Microsoft as the Prince of Wales

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Friday, May 31, 2013, 11:01 (4203 days ago) @ Kermit
edited by Kermit, Friday, May 31, 2013, 11:06

I may just be in a literary mood today, but the rumors that the new Mirror's Edge might be an exclusive makes me wonder if the lackluster reveal of the Xbox One (from a gaming perspective) is part of a larger strategy,* what I might call a Prince Hal strategy. For those of you unfamiliar with Shakespeare's histories, Prince Hal was something of a clown prince, a drunkard whose friends were thieves, whores, and other drunkards. Hal's lack of royal propriety greatly disappointed his father, the king, but Hal had a strategy. "My reformation, glittering o'er my fault, shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes than that which hath no foil to set it off."

Prince Hal would become the celebrated Henry V, and stun everyone because they expected so little of him. Perhaps it will be the same with the Xbox One.

Kermit

*I think it's unlikely that this is a conscious strategy on Microsoft's part, but it will be interesting if all the current disappointment actually helps Microsoft in the long run.