8 Ways Microsoft Saved The Xbox One With Savvy Marketing
3. Embracing Indie Development
Marketing objective: Reputation management.
If you’re in the games industry, it’s probably best not to annoy developers who want to make games for your console. But that’s exactly what Microsoft did, wilfully ignoring what should’ve been their other target market: Developers.
The original problem with the Xbox One (or one of them, at least) was that it seemed to be designed solely to play triple-A titles, because that’s where the big bucks are. Consequently, Microsoft cast indie studios adrift, which is weird, really, since the 360 had a charming selection of indie titles.
That decision resulted in two things: Sony upped their support for indies, and Microsoft backtracked, establishing ID@Xbox in 2014. Now Microsoft could legitimately cast themselves as the good guys of game development.
Or, at least, the not-quite-so-bad guys. It was cynical reputation management, but a) that's why it worked and b) that's marketing for ya.