Microsoft Exec Admits Xbox 360 Will Not have a Handheld Counterpart

Dennis Durkin (pictured), COO and CFO of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business (the maker of Xbox 360), expresses that the company will not be making any dedicated handheld gaming device. In an interview with Industry Gamers, he explains that the mobile gaming market is too crowded, making it extremely difficult to successfully launch Microsoft’s own handheld gaming device.

Durkin even compares the market to “a very, very red ocean,” with the blood of Nintendo 3DS soiling those waters, as marked with its reasonable success although its lofty expectations from fans were not reached. The executive is also skeptical about Sony’s PS Vita.

“You only have a certain number of bets you can make as a company and you have to decide what you want to put your wood behind and I’m just not sure that that’s a place that I would put mine,” he tells James Brightman.

What have been keeping Durkin excited are the developments the company is making for the Kinect, Xbox Live, and unique content. “I feel very good about our relative position relative to both of our competitors,” he adds. “I certainly wouldn’t want to trade hands with either of them.”

Source: Industry Gamers, via Engadget

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