Microsoft Drops Xbox One DRM Restrictions - UPDATED

[Anti-Robot Man]

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.

 

[Baresark]

Wow, I didn't think they would learn. Well, that is one check from the negative to positive column for the system. Now if they would only not mandate Kinect. I'm honestly surprised because Gamestop had to stop taking preorders on this thing. I thought for sure they would take that as a massive success. All well, good on them. And good for anyone who is interested in the system.

 

[Entitled]

I think you underestimate the power of all things Halo.

I think you overestimate Halo. Halo sells to about 10 million people. That's the small fragment of a decent console audience. Minecraft sold better than Halo.

New Super Mario Bros. games sell twice or thrice as much as Halo games, and that still didn't save the WiiU so far.

 

[lostlevel]

Still requires Kinect? No thanks. :/

Yeah, as much as I would really love to continue being able to play the Halo franchise, since I've been with it from the beginning, the requirement for Kinect is just... It's too much. Remove that, and you remove $100 to $150 off the price tag, and I'm yours.

But I'm still leaning PS4 as of now.

But they were praising their DRM as something good for the consumers.

That tells us 2 things:
1. It was never supposed to be good for the consumers
2. Cloud processing was always a lie if all the games can work offline

And the fact still remains that they were praising those features as something that's going to be beneficial to us. And now they're removing the things that they advertized as attractive features that were supposed to give it the edge over the PS4. Which means that now we have two pretty similar consoles. Except that one is 50% more powerful and $100 cheaper. If they get rid of the mandatory Kinect and lower the price, then we can talk about competition. Because right now Sony is still in the lead. And most people have pretty much renounced Microsoft as the devil himself.

So cloud processing was a lie? It sounds like Microsoft did an EA (or rather an EA pretending to be Maxis), I think the damage has been done a lot of those Sony pre-orders will stick now. I can only assume that Microsoft thought Sony would go in a similar direction.

Although I'm a 360 there isn't really anything selling the Xbox One to me, I don't want to watch TV, I don't buy EA sports games, I've had my fill of windows 8 and I don't want a Kinect let alone a compulsory one. All the arcade games I bought not being compatible either means I don't really have much to come back for.

The sharing of games anywhere was the only good idea if we all had super fast broadband (in the UK still we don't really have it) if games used the full blu-ray's capacity it would take a heck of a long time to download.

I think I'll still buy the PS4 although I may miss is the xbox controller and maybe Halo but Destiny looks set to eclipse it.

 

[nathan-dts]

Too little, too late. The fact is that they were going to do it. They were outright screwing over their customers and they'll do it again when they have the install base.

 

[LostintheWick]

I am fucking angry about this.

Angry because people will be flocking to them now and going "OMG ALL HAIL SAVIOURS, THEY LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS"

They didn't listen to customers, they listened to the sound of the xbone being outsold up to 5:1, even in america. IT also means all that bullshit about the cloud was thouroughly..well....fuckin bullshit. They tried to rim us in the ass with no lube and would've gone all the way with it if it didn't cost them as much.

It's a somewhat good news for consumers but the fact that they're going to get away with this infuriates me.

That "outselling" IS how consumers speak to companies and corporations. By MS responding by changing their new product they are, in fact, listening. If you don't like the fact that it is only the money that speaks, then you are probably a bit like me: You dislike capitalism (even if you don't realize it yet).

 

[The_Echo]

I still have no intention to buy an Xbone.

But this is, finally, a good idea from Microsoft. However, it's too late.

If they had turned their back on this two months ago, all would be well. But now it's obvious they're only doing this to save their own skin, not because they're actually listening to consumers.

I wouldn't be surprised if they change their mind again once they have an install base.

If it wasn't for Sony's heavy handed sucker punch, I'd say we'd still have DRM.

That's what I was thinking. If Sony had confirmed their used game/online policies in an interview and not on stage, Microsoft wouldn't have heard the outrageous applause and probably thought nothing of it.

Bit of a shame, really..

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

So yeah, that didn't take long.

Guess even Microsoft's not so stubborn/arrogant/stupid as to keep sticking their heads in the ground when they're receiving a righteous asswhuppin. We're not sheep to be herded into a pen. We will lash out if pushed. Adapt to us, do not demand we adapt to you.

I hope the rest of the industry is watching and taking notes, and they probably are.

 

[Stormtyrant]

And... Backpedal!

 

[Callate]

That's a win. Details may yet emerge to warrant skepticism, but I feel a hell of a lot better that consumer pushback can still be heard and make a difference.

 

[Genocidicles]

Why do people still think the kinect is 'always on' when there are multiple documents and insiders telling you can turn it off?

Because it has to remain plugged in at all times for the console to function.

If it truly is fully switched off then why does it have to remain plugged in?

 

[CelestDaer]

Still no word on whether or not it will play games.

 

[gentlemanghost]

so the xbox one is pulling a 360?

No, it's pulling a 180

 

[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."