Microsoft Insider Claims It Should Refocus on PC

Microsoft has lost its way in recent years, misled by a board of
lame ducks, focusing on the wrong areas of its business, and generally
relying far too much on the Xbox 720. Or, at least, that's what Joachim
Kempin thinks, the man who enjoyed a long and successful career at a
senior level in the company.

Starting at Microsoft in 1983, Joachim spent 20 years with the
company, eventually rising to the role of senior vice president of
Windows Sales before leaving in 2003. In that time he saw the PC and
software-focused company he joined diversify into one with arms in
numerous different facets of entertainment.
But when it comes down to it, it appears that Kempin is somewhat
sceptical about the company's current trajectory and focus, and believes
that the upcoming generation of consoles may very well be the last. He
feels that the strongest arm of Microsoft's business has always been its
PC division (though perhaps this is unsurprising coming from the man
who was once responsible for Windows.) Aside from the huge financial losses associated with in-house hardware manufacturing,
he also cites the fact that consoles can never hope to rival PCs in
terms of graphical fidelity as a clear reason why Microsoft should
reassess its priorities.
"Xbox does not fit into Microsoft’s portfolio," he claims. "If you
talk about maybe the software for it and the services, okay, but making
that hardware box? My God. There is no money there!

"Yes, maybe it attracted the younger generation who want a game
console, but look at the graphical quality on all these games consoles
today," he explained. "Compared with the graphic systems you can have on
the PC, they’re awful, they’re just awful! They’re always a generation
or two behind for the simple reason that they need to sell these boxes
for 250 bucks."

"I really think PC gaming should be the focus, okay? I mean, what’s
the future of PC gaming? Is it going to be on these specialised boxes,
or is it going to go into a more standard PC model? If the prices on PCs
come down further, these boxes might be squeezed out."
In fact, Kempin goes so far as to suggest that not only has Microsoft
neglected its PC business, it's actually made a series of increasingly
bad decisions that look set to have dire ramifications. Building on comments made previously about Steve Ballmer being bad for the company,
Kempin once again lays the blame for these problems at the feet of the
CEO, asserting that it's been his choice to work less and less with
partners to develop products.
"It’s what they’re doing to the PC manufacturers," he explains. "When
they announced Surface, the tablet, and the upcoming notebook, they’re
trying to go their own way again. They’re abandoning the partnership
model which has worked for the last 20, 30 years and whoever the
partners are they are not happy about it. I personally think it’s a
mistake, but Ballmer doesn’t think so and he runs the company."

One of the most prominent of the upset parties is reportedly Valve
chief Gabe Newell, who Kempin claims is seriously upset with some of the
features in Windows 8 that prevent Steam from working as it should. He
explains, "I know he is not the happiest guy with Microsoft, I know that
from some people who are closer to him than I am. Microsoft with
Windows 8 somehow shut some of these game guys out and he ain’t happy
about it, that’s the only thing I can say."
If he's to be believed about this pattern of bridge-burning, it suggests
that Microsoft really needs the Xbox 720 to be a big hit. It's a pretty
precarious stance the company's adopting; as the sun sets on this
generation of consoles, Microsoft may be comfortably ahead as the number
one console supplier in America, but the same doesn't hold true in the rest of the world. The PlayStation remains king in Europe, with Sony and Nintendo sharing regency over Japan.
With this in mind, the major players' next moves are crucial. The way things stand, it looks pretty likely that Sony will announce the PS4 in under a fortnight,
setting the bar for a next-gen reveal that Microsoft needs to match.
What's interesting about this is the fact that it flies in the face of
Sony's CEO's recent assertions that the company would let Microsoft go first so
the next PlayStation wouldn't be copied in any way. According to
Kempin, though, there aren't any more secrets in the console
manufacturing game, and haven't been for quite some time.

"You know, they copycat each other all the time. So when one comes
out, the next one is out six months later, or earlier, whatever, because
they all spy on each other. I have a friend of mine who works a lot in
China on some of these design things and it’s amazing how these
manufacturers talk to each other and reveal what Microsoft or Nintendo
are doing next, it’s quite amazing. They all know everything and, so the
market knows it, and so there is no secret there."

The unveil of Microsoft's next home console is currently expected at E3 this year.

I think it will be very interesting to see what happens in the video game market this year, there is lots going on with developers going in bold new directions and lots of controversy with both consoles, but funnily enough like usual Nintendo has nothing to do with much of it because they aren't competing with anyone else lol, they're just doing their own thing XD