Xbox New Year's ResolutionsFollowing our New Year's Resolutions features for Sony PlayStation and Nintendo, we're now turning our attention towards Microsoft. After a stellar 2011, here's what the analysts said the Xbox business needs to do this year.
Michael Pachter, Wedbush Securities
Microsoft needs to heed my recommended New Year’s Resolution for Sony. They continue to try to support all things Microsoft, sometimes to the exclusion of everything else. We see support for Windows 7 (and 8) phones, and over-dependence upon the Kinect camera interface as a gaming controller, rather than upon integration of a physical controller (maybe even Nintendo’s tablet interface). If the Xbox 360 could use the iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablets as controllers, it would make Kinect more interesting. Much respect for the guys at Microsoft, but they would benefit from being more open to interoperability with third party devices.
Jesse Divnich, EEDAR
Microsoft had a phenomenal 2011, beating industry expectations at every bend. I don’t know if Microsoft really needs a resolution for 2012.. It really is tough to point out any major flaws in their current strategy.
David Cole, DFC Intelligence
The Xbox 360 has had strong sales given it launched way back in 2005. Microsoft seems to finally be doing a decent job of making the Xbox 360 a true media center. However, 2012 looks to be a crossroad year for Microsoft. Gamers are clamoring for not just more games but word about a new system. Meanwhile, it looks like Xbox 360 game exclusives are becoming fewer as Microsoft focuses on applications other than games. The Kinect may have sold well but we wonder if people are really using the device. Now that Microsoft has sold a lot of systems they need to ensure that their users actually have fun playing with those systems if they want them to stick with the Xbox brand for the long haul.
Colin Sebastian, RW Baird
Microsoft should resolve to upgrade Kinect with a more flexible form factor, updated motion sensing and voice activation, and extend Kinect to more non-gaming activities. We’d also like to see an expansion of the content available on the new Xbox Live platform before we can truly cut the cord.
