Speaking to Variety, Microsoft's Robbie Bach discussed Microsoft's performance during 2008, specifically on how the company plans to woo casual gamers. Bach said that "people are still buying consoles" despite the poor state of the global economy, though they may buy "a little bit fewer games." Bach stated that customers "want to be entertained even when the economy is not entertaining." Bach also discussed how Microsoft is expanding its casual audience. Bach noted that the biggest drivers of the casual market for Microsoft are music gamee, such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and the new Netflix streaming application in the New Xbox Experience, which Bach says is expanding the Xbox market beyond "traditional gamers." Concerning music titles, Bach says that 60 million songs have been downloaded from Xbox Live, though we have to wonder how many of those purchases were made by casual gamers.
Other subjects touched upon in the interview include Xbox Live as a business, Kodu, and the Zune. Head over to Variety for the full interview.
