Analyzing Public Relations: Microsoft’s Xbox One Reveal

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Introduction

In May of 2013, Microsoft took the stage at their Redmond Washington headquarters to reveal their next-generation video games console, the “Xbox One”. It had been eight years since their previous console, the “Xbox 360” had made its debut. Millions of eager fans tuned in online for what would be a major milestone in gaming history. What followed was an hour-long press conference that came across as outwardly corporate, tone-deaf, and anti-consumer. In this essay, I will recall the events that unfolded and analyzed what went right with Microsoft's communication strategy and what could have improved. I argue that framing was at the core of these public relations missteps and that a better understanding of Xbox’s core audience would have resulted in much more favourable media coverage and fan reception.

Communication Successes

Though the event itself proved to be more detrimental to the Xbox brand, certain successes were achieved overall. Firstly, both the media and viewers got a glimpse at the design of the console and controller alongside its motion-sensing companion, the “Kinect” (Plunkett, 2013). As Tassi (2013) recalls, the presentation covered the overall vision Microsoft had for the coming generation of home consoles; always online, a focus on multiplayer and the ability to act as a cable box companion for television. Release dates for upcoming video games were also highlighted by various developers and Microsoft partners.

Presentation Timeliness & Necessity

The necessity of Microsoft’s May event was called into question by the news media as they had another major press conference scheduled two weeks afterwards at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Many on social media mentioned how their reveal presentation had many redundant parts and too great of an emphasis on television (Tassi, 2013). As Public Relations: A Comprehensive Guide outlines a press release exists to provide something newsworthy to share (Clay, 2020). There is anticipation building up to a press release and the role of the communicator is to alleviate concerns or delight on expectations held by the public.

Microsoft left out crucial information as to the console’s availability and specifics on its feature set. Though their intentions may have been to build excitement for their June E3 event, the response they received on social media was mostly negative. Xbox executives had to spend additional time updating and clarifying to the media and their community about much of the speculation stemming from the event (Tassi, 2013). As dialogue in public relations is an ongoing process (Theunissen, 2012), Microsoft should have been proactive in creating media kits to address public confusion to avoid potentially contradicting statements made offhand by untrained company spokespersons.

Depending on the situation, companies can actually increase their brand reputation by abstaining or decreasing their marketing efforts. This reduces audience confusion caused by information overload (Kuksov et al., 2013). By combining both their initial May console reveal with their June E3 conference, Microsoft could have avoided much of the redundancy stemming from two press events. From their May event, many questions were left to speculation like price, release date, the consoles ability to play used games, and if online functionality was based on a monthly subscription fee (Tassi, 2013). By packaging their press release into one condensed event Microsoft could have created a news cycle where excitement was generated by the unique feature set of their console. Instead, their insistence to hold two events only confused what their new machine did, rather than convince their stakeholders why they should buy one.

Identifying & Targeting Stakeholders

According to Identifying and Prioritizing Stakeholders and Publics, the different stakeholders of a public should be communicated to based on their relationships and affinity for a company (“Using Citations,” 2021). This ensures that the company in questions isn’t inefficiently using its resources to cater to a general audience. The majority of viewers in Microsoft’s May reveal event were potential consumers who were linked to the company based on their product output (“Using Citations,” 2021).

The article Xbox One Review: 2020 provides a retrospective on the many issues stemming from this console reveal event. “Suits from across Microsoft corporate spent the majority of the presentation talking at exhausting length about apps, brand partnerships, and HDMI ports” (Plante, 2020 para. 12). The layout of the reveal event seemed to be based around the relationships Microsoft had with their stockholders and business partners rather than one focused on the end-user. Focusing on the console’s close integration with cable boxes was especially puzzling for those who didn’t watch television or were not based in the United States (Plunkett, 2013).

The ability to convey the uniqueness of a brand alongside its perceived quality is what drives consumer appeal (Kemp et al., 2012). Though Microsoft did distinguish itself from its main competitor, Sony, and their reveal event, it did so for the wrong reasons. It alienated its core audience by presenting a checklist of features the Xbox could vaguely do rather than focus on the gaming experiences exclusive to the platform. This could have been improved by first taking the time to realize who would be watching their reveal event and making changes accordingly. Such changes could be spending less time talking about corporate partnerships and more time communicating how they will add to the uniqueness of the console. Though the emphasis on television was done to appeal to a border general audience, Microsoft failed to realize how microtargeting and relevancy would apply to their event (Luenendonk, 2019). It is very unlikely television enthusiasts were tuning into the reveal of a video games console so limiting the segment on cable integration should have been considered.

Framing Features

The May reveal event for Microsoft was focused on the common PR goal of building customer awareness (Corbett, 2016). However, many of the new features Microsoft revealed as selling points for the Xbox One were met with heavy backlash and controversy. Users on social media pointed to the privacy concerns stemming from an always-online console that required a verification every 24 hours. Likewise, the Xbox One’s inability to accept used games without authentication by a certified retailer came across as completely anti-consumer (Plunkett, 2013). The backlash was so extensive that it was only a month later that Microsoft pulled such features completely (Greene, 2013).

The Power Of Framing argues that adjusting the wording of a message greatly influences its audience reception (Rathje, 2017). The always-online connectivity could have been spun to showcase that the console itself was heavily reliant on cloud computing. Therefore by having an always-online connection to servers, the Xbox One could utilize computing power that put it greatly ahead of similarly priced consoles on the market. As for used games, Microsoft could have pointed to the risk associated with buying a used copy of a game. The purchaser doesn’t know if the disk they purchase is functional and thus the verification process was a simple standard designed for ensuring customers received quality and working items. Those questioning the focus on television could have had their concerns alleviated if Microsoft framed cable integration as something that was built into all devices but completely optional to use. This would have prevented it from coming across as a major selling feature.

Preplanning and Organization

The cornerstone of a successful public relations campaign is preparedness and diligence. As mentioned in The Blair Witch Project: A Movie Marketing Case Study, timing plays an important factor in a promotional campaign's ability to generate excitement. If done properly while considering the uniqueness of the promotion and the targeted public, the length of the promotional window can exponentially increase word of mouth and media attention.

The launch of the Xbox One came at a very difficult time for Microsoft as the company changed their internal console marketing team and had several high profiles leads exit entirely (Gilbert, 2016). Considering Xbox’s main competitor PlayStation had its first reveal event in February of 2013 (Bishop, 2013), it isn’t hard to imagine that corporate mismanagement had some effect on the May event and its reception. Word of mouth through social media is mainly a result of wanting connections with the public rather than an acknowledgement of company relations (Valentini, 2015). It’s understandable to see why Microsoft’s overly corporate presentation didn’t generate the excitement or desired word of mouth. Microsoft could have generated buzz for their conference by hinting at desired games the public wanted months before the reveal. This consumer-focused messaging would have created positive speculation on what the new console could play. Additionally, by being proactive and studying how Sony was marketing their product, the Xbox team could have designed a presentation that directly addressed the shortcomings of the new PlayStation.

Conclusion

​ The end of the console generation saw Microsoft selling roughly 40 million units while their competitor Sony has stated they shipped more than 114 million (Khan, 2021). Many attribute Sony’s market domination to the disastrous launch of the Xbox One and Microsoft’s inability to get over how damaging their initial reveal was. When analyzing the shortcomings of their launch it’s understandable to see how they neglected the framing and stakeholder analysis of who their main audience was. The reputation Microsoft had developed during the era of its previous console was drastically tarnished within one day. If nothing else, the Xbox One’s reveal serves as a benchmark on what not to do when launching a modern games console.