Harrison on Xbox One and the future

Freestyle footballers, zombies, Romans and Plan B took Leicester Square by storm last month to usher in the Xbox One.
It was certainly a pretty spectacle, with a giant Xbox dome, fast cars and musicians doing their best to help passers-by, industry types and fans forget about the chilly November cold. And retailers got in on the act, too. Over 300 GAME stores opened at midnight, while Tesco was branded with the Xbox logo online and across over 100 of its biggest stores.
“It feels like a very big event,” says Phil Harrison, corporate VP at Microsoft, “And because this launch is in the era of social media, it feels massively amplified by that.”
But amidst the festivities, another games retailer announced it would be shutting its doors, and earlier in the month, controversial games analyst Michael Pachter predicted that Xbox One and PS4 would be the last of the consoles. On top of that, Ubisoft and EA have told MCV they think eight years was ‘a bit long’ to wait between Xbox 360 and Xbox One.
So now the glamour of launch night is over, what does the future of Microsoft’s console business hold? MCV caught up with Harrison ahead of the Leicester Square launch event to discuss just that.
It’s a night for celebration, yet it’s also a troubling time for retail with Blockbuster on the brink. Do you feel we need to do more to support our shops?
I think we do work very closely with retail and we work carefully with them and invest in promotions. We saw Tesco run TV ads for Xbox One, and this relationship is multiplied dozens around the country with different retail chains, indies and majors.
The situation is disappointing, but it reflects the changing make-up of retail in entertainment in the UK. I don’t think we are necessarily surprised by any of those changes.

"If you compare it from launch until now, 360
is a totally different machine. I think the
entertainment streaming revolution that
happened in the middle of this life cycle has
definitely extended its life."

Phil Harrison, Xbox

A regular release of products helps. But after Xbox One and PS4 is on shelves, there’s a real lack of new games for the first few months. Why is that?
It’s not a deliberate thing. But not everyone who buys an Xbox One at launch will be playing it right away, some will be going under trees for December 25th and Titanfall at the beginning of March is not so far away. Plus we want our release schedule to have some breathing room in it.

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