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Microsoft “Completely Discounted Nintendo” When Planning and Releasing the Xbox 360

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Current EA CFO Peter Moore and Xbox boss Phil Spencer, were recently on a podcast with IGN. In the show, Moore said Microsoft “completely discounted Nintendo” when releasing the Xbox 360, due to how poorly the GameCube sold.

“I also then remember the E3 when, God bless, Kaz Hirai and Jack Tretton announced $599, and we were all back stage like ‘Woohoo!’ We knew then we had an opportunity to get ahead, drive ahead, get our games out quickly and get that lead. And I always said that the first to 10 million wins.” – Moore

“It was one of the greatest times of my career. You had to build a team, because we were growing then. We had prematurely put the Xbox to sleep, we needed to get ready for this and we knew what we needed to do. We had a three-day meeting at the Sheraton in Bellevue where we wargamed the scenario, and I actually played Ken Kutaragi. And we brought in a consultancy, it was a lot of fun. And the one thing we’d forgotten about, I don’t know if you remember this Phil [Spencer], we completely discounted Nintendo. Because they came off the GameCube and it was a disaster.” – Moore

“…and they destroyed both of us!” – Spencer

“Yes, with the Wii. But we wargamed for three days, what are you going to do, what do the launch titles look like, what are the marketing budgets, what is the positioning? And it was a fascinating experience which I’ll never forget. And this is a decade ago. And I actually played Ken, and my job was to destroy the launch of the Xbox 360.” – Moore

Via: Nintendo Everything, Souce: IGN

Author: Francis@PE (18924 Posts)


  • hawkssuns08

    Despite the Gamecube’s sales, I really enjoyed that system. Had enough 3rd party support and excellent games that consistently came out.

    I enjoyed Spencer’s answer. XD

  • Liquid-Sunrise

    Never count Nintendo out! :)

  • freelancepimp .

    I’ve always thought Microsoft was way to aggressive with Xbox. Unlike Chevy Ford and Dodge, or Apple and Samsung; the console manufacturers seem to think they need to absolutely dominate the market to make money. In past ten years where have that gotten them? Hell, where has it gotten us gamers?

    • CapableTie

      Not anymore though, I think Phil Spencer has done a great job turning around the bad perception that Don Mattrick left Xbox with. And they are a huge company, it would be weird for them to not go all out.