Random: This Xbox Game Pass Advert Is The Weirdest One Yet

Wow is it April Fools.
It might work in the USA, but put this out in the EU and especially the UK you will get laughed and joked at, especially after the recent PS5 promo ad and the simple way Nintendo do adverts.
No young teen and early twenties gamer will want to be associated with this stuff.
I keep saying Microsoft associate Xbox with football around the EU like Sony do, with sponsor ship and champions League. That’s what gets the young casuals and more sales.
Get the FIFA exclusive rights and adverts back.

Well, I get what they were going for, but, uhm...no.

Here's something similar. Gets a hell of a lot weirder, but it's also much funnier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrGrOK8oZG8

That's certainly unexpected, and I love it, as terrifying as it is.

@Dezzy70 It's a pastiche on late 1970's-early 1980's television, to a T. It's lame but hits on the nostalgia feels. This isn't an ad aimed at young teens and 20's. This is aimed square at the elder statesmen of gaming like myself. Smart money. They're signaling it's not just "adult" gaming in a way that tweens and teens want to feel "adult" by playing edgy, gritty, graphic things, but at actual adults who remember a past before those teens and tweens existed. A different approach at gunning straight at Nintendo's nostalgic audience.

I'm sure (or hoping) they have other ads aimed at the tweens with rap music and influencers and the jazz music those whipper snappers all seem to jitterbug to.

@NEStalgia
What would be interesting for the series consoles and PS5 and Nintendo Switch is to take the sales of each and see the age demographic.
That I would like to see.
This would also tell us what age group buys the consoles and possibly focus advertising on that age demographic. And it definitely won’t be my age group any where near the top, I’ve been gaming since the 70s back in the pong days and Atari 2600 when I was very young.

@NEStalgia
All I was trying to do was help Microsoft sell more consoles in a big Sony territory the EU, the UK my home land a little different, Sony has it just but it’s very close and in the 360 days Xbox was everywhere in the UK, they had the right sponsorship they had FIFA and COD deals.
As said as it is I’m afraid the EU love that and the football association and Microsoft had that well covered in the 360 era, their best ever EU and UK era. It’s so dam simple to see that is what gets you near the top in the EU.

@Dezzy70
It's a social media gag, not some serious TV marketing promo.
Although, Xbox does need to step up their marketing presence in the UK like you said.
I can't remember which console it was, might have been 360 or One, but they did a promo bundle where FIFA was basically free, and it flew off the shelves.
Like you said, FIFA is the key for UK/Europe. If they can do something with FIFA 22, then they'd be on to a winner.

Ya I'm not sold. Didn't even watch it all. Annoying more then anything to me. Get to the point of a low price and a crap ton of games including day 1 exclusives, to the back drop of some pumping/energy music.

@SegataSanshiro Yeah, everything Sony is always super super super super serious all the time. I guess it has an audience, but it doesn't seem fun to me either.

@Dezzy70 I think the industry focus right now is stepping away from targeting a demographic for consoles and trying to broaden the market to new demographics as a priority. They've targeted "kids" since the 70's. Then they were driven by teens in the 90's and 00's. Sony's been clearly targeting less an age group and more an income bracket, recently, I think, though we don't know where their actual sales come from. Nintendo seems very distinctly V-shaped. They marketed to the 20-somethings early for Switch, but, they have the kids market to themselves mostly, but it's no secret the 30-50 bracket is big money for them, thus all the nostalgia products recalling their 80's heyday. The teens and 20-somethings is probably their weakest market, when kids are "too cool" for Nintendo and not old enough to miss it yet. And kids have skewed largely mobile in the past decade.

Xbox is more of a mystery I think. They might not have a particular target demo at this point and might be marketing less at age groups or income brackets and targeting certain more focused demos along with casting as wide a net as possible. I get a vivid sense that, worldwide, Xbox has an older demographic, but in the US it's very popular with teens, but that's purely anecdotal guestimation. I don't think we have much of a signal who they're really targeting or who's really buying.

One thing I think is a VERY clear differentiator between Sony and MS strategy though is that Sony is very focused on maximizing console sales, and they're willing to push things like the FIFA sponsorships etc to get a Playstation in every home. They seem more interested in total unit sales and install base than in attach rates, relying on the huge install base to make attach rates a safe default no matter what. Microsoft does seem to focus very tightly on enthusiast gamers, people who play a lot of games, and thus are willing to spend a lot of money once in the ecosystem. Not necessarily a more premium customer but a more committed repeat customer. Even the pricing follows that line of reasoning. Sony jacked the prices up. They'll say it's inflation etc. etc. But what they're really doing is maximizing margin on sales of the "average" gamer that only buys a few games. High margin, relatively low volume (per customer, not per title due to the large install base) sales. Microsoft's model, instead, gives games away like candy but incentivizes you to commit to continuous recurring payments and impulse purchases year-round. Sony's model maximizes each sale, expecting low volume customers. Microsofts model is oriented at selling high volume low margin on software. A model that gives out more per dollar, but can net more dollars overall.

So the demographic between the two may shake out as to what kind of customer, rather than a traditional demographic, each targets. For someone that buys a game, or two, or three a year, Sony's new price points etc don't seem like a big fuss. For the player that buys a game or two or three a month Microsoft seems to be aiming for that consumer with much greater value.

Also, @Ryu_Niiyama forget about aging out of gaming. You're too young to be the target market for this ad. At Xbox we party like it's Windows 95!

@blinx01
Thank you, someone understands the EU and UK and football and FIFA and how massive it is and trendy and fashionable to have a product totally imbedded in that culture.
That is what sold many PS4 also along with the COD gang.
It was like the 360 was the home of football and fifa and cod and the young gamers purchased it that like crazy and it was trendy to have a 360 to be associated with football.
All Sony did was learn from that take it all away from Microsoft for the PS4 add better sponsorship like the champions league, then sit back and watch them take the sales and cash and boot the competition out the door.
If Microsoft can’t see all that they deserve everything they get in the EU and UK, another resounding boot up the back side and roughly a 2:1 defeat and lose in percentage sales.

@Dezzy70 Not denying the power of FIFA in the EU, but I still think PS4 running away with all the sales had more to do with XBox One being the console that hates you back while PS4 was the console that didn't kick puppies for the first 4 years more than any sports connection. If Don Matrick where the chairman of FIFA, the EU would have learned to be obsessed with ice hockey by now.

@NEStalgia
Take your point and you are right as well
it was many things.
But moving forward EU/UK football
And if Sony have the deal and other football sponsorships, the EU will stay firmly in the grip of Sony also adding the COD deal as well.
Already know PS5 owners that can’t wait for the next FIFA 2022 and COD for their PS5 and that is why they have a PS5 and almost only for that.
Because it’s so dam cool.
It’s crazy but true.
Just for the record I don’t play either but I do like football and support a team.
My most played console out of all 3 is my Switch over the last month almost 80% of the time.

@Dezzy70
Hopefully Xbox can improve this aspect in the future.
Even if they paid big money to put FIFA 22 in Game Pass day one for the first 3 months, that would be huge for UK/Europe.

@SegataSanshiro
True Sony won’t let the FIFA and COD deal go anytime soon.
That is why PS5 is already 2:1 up on sales worldwide. Also sells about 20 thousand more PS5 a week in the USA compared to Series consoles.
I can only go on what’s on the internet charts
But have not counted sales myself 😂.
Time will tell and stock situation etc but I have that gut feeling the trend is already in place.
I would have much preferred it much closer than the gap that has already materialised.
As for the Switch, unpowered and slightly over priced really, but it smashes sales every week in nearly all areas. And it’s games as well ratio.
And currently they are not trying that hard from a first party new AAA release point. Taking out remakes. Phenomenal really.

@blinx01
I hope so the series x console Microsoft have produced and the UI and gamepass deserve more love and sales and its series x that really deserves in the current PS5/ Series x sales to be ahead.
I think Microsoft being massive and powerful as they are, don’t totally understand trends and cultures in other counties, instead they try to feed you their Microsoft USA Culture and ways.
Yes the UK sort of like it as we are similar, like cousins but the rest of Europe don’t care much for USA sort of trends, ways and cultures.
Sony of Japan sort of worked that out and got very EU westernised and even got Americanised to sell consoles and focused on each countries trends and different passions.

@SegataSanshiro
Surely selling more consoles helps sell more:
Games Pass
Xbox live gold
Games in general
More game dlc and add ons.
Controllers etc.
I really don’t buy into this only game pass sales matter to Microsoft and a very screwed view and I think a pure marketing public relations strategy.

You are not telling me had Microsoft sold 130 million Xbox one or it can sell in the future 130 million series x consoles, Phil and the gang would be shouting it from the roof tops and lighting up the cigars.

All Microsoft are doing is having there thing that they can make positive spin in the current market.

Sony with the PS4 have sales and talked about famous award winning exclusives. And are riding high with the PS5 into a new generation.

Nintendo have the hybrid switch and the most talked about games and characters and sales ratio of games to consoles, and the switch at 85 million sales and growing still after 4 years old.

The truth is currently Microsoft console wise are a sorry third and I’m sure it’s declining more in the UK and EU as a console and games hardly mentioned, so they have to spin and try something.

Even take merchandise, the UK has lots of Sony merchandise and Nintendo even more.
I’ve seen people wearing Nintendo and Sony T-shirt’s etc or have an associated product related to the console or a game.

You go round some one house there is a Switch around somewhere for sure or a PS4.
That’s the real truth, even though Xbox fans don’t like the truth, it is.

@SegataSanshiro
Don’t get me wrong, we have gone totally Cloud based at work recently and now it all works correctly, it is dam amazing, the abilities that are there now are really good.
Gaming will go full cloud one day I think, it is the natural evolution

@SegataSanshiro
Totally get you on the 4K Blu-ray thing.
Though I have noticed the gap closing a little bit on that one.
Time will tell and the future is not ours to see.