Microsoft Apparently Still Confused About The Long Tail Concept

from the there's-no-shelf-space dept

The concept of "The Long Tail" seems so common to be almost a cliche these days. While it used to be a part of nearly every startup's VC pitch, it's long passed the point where VCs now roll their eyes when they hear about a "long tail" company. However, it appears that plenty of folks are still unfamiliar with the concept. For example, Microsoft seems to be killing off Xbox Live games that aren't performing well, even if they have some audience. Microsoft claims that it's because it's too confusing to find games, but as Chris Kohler points out in the link above, that's a problem of Microsoft's Xbox Live interface -- not the fact that there are too many games. Cutting off the games doesn't make much sense. It doesn't "cost" Microsoft much to keep them on the shelves, and these unwanted games can bring in plenty of revenue in the aggregate. The real problem is that Microsoft needs to fix its UI.

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