Xbox 360 owners are gluttons for punishment. Many of us have suffered through multiple red rings of death, shipping off coffin after coffin, twiddling our thumbs between repairs and refurbishes. Why? We're already invested in an extensive Xbox 360 games library and an Xbox Live subscription, something Robbie Bach says "speaks to the power of the product offering and service we provide." That's a positive way to look at it, I suppose.
He tells VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi of the 360's notoriously faulty hardware "In the ordinary course of something like this, you would expect it to show up in the customer reaction data. We just haven't seen that. It speaks to the fact that they love their games and Xbox Live." Bach says customers "know we're taking care of them," a response that breeds "respect."
Bach also talked about the next generation of Xbox.
"Our view is we will be selling Xbox 360 for a long time," he tells Takahashi, possibly hinting that it won't be as quick to beat Sony and Nintendo the jump next round. Bach says that next gen planning began before the 360 shipped, but is vague on details.
He's particularly cryptic on the active development of the next Xbox, saying of the next-gen development team "On the one hand, it's everybody. On the other, it's nobody." That might be the best non-answer we've ever seen.
The Entertainment & Devices Division boss does an impressive job of dodging and being non-committal throughout the interview. For anyone aspiring to work at the executive level, it's a fantastic primer on how to answer tough questions. Do check it out.
Interview with Microsoft's Robbie Bach, part 2, on Xbox 360 [VentureBeat]