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Microsoft Xbox VP doubts Sony's PlayStation Vita

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Dela @ Jun 28, 2011 04:38 | 6 comments

Dennis Durkin, corporate Vice President and COO for Microsoft Corp.'s Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB), wouldn't switch places with Nintendo or Sony in the games business.

In an interview with IndustryGamers.com, he revealed that Microsoft feels in no way pressured to develop a portable games console. "I'm not sure I would want to be launching a dedicated portable device right now into that market. I think the DS - if you look at the 3DS, certainly versus people's expectation's it's not been as successful as people would have thought," he said.

"So that's a very crowded market and a very, very red ocean right now with a lot of change happening. So I’m not sure it's a good idea. You only have a certain number of bets you can make as a company and you have to decide what you want to put your wood behind and I’m just not sure that that’s a place that I would put mine."

Microsoft's Xbox 360 has been on something of a high since the launch of the Kinect peripheral for the console in late 2010. Durkin thinks that Microsoft's position in the industry now is pretty good compared to the competition, to the point that he, "certainly wouldn't want to trade hands with either of them."

"I'm pretty excited about the bets that we're making around unique content, around our Xbox Live service, and around Kinect, and then layering in new entertainment experiences for people which take advantage of all of the above. And that's where we think well have the most differentiation versus the competition. We've really been investing against those themes for the last 2 or 3 years."

Last week, Xbox EMEA Vice President, Chris Lewis, said that the Xbox 360 console is around halfway through its lifecycle, bolstered by the Kinect peripheral. The comment came amid speculation that Microsoft could launch a new home console as early as next year, which would be seven years after the Xbox 360's November 2005 launch.

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Comments

Comment by: xaznboitx (Jun 28, 2011 07:23)

not going to buy it if it cost a lot and be waste if it crashes. title is wrong. Didn't talk about doubting PSP Vita, it was doubting 3ds. I think the PS3 will be cheaper when the new xbox comes out and xbox might not have hard drive for cheaper price.

Comment by: LordRuss (Jun 28, 2011 15:36)

Hhm, VP of one company trash talking the actions/business of a competitor... this is new. I would find it funny if both Sony & Nintendo busted M$ out as being the only console maker to 'not' have their own portable.

Not that they need one, or that I would buy one. I would simply find it as a small smile in some form of comedic gold somewhere out there.

http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

Comment by: Interestx (Jun 28, 2011 18:08)

Hmmm.

Every report on this seems to give the impression that the MS guy just started giving his (negative) views on the 3DS & Vita's prospects.

I'd like to see the context. I bet he was asked by the interviewer for his opinion.

It's not quite the same thing.

Comment by: xnonsuchx (Jun 28, 2011 20:56)

Says the company who FAILS at portable devices! ;-)

Comment by: xaznboitx (Jun 28, 2011 21:37)

Originally posted by Interestx:
Hmmm.

Every report on this seems to give the impression that the MS guy just started giving his (negative) views on the 3DS & Vita's prospects.

I'd like to see the context. I bet he was asked by the interviewer for his opinion.

It's not quite the same thing.

couple days ago sony was saying that there will not be no ps4 anytime soon even when nintendo release their new console. sony started saying stuff that wii u is nothing special that they don't need to create new console to compete with them.

Comment by: oappi (Jun 29, 2011 00:06)

Just a thought what if ms just made windows phones as their portable gaming platform? At the moment nintendo is only one who wouldn't be able to follow that move, and i would guess that most people think that less devices is better. MS just has to make phone models (with their partners) that support this and as we all know nokia already has the ngage experience =). Major player like microsoft could easily develop games for that platform, and i think that was the worst problem of ngage.