.DX.
Power Member
Microsoft, which has been able to capture some important (timed) third-party exclusives such as Rock Band 2 and BioShock, continues to chase more exclusive deals to differentiate Xbox 360 from competitors.
Asked about Xbox 360's weaknesses, Microsoft interactive entertainment boss Don Mattrick replied, "We’d love to have more exclusive hits on our box, absolutely. Are we investing in that? Yes we are. Does that take a lot of time? Yes it does."
Microsoft's exclusive deals go beyond the boxed product. Grand Theft Auto IV and Fallout 3 will both offer exclusive downloadable content for the Xbox 360 versions. PS3 players wanting an extended experience for those games are out of luck.
Currently, Microsoft's exclusive strategy primarily involves deals with outside developers. Sony, which has double the internal development staff, has begun to rely more on bringing exclusives from within.
In a recent interview, SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida noted how third-parties are now more inclined to go multiplatform to recoup costs, so outside exclusives are more difficult to come by.
"...We know that is the trend. We, as a company, can invest in our first-party studios; in terms of exclusive titles, our role becomes more important," Yoshida recently told ThreeSpeech. "...My role is to run first-party development, and we are always exclusive."
Aside from capturing more exclusives, Mattrick said that another challenge is broadening Xbox 360's audience to non-hardcore markets.
"It takes time to do that – we’re working on those beats but you can only do so much in a year," he said.
We'll have more from Mattrick in the coming days.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/microsoft-we-want-more-exclusives