8 Ways Microsoft Saved The Xbox One With Savvy Marketing
5. Accepting The Console War Was Lost
Marketing objective: Repositioning the brand.
The so-called console war was lost at the precise moment that Sony took to the stage during the PS4’s reveal at 2013’s E3. Microsoft was on the ropes, and all it took for Sony to win was say, ‘We’ll stick to the status quo, thanks.’
All the issues that had pissed gamers off, like draconian DRM and fees to play used games were off the Sony menu (although some sources suggest that even Sony intended to go down this route, once upon a time). Microsoft couldn’t compete, and they knew it.
Rather than waste millions trying, they instead looked at their unique value proposition – which is marketing-speak for ‘What makes us different to, and better than, our competitors?’.
Cue a closer relationship with Windows, mirroring traditional PC gaming with concepts like Early Access and the Play Anywhere program that allows you to buy a game once and play it on both console and computer. Hell, you can even stream your Xbox gameplay to PC now, further blurring the lines between the two platforms.
But there was still another untapped UVP resource…