Beep, beep, beep, beeeep
July 3rd, 2006, By Duncan Gough
No, not the sound of the Arsenal/England open-top bus reversing into the garage, rather it’s the sound of Microsoft backing their Casaul Games behemoth into retails stores near you.
It’s no real surprise that this is happening. I’ve mentioned before that the Xbox360 is not a Casual Games platform. What is interesting is that Microsoft don’t seem to realise that the Casual Game industry is pretty much driven by Windows PCs. Be it games that use IE specific, in-browser ActiveX controls, or the DirectX driven downloadable try-before-you-buy sector, Casual Games are a 90% plus Windows adventure. Quite clearly, Live Arcade was a side project for the Xbox360 that has grown beyond their expectations. There’s nothing wrong with being caught out with success like that, though. I just find it strange that, despite the sustained Casual Games buzz that has been ongoing for the best part of two years now, Microsoft have made more headway with LiveArcade than any of their traditional Casaul Games products in that time.
I have to admin that I am fascinated by how a company as big as Microsoft operates, on a day-by-day basis as well as a five-year basis. The current Ray Ozzie situation really only heightens that sense of wonder, at the moment.
Anyway, even more interesting is this little quote:
There goes the try-before-you-buy model, then. Given that these games are probably going to turn up in Walmart stores, the very same people who buy Casual Games online are now going to buy them in-store, along with their groceries, without the perceived risk of buying online.
I’m not sure how this all stacks up for Vista either, which is meant to focus more on games, along with DirectX 10. It’s as if Live Arcade has caught Microsoft by surpise, leading to exploratory moves like this, to see how and where they can sell these Casual Games. I think I’m just a bit let down by all this – Microsoft have found themselves a strong leader on the console simply through lack of coherent competition, and now they’re reversing into the Casual Games market with a retail plan that could conceivably force a huge shift in its structure, when the same industry is trying to figure out how to maximise try-before-you-buy games and increase ad-revenue.