MS to possibly license Xbox 360 clones...

From CNET news.

http://news.com.com/Gates+considers+Xbox+clones/2100-1043_3-5770507.html

Gates considering Xbox clones?
Published: June 30, 2005, 2:30 PM PDT
By Michael Singer
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

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Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is dropping hints that he may be ready to license the brains of the Xbox gaming device to other companies. It's a risky move to better compete with Sony's PlayStation, according to one analyst.

In an interview with Nikkei Newspaper in Tokyo, Gates was asked whether Microsoft would consider opening the manufacture of Xbox units to third parties. Gates responded that "there is nothing concrete" but said the company is always talking with partners about how to expand the Xbox culture.

Gates declined to give details, such as which companies Microsoft might be thinking about working with or if a license would be extended to the underlying software of other electronics equipment, such as handheld devices, PCs or home digital media centers.

Microsoft's Xbox currently plays second fiddle to Sony's PlayStation when it comes to sales, with Nintendo's GameCube ranking third. The PlayStation makes up more than 60 percent of the market, with the Xbox accounting for 29 percent of sales and the GameCube rounding out the top-tier players with 11 percent, according to the latest statistics from NTP Group.

All three console makers are preparing their next-generation gaming box. Microsoft's Xbox 360 is expected to hit store shelves later this year, with Sony's PlayStation 3 available soon after and Nintendo's Revolution console expected in 2006.

Despite the suggestion that Microsoft's device could be cloned, Xbox representative Molly O'Donnell reaffirmed the company's stance that the Xbox is exclusively a Microsoft product.

"There's certainly a potential for other hardware companies to manufacture Xbox some day in the future, but that is not something we're focused on right now," she said.

Licensing the Xbox's underlying software to other manufacturers is, of course, not outside the realm of Microsoft's capabilities. The company found sterling success in licensing its Windows operating system to PC makers.

But breaking the traditional proprietary mold of the game console world is something no one else has tried and something JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg says would be a bold move on Microsoft's part.

"Clearly, everyone at Microsoft is thinking out of the box to increase sales. I mean look at the nontraditional way of introducing the Xbox on MTV," Gartenberg said. "It sounds like they are just testing the waters with a hybrid of the (white box) PC model and the (proprietary hardware) video game model."

Gartenberg said Microsoft's strategy may be centered on gaming software. The majority of money made in the video game industry comes from the games themselves, not from the hardware. Recently, both Microsoft and Sony reported that the newer models of their devices will be priced far less than the cost needed to make them.

Microsoft's reasoning, Gartenberg said, may be that the more Xbox-like consoles there were on the market, the easier it would be to sell Xbox-branded games. That would mean Microsoft would have a larger market for the titles it published. And it could also put the squeeze on the PlayStation by inspiring game developers to focus on titles for the Xbox and its generic brethren.

"No one video game software developer just writes for Xbox," Gartenberg said. "But what it would do is tell publishers, 'hey look how many more consoles we are on.'

"Still," Gartenberg said, "Microsoft would have to make sure that all the people who license their Xbox are up to their standards, and at the end of the day they would still be competing with Xbox sales."

 

are they desperate, or do they have one SERIOUS ace under their sleeve?

I sort of recall the first Xbox being manufactured "at a loss" (is it said like that in English?), especially taking into consideration the japanese market. If someone should produce XBox-able devices and sell them in Japan, it COULD be a very good deal to expand the sales of software as well.

This could be 3DO all over again... but then again, it could also be Saturn.
I don't know, and I really don't like the Xbox, but this is a very interesting possible development.

 

Well it could be a nice move and could well get their foot in the door in Japan if a japanese company is making consoles for the Japanese market.

Yakumo

 

Yeah! the Sega 360!

 

Imagine that! i would but it! Sega would make the best limited edition!

 

Note, no one from Microsoft has said Xbox 360. They've all said Xbox.

Seems like a great way to ensure continued mass market penetration of the original system while focusing your production lines on the new system.

-hl718

 

Sega!

I never even thought of that. That'd be divine retribution after the Dreamcast-to-Xbox debacle!

If Sega releases one of these (and it doesn't suck), I'm SO getting one now.

 

Hey, check out my Panasonic TV that I was joking about before this thread was made !!
http://assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?p=83326#post83326

Yakumo

 

M$ have denied these reports:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/xbox1data/sep/EEkpkukEuFXYstEiva.php

 

damn no sega xbox

 

yeah that sucks!

 

And why exactly would you WANT Sega to manufacuture an Xbox 360?

So it could lose MORE money?

Do you guys really hate the company that much?

When consoles launch, they launch at a loss so it stands to reason that a Sega made Xbox 360 would either:

1) Cost Sega money because it would be taking a loss on each console sold and NOT making it up in software licensing fees.

or

2) Cost a good deal more than the Microsoft Xbox 360 resulting in very few sales and Sega losing money due to stacks of unsold consoles sitting in inventory.

-hl718

 

Unless it is subsidised by microsoft for the japanese audience

 

i think xbox clones would be an excellent idea(talking about the xbox 1 not the 360)

The xbox has only been out for a few years, and if they can make an xbox for 50 bucks or so, that would sell like hot cakes.

 

I think they need to make a smaller one, similar to the PSTwo. The thing is just too damn big.

 

And that would be the exact moment to stomp oneself for using PC hardware...

 

i doubt it will happen, for any of the two microsoft consoles, present or future, since the xbox 360 will certainly be factorised at all loss like her older sister was, it could be attractive fro microsoft, but not for other compagnies.

and i doubt microsoft would really like to give a part of their piece of cake for other compagnies. Remember, the xbox was sold at loss, because they wanted to enter the market and all, so they losed something, but gained something on the other side. Microsoft don't really care about money anyway, they're the richest compagny ever because of windows and all, but i doubt they still would say no to other gains: the xbox is now rentable, and why wouldn't they take back a part of what they gived? Splitting the cake would seems rather stange. And since the new xbox is comming in november, the xbox will fall in the darkness in a couple of years, since the 360 will be the new center of attention.

 

Am I the only one that read the article and noticed that Microsoft specifically stated, "there is nothing concrete" and "There's certainly a potential for other hardware companies to manufacture Xbox some day in the future, but that is not something we're focused on right now"?

 

Smeels like 3DO spirit.....

Honestly, trip already tried that with the 3DO, and look were it ended.

Dont give me false illutions man! Im goin to cry :smt022

Seriously, I dont think that segasammy would enter the bet, cuz thats a lot of money to invest, plus im sure that M$ is goin to charge A LOT for the license

Plus, the DC didnt sell that well in japan, and after (and before) the saturn most japanese look at SEGA as if was a foreign company.

I can see Hitachi or JVC doin X360 though

 

Well, on the other hand, Victor and Hitachi produced licensed Saturns, and I don't think that made them lose a great deal of money (but I'm not sure)