Dos and Don'ts for Microsoft at E3

By: Henry Hollaway
Published: Jun 7, 2013
at 8:15 am

E3 2013 will be make or break for Microsoft and the Xbox One as they struggle in the opening rounds of the new console war. After a disappointing reveal of the Xbox One, hordes of gamers have made clear that they’re in this war to play games and Microsoft’s lack of support for their consumers ideals have lost them a significant amount of support.

There are a few ways Microsoft can regain momentum during next week’s E3 conference, and here are my thoughts on what they can do and what they should not do.

Don’t talk anymore about the TV features that are really just an overlay for your existing cable provider. We heard more than enough about the ability to change channels with your voice and see fantasy sports scores on your TV.

Do focus on the gamers. The last conference was the initial step in umbrellaing the home entertainment market, but the people that got Microsoft into that position felt left out and under appreciated. When it takes 35 minutes to mention a core application (Games) it speaks volumes of where your attention and intentions are. They should be given reasons to be invested in the Xbox One, the Kinect won’t do that by itself.

See this? It's supposed to play games too. — See this? It’s supposed to play games too.

Don’t embarrass yourself, Microsoft. The convenient lack of mentioning always online, used games, etc., during the reveal was a smart move as the Xbox One’s unsavory side was only mentioned in passing between staff and reporters, not immediately broadcasted to every person watching the event. Don’t bring it up now. As much as people want to hear exactly what is going on with the workings of the Xbox One, Microsoft has bigger fish to announce. If Microsoft wants to stop crawling, they’ll do some damage control by preventing damage in the first place.

Do give us games. The biggest complaint about the Xbox One and the reveal conference were the lack of exclusive games. Of what we’ve seen, all but one game shown in association with the Xbox One have been 3rd party games. Microsoft boasted that in the first year fifteen exclusives will be released and of those eight will be new IP’s, so why not show us some? We don’t need more mo-cap dogs nor EA Sports tech demos, show us what we haven’t seen, what will peak our interest and get us talking about what could happen. Then and only then will Microsoft and its Xbox One will start to regain momentum.