The New Xbox

[BigNik]

@Justin_Bailey

Rumor has it Mattrick has been talking to Zynga for months. Does anybody think he tanked the Xbox One announcement because he already had one foot out the door?

Mattrick had the reputation of being the smooth face of Microsoft PR, deeply across the technical side of the products and able to calm the peskiest interviewer. Considering the way that he couldn’t utter a sentence from the XB1 launch onward without alienating half his user base and infuriating the other half, while everyone in the company was making declarations contradicting other official statements, it’s hard to believe that he was using anything more than about a quarter of his arse in the last few months.

And a quarter’s being charitable.

[sisu]

@The_Hamster_King

It comes from surveys into play and consumption habits. So not only what people buy, but when they buy, who they play with, what their triggers are for playing, their attitudes toward different brands, etc. The idea is to develop a understanding of what strategies can be used to reach different market segments.

A hardcore gamer would preorder Assassin’s Creed IV, get it the first day its released, play through it over a weekend, and post about it on Facebook.

A dude-bro gamer would notice it in the store a month after launch. Play it on and off for a few weeks and give the disk to a friend.

They both own the same game, but their triggers for purchasing it and playing it are different.

Real, apparently.

hmmmm, I call BS. My sons who are not hard core gamers will often pre-order games before release. Its fairly common among teenagers.

[BigNik]

@sisu

hmmmm, I call BS. My sons who are not hard core gamers will often pre-order games before release. Its fairly common among teenagers.

I think you’re disagreeing with the title of a market segment your sons fall into rather than disputing the actual behaviours.

If I have a big glass of soft drink with breakfast and another with lunch every workday, I might not see myself as a “heavy” consumer of the product, but the marketers who compare me to the rest of the marketplace do and they’ll pitch to me on that basis.

ETA: I may not see myself as a particularly “hardcore” gamer - I haven’t played anything in the last fortnight, but I’ve already pre-ordered three games that are due to be released this month: the expansion pack for Civilization 5, NCAA Football 14 and Ashes Cricket 2013. So it’s worth marketers’ time to try to draw my attention.