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Microsoft Worried About the Future of Their X-Box?

by Max Lake - June 12, 2001, 11:58 pm EDT
Source: Computer & Video Games

Citing a slower than expected growth in broadband users, many in the Microsoft camp worry about the success of the new console.

Some more dreary news has just hit Nintendo's neighbor & now competitor in Seattle, Microsoft. We don't want to kick a horse when its down (especially since we're a Nintendo site and we appear biased every time we do) but when Microsoft itself is expressing concern over the X-Box months before its launch, you have to wonder how successful the much-hyped console will be.

For quite some time Microsoft has been touting broadband access as the gateway to the future of gaming. It would open up access to massive online gaming environments virtually free of lag. Unfortunately, due to a slower than expected growth in the propogation of broadband access in homes, many including Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, have expressed concern over the focus of the X-Box, "We have grown more pessimistic about this than we were a few years ago... It has proceeded more slowly than we expected."

With no signs of the broadband revolution speeding up, Ballmer worries, "The strategy for Internet gaming is dependent on broadband capability. It is possible that some won't buy the Xbox because they don't have broadband capability."

Finally, CV&G ended the article on a telling quote from the CEO, "[The X-Box will only be profitable] within a few years."

Article co-written by Max Lake & Andres Rojas

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