Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg Interview

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Eurogamer: Have you played LittleBigPlanet?

Aaron Greenberg: Sony very nicely sent me a copy, and I haven't played it yet. It's on my list. It was one of those holidays where there were just so many games to play in such a short period of time, and I'm still catching up now. LittleBigPlanet is definitely one of the games on the top of my list, I look forward to checking it out.

Eurogamer: Kaz Hirai recently announced 1.3 million copies of the game have now been sold, a figure he seems happy with - but some have suggested that's got to be below Sony's expectations. If LittleBigPlanet was your product, would you be pleased with sales of 1.3 million?

Aaron Greenberg: It's hard for me to say. It's not my title. The game seemed to be loved by the critics but yeah, I don't think it had the type of commercial success people were anticipating. Even with the buzz it had among the hardcore circle, it didn't sell like Gears of War or Call of Duty or Fable, or anything near a blockbuster title.

I don't know if that's a reflection of the PS3's much smaller installed base, or the fact the game might not have appealed to the broader audience they were hoping for. It's hard for me to speculate.

Eurogamer: Sony aren't the only ones banging their own drum, of course. Last year, Microsoft put out a press release comparing the launch of New Xbox Experience to the introduction of colour television in 1954. You've also personally been quite vocal in recent weeks. Do you ever worry that all this bravado could alienate some people - particularly in Europe, where there's a different mentality to the US?

Aaron Greenberg: Xbox has really focused on the European marketplace as our top priority this year. You've seen that from how aggressive we've been on price, what we've done with New Xbox Experience and our games line-up. We had a lot of content and games that were really designed for the European market, and we're continuing to invest there. Europe has become a hotbed for great ideas, content and design, and I think we've just started to tap that potential.

At the same time, we realise it's a different market with different tastes. You can't just create a global solution. We'll continue to think about each country specifically. The UK is obviously very different than Southern Europe, et cetera. We'll take unique approaches.

Eurogamer: Now the New Xbox Experience has launched, can we expect a familiar spring dashboard update that introduces further changes?

Aaron Greenberg: The team is focused on launching the Primetime channel for the spring. New Xbox Experience allows us to provide new features on a more regular basis, so you'll see us deliver smaller updates throughout the year.

"You can't just create a global solution. We'll continue to think about each country specifically. The UK is obviously very different than Southern Europe, et cetera."

We will definitely package some things together, but we haven't specifically committed to doing just two big updates. We want to add new features when they're ready. Then, for holiday perhaps, we'll do something big. But exactly how that will work remains to be seen.

Eurogamer: So you're saying smaller features will be added frequently, with the possibility of another big overhaul in time for Christmas?

Aaron Greenberg: Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. Primetime's going to be a significant update, and others will be coming in the spring, but we won't necessarily have a day when the switch gets flipped.

The great benefit of the design is that we're able to add new features, new channels and things like that pretty quickly. So yeah, you'll see us do more regular updates throughout the year.

Eurogamer: Speaking of Primetime, hardcore gamers comprise a large part of your audience. They want to play games like Gears and Call of Duty. Do they really want games like 1 vs. 100?

Aaron Greenberg: Primetime has great potential to appeal across both hardcore gamers and more mainstream users... We've seen great examples of things like Uno becoming a big hit with hardcore gamers and more casual users, and I think Primetime has the potential to do that.

The types of content we can bring to that infrastructure can range quite a bit, and you can have hardcore feature segments. So at eight o'clock it may be videogame trivia, and then pop culture trivia at nine o'clock. There are ways to appeal to different segments with the same product.

Eurogamer: Both the US and the UK economies are in trouble at the moment. What do you think the ramifications of that will be for the Xbox business, and how will your rivals be affected?

Aaron Greenberg: As you saw this holiday, consumers are being much more cautious. We have all types of research showing people stayed in more for entertainment this year, and they were looking for ways to be entertained at home. As an industry, videogames saw the benefit of that.

"Primetime's going to be a significant update, and others will be coming in the spring, but we won't necessarily have a day when the switch gets flipped."

The silent phenomenon that's happening now for us is that consumers are starting the transition to digital distribution. We're seeing record revenues, particularly in the UK, of consumers spending money on digital content... It's quickly become the fastest-growing portion of our business. I think that will continue to accelerate at a rapid pace.

Eurogamer: David Reeves recently stated that Sony's top priority for 2009 is to "start making money". What's Microsoft's top priority?

Aaron Greenberg: We have been fortunate to build a profitable business for some time. We sustained profitability through our entire previous last fiscal year. That's partly due to being first to market, being able to cost-reduce our console, and being able to get to mass market price points.

We're focused on delivering great games and entertainment throughout the year. This is the first full year where we're at a mass-market price-point. We saw a lot of momentum coming out of holiday, but now we need to deliver and build on that.

I think we're fortunate to be half the price of the PS3, and even price-competitive with the Wii. So we expect to drive record console sales and software sales in the coming year, and continue to grow our online business at the same time.