Robbie Bach is the man that navigates Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division and this means he’s in charge of both Xbox 360 and Zune. eWeek has now published a lengthy interview divided into three parts where they discuss everything from Microsoft’s views on game development to how to make money on Xbox 360. Bach mentions a number of ways, but also says that the console is still far from in the black. When they start discussing Zune the inevitable question comes up; will Zune ever be capable to really compete with iPod and the answer is of course yes. There are simply too many people on our planet that want to listen to music for Microsoft to worry.
Bach then moves into emphasizing the importance of a working community surrounding the products, something Microsoft have been very good at through its Live services for both the Xbox consoles and the Zune media player, and will keep developing and expanding them.
When they cross over the video game market most of the discussion circle round Wii and how Nintendo have turned things around, causing a dilemma for Microsoft and Xbox 360. Even if he salutes the simplicity and the intuitive controller he doesn’t consider Wii a direct threat to Xbox 360, mainly since they are so different. The target customers are simply very different, while PlayStation 3 instead has the exact same target consumers, give or take a percentage or two. PS3 has other problems that makes it anything but a minor threat today, according to Bach.
There are a lot of interesting things to read about in the long interview over at eWeek.
