It is no secret that Xbox has been trailing behind its competition in terms of sales, and even its boss Phil Spencer has admitted that they’ve been weak when it comes to first-party content. In recent interview with IGN Italia at Gamescom 2o18, Xbox GM of Games Marketing Aaron Greenberg, however, made comments leaning more toward the opposite directing, stating that the Xbox userbase is made up of more hardcore gamers when compared to their competitors.
While Greenberg admits that they have a smaller installed base, he points out that these users are more “hardcore”, and reasons that this is because of the relationship the company has with their fans. Greenberg has also emphasized earlier how they need to earn their fans and actively work towards that goal, and it looks like this policy is working out for them overall- at least based on the confidence he seems to have on the Xbox userbase.
“I notice the same and identical thing on my friends list, and the data we have available suggests exactly that,” he said. “Hardcore players, those who prefer the best gaming experience, have always been on our side, from the first Xbox to Xbox 360 and now with the Xbox One X. Looking at the numbers and results of the competition, we have a smaller installed base, but the attach rate and sales data for many games are much higher on Xbox.”
“This is due to the fact that our userbase is made up of more hardcore gamers,” he continued, “and we return to the previous point: it is our relationship with the community that puts us in this position. We are at Gamescom especially for our users and the Xbox Fan Fest and we do similar activities all over the world. Along with Phil Spencer we are always very attentive to this aspect, it is really important to spend time with our fans and we will continue to do so, it is part of our way of being.”
We will just have to wait and see if these hardcore gamers using an Xbox console will help the company keep up with its competition in the next generation. Hopefully, some changes will be made that will help attract new fans as well. What’s your take on this? Tell us in your comments.