Okay, before I get going on why Microsoft might very well come out ahead after this E3, let me get this out of the way immediately before I get flamed to death:

• I am buying a PS4.
• I think Sony has come out ahead this E3 (so far).
• At this point I am willing to suggest that the Talkingship community embrace Sony for next gen gamer nights.

There, now that those points have been made abundantly clear, I think it’s about time someone stepped in and tried to calm the Microsoft funeral drums. If you go near a computer right now, you’re liable to get smacked in the face by the backlash that’s hitting Microsoft like E. Honda on a meth binge. Let’s calm down for a second and try to think about this as a business person instead of a rabid gamer.

It’s no secret that Microsoft is a very successful company, and has made great strides within the videogame market. Haters are gonna hate, but the 360 was a huge success. Microsoft is also all about the Benjamins, and they’re not likely to move forward with a business plan that reads like a suicide note. Only an absolute fool would think the Xbox One’s DRM policy would be no big deal for the public, and the forced inclusion of the Kinect has driven the price of the console up, as well as created a lot of questions about when it is on, and when it is off. Why would they do these two things when any six year old without brain damage could tell you they’re going to go over like lead balloons with the gaming public?

Well, let me lay this out for you. First off, the hardcore gaming market is no longer Microsoft’s main target. They’re not giving up on that market entirely, but they’ve made it abundantly clear that they want to appeal to families and average people. The hardcore gamer market is hotly contested, and Sony has always kept a laser focus on it (except for that silly Move thing – lol). I think MS decided to make the hardcore market their secondary focus this generation, and instead focus on things that would draw a wider audience. Having the Kinect packaged with the system gives them a huge selling point to game developers that want to attract the youth market, and Nintendo has faltered in a BIG way with the Wii-U, leaving that market wide open. Every single Xbox One owner is now guaranteed to have a Kinect, which means that developers can feel more confident that there will be a large audience for their kid-friendly games that utilize this device.

Sony doesn’t include the PS eye with the PS4, nor the wands. I’m willing to guess that the PS Move is going to get very, very little attention from Sony, and will thus not attract many of the companies that target children. That’s a huge win for Microsoft. I really can’t stress enough how important this is, and despite how I, and most hardcore gamers, couldn’t give two craps about the Kinect, that doesn’t mean it’s not a factor here. It’s a HUGE factor, and you should expect to see it make a massive difference in the next year.

Now, let’s get to the down and dirty here. I am going to put on my sleazy businessman hat here and pretend like I’m an executive at Microsoft. Want to know how I’d maximize my business trajectory here?

• I would have teams of representatives flying out to meet every major developer under the sun starting today. They would bring along proposals detailing my DRM policy, and how the PC market has been able to overcome just about all issues with such policies. These teams would be selling the developers on piracy figures, used game sales, and how these things impact the industry. Show them how much money they lose on every title by allowing their games to be sold at used game stores. Then I would offer discounted fee programs to all developers based on what level of exclusivity they gave the X1.
• I would set up meetings with as many broadband providers as I could, and explain how the Xbox One is their new best friend. I would try to find a partner or partners in the broadband community that would help get more X1’s out there. For instance: “Sign a two year agreement with Comcast cable and receive a free Xbox One.” We all thought that MS was going to announce a lower priced X1 with a subscription, but why go to the trouble when you can get cable providers to do it for you?
• I would be putting together an ad campaign with this simple tag line, “More Than Games.” I would be running ads all over the place showing off how the Xbox One changes the way you watch television, surf the web, listen to music, and watch movies, and on top of everything it also plays the “Best Games On The Market!” – cue the CoD and Madden footage.
• Finally, I would push for larger floor space at all major big box retailers, because they despise the used game market just as much as the game developers do. I would set up deals with them to ensure that they were able to sell games with exclusive content only available at their stores to promote people buying discs instead of buying online. And I’d bring along a lot of the same data that I brought to the developers to show how much money these stores stand to lose on the sale of used games. My final question to them would be, “Now which console do you want to give the most floor space to: The one that promotes the used game market as a major selling point, or the console that is actively trying to bring customers back through your doors?” You see, Sony made a lot of friends with gamers when they made the DRM thing such a big selling point, but they handed MS a gift at the same time. Now, every single developer on Earth stands to make more money from every copy of a game sold on an Xbox One than they do a game sold on a PS4. Are you starting to see how MS is going to come out of this smiling yet?

Listen, Sony fans, you have a lot to be proud of today. The PS4 looks awesome, and I adore them for pushing the indie market forward. I WANT them to succeed, but I just want to make sure you take your blinders off here. The videogame industry has been in dire straights for the last several years, and it looks like Sony’s business plan is just that they’re hoping it turns around with the release of new consoles. Microsoft, on the other hand, is coming out with guns blazing here. Be careful with the presumption that Sony has won this war already. Trust me when I say that it’s only just begun.

Microsoft has barely started fighting yet.