BREAKING: Microsoft to Suspend 360 Production and Cancel TGS08 Appearance
Redmond, Washington. In a surprising move, Microsoft has announced today that it will be suspending 360 production to focus on what it calls "the financial crisis" of the video game industry.
Spokesman Jeff Bell was quoting as saying "Due to the importance of the video game industry to the American people, Microsoft has made the decision to temporarily suspend its efforts in the console war to fully focus on the current crisis."
Another anonymous Microsoft source called for rivals Nintendo and Sony to suspend their campaigns. "We believe that we must put the industry first, and temporarily halt the partisan attacks and bickering and focus on truly improving the state of the industry."
The calls for suspension have come amidst a wave of new sales data suggesting that the Microsoft Xbox 360, the first console to be release this generation, is trending behind both the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 in every major region of the world. The timing of this announcement has lead some, such as Sony spokesman Barney Frank, to conclude that the move is an effort to make Microsoft seem like a more noble leader of the industry to counter the 360's floundering sales: "We at Sony believe that this is yet another attempt by the Microsoft campaign to politicize an important crisis. Just because Microsoft is losing sales, doesn't mean that there is a financial crisis. In fact, it seems most gamers are making up their minds after the last abysmal years of Microsoft domination and are switching over to Sony. Desperation never works in console wars such as this."
Frank later went on to describe the move by Microsoft as "the longest Hail Mary pass either in the history of football or the history of Mary's," only to later correct himself. "This is actually the biggest Hail Mary pass since the price drop, and we all saw how that one went!"
Despite criticisms of politicizing, Microsoft continued to call for suspension of the console war. Later in the day, the campaign went so far as to call for a cancellation of the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), to be held next week, in order to focus more on the financial crisis.
TGS is historically a weak forum for Microsoft, and Sony supporters have once again accused Microsoft of bowing out instead of staying and fighting.
"When you are down in sales, you have two options. You either fight, or you hide behind cheap political stunts and run from debates. It's clear what option the McCain campaign has chosen," Frank said.