Microsoft SmartGlass: Xbox Live Companion on steroids?
As many of my readers know, I'm not a video game fan, nor I am I a big TV fan. So sitting virtually through a two-hour E3 keynote address, chock-full of video game first-person-shooter previews...kill me now (pun intended).
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already been broadening Xbox Live beyond games, adding dozens of entertainment services, live TV and Kinect voice control in 2011. The entertainment-services expansion made the console a service endpoint rather than only a game machine.
At E3, Microsoft is extending that direction across phones, PCs, tablets and TVs through SmartGlass, as outlined in its same-day cross-device Xbox announcement. The move gives Xbox Live Companion a wider role in the Xbox experience.
First-order effects
- Microsoft can use SmartGlass to connect Xbox Live experiences across the devices users already own, rather than limiting interaction to the television and console.
- Xbox Live Companion is repositioned from a companion utility toward a cross-screen layer for Microsoft's entertainment offering.
Second-order effects
- Entertainment services on Xbox Live gain another route to reach users, increasing the value of their Xbox integration beyond the console interface.
- Microsoft's phone, PC and tablet platforms become more relevant to Xbox Live engagement, tying the entertainment service more closely to the company's broader device footprint.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft continues linking console entertainment to companion devices, Xbox competition shifts further from hardware features alone toward the breadth and continuity of each platform's service ecosystem.
The trend: SmartGlass is part of the console-to-service shift, in which game platforms seek recurring engagement by extending entertainment experiences across screens.