29-Sep-2006 Microsoft's head of Game Studios speaks on digital distribution of triple A games via Xbox Live, a renewed focus on PC gaming and why Halo Wars will open up 360 to a new audience
Shane Kim is the head of Microsoft Game Studios, which basically means he's the man in charge of content planning and development management of games for Xbox, Xbox Live and Windows as well as supervising several development studios. How he finds time to play games is beyond us, but at X06 he kept a 20 minute slot open to talk with CVG about 360's future.
Would people using the XNA tool set be able to sell their games to the public in the future?
Kim: That's a possibility but we're going to have to start slowly there. One of the great promises of XNA is to make game development easier and we want to provide an opportunity for that community of people, who want to learn about our tools and use them, to share their creations with each other initially.
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Hopefully we'll get to the point where the types of content they're creating will have commercial value. We have a great distribution models today with Xbox Live, Marketplace and Xbox Live Arcade. The challenge will be to make sure they're of commercial quality. We don't just want to put up a bunch of stuff and have a bad user experience. They'll also be competing against other XBLA titles which are inerasably high fidelity.
I think there is an opportunity in the future and the goal is to get a lot more people creating content. I think the competition will help drive quality forward as well.
You said last night that Viva Pinata is your most important game this year. Why do you believe Viva is more important than something like Gears Of War?
Kim: We've done a great job with our core audience and we'll continue to do so. Halo's obviously one of the mega-hit franchises in the business today. And we're fortunate enough to have the most anticipated title on any platform with Gears Of War but as far as our aspirations with Xbox 360 are concerned, they're to win this generation. That means we're going to have to broaden the audience of Xbox 360.
With this in mind we're going to try and lead the way with great content. Launching Kameo with 360 was important. It's not something you'd typically see at launch. We have to demonstrate that we're more than just a hardcore gamers console, we're a platform for everyone and we have games for everyone. That was the message we were trying to stress in our X06 briefing.
Sometimes people will laugh at me when I say Viva is our most important game. But from that standpoint of new audience it is our most important title.
Do you see Rare as being the main studio that will head this initiative up to broaden the 360 audience?
Kim: Certainly from our internal studios Rare has the deepest, longest pedigree in that space and we're confident they're going to bring their magic - which they've demonstrated time and time again historically - to Xbox 360. Viva is shaping up to be something that could be very, very special. So yes, we do absolutely look at Rare as the foundation for our efforts in that place.
Sony's enjoyed a lot of success with titles like SingStar and EyeToy and Buzz, especially in Europe. We're going to have to round out the portfolio beyond the traditional type of content that you would get from Rare. And that's something we're absolutely working on.
What if Viva doesn't expand the market? Do you have a back-up plan?
Kim: I think one of the things you have to realise is that I'm banking on its success. We don't have the bulk of that kind of content, it's in the hands of third-parties.
What we're trying to do is show that there's a viable market there. The flow of E rated titles is already increasing on 360. I'm confident that we're well on our way of accomplishing our objective of broadening our audience. I don't really contemplate a world where we're not successful.
How do you see Xbox Live evolving and continuing to grow in the future?
Kim: We've made a significant investment in Xbox Live and it's something that we decided in the first gen that was going to be part of the future. A lot of people thought we were crazy to make that investment but today we have over three million members and we're well on our way to having six million by this time next year. The number of people connected to Xbox Live now is 60 percent compared to 10 percent on Xbox. That's really a function of there being great content that takes advantage of XBL service.
With XBLA and Marketplace we have different kinds of content that appeals to a wider audience. We're just starting to scratch the surface of what we're going to be able to deliver.
We started with a great foundation by creating a service infrastructure that has one identity, one Marketplace, a single set of achievements. That now can really be leveraged across a wide variety of applications whether it's in-game or outside the experience. And that's what you're going to see as we continue to round out the service - a better shopping experience on Marketplace for example, more community features, they're big priorities for us. We want to really expand the service we already have, which is a big advantage over the competition.
Do you think Xbox Live could sell triple A titles in the future?
Kim: We're certainly on the cusp of digital distribution and we're already delivering great content through Xbox Live Arcade, so I do think that is part of the future, but not just our future with Xbox Live.
I think digital distribution is going to be a solution in many markets, especially in emerging ones where the infrastructure isn't there yet. It could also help to combat piracy.
With 57 million downloads since Xbox 360 launched in November last year, we've already seen the voraciousness with which download digital content. Our challenge is to continue to create content people want to download.
What criteria does Microsoft Game Studios use to determine whether a first-party game gets a sequel or not?
Kim: That's probably the toughest part of what we do but not just in terms of sequels but also what titles we green light in general. Our strategy is different as a first-party publisher. Our mission has always been to lead the console race with 360, rather than grow the Xbox user base, and it's our responsibility to drive the success of our platform. When we look at title opportunities, it really is all about impact.
We use sales as a metric for that but what we really think about is if we're able to publish a title that's going to make a difference, that's actually going to matter to people. Titles like Gears Of War and Halo don't come along very often and we're always trying to find the next Halo or Age Of Empires. It's a hits driven business and to be successful is not only about money but really accomplishing our mission of making a difference. It's our job to convince the customer that our platform is the best because it's got the best exclusive games on it.
When we look at a title we not only ask ourselves if that game has the vision and the ambition to create impact, do we think the developer actually deliver on that idea? That's what makes the business so fun, because lots of people have great ideas but can't bring them together. We've learned a lot of lessons over time to about picking games to go with...
How important are third-party exclusive to the platform?
Kim: When you can get them they're great, look at the fact that we're going to have two excusive episodes of GTA 4 on 360. Rockstar and Take 2 look at that as just as much of an advantage for them as it is for us. Because frankly Xbox Live is something that now creates new opportunities for publishers that I don't think will exist on other platforms.
There are some great third-party franchises out there but increasingly the third-party playing field is becoming level. It costs so much today to develop a title that's very difficult from an economics standpoint for third-parties to justify making an exclusive title. You really have to look at the first-parties to drive the bulk of exclusive content for a platform.
That's why we look at Sony's first party as our primary competition. Third parties are very important to us but it's our first party games that should lead the way.
Typically RTS games are on PC, why did you decide to lead on 360 with Halo Wars?
We had a similar conversation about Halo five years ago. When we brought a first-person shooter (Halo) to a console everyone said why are you doing that when FPSs should be on PC first.
This is a great opportunity for us to try and expand the appeal and customer base for 360. And we think that with Ensemble Studios - and you'll get to see this for yourselves soon - that they've really figured out how to make a real-time strategy game compelling on console. They've figured out the controls, which has always been the challenge for those types of titles.
The ability to bring to the market a real time strategy from a premier developer like Ensemble Studios is a way for us to introduce the genre in a compelling way to 360 customers. Hopefully this will then lead other publishers into considering doing Xbox 360 versions of their RTS games. Again it's about us taking the leadership challenge. I don't think you'd find other third-parties taking on the risk of doing it first themselves.
Is there a danger of Halo overload if too much Halo comes out over the next few years?
Kim: There is a danger if all we were doing was going out there and exploiting the property. With Halo we have an opportunity to create the next Star wars, an epic universe that can be a springboard for many different stories.
The key is going to be the quality of the titles and movies that we produce. At the end of the day, if Halo Wars is a great title then I think people will look at us and think that was a very intelligent way to extend and build that property.
If the movie stinks - and we've seen this many times - bad movie versions of the property end up damaging the property. Halo's our flagship property so we're going to be very careful about who we partner with and what we do with it.
How important are games going to be in terms of Windows Vista's success?
Kim: I think it's a very important scenario and the company has realised this so they've made investments in the platform itself. As Peter has admitted, we have not done enough to drive the Windows gaming ecosystem.
It's very important to the success of Windows. It's always been a way for us to highlight the capabilities of Windows especially in the consumer market. We're taking a refocused effort in investment to drive Windows gaming.
How important is it for you to create crossover games for 360 and PC?
Kim: Very. Again I'll go back to my thoughts on first-party leading the way. You'll increasingly see our first party titles - where it makes sense - go down that route.
