PlayStation outfit refused to work with computing giant, claims Joachim Kempin
Microsoft entered the console business to take on and defeat Sony after the PlayStation manufacturer refused work with the company, the former VP of Windows sales has claimed.
According to Joachim Kempin, Microsoft set about creating the Xbox hardware so that Sony didn't achieve the kind of dominance on televisions that Microsoft enjoyed on PC.
"Sony was always very arm's length with Microsoft," Kempin told IGN.
"Yeah, they bought Windows for their PCs but when you really take a hard look at that, they were never Microsoft's friend. And Microsoft in a way wanted them to be a friend because they knew they had a lot of things we could have cooperated on because they are, in a way, an entertainment company, you know?
"I mean, at least a portion of Sony is and they had some really good things going there, but as soon as they came out with a video console, Microsoft just looked at that and said 'well, we have to beat them, so let's do our own.'"
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Kempin added that after the company failed to find a PC manufacturer to build the new console, they took to the job themselves – basing it off of what it had learned from Sony.
"The [PC manufacturers] were smart enough not to bite, because they studied the Sony model and saw that Sony could not make money on that hardware model, ever," he said.
"So they supplemented it with software royalties, and Microsoft copied that model."
This story was originally published on our sister-site, MCV.
...which is the model that will shortly be coming to an end with the re-invention of imaginative hardware to make money and then steam box will open the door to hardware companies to compete on a hard alone without fear of the catch 22 situation of having to lure in customers based on the games and lure in developers based on the amount of customers. Other than Nintendo with the Wii, the hardware side of console as been pretty uninspiring, hopefully Valves hardware push will turn the tides of the software monopoly, to open up an interesting era in gaming hardware. It is certainly possible that hardware can make money as Apple have certainly shown that.
I do however find it amusing that Microsoft like to have a monopoly but don't want others to have one too close to theirs. I'd say this 'Sony didn't want to be friends' isn't exactly how it sounds and if it is; do you blame them?
