Microsoft Drops Xbox One DRM Restrictions - UPDATED

[LetalisK]

On one hand I'm glad a corporation got pounded so hard that they reversed their shitty, shitty decisions. On the other hand, I kind of wanted to watch the Xbone go down in flames. Because sometimes I just want to see the world burn.

Either way, I'm no longer going to call it the Xbone. It's now the Xbox One80 to me.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I'm a Sony/Nintendo fan through and through but this is great news.

A victory for the consumer!

 

[Rect Pola]

At last it has been warranted: ROTFL

 

[Yarpie]

So much for the bloody Cloud being essential for all the features to function properly. While this is appreciated, I can't help but feel that they are doing this highly begrudgingly, especially after all the talk about how all the restrictions were necessary and that and that anyone who did not follow their example were doing things backwards. Also, if the things were that easy to remove, why the hell be so damn touchy about the subject whenever asked about why they were needed (looking at you Nelson)? Further more, the mere fact that they thought these features were a good idea to begin with speaks volumes.

The now removed features were indeed my biggest gripes with the XBO, but I'd say I still favor the PS4, simply due to a more attractive price, a paid subscription actually worth the cost and more interesting games.

 

[DelinquentTurtle]

I called it way back in April with the whole Adam Orth debacle. Granted it took a bit longer but still happened.

I have a feeling this is all part of Microsoft's marketing strategy. They are just spreading the worst rumours possible about their next console as the actual one wouldn't be able to live up to the high expectations people would otherwise have.

So when they finally reveal it as not actually being always online everyone will be like "Oh Microsoft, thanks for listening to us and not actually making it always online. You truly listen to and value your customers."

Then when people criticize the actual features of the Nextbox fanboys will be like "Well at least it's not always online" and forget about the underwhelming-ness.

That's right Microsoft.. I see what you are doing there..

Now to go buy some lottery tickets

 

[unstabLized]

Too late and not enough for me. Nice of you backtrack this hard that goes against everything you've said about the damn console up to till this point, but no. That bullshit kinect is still on there, and the $500 tag is still unjustifiable. Also, everyone can thank Sony for actually causing this to happen, because God knows these corporate assholes have their head so far up their ass that they wouldn't change shit if Sony didn't sucker punch them at E3.

Sony just took advantage of their rival being suicidally stupid*, they literally did nothing - it actually would've cost them money to implement the type of DRM MS did. That was the right move, but it was a logical business move, they don't deserve thanks for that - the reward they get from sensible business strategy is people buying their console, which is exactly what they've received.

Sony have still benefited enormously from MS's idiocy; plenty of people have already decided to switch and I think most of them will stick to that (unless MS also suddenly add backwards compatibility, ditch the mandatory kinect and drop the price), and I fully expect them to win the next-gen but they will actually have some competition now (which is good), rather than simply staring at MS drown in it's own feces.



* Ignoring their competitive pricing, which was a bold move.

Oh no, believe me, Sony didn't do anything amazing. The fact that they didn't do anything is amazing nowadays because we're in a shithole. But still, it was better then everything else, so everyone jumped on that ship. And Sony, sure, they might've listened to consumers, but God knows that the biggest reason they did what they did was because M$ shot itself multiple times, and Sony went "Okay, let's NOT do that". I doubt M$ will drop the kinect and make backwards compatibility. It doesn't matter to me, PS4 is still the better console to me unless someone really likes Xbox exclusives. $100 less, no Kinect bs, etc. People have their own opinions though, and I'm still on PC. Was planning on buying a PS4 for the holiday, not sure though.

 

[Raesvelg]

As a friend of mine put it when he heard the news:

"Ah, the Xbox One. Standard equipment includes wireless controller, headset, and a pair of flip-flops."

 

[Baldr]

Even if this is all true I'm a bit confused. The #1 purpose behind always-on is to allow for used-license trade ins to retailers.

If the cloud no longer knows my library is current a retailer can't trust selling the game, as either I could still have the license (effectly pirating the game) or the new buyer wouldn't be able to play (license already consumed).

To avoid that they'd have to remove game licenses, which would destroy the ability to have the Xbone Steam-Like Library, their primary reason for doing all this crap in the first place.

Go read the statement. You need the disc in the tray for the game to work, the authentication is going to be checked on the disc rather than online.

 

[L34dP1LL]

they should have gone the extra mile and made it backwards compatible, because so far it only does what the PS4 does, and it's $100 extra bucks.

 

[ryo02]

so the xbox one is pulling a 360?

No, it's pulling a 180

180 or 360 either works they've either turned away from this or come full circle.

 

[Gorrath]

I'm throughly surprised by the course change here and also very happy about it. I'm glad to see consumers muscle corporations around when they try to pull bullshit like this. Hopefully some day we can see the same thing happen to ohhh, say... Monsanto. AS for the XBone, if they keep on this course, I will seriously consider buying one, but only as a mid-late adopter after they've figured out exactly what they will and will not be doing.

 

[CyberMachinist]

Well this certainly says alot about how console generations go.

Although i wish they would at least demote Don and company for being PR jerkasses through this whole fiasco.

I'll wait and see just how this all turns out when it launches. If people that bought the Xbone 180 get another reason to rage about this, then I will just sit and watch the "Show" that could happen if it does.

But one things for sure we're gonna have to burn this little adventure into everyone's mind to remember what could have happened during this ordeal. Like people have said before "It's too late, The damage is done".

 

[Busard]

I'm a Sony/Nintendo fan through and through but this is great news.

A victory for the consumer!

Let's make it clear
The consumer won NOTHING here, or maybe it looks like it did, on the surface.

But Microsoft didn't listen to the consumer. It listened to it's sales chart. The ones that were indicating their consoles were being outsold almost 5 to 1 in their own country of prevalence.

If the odds weren't so contrasted, trust me, they would've done NOTHING even if we complained twice as much. If they were alone facing nintendo, they would've made the requirements even probably worse.

It's a good thing but for me, it's just mostly shows how slimy m$ is. How pathetic their attempts of saying "BUT CLOUD GAMING IS MANDATORY", how they were so arrogant about it, how it couldn't be changed.

And people will praise them for this too, holy shit

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Another thought: Don't the terms of service also say that all features etc are subject to change at any time for any reason anyway? There's nothing to stop Microsoft from re-implementing all of, if not even more, restrictive 'features' to the Xbox One. As others have said, they could very easily bring back these restrictions within the first year or two of the console releasing.

 

[nevarran]

My God, these guys are completely lost.
Sony's laughing their asses now, MS did all the PR work for them and now they're back where they started.
Half a year wasted for naught. That's the biggest disaster I've seen in my life.

 

[Revolutionary]

What's the bet they'll now kill the shared game library (The one good thing about the Xbone).

 

[unstabLized]

I'm a Sony/Nintendo fan through and through but this is great news.

A victory for the consumer!

Let's make it clear
The consumer won NOTHING here, or maybe it looks like it did, on the surface.

But Microsoft didn't listen to the consumer. It listened to it's sales chart. The ones that were indicating their consoles were being outsold almost 5 to 1 in their own country of prevalence.

If the odds weren't so contrasted, trust me, they would've done NOTHING even if we complained twice as much. If they were alone facing nintendo, they would've made the requirements even probably worse.

It's a good thing but for me, it's just mostly shows how slimy m$ is. How pathetic their attempts of saying "BUT CLOUD GAMING IS MANDATORY", how they were so arrogant about it, how it couldn't be changed.

And people will praise them for this too, holy shit

This. ALL of this. And I hate the fact that people will turn RIGHT around and call them "sensible" and that they "listened to the customer". Bullshit. They didn't listen to crap except their own wallets screaming.

 

[DazBurger]

Let the Xbone from now on be known as.. The Xbox One-80.

 

[V TheSystem V]

The Wii was labelled a joke for its name being affiliated with bodily fluid. The Xbox One will be labelled a joke not for its appearance, but for what it stands for in the gaming community.

Unlike Microsoft, I am standing by my decision to buy a PS4, simply because the policies were true and straight to the point. Microsoft is scrapping a lot of new features at the drop of a hat to get more money and take away competition, which is how the Game of XBOnes is played, I guess.