So, after some recent threads about console sales and handheld sales, it got me to thinking: When, or will, is Microsoft going to enter into the handheld market. Will they do it by making a pure handheld(like Nintendo and Sony(though granted the NGP will have other functions, but it's still primarily a gaming device), or will they make it a hybrid device, giving it cell phone capabilities(as one user suggested on a previous thread is the downfall of modern Handheld gaming devices), or some other primary use.

Since they've managed to break into the Console market and gain a substantial market share established with the Xbox and Xbox 360, I think there is probably a good chance that they will try to enter into the Handheld gaming market soon, perhaps before they announce the next Xbox(720?). No idea how powerful it might be, or what kind of system it will use to play games(cartridges like the DS, discs like the PSP, or something else?)

Thoughts, opinions?

I think it's too much of a risk for them. If they do they'll mainly be in competition with the PSP, the DS is pretty much untouchable.

I don't think they have good game genres to fit into the handheld gaming market. That is my main reason why I think they won't go into it.
EDIT: When I mean genres I also mean characters that will fit into a handheld market. Kinda vague the first time.

Oh, the jokes about portable X-Box during the first one's time... :lmao:

But seriously, i doubt they will. Nintendo and Sony have the market in control, and Microsoft has been interested in getting Windows for mobile phones (with Nokia as their partner). Their game studios would be better off developing for Windows enabled mobile phones.

IMO, they'd be better off improving the brands they already have.

Getting into the handheld market would basically be a fight for second place in a niche that's shrinking as Smartphones(including Microsoft's own WP7 phones) muscle in.

They're pushing WP7 as a gaming platform with their XNA toolkit, so they may be halfheartedly pushing in.

I don't really see it happening anytime soon.

I know that every Xbox console they sold had no profit, and the 360 didn't start turning out a profit until 2009. (correct me if I am wrong)

I just don't really see them trying to get into the handheld market. And if they did, I don't see it being that well made or selling that great other than to the 360 [censored].

But hell, I would have never guessed that Sony would get involved either.

Edit: Why is "fan-boys" without the dash censored?

I don't care... the only portable gaming Ill ever do is with my laptop.

From what I hear Microsoft has some XBL Arcade games on the Windows phone but I think that's about as far as they'll go. At this point Microsoft would have to release something pretty remarkable to compete with Nintendo. Nintendo has such a firm grasp on the handheld market that it's difficult for any company to compete.

(All my opinion based on what I interperet from the facts.)

Seems better left for Nintendo have their little monopoly.

As I see it:

Handhelds- Nintendos only real market.
Consoles- Fiercely dominated by Sony and Microsoft, with Nintendo the underdog in the fight. Nintendo seems more family oriented, where as Sony and Microsoft are marketed mainly to the veral and violence audiences.

Of course they will. There is too much money there for them to ignore it. They will probably do it after the end of the 360 and move to the next generation of console. Microsoft is always one for stealing ideas even if they are a little slow on the uptake. Windows seven is MacOSX leopard pretty much and sony and nintendo, their 2 main competitors, already have handhelds. They don't want to be left behind. They are the compilation company that brings together ideas that have already been used to show the best bits of that generation. Pity that they do it mid generation and execute it poorly.

Because some people embrace the word (I call myself a Fallout Fan Boy), others like to go 'LOLOLOL YOU LIKE MICROSOFT AND XBL AND BASH PS3, XBOX WHAT A FAN BOY!"

So it's mainly censored to prevent flaming without circumventing the filters.

They already have?

WP7 is Microsoft's entry into the handheld gaming market. Which makes sense since WP7 has a mobile version of Xbox Live and almost all Xbox Arcade game could theoretically run on WP7. (They use the same libraries, XNA, the only thing standing in the way is the hardware)

yeah listen to exorince. he's a monkey and icelandic and stuff

true story

I think the IPhone will be a big competitor. Multimedia and assorted crapware seems to keep the plebs happy, and you can always do games on the side, with none of the risks of a games only system.

So... I need to spend $900+/year for my MS-based handheld gaming platform, or pay $600 at the door....

Not to mention WP7 is prooving to be pretty stagnant water still. MS lost another 1% of their market share.

Microsoft doesn't need to go into the hand held gaming industry. they have held their own against Nintendo and Sony who have both a console and hand held. They don't need to. they rock!!!!! now if only Apple would come out with a console.... I kid I kid... :biggrin:



Isn't IPhone controlled by the Apple corp. not microsoft? Serious question. I really thought they were.

It's all a conspiracy. Really, MS owns Apple in order to trick the "counterculture" people who use it to "stick it" to MS. Their puppet system was near-foolproof -- if it wasn't for some unsavory pictures where Steve Ballmer forces Steve Jobs to clean his shoes with his tongue that only recently were published on Wikileaks, the truth may have never come out.

I just love the part where in the late 90s http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011385 in order to keep the company afloat so the U.S Justice Department wouldn't cut Microsoft into teeny tiny bits.

As has been said, it would be too much of a risk. It would be near impossible to get any foothold under Nintendo and Sony at this point. Personally, I'll stick to my iPhone. I have a ds, but the games are too involved to play on the go, plus it would be lugging around another device on top of your phone/laptop.

EDIT: That got a little off-topic. No, I don't think Microsoft will introduce a hand held, as it's much too late in the game to get much ground.

What are those figures supposed to be?

$900/yr -- cost of a relatively cheap smartphone plan

$600 -- cost of your average smartphone sans contract

Microsoft loses 1% market share: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/4/comScore_Reports_February_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

Can you not buy phones without contracts in the States?

You can, but they jack up the prices insanely high -- to $400-700 generally for smartphones