The pressure is on Microsoft to succeed in its upcoming release of the Microsoft XBox game console. Not only will it be forced to compete with already established companies and be subject to the difficulties of swaying loyal consumers, it will also have to prove itself as a serious force in this space.

However, this shouldn't be too much of a problem given the money and resources Microsoft are pouring into the development, marketing and support of the product.

ZDNet talks to product manager Barbara Hagan, on first-party games for Microsoft Xbox.

GS: Could you describe an average working day for you, as a product manager for Xbox?

BH: It varies from day to day. As Product Manager with first-party games we actually spend a lot of time with our program group and that's the group that actually works with the development teams, putting the games together so we'll go to meetings, updates, making sure that the games are on track, that our features are actually delivering what we want them to, we'll do some of that. Some days we'll interview consumers at night, so we'll have focus groups in the evening and run ideas by them.

So we work a lot with the program group with the development side of it, and we'll also work with the functional side. So the packaging, and the advertising, forecasting and budgeting, so in one day you pretty much cover the whole gamut of the product. From what's going into it, to what's going to look like on the outside. Then of course we have our own little internal team within the marketing group and we like to share what we're working on, any new findings we have so that everyone's leveraging the same information. There's a lot going on.

Regarding the Xbox launch promotion budget of 500 million dollars, will you get to spend any of that on marketing the first party products that are launch titles?

Yeah. Part of that budget which is going to be spent over the first eighteen months will include advertising for specific titles, it also includes console advertising, as well as merchandising at the retail level. So it pretty much spreads out among the whole promotion of the console and the games.

Do you get to make decisions on how to spend that for any of your titles?

Oh definitely. The way it works is that each title will be allocated funds and within those the product managers have responsibility to figure it out. You know like what kind of advertising, do we do TV advertising, do we do print, what vehicles, what publications should we run in. If we're doing PR, what types of events do we work with the PR agency on that, any types of promotions. We do have some promotions that we have announced with some of the larger partners Taco Bell, SoBe, so kind of the tactical execution of that stuff will be determined as well from us.

So would you say for the promotion of an Xbox launch title, you would be spending a bit more than the typical promotion of a Microsoft title, say on PC?

I think coming out of the gates right now we are heavily supporting Xbox, but not neglecting our PC. We've actually divided the marketing organisations into PC-centric and Xbox-centric sections. PC games do not lose the focus, yet we can still do what we need to do to establish our Xbox titles, gain the leverage and the ground that we need to establish to succeed in this industry.

On the topic of gaining ground, can you explain the philosophy behind spending such an unusually large amount of money on the launch? Is it necessary to -broach" your way into the console space marketplace?

BH: I think that we're actually spending competitively. I don't think that we're spending significantly more, or less than our competitors. You guys have seen what Sony and Nintendo have spent but from our perspective we have a lot of key messages we want to get out there, a lot of variety of titles, and it's important that we really focus on getting those messages out. You know, the Halo message is different from the Fusion Frenzy message and it's going to require spending and support to get both of those out to the correct audience as well as our general console. I mean with this console we're starting from scratch. Whereas Nintendo and Playstation have a significant history, an established name.

Is online advertising part of your strategy?

Our online strategy will actually be part of our overall marketing, communications in some way, going forward. At this point we haven't actually nailed down what the key messages will be on our advertising campaign, but it is something that will be considered.

Are you considering selling Xboxes directly to the public online?

I don't know exactly how that's going to work. I know that our retail team and our sales channel team are working directly with the key retailers, brick and mortar as well as online to make sure that we can deliver the console to consumers in an efficient and effective way without alienating anyone.

Could you describe the ideal Xbox demographic?

The ideal Xbox demographic is pretty much the hard-core gamer, the sixteen to twenty six year olds, They are into gaming, they love gaming, they really want cutting edge technology, they want their gaming experiences to be elevated to the next level, right? They're not just satisfied with the status quo. They want to be the first ones that have the latest and the greatest. They're the trendsetters among their group. They're the ones that will actually advocate products, get excited about them, spread the word of mouth and those trendsetters, those cutting edge consumers are the ones that we're really targeting.

Would you say that the Xbox demographic is a different audience to what the existing consoles are targeting ?

I think that we've definitely diffferentiated ourselves. I think that Nintendo, tends to be a little bit younger in their games and their franchises. As their history has shown. And Playstation obviously have been around for a while and they're very much mainstream. We're very focused on that hard-core gamer. That's the consumer that will be the advocate for the Xbox.

Would you say that the Xbox in some ways competes with the PC game sphere?

No, I think that the Xbox is in a different space. I think that PC games are strong, and they will continue to be strong, a lot of households have PCs, and PC penetration is much higher than Xbox console penetration will be Year One, or even Year Two. I don't see it as competing directly. I think you will find that a lot of households have a PC and a console game, and use those in their own respective ways. There are some that are more conducive to a PC, and other types for a console.

So you're not expecting the Xbox to suddenly become as ubiquitous as a VCR or television in the average home?

I think right now we're really focused on delivering great games, Year One, getting the gaming community very excited about what the Xbox can do from a technological standpoint, from the gameplay experience perspective and that's what we're really focusing on in this first year.

Several of the Xbox first-party developers have games they were were previously planning to launch on other platforms - but are now launching on Xbox. What would you say is their philosophy behind releasing these games first on Xbox?

First of all, the technological advantages of Xbox. Having a hard drive in the actual system enables, it frees up a lot of the processing use. So they can actually deliver the game as they envision it, right? The environments are more alive, everything is more realistic. Transitions are seamless. It's an exhilarating experience because you are no longer limited by the technology. Your visions can actually be put to work. You can see them in the gameplay. That's the key reason why we have the great developers that we have on Xbox. Imagine if you were a developer - all of a sudden, it's no holds barred! All of the chains have been lifted, and it's just great fun.

Could you name a ballpark figure for the development costs of your average -A" title in the first party product range?

That ranges, it really depends on what the product is, I really can't give an average on that.

Would you expect Xbox development to be more cost effective than working on other platforms, because there are fewer constraints?

It's a little bit easier to develop for. Because it has some similarities to PC development. So a lot of developers are familiar with how the process works. And it's not like they're walking into a development environment system that's totally new, and totally foreign. I can't really answer whether it's directly more cost efficient but it's easier, and it's a more enjoyable experience for developers, developing on Xbox.

For more information on the Xbox machine and it's hardware, see our interview with the Xbox Technical Director, Seamus Blackley on GameSpot AU.

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