09.26.10
Milo Said to be Another Dead Microsoft Product
Professor Milo, Batman: The Animated Series
Summary: Project Milo (KINect) has been killed by Microsoft’s Lionhead Studios, according to unconfirmed reports
Dead products at Microsoft are a couple a month, on average. Microsoft has been cutting down expenses by ending many products and closing down divisions for a few years now, leaving the profitable ones in tact and giving more time to losing products, hoping for some reversal or cross-product leverage (e.g. Zune being used as a tool/means to lift Xbox). The latest dead product from Microsoft is poor Milo, which is said to be canceled although Microsoft cannot confirm this just yet. To quote one report among many:
Kotaku’s reporting that the plug’s been pulled on Lionhead Studios’ ambitious Project Milo for Kinect. The undertaking–also referred to as Milo & Kate–was the jewel of Microsoft’s 2009 E3 presentation, containing the most forward-looking of the motion-gaming ideas during the press conference.
Some sites talk about it as though it’s a fact and some reserve judgment, instead just asking, “‘Milo & Kate’ scrapped by Microsoft?”
Other sites attribute to the source of the claim or call it a “rumor”.
There is this one contradictory report and having had its KINect product trashed, Microsoft too is mocking the competition to hide its own failings. It’s not a winning strategy and it leaves Nintendo in a stronger position. █
Will said,
September 27, 2010 at 12:19 am
A while back, Microsoft increased the cost of an Xbox live gold subscription by $10 a year. This after having had it at the same price since the 360′s launch in 2005. There’s no way to know for sure what that was about, but one possibility is that they suspect Kinect won’t sell quite as much as their cheerleaders are predicting, and this will help make up for it.