Microsoft exec: Xbox One X aimed at the "discerning connoisseur of gaming"

midian182

Posts: 10,761   +142
Staff member

Yesterday saw the long-awaited worldwide release of the Xbox One X. As part of his efforts to promote “the world’s most powerful console,” executive VP of gaming at Microsoft and the head of Xbox brand, Phil Spencer, has been speaking about the machine to various media outlets.

During his visit to CNBC, Spencer was asked about the Xbox One X’s target customer. Having previously admitted it isn’t for everybody, he said: "This is for the discerning connoisseur of gaming [that] has a 4K television, [who] wants to see the absolute best visuals. This box is definitely targeted toward the customer that buys the most and plays the most."

Spencer added that the cheaper Xbox One S was the more mainstream console, aimed at the likes of new gamers and families, which is why Microsoft expects it to be the better seller. Ultimately, it’s about giving Xbox fans the choice of buying a console for around $250, or spending $500 on a top-tier, 4K machine.

Initial reviews of the Xbox One X have been mostly positive, though several reviewers noted caveats such as limited HDR support in some games. Microsoft recently said demand for the console was “super high,” but many Amazon customers reportedly failed to receive their pre-orders yesterday.

Last week, it was revealed that the Xbox One X natively supports 1440p monitors, rather than upscaling the image from 1080p in the same way as the PlayStation 4 Pro.

In other Xbox news, Spencer recently gave an interview to Bloomberg in which he said Microsoft would probably debut a game streaming service that doesn’t require a console for some types of content in the next three years.

"Now, players are playing the games across every device and we’re connecting those players across all of those devices,” Spencer said. “Obviously for us, the console is an important part there... but connecting to gamers wherever they are is the vision of Microsoft around what we’re doing in gaming."

Permalink to story.

 
"This is for the discerning connoisseur of gaming [that] has a 4K television, [who] wants to see the absolute best visuals. This box is definitely targeted toward the customer that buys the most and plays the most."
Is he serious??? Spoken like a true m0r0n. Not even nursery school children would be foolish enough to believe that asinine line. He works for M$ (hopefully soon to be 'worked'), surely he's heard of gaming PC's before. If I was Nadella, I'd fire him on the spot or at least, transfer him to the building sanitation department. Nah, on second thoughts I'd just fire him and be done with it. With the crap that flows from his lips, the new, much heavier workload won't be fair on his colleagues in sanitation.
 
Title "discerning connoisseur of gaming" is short for what? More money than brains?
 
The "discerning connoisseur of gaming" would probably go for a PC, considering the significantly better graphics, availability of mods, and the back catalog of decades worth of software and emulators that embarrass entire console generations.
 
This is for the discerning connoisseur of gaming [that] has a 4K television, [who] wants to see the absolute best visuals.

2013: Microsoft markets a multimedia center to console gamers.
2017: Microsoft markets a console to PC gamers.
2020: ???

Someone in their marketing department doesn't have all of their ducks in a row.
 
"This is for the discerning connoisseur of gaming [that] has a 4K television, [who] wants to see the absolute best visuals. This box is definitely targeted toward the customer that buys the most and plays the most."
Is he serious??? Spoken like a true m0r0n. Not even nursery school children would be foolish enough to believe that asinine line. He works for M$ (hopefully soon to be 'worked'), surely he's heard of gaming PC's before. If I was Nadella, I'd fire him on the spot or at least, transfer him to the building sanitation department. Nah, on second thoughts I'd just fire him and be done with it. With the crap that flows from his lips, the new, much heavier workload won't be fair on his colleagues in sanitation.


So, do you think Microsoft should hire someone who talks ill about the XBOX and put it in charge of that division? "Guys, let's be honest. This isn't the best machine you can buy. Not even close. Buy something else".
 
So, do you think Microsoft should hire someone who talks ill about the XBOX and put it in charge of that division? "Guys, let's be honest. This isn't the best machine you can buy. Not even close. Buy something else".
He'd be respected for his honesty if nothing else.
 
So, do you think Microsoft should hire someone who talks ill about the XBOX and put it in charge of that division? "Guys, let's be honest. This isn't the best machine you can buy. Not even close. Buy something else".

They should hire someone who knows how to target the correct demographic. "Discerning gamer who wants the best graphics" is not the demographic buying consoles.
 
The "discerning connoisseur of gaming" would probably go for a PC, considering the significantly better graphics, availability of mods, and the back catalog of decades worth of software and emulators that embarrass entire console generations.

I game on both PC and console. I can tell you that cramming my entire family or party into my office just isn't the same as having everyone lounging around in my living room with a 65" 4K UltraHD. No matter how much I love gaming on PC, consoles will be here for a while.
 
Forget about believing the line, I don't even know what the hell that line means.
I doubt very much anybody knows, himself included, but it sure sounds impressive. Obviously it's just the age old ploy of BS baffling brains again but to be fair to him, if I was in his position, I'd say the same thing publicly, more or less.
 
Back