Microsoft understood this early. WebTV was the first attempt, then MSN TV (formerly WebTV), then MS ITV. Low adoption across all of them. The living room resisted every direct approach. The only way to actually get into the TV was through a games console, because that's what people were already plugging in.
So Xbox became the Trojan horse that WebTV and MS ITV never could be. For a time it worked because it did one thing exceptionally well. Then the Xbox One reveal happened and it became clear they'd lost the plot entirely. Forty-five minutes on NFL partnerships and TV integration for an audience that was mostly not in North America and definitely not there for sports rights deals. No games. No content. Just hub features nobody asked for.
The irony is that Xbox had genuinely built something useful. Renting and buying films through the dashboard worked. The integration was clean. But somewhere between "games console that does other things" and "entertainment hub that does everything," they polarized their core audience, confused everyone else, and delivered nothing with enough depth to justify the complexity.
Over-hubification. Build the infrastructure before you've earned the trust to operate it. Show users a system instead of showing them value.
The living room question is still unanswered because everyone keeps making the same mistake: they want to own the screen before they've given anyone a reason to hand it over.
It's always been about the TV.
Microsoft understood this early. WebTV was the first attempt, then MSN TV (formerly WebTV), then MS ITV. Low adoption across all of them. The living room resisted every direct approach. The only way to actually get into the TV was through a games console, because that's what people were already plugging in.
So Xbox became the Trojan horse that WebTV and MS ITV never could be. For a time it worked because it did one thing exceptionally well. Then the Xbox One reveal happened and it became clear they'd lost the plot entirely. Forty-five minutes on NFL partnerships and TV integration for an audience that was mostly not in North America and definitely not there for sports rights deals. No games. No content. Just hub features nobody asked for.
The irony is that Xbox had genuinely built something useful. Renting and buying films through the dashboard worked. The integration was clean. But somewhere between "games console that does other things" and "entertainment hub that does everything," they polarized their core audience, confused everyone else, and delivered nothing with enough depth to justify the complexity.
Over-hubification. Build the infrastructure before you've earned the trust to operate it. Show users a system instead of showing them value.
The living room question is still unanswered because everyone keeps making the same mistake: they want to own the screen before they've given anyone a reason to hand it over.
Ian is brilliant and for a newbie like me it was enlightening. Happy you liked it!