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X03 transcript: Part 1 |
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X03 transcript: Part 1
Thursday, September 18th, 2003
This is so amazing. What a wonderful day. What a wonderful evening. Welcome everyone to the third annual Xbox conference, X03.
In the States, people say "in your dreams" when they think something is never going to happen. When Xbox rolled out in Europe just nineteen months ago, did anyone imagine it would be on such a roll, generating the kind of excitement we see all around us here tonight? But here we are, in our dreams. And it's all for real.
My name is Eduardo Rosini, and I run the Xbox business in Europe. I have been part of Xbox for a long time, working with the leadership team in [????] when Xbox was just a neon green gleam in our eyes. I've been with Xbox round the world, and now I'm very excited to be here in Europe.
In fact, I've been here for eight months already, travelling around and meeting with developers, publishers, retailers and gamers, to learn about Xbox in Europe. And here's what I've learned: Xbox is flourishing as part of a great industry that is truly vibrant. And no wonder, because the people here in this industry are brilliant, passionate and committed. And the gamers are as creative, sophisticated and enthusiastic as any in the world.
Our business partners are among the best in Europe, including all the great game developers and publishers who create amazing content for Xbox, and the countless distributors and retailers who support and sell Xbox.
With such partners and such a great gaming community it's no wonder that Xbox has such an internal momentum in Europe. With an overall market share of 34 per cent, Xbox has become the number two console in Europe, now outselling the number three competitor by a wide margin across all the region.
[whooping]
But Xbox isn't just a hit console, Xbox is a hit maker. Xbox has already launched some of the most successful games in the industry's history. Think of Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Dead or Alive, Brute Force, Splinter Cell and many other great titles. Xbox is the platform of choice for best-selling games that are fast becoming full-blown software [?????].
And Xbox is even more. Xbox is the platform for the most successful broadband content service in history. Of course, I'm talking about Xbox live.
[whooping, yee-hars etc.]
In the six months after it was launched here in Europe in eight countries, Xbox is the number one subscriber service in the region with more than 50,000 European gamers logging on to compete and communicate with more than half a million Xbox gamers worldwide, playing more than a million game sessions every week.
But Xbox is more than a superior games console, with unprecedented market momentum. It's even more than the amazing Xbox games, and the revolutionary Xbox live. Momentum only matters if you still have somewhere to go, and Xbox still has far, far to go. Because Xbox is a vision of the future, and Xbox is a worldwide community of players who see that future with us. And they say, "That's where we are going as well."
Tonight we are going to show you where that is. Tonight we are going to show you more great Xbox games that expand the definition of video games entertainment. Tonight we're going to show you how we're enhancing and expanding the Xbox Live universe. Tonight we're going to show you what millions of players already know.
It's good to play together. And we're going to show you why.
Now it is my pleasure to introduce Corporate Vice President for Xbox Sales and Marketing Peter Moore.
[whooping and whistles]
Peter Moore:
Thank you Eduardo, and let me welcome you all to this beautiful occasion, as we share our excitement regarding the future of Xbox with you, our friends and partners.
It's a great time for Xbox. I also believe it's a great time for our industry as a whole. In all my years in this business, the video game industry has never had so much potential, so much opportunity. Why? What's happened?
Well, some people call it convergence, and they've been predicting its arrival for a long, long time. They've been on the lookout for the big infrastructure technology like cable, or fibre, or wireless. The [?????], like five hundred channels of TV, video on demand. The big deal, like AOL and Time Warner, or Microsoft and Comcast. People have been waiting for the killer application, the next big thing, the revolution that signals the coming of convergence in technology AND entertainment.
But meanwhile, in our opinion, convergence has quietly, simply happened.
And it wasn't a single technology or product that brought it about. It wasn't a merger, or an acquisition. It wasn't one big thing, or a single, sudden paradigm shift. Instead, convergence has been brought about by billions of consumers. They're the ones who have made convergence happen with their choices. They've chosen technologies, they've chosen concepts, they've chosen a lifestyle. That lifestyle is the digital entertainment lifestyle, and it shapes billions of choices in products, entertainment and content, how people spend their time and how they spend their money. People have chosen the digital lifestyle in hundreds of millions of households that have cell phones, DVD players, personal computers, [???], MP3 players and digital cameras. And of course, video game consoles.
The video game industry is all about digital lifestyle, and today's gamers have embraced that lifestyle big time. They are the digital hardcore, make no mistake about that. After all, video games were the original form of digital entertainment. It took CDs and MP3 format for music to go digital. DVD is the consumer standard for movie watching. It's still less than a decade old even now. But digital games have been digital for their [???]. And though some of us may be too young to remember, video games were around even before the personal computer. Our industry has been part of the digital entertainment lifestyle from the beginning. And now that lifestyle has grown up, and out, and all around us.
Xbox was designed and built for that lifestyle. Because games are at the core of our audience, we started with a more powerful graphics processor than any other game console. It delivered the lifelike graphics gamers want. We built in a hard drive, so game designers and developers can create truly massive worlds, and players can load in new levels, characters, statistics and more. We built in Digital Dolby 5.1 audio, so players can connect the Xbox to their home theatre systems and get their games in surround sound.
Because remember, the digital entertainment lifestyle is all about convergence. We added more connections to the digital entertainment lifestyle. We made the Xbox the first and still the only HDTV-compatible video games system. We built in a broadband connection to the internet, and an extra slot for the controller for connecting a headset. And we made sure Xbox could play any DVD or music CD as well as games, so people could download their own digital music onto the Xbox hard drive, and listen to their own custom soundtracks while playing Xbox games.
Game players told us they wanted capabilities like these. And they're using those capabilities. 43 per cent of Xbox owners tell us they watch DVD movies regularly on their systems. Nearly half have saved music to their Xbox hard drives. Nearly a third have more than 50 songs stored on their Xbox.
But we didn't put the hard drive in the Xbox just for music. We had another reason. It's the same reason we built in a high-speed broadband Ethernet connection, the same reason we added an extra port to the Xbox controller to connect a headset and enable voice communications among gamers.
When Microsoft rolled out Xbox with all of these features, a lot of people wondered quite frankly how we got soft in the head. What could Microsoft be thinking, they said.
I'll tell you what we were thinking. We were already thinking about Xbox Live. It was a matter of looking ahead. There were tens of millions of households playing video games, but there were a whole lot more households yet to be won. We asked ourselves, what's the game industry's next sticking point? We talked about the social dimension that's always been part of video games, on the couch or in the arcade. The head-to-head play. The fun of talking trash to your opponents. And the laughs that people share when they play with their friends. And of course, we asked game players what they wanted. They told us they wanted new game experiences, new content, new options.
And they told us this: it's good to play together. They told us they wanted to play with their friends anywhere, any time. They convinced us that online was essential to the future of our industry. And they told us to bet on that future. So we did, in the design of the Xbox hardware, and in our Xbox Live service.
The "It's Good To Play Together" campaign will be global in scope and unprecedented in its magnitude. You will see it on TV, and in print, and online. You will hear it on the radio. And most importantly, you'll hear it from gamers. It will celebrate gaming as a true social activity, and smash the myth of gamers as solitary misfits who would rather play against the processor than interact with each other. It will offer the promise of the gaming experience of the future, where millions of gamers are connected regardless of geographical boundaries and time zones.
And that future is well underway, and gathering more momentum all the time. As Eduardo told you, Xbox Live is now rolled out in eight countries, where it hosts more than half a million gamers playing more than 15 million game sessions every week. Out of all online games worldwide, Xbox Live features the three most popular sports titles, and five of the overall top six titles. In the UK, ChartTrack data shows that sales of Xbox Live enabled games - Ghost Recon, Unreal Championship, MechAssault - increased when Xbox Live was launched, and following the launch sales remained strong for these titles in every country where Xbox Live has been launched.
As you'll hear in a few minutes, there are more hits on the way. Many more. And there are more players on the way as Xbox Live takes its momentum into more countries worldwide. As I said at the outset, there's never been a better moment for this industry, a moment of vast opportunity brought about by the convergence of digital media and the spread of the digital lifestyle that video games have always been a part of.
But as always, we have two choices. There's business as usual, with the incremental road, and the risk of suffering from the traditional boom and bust cycles that generations of hardware that generations of hardware [???] each other. Or there's the opportunity for explosive and sustained growth, the opportunity to make interactive entertainment pervasive, of the order of music, movies and TV.
At Microsoft we've made our choice. We're expanding our audience. We're expanding the definition of video game entertainment through continuous innovation. We're creating both more great games and more kinds of games, a greater variety of interactive experiences, so more people see that it's good to play. We're extending video game entertainment to the internet, which is the defining technology of our time. And we're sustaining the social dimension of gameplay, growing the community of players, celebrating the truth that it's good to play together, and extending that invitation to more people every single day.
So now to share more of our exciting plans for the future it is my great pleasure to introduce Michel Cassius.
Michel Cassius:
Hi, and good evening. Or I should say bonsoir, because I'm a local. I'm head of platform and marketing for Xbox in Europe.
Before I share our exciting plans with you, let me give you a taste of what's going on and what is on the way as well in the global gaming universe called Xbox Live, where more new features, more countries, and of course more great games are coming online in the months ahead.
[Xbox Live video]
Wow. Xbox Live is The Killer App. Not just in gameplay, right, but in broadband content services. Peter mentioned some of the numbers, but I can't resist repeating them. Since the Live launch, six months ago, more than 50,000 gamers from eight European countries have joined hundreds of thousands of gamers worldwide in millions of gaming sessions a week. I can't also resist reminding you that [???] magazine named Xbox Live the most innovative entertainment service in August this year.
But there is something the numbers and the awards don't tell you. That's how much gamers love Live. In our satisfaction surveys, on our customer support line, and in online forums everywhere, game players say the same thing: Xbox Live is the coolest experience in video game entertainment. One player said, your opponents live in England, Germany, the USA, France, but they are there, and talking to you on Xbox Live. They also say, £40 a year is honestly nothing for what is the best thing ever. (Typical English, eh? To talk money first. That's OK. Anybody who say Xbox Live is a perfect ten out of ten is all right by me.) Another player said, Xbox Live is the most intense, exciting experience you can have in your armchair - it's taking over my life. And I can understand.
Xbox and Xbox Live have captured the hearts and minds of gamers everywhere. They know that it's good to play together. And they appreciate that Xbox Live is the only unified, consistent online gaming universe, where you have one login account, one gamertag, one online identity. You can quickly jump into your favourite games, find your friend and build your own online community.
Xbox and Xbox Live have also captured the imagination of great game creators everywhere. To tell you how, and why, from his unique perspective as a game publisher, it's my pleasure to introduce Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubi Soft, developer and publisher of hit Splinter Cell on Xbox, as well as Ghost Recon, one of the most popular games on Xbox Live.
Yves Guillemot:
Thank you Michel. Last year at X02 I told you that Splinter Cell would be a great game, that it would be the best game for Christmas. And it did it. It was number one in the US and number one in Europe. I told you as well that Ghost Recon would be a great seller, that it was the best Live product. And it did it as well. It did well, and it was the best played game on Live this year. And last month we launched Ghost Recon Island Thunder and it was number one for the week we launched it and now it's number two for the month of August.
So those games are really great games thanks to the machine. Why so many blockbuster hits on the Xbox? I would say it's because a strong partnership with Microsoft, and this relationship is based on three key points. The first one is, we share the same vision online, and that has been the key element in our collaboration. The second thing: the Xbox machine is a great machine, it's an amazing machine on which we can develop very good games. The third point is that we have a great relationship with all the team at Microsoft and a very good one also with their engineers and we are able to take this machine [????].
Now believe me, our relationship with Microsoft is only at the beginning. We are looking to create three new titles for this year that I will tell you about. The first game is an FPS that is coming at the end of the year, a key game that is using Live and will be a great, great product. We will speak as well about [????]. And also as well a big surprise, the world premier and some more information on Spinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. A big surprise.
So let's speak about Rainbow Six 3 now. We expect to break all our sales records with Rainbow Six 3. In the months ahead we think it will be the best seller for Christmas in Europe. And this game is combining all the success and all the know-how we had out in the two products we had out last year, one online and one offline: Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon. So this will help Microsoft for sure [???]. So with Rainbow Six we expect to [????] both online and offline. We can expect intense multiplayer experiences, and the game will include all of the Xbox Live features. And there will be downloadable content as well. The Rainbow Six visuals will be enhanced by a fantastic lighting system, great fire effects on objects and characters [???]. So now, Rainbow Six 3 we think will be the best seller, but, you know, you need to look at the video and see what you think about it.
[Rainbow Six video]
And now a game that you have never seen before: Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. This aims to redefine online gameplay in the same way the first Splinter Cell redefined [???]. Pandora Tomorrow is the first true multiplayer stealth experience. And again, watch the video and tell me what you think about it. The game footage you will see is only multiplayer online footage.
[Pandora Tomorrow video]
I'm sure you will have lots of questions, but you will have to wait another month for the answers.
So with Rainbow Six 3, with XIII, with Ghost Recon Island Thunder and Pandora Tomorrow, we will astonish you again this year as we will do more units than last year. Playing those games will blow your mind, and I think you have to agree with me we will be there with great products for you. Thank you.
Michel Cassius:
Merci. Merci beaucoup, Yves. Seeing such passion for Xbox and Xbox Live among the publishing and developing community, we know that our commitment to the future of gaming is right on target.
And now Xbox Live is poised to become better than ever, with new features, with more players, with more countries, with new options for subscribing and of course great games enabled for Xbox Live. In the months to come, Live gamers in Europe will have more ways to stay in touch with the Xbox Live universe and with their friends and play partners everywhere. New team and competition features will make it easier than ever for players to form teams with friends, create leagues and tournaments, and participate in structured competition on Xbox Live. Most of these features are enabled today in English on XSN Sports. Next spring this experience will be available in more European languages. By the way, you can get a taste of how much Live gamers love tournaments while you're here at X03. Ten Xbox Live players, one from each European Xbox Live country plus the USA and Canada have won the right to compete in the Xbox Live Clash of the Continents.
[whooping]
Tomorrow, at 11 in the Live Zone, they will play for the first time Ubi Soft's Rainbow Six 3, and you're all invited to attend.
All the new features coming to Xbox Live are designed to enhance the online gaming experience for the Xbox Live community. And that community is about to expand. I'm pleased to announce that on the 30th of October, Xbox Live will launch at retail in six more European countries. They've been waiting. Here they are: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Switzerland. This will bring the total of Xbox Live enabled European countries to 14, offering more European gamers the chance to play console games online than any other platform.
In addition, Xbox Live gamers across Europe also have new subscription options. So, starting in October and running through March, a special Xbox Live trial offer will be included with selected Xbox Live enabled games offering two free months of Xbox Live gaming. This offer will give all Xbox gamers an easy way to join the Live community with no risk or obligation.
Also, existing Live subscribers will be able to choose a monthly plan at £4.99 or 6.99 euros per month after their initial one-year subscription. Or as well they can renew their annual subscription for £39.99 or 59.99 euros. Either way, the subscription can be renewed right from the Xbox Live dashboard, and either way, Xbox Live continues to provide extraordinary value for outstanding, unique gaming experiences. In the end, that's what it's all about, right? It's all about great games.
And we have more, many more games coming to Xbox Live. For Christmas this year, fifty Live-enabled games will be on the shelves, with hundreds more coming in 2004. They are coving all the scope of gaming experiences which people want to see. You can see I think a list behind me. It's impressive. I've taken two of those, and for committed gamers new titles coming to Xbox Live this winter will include Capcom's Steel Battalion: Line of Contact. It's based on the award-winning Steel Battalion phenomenon featuring the most elaborate [???] interface ever. But Xbox Live isn't just for the hardcore, right? Far from it. Konami's popular Dance Dance Revolution series has brought new players into gaming, expanding the audience of video game entertainment among teens, especially young women, across Europe. This Christmas, Dancing Stage Unleashed goes Live, allowing online disco kings and disco queens - I can see some of them around here - to hit the virtual dance floor and compare moves with other players around the world.
Millions of gamers have found out that nothing brings people together like Xbox. They know that it's good to play together. Because it makes Xbox part of the digital entertainment lifestyle they share with their friends and families. Xbox Live is the global fulfilment of that vision. Unified, secure, easy and simply as fun as hell. It has already changed video game entertainment forever. And potential is unlimited. With Xbox Live we can foster new gaming experiences, create communities of players that unite old friends and make new ones, we can expand the video game audience - moreover, we can expand the video game industry beyond traditional boundaries.
But before it can be good to play together, it has to be good to play. And no one knows that better than our next speaker. Mesdames et messieurs, it is my pleasure to introduce Microsoft's Mr Games, Ed Fries.
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