Xbox 720 No-Show At GDC.

Microsoft's Xbox team will not be attending GDC.

Their only presence at GDC will be Windows 8 and Windows phone.

This seems like a HUGE mistake.

Software makes or breaks a platform, and developer support is a massive chunk of that. Sony have already made their intentions very clear, with their new platform set to be easy to develop for and having a good group of 3rd parties up on stage pledging their support. They have also booked a room for GDC and will be no doubt be sensibly using this opportunity to gather some more potential titles.

Bungie on stage at the PS4 reveal

Missing out on GDC puts Microsoft in a bad position for the big "Hey, developers, here's why you should make games for us." This isn't an E3 reveal for placating shareholders. this isn't an MTV reveal to garner consumer hype. This is a conference for developers. The people who will put games on your machine.

There is always the "behind closed doors" aspect to these things, but again it just seems so at odds with the commendable, open, developer friendly attitude Sony seem to be publicly taking.

Microsoft did so well this generation partly because of mistakes made by Sony, and I hope they aren't banking on the same mistakes being repeated.

Is this all a part of their bigger picture plan, or has this been a big misstep?

If the former, my guess is a huge focus on internal studios.

If the latter, they need to look closely at what their nearest rival is doing right.