First Xbox One TV Spot Forgets About Games

[StewShearerOld]

First Xbox One TV Spot Forgets About Games


Microsoft's new football-centric Xbox One ad focuses on Skype and fantasy football but excludes videogames.

Back when the Xbox One was originally announced there were some who took issue with the fact that Microsoft's presentation of its new gaming console was <a href=http://kotaku.com/the-entire-xbox-one-reveal-summed-up-in-1-5-hilarious-509197649>somewhat light on actual games. In the months since, the company has made some arguable moves to rectify this. That said, if the console's first North American TV spot is any indicator, it may still have some lessons to learn. While the ad does a fine job of highlighting features like fantasy football, Skype, personalized highlights and the ability to watch football games through the console, videogames aren't mentioned once during the course of its thirty-one second run time.

Now granted, the point of this particular ad is to highlight the Xbox One's football related functionality to capitalize on the start of the NFL's new season. That's perfectly understandable, especially considering the fact that Microsoft has spent considerable oodles of money to secure a <a href=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000205083/article/nfl-microsoft-strike-deal-to-enhance-fans-tv-viewing-of-games>partnership with the NFL. That being the case, it takes an arguable PR risk in excluding games completely from ads like this. This is potentially exacerbated when you consider that many of the features boasted by the ad are things that a lot of people already have access to. Personally, I'm not going to shell out $500 for fantasy football and Skype. The promise of a new, more powerful game console, however? That's appealing. Then again, I live in a fairly game-centric bubble. What do you think? Did Microsoft mess up with this ad or did it score a touchdown?

Source: <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XmD0vPOd5Rk>YouTube via <a href=http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/06/first-xbox-one-tv-ad-is-all-about-sport>IGN


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[Yopaz]

My guess is that they consider that those who want it for a game console already knows enough to have made up their mind and now they're trying to focus on the audience who might be more interested in the TV, sport and communication features. I guess it kinda makes sense from some point of view. Still, I am not sure if there's really an audience who doesn't want games who would buy the thing though.

 

[Nooners]

It's catering very heavily to the fans of NFL, who I doubt will buy an XB1 just for this. Understandable, but misguided on their part. Even a glimpse of a Madden cover would be something.

 

[wooty]

In terms of sport, its perfect. I enjoy the NFL as much as the next person (COME ON GRONK!!). I'm not buying the XBone but I'm still with the bleating majority of gamers who want the system to actually showcase games.....and not just CoD: Poltergeist.

To use sporting terms in order to assess MS's new ad campaigns....

Frat boys - 1
Main consumer base - 0

 

[TimeLord]

They really couldn't have made one in addition or just before this for its primary function?

Although the primary function of the Xbox One is debatable at this point

 

[Legion]

Well it's only in America which is either better or worse depending on how you look at it. On the one hand the people in other countries will have advertisements more relevant to it as a gaming machine. But on the other they are getting a console that has features considered important enough to advertise as a selling point, but cannot actually experience those features for themselves.

While I can certainly see the appeal in having an all-in-one machine such as the Xbox One, they should have really created a whole new product/brand for it. Xbox = Gaming to most people and a shift in direction towards other crowds is going to have many people asking themselves whether it was made with their interests in mind.

Most people buy consoles for games after all, and I doubt there are many people who own an Xbox who do not also own a computer capable of running Skype and a television capable of playing channels with sports on them. It just seems foolish to try and mix them together using a brand purely associated with computer games, especially when half of those things are only available in a single market.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Its a non issue, we know it has games for it. Duh.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'd be more embarrassed to be caught watching this commercial than gay midget bondage foursome porn with a dubstep background theme.

 

[Poetic Nova]

It almost sounds like Microsoft wants it to be a glorified Netflix machine.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Why would they focus on games - Games are for losers.

Sports are for men!

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I like the completely Advert free dashboard that instantly comes up with the legal tagline "pre-release screens shown, subject to change, some sequences shortened" Basically meaning what you see is all a bunch of bollocks.

Oh, and at the end, "The NFL on Xbox One, including NFL.com fantasy football, and Skype also require an Xbox Live Gold membership (sold separately)"

So if an American buys a $500 Xbox One they can then pay a monthly subscription to watch football and use Skype on the smart TVs they already own. Isn't the small print Fantastic.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This is why I'm not at all interested int the Xbox Done. It's not a game console, it's a cable box. A cable box that just happens to also play games.

 

[Dragonbums]

The Xbox brand is recognizable enough that people know it's going to have games.

Therefore they decide to start off by showing off it's other features.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

This is why I'm not at all interested int the Xbox Done. It's not a game console, it's a cable box. A cable box that just happens to also play games.

Outside America, it'll have a dozen little blues tiles saying "Service not available."

 

[Saltyk]

I like Football. I'll happily watch a game. And nothings better than watching a game where I don't care about the outcome and both teams are fighting hard and it's neck and neck the entire way thru.

But, was it so hard to even mention a Madden game? That would still be football related. At least flash some games on the screen for a few seconds. It's a gaming machine. In theory, anyway.

I doubt anyone will buy a $500 machine to do things like watch TV or check their fantasy football stats. Maybe if the Xbox itself supplied free cable. That would have been a selling point.

 

[VanQ]

Video Games: Football and Feminism.

If only I could go back in time and warn my 5 year old self what I was getting into when I picked up that WarCraft: Orcs and Humans disc.

HOW COULD I HAVE KNOWN!?

 

[PirateRose]

They have to realize these general audience attracting features can be used on every other electronic device out there. Even the TV itself can do it. They have to give a really strong reason to spend $500 to add the machine on to a tv that already does all these things.

What can't your tv do? Play the latest Madden game. Boom. Play the madden game for a bit for the real game starts, Xbox gives you a reminder it's about to start(like you really needed it, but you never know), Pause/quit the game, switch over. Oh hey, half time, who cares about seeing miley cyrus shake her skinny, white butt on stage, let's switch back to the video game and trash talk Bob down the street over Skype, hahahaha your team is losing, loser face. Ah yes, effortless, didn't have to get off the couch to do that. Constant, nearly non-stop football intake for the real, hardcore fans.

I understand why they're doing this, they're just going about it all wrong.

 

[Saltyk]

And I just checked the ad on Youtube. I was curious about the comments and whatnot. It has twice as many dislikes as likes. And the comments seem to be largely negative towards the ad and console.

Yeah, I'd say this was a perfect PS4 ad.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

And I just checked the ad on Youtube. I was curious about the comments and whatnot. It has twice as many dislikes as likes. And the comments seem to be largely negative towards the ad and console.

Yeah, I'd say this was a perfect PS4 ad.

This is what fascinates me about Microsoft. All those changes weren't made because something inside their heads clicked and they finally realized how wrong they were. The changes happened simply as a response to the public outcry. But they didn't learn anything from it. They simply reacted. They still don't understand. They still think this is the way to go. This is what people want and this is how the console should be advertized. They didn't actually shift their focus AT ALL. They simply changed some of the things to be like Sony in order to be more competitive. They didn't try to do better. No, they did just enough to resemble Sony's business model. And I'll bet you all of those changes will be reversed at some point after the console's been released.