Microsoft has blown it with the Xbox, and now it’s at risk of Apple totally destroying the business, Nat Brown, the founder of the original Xbox project, recently wrote on his blog.
“Apple, if it chooses to do so, will simply kill Playstation, Wii-U and xBox by introducing an open 30%-cut app/game ecosystem for Apple-TV,” Brown writes. “I already make a lot of money on iOS – I will be the first to write apps for Apple-TV when I can, and I know I’ll make money. I would for xBox if I could and I knew I would make money.”
The past five years, Brown says, have been painful to watch because Microsoft has failed to innovate and capitalize on the potential of innovations like the Kinect, and further develop its understanding of the living room entertainment ecosystem.
“xBox’s primary critical problem is the lack of a functional and growing platform ecosystem for small developers to sell digitally-/network-distributed (non-disc) content through to the installed base of xBox customers, period,” Brown writes.
Even though Microsoft has a developer program, it costs $10,000 to be a part of and Microsoft makes the store where those apps live very hard to find, Brown says. XBox’s other problem is that the user experience isn’t very great.
“So, because these two critical issues – user experience and indie content – are not nearly in order and I see big investments in future interactive content happening, as well as idiotic moves to limit used games or put harder content protection into place than exists in mobile or tablets – i predict massive failure and losses here,” Brown writes. “And it makes me sad.”