Molyneux: Microsoft's E3 Conference Was "Unprofessional"

[Cognimancer]

Molyneux: Microsoft's E3 Conference Was "Unprofessional"

Peter Molyneux thinks that Sony and Microsoft are getting so caught up in out-doing each other that they've forgotten the customers.

This year's E3 isn't over yet, but odds are it'll be remembered for the crushing blow Microsoft took to its PR, on which Sony wasted no time in capitalizing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124817-PlayStation-4-Game-Sharing-This-Is-How-Its-Done]. As many gamers start enlisting for the next battle of the Console Wars, industry veteran Peter Molyneux offers his insight on things. Unsurprisingly, he isn't pleased with Microsoft's performance this week - but he isn't ready to give Sony a free pass either.

Molyneux (who worked under Microsoft before leaving to join 22 Cans) thinks his former employer's PR nightmare is being caused by poor communication with the customers. "I just think it was very unprofessionally done," he remarked about the Xbox One press conference at E3. "There was one message from [Phil Spencer] and then another message from [Phil Harrison] and they seemed to be kind of shooting from the hip. Always online is simple for me. As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I'll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don't want that. But if there's some way you can give a huge benefit for the consumer, and make the message super clear, [it would be accepted]."

Going on, Molyneux likened Microsoft and Sony to "two frat houses," playing off one another. He's concerned that the "us or them" attitude at the show is driving away unattached customers - and he may be right.

Source: Games Industry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-12-xbox-ones-e3-showing-very-unprofessionally-done-says-molyneux]

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[dragongit]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

 

[loa]

Yes I guess we all noticed by now that microsoft fucked up in biblical proportions.

 

[an annoyed writer]

You know, this guy gets pretty ambitious at times and he over-hypes some things. But here? Holy shit he comes off as more sane than I've ever heard him in the past decade. And the frathouse comparison is quite apt, as well as the final point. Seems that the world has been flipped upside-down recently.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I'll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don't want that. But if there's some way you can give a huge benefit for the consumer, and make the message super clear, [it would be accepted].

That's the most sane thing Molyneux has said in years.

Without offering some big advantage to going with the Xbone, why would the consumer want it? What are they offering? More importantly, what are they offering that isn't already a feature on smart tvs and will be a standard feature on all tvs within 5 years?

 

[Roxas1359]

Never thought I'd say this but, Peter you are completely right. Pretty much the comparison of two frat houses is perfect, with Nintendo just being in the background not wanting to get involved, but eventually it will.

I myself never liked the "always-on" and the way they have presented it makes it sound awful to be quite honest.

 

[Callate]

He's got at least one good point: those who have been trying to sell us on "always on" gaming haven't made a good case. It seems like at best it's "one-off" benefits- You'll enjoy the experience more when you know you're playing with people who can't cheat, it will be easier to game with your friends, and so on. The benefits for those offering the always-on game are a lot clearer, and the disadvantages for customers are rarely sufficiently mitigated. It's more like: "You won't be able to play your games when either side is having network issues, but on the plus side... Our marketing people get a shit-ton of data from observing your interactions!"

There seems to be a large segment of the entertainment software industry that views a future in which a game is less like a book that you buy, read, and put on a shelf until you perhaps one day decide to read it again and more like an amusement park: pay for admission, maybe pay for a season pass, don't expect to be able to get in whenever you choose, don't expect to get in after your pass expires. I'm not at all sold on that yet, especially if the amusement park wants to study me to find out how to best get me to pay for access to a different amusement park in the future without notifying me or compensating me for taking part in that study, and sell my admission for the same price I expected to pay for that permanent book.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The man doesn't always make sense. But when he makes sense, he makes SUPER-sense.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Finally, someone said it.

Why should I own a Kinect? Why should I check up every 24 hours?

Give us a good reason Microsoft. Quell the flames of rage among the hordes of eagerly awaiting potential customers.

what are they offering that isn't already a feature on smart tvs and will be a standard feature on all tvs within 5 years?

Achievements?

 

[Trishbot]

He makes sense... except for the "always online is simple for me" part.

Good for you, Peter. Good for you... *angrily stares at my shoddy internet modem that frequently stops working at random intervals*

 

[crimson sickle2]

He's right for once. Everyone I've heard from is talking about how always-on is crap and a terrible idea, but if it actually brought something to the consumer as well ... it's still pretty crappy, but then people would need to find something else to attack at least.

 

[MasterProcrastinator]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

When can we finally drop this?

 

[dragongit]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

When can we finally drop this?

I don't know. Can we? I suppose it's possible but some habits die hard. Like fulfilling the over hyped promises of a game. SHOOT! I did it again. Like marketing Fable with more features then it actually had. GOD DAMN IT! I can't seem to stop!

 

[satsugaikaze]

When can we finally drop this?

Judging from the way people have latched on to the latest mud-slinging craze, I doubt this is a trend gamers will drop anytime soon.

Interesting to see how readers seemed to latch onto only part of Peter Molyneux's message. Yes, Microsoft's communication and understanding with its consumers have been shithouse - but the first point of the original article was all about how Sony and Microsoft have perpetuated this "us-versus-them" attitude with their consumer base, and how they're now defining their products purely from what their competition doesn't have.

Quite frankly, I think the gaming industry's atmosphere at the moment is pretty goddamn toxic.

 

[RJ 17]

As a consumer, just show me why I should be always online and I'll be happy with it. At the moment, it just means game sale authentication. I don't want that. But if there's some way you can give a huge benefit for the consumer, and make the message super clear, [it would be accepted].

That's the most sane thing Molyneux has said in years.

Without offering some big advantage to going with the Xbone, why would the consumer want it? What are they offering? More importantly, what are they offering that isn't already a feature on smart tvs and will be a standard feature on all tvs within 5 years?

Pretty much my sentiments exactly.

"Playing off the cloud and having a constant connection has so many advantages!"
"Oh really? Such as...?"
"Err...ummm...well...you really can't understand them until you've tried the XBone for yourself."

 

[GAunderrated]

Damn when Molyneux is sounding like the voice of reason you know this generation is seriously fucked up. He is right though, I use steam a lot because they gave me a reason to accept the DRM they have with it.

Sadly console's are always several years behind PC in the respect which I always thought was a good thing.

 

[zinho73]

I don't know if MS PR is unprofessional. Incompetent, sure. But unprofessional means a lot of things that I'm not sure is happening (like bribes, fake applause, lies, etc).

I don't see any problems when I see Sony capitalizing on the opening MS gave to them. That's business. The whole MS bashing took less than 5 minutes. And every reporter would have asked Sony their instance on those issues anyway - they had to address them. It would be unprofessional from Sony not to do so.

After that, Sony is focusing on games and on clarifying other things, like the fees for online.
Very professional in my opinion.

I understand his point, though. Very little is to gain with rivalry and bickering, but the fact is that MS is making such a mess with their vague statements, poor analogies and arrogance, that this kind of polarization is almost inevitable.

Anything anyone says is just wood for the fire, really.

 

[zinho73]

Once again: Steam is a very different beast. Yes, it is DRM, but its offline policies are much more lenient, you still can get a lot of the new games without using it, valve made a promise that you can have your games if the service ever closes, valve had first build goodwill, it is free, if steam goes offline your computer does not stop working, it has great deals, backwards compatibility with I don't know how many games and so on.

To build something like steam, MS would have to present the goods first and than show the restrictions. They could, for example say that you will have access to all XBOX 360 library via Cloud and Oh, well, Sony is already doing that without the DRM...