23, 2013 at 12:14

      Hahaha that so true!

      Reply

    • ALKi1234

      August 23, 2013 at 12:15

      Epic!

      Reply

    • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

      August 23, 2013 at 12:24

      And you win the internet today! 🙂

      Reply

    • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

      August 23, 2013 at 12:25

      Dammit, I can’t stop watching!

      Reply

    • Rags

      August 23, 2013 at 12:25

      Shame 🙁

      Reply

    • Jetai

      August 23, 2013 at 12:28

      yes, lets laugh about animals but get serious about the effect of batteries on the environment.

      Reply

      • Jakster

        August 23, 2013 at 12:29

        Poor horse was actually being chased down by the driver just for lulz. Sick!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 12:30

          It’s a female moose. The driver was actually slowing down and pulling of to the side of the road.

          Reply

          • Jakster

            August 23, 2013 at 12:33

            Speed looks constant and vehicle runs in a straight line until it falls. Funny guy, you are.

          • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

            August 23, 2013 at 12:36

            Speed is not constant. If goes from ‘moving’ to ‘not moving’ you must be AWESOME at CoD man!

          • Hammersteyn

            August 23, 2013 at 12:36

            Here’s a link to the original. He slows down before it falls but hey If you love horses or what you deem to be a horse so much who am I to judge O_0
            Edit – http://9gag.com/gag/aYbLzyv

          • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

            August 23, 2013 at 12:37

            I think he watched the play Equus and took it to heart, and probably a few other places too 0-O

          • Hammersteyn

            August 23, 2013 at 12:41

            Bwahahahaha

    • Pieter Kruger

      August 23, 2013 at 12:59

      Sy moose eers links, regs en weer links gekyk het!!

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        August 23, 2013 at 13:02

        Hehe

        Reply

    • ElimiNathan

      August 23, 2013 at 13:08

      Hahahahaha

      Reply

  4. The Infamous KingKongShlong

    August 23, 2013 at 12:26

    They are still trying to figure out how to launch it, without it being a massive failure.

    Reply

  5. Rollingo

    August 23, 2013 at 12:26

    “That’s still a very important part of our strategy, but ultimately it’s
    the games that make Xbox One stand out, and we have the best line-up of
    games – we think – in the history of consoles” <<<<<< Truth!

    Reply

  6. Rags

    August 23, 2013 at 12:26

    “It is November, November. Please don’t buy a PS4.”

    Launches December.

    Reply

    • Marc O Polo

      August 23, 2013 at 17:19

      *December 2014

      seriously think they were caught out by the initial ps4 announcement and have been scrambling ever since… maybe they should hire a outside pr firm to handle the xbox 180 cus they just keep making themselves look like assholes

      Reply

  7. Concerned

    August 23, 2013 at 12:27

    Google search history:
    “PS4 FTW”
    “Sony job applications”
    “Sony Ponies Unite”
    “PS4 league of Journalists”
    Look familiar Zoe?

    Reply

    • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

      August 23, 2013 at 12:30

      Okay… That was an amazing contribution…

      Reply

      • Epicness

        August 23, 2013 at 12:31

        Much more useful than watching a horse being chased and then dropped on it’s head.

        Reply

        • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

          August 23, 2013 at 12:34

          Not really. That gif was making a point about a companies failure to inform others on their release date. What Concerned is doing is attacking someone with HIS/HER personal opinions which many others do not share. And that is bullshit.

          Reply

          • Concerned

            August 23, 2013 at 12:49

            Think I went too far? My apologies then! But isn’t 3 MS bashing articles in less than 24 hours pushing it a bit especially as there are so many other good things to report on?

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 12:37

          MOOSE dumbass!

          Reply

          • No Trolling

            August 23, 2013 at 13:08

            With your head that far up your ass, you should know shit loads about the moose species.

          • Hammersteyn

            August 23, 2013 at 13:09

            You mean donkey? Get it? Ass.

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 12:42

          Great so now you changed your name from Jakster to Epicness.

          Reply

          • Unavengedavo (aka. Frik)

            August 23, 2013 at 12:52

            Jakster, Epicness, Troll Slayer… They are all The Infamous KingKongShlong
            I saw that name on all the troll posts earlier.

          • Wordup

            August 23, 2013 at 13:37

            And RinceThisKak and HammerkakSteyn are the same person 😉

          • Brian Murphy

            August 23, 2013 at 16:36

            Yeah, but at least they’re intelligent. They can actually tell the difference between a horse and a moose, and a car that’s moving at a constant speed and one that’s slowing down. Also, they know the difference between a moose slipping and falling on the road, and a horse being ‘dropped on it’s head’.

    • Troll Slayer

      August 23, 2013 at 12:31

      It’s sad when a journalist sells out to a specific brand so openly. Can’t take them serious anymore now can we?

      Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      August 23, 2013 at 12:32

      The Infamous KingKongShlong. So you have a another name as well. Good to know.

      Reply

      • RinceThisandbeAbsurd

        August 23, 2013 at 12:35

        I know, pathetic hey. Has multiple accounts so IT can look like it has followers who agree. That really is a sad place to be hey?!

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 12:41

          Stupid silly little trolls.

          Reply

      • The Infamous KingKongShlong

        August 23, 2013 at 13:21

        Huh? I dont understand what you are on about?
        I often post on here as Infamous KingkongShlong…
        Which other poster do you think was me?
        and which side of this console war do you think I am on.

        Gavin knows me well, as I actually won my ps3 through this blog 6yrs ago…
        as well as the fact I used to run a gaming mag and we correspond (or used to) fairly often,

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 13:23

          Nice try…………………………………………………

          Reply

          • The Infamous KingKongShlong

            August 23, 2013 at 13:29

            lol dude I got nothing to hide, mainly cos you are oh so very wrong.
            why do you think my posts have my stormtrooper avatar and the others dont?

          • FoxOneZA - X-Therminator

            August 23, 2013 at 13:39

            OMW…It’s you Abe!

          • The Infamous KingKongShlong

            August 23, 2013 at 13:41

            Lol yea, dont know how you see my name though :p
            Still dont know why people think I have multiple accounts…

            Do we know each other?

          • FoxOneZA - X-Therminator

            August 23, 2013 at 13:42

            No not personally. You, me and Doobiwan used to shed some fanboi tears over XBox vs PS3 back in the day. Back then I was just Fox1.

          • The Infamous KingKongShlong

            August 23, 2013 at 13:45

            Yes thats vaguely familiar. Back in the days when the shoe was on the other foot.

          • FoxOneZA - X-Therminator

            August 23, 2013 at 13:43

            Sometimes Disqus goes wonky and leaves our accounts open for others to post under our names.

        • TiMsTeR1033

          August 23, 2013 at 13:28

          back in your box!!

          Reply

    • saneman

      August 26, 2013 at 09:12

      Here are the facts:
      xbox one was built from the ground up to use the cloud.
      xbox one was built from the ground up to be always online when playing games.
      xbox one was built from the ground up to use the kinect.

      Facts updated:
      sorry we lied, we just wanted to use the word cloud cos its a buzz word and stuff.
      sorry we lied, we just wanted to enforce always online DRM.
      sorry we lied, we just wanted an excuse to charge you an extra $100 for some useless peripheral and we wanted to be able to allow our government to spy on you in your own living room when ever they wanted.

      Reply

  8. Rock789

    August 23, 2013 at 12:31

    Zoe – I’m with you on this one.

    I’ll probably end up forking out cash for both… But am definitely getting the PS4 first. Why? Part of the reason is coz it’s here first… However, the main reason for me is that from day 1 of the next-gen announcements, Sony have just ‘got it’ when it comes to what makes me want to play more of their games and what makes me a gamer. And MS simply haven’t… The policy reversals are just symptoms of the underlying issue – MS just doesn’t seem to ‘get it’ anymore.

    And that makes me sad…

    Reply

  9. Purple_Dragon

    August 23, 2013 at 12:40

    Seems like the only negative about XBone is their marketing or lack of marketing. Seems like they are just fucking up all the time over simple things.

    Reply

  10. Kromas

    August 23, 2013 at 12:59

    Maybe they should ask. “What would Brian Boytano do?”

    Reply

  11. OVG

    August 23, 2013 at 13:10

    “listening to consumers”
    GET THE FCUK OUT OF TOWN.
    If they were listening to us then we would have a kick ass INFINITY games console that plays games first and foremost and SOCIAL second with backwards compatible games and an OPTIONAL over the top menu interface machine called the Kinect 2.
    We all know who is in charge. $$$$$
    Kind of like what Hollywood is now. The Lone Ranger being a perfect example of modern creativity and fan feedback.

    I do not trust people who change their minds every week and place a positive spin on it. Whats to stop them from changing everything all over again once they can start DATA farming from those poor loyal early adopters.

    Hell one cannot even trust SONY yet their mandate is set in stone.
    Thank goodness my car is not plugged into the Internet or it would be nothing more than a tricycle a year from now thanks to purchasing it via virtual space.

    I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT REVEAL after 3 decades of news that always made me as excited as a little schoolgirl in a doll store.

    I now find I am more excited waiting for Isidingo to come on.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      August 23, 2013 at 13:11

      He’s BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      Reply

      • OVG

        August 23, 2013 at 13:14

        Been catching up on the MATRIX and what a surprise… I have seen more video footage of the Crazy Lazy’s in one day than the last 4 years combined.

        Nice to see LG growing at such a huge rate. Passion always prevails in the end.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          August 23, 2013 at 13:15

          It does! It really was cool seeing all the faces at last.

          Reply

    • TiMsTeR1033

      August 23, 2013 at 13:12

      have a nice holiday?

      Reply

      • OVG

        August 23, 2013 at 13:24

        It was faaaaaantastic. I managed to do a few gaming marathons and got an extra 3000 AP racked up in a week. Mirrors Edge, Prince of Persia, Darksiders, Hitman, Sleeping Dogs and a bit of Borderlands.
        All great games, I do not see myself bothering with the next gen for a long long time. Still to many games to catch up on.

        Reply

        • TiMsTeR1033

          August 23, 2013 at 13:27

          still gotta get sleeping dogs, and dark siders. playing Siants row the third atm, after having wars with people saying saints row is better than gta I though screw it ill try saints row 3(played other 2) but anyway. Glad you had a nice break, And I agree with you I need to catch up on some games so many out there still.

          Reply

          • OVG

            August 23, 2013 at 13:33

            Exactly, people always say stuff, I say a shit tone of stuff, but if one can just ignore the masses and enjoy the game for what it is then I would never have picked up ICO from the bargain bin for R49 or got to experience those under the radar hits, or even games with low scores like The Saboteur.
            I swear blind that I had more fun and game time with The Saboteur than GTAIV.

            The best thing about hanging onto the last gen is that the games become very cheap so we do not have to be so fussy and read up on Metacritic before we drop R599 a pop and go with public opinion. Now we can just play.

          • TiMsTeR1033

            August 23, 2013 at 13:47

            that is ineed very true games will become cheaper 🙂

    • Hammersteyn

      August 23, 2013 at 13:14

      The voice of reason! The fury of gamers! Bringing with him the agony of a thousand red rings of deaths upon all who oppose him.

      Reply

      • OVG

        August 23, 2013 at 13:18

        Good point, lets see if the early adopters from this gen buy into the huge early failure rates all over again with the warranty expiring 1 month before the the console bricks.
        I WATCHED IT HAPPEN, we are all suckers.

        Reply

  12. TheMoil

    August 23, 2013 at 15:48

    I’m getting both, x1 preferred console. 300k dedicated servers gonna have the outright best controller. Best MP console experience.

    PS4 gotta have just to remind me how good playing on the X1 is. Oh yeah pretty good to get games for free with plus and cheap subscription to music unlimited. Not all bad.

    Reply

  13. Marc O Polo

    August 23, 2013 at 18:02

    maybe the marketing department is Canadian…

    Reply

  14. iPrimal

    August 24, 2013 at 20:19

    LOL They’ll never win me over!

    Reply

  15. Drizzt

    August 26, 2013 at 09:37

    Microsoft just doesn’t seem to have faith in their ability to launch Xbox One.

    I question how much is “listening to fans” vs bending to consumer demands just to make sales.
    Microsoft’s marketing campaign has been dreadful. They are just so scared to say anything because, in my opinion, their initial vision for Xbox One was not listening to fans. It was made in a boardroom, and after their announcement at E3 it has left them in murky waters. So now its a scramble to fix all those decisions and they are dressing it up as “listening to their fans” and not fear of loosing sales.

    I have no doubt Xbox One and PS4 will be awesome (we need both of them to compete otherwise there will be no drive to improve).

    Reply

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