Microsoft Exec: "If You're Backwards Compatible, You're Really Backwards"

[Pebkio]

...he could've just come out and said:

"Providing backwards compatibility will add a significant initial cost to the console for the consumers and we're not seeing the numbers to support a potentially purchase-deciding risk".

I can understand why they're making some of these decisions but... c'mon! Do they not have any PR writers on staff? What the hell is wrong with these people?
Has their only dictionary seen better days and the page with "goodwill" disappeared years ago?
Have they been asking their most avid CoD players for tips on how to get their message across?
Is an evil wizard plaguing them with douche-bag ventriloquism?

Why are they being massive dickheads about their luxury product?

 

[Anti-Robot Man]

Yeah guys, if you want to play our prior (and huge) library of VIDEO GAMES on this VIDEO GAME CONSOLE, you must be really backwards!

.......................................................................................................................

Now, see how you can play TV on your xbox now!!!! TV!! ...COLOR TV!!! CABLE TV!!!!

This, no backwards compatibility is a deal breaker for me - let alone the rest of the bad decisions they've made. But for an exec to actually turn around and insult your loyal customers says a lot about how those decisions got made.

Frankly, they should give Orth his job back, he was honestly representing the company.


I'm probably going to skip a console generation for the first time since the 1980s, and get a pc/steambox for the living room instead. At least then the digital content I buy will be cheaper and last more than five years.

 

[Negatempest]

****True Story****

I have a LARGE ps2 collection. I have the controllers, but not the memory cards. I love many of the games I have on the ps2 but cannot fit it on my entertainment spot since my room is pretty small and at the moment fits only my satellite receiver, Wii-U and PS3. Even though I have the ps3, it is not the backwards compatible one. So at the moment I have many rpg's and action/adventure games that I cannot play because I don't have the memory cards to play them anymore. "So" some of these Xbone fanboys want me to keep my wires and controllers from 3 generations of game consoles and want me to be greatful? The many hateful words I wanna use right about now to such stupid train of thought.

 

[Anti-Robot Man]

...he could've just come out and said:

"Providing backwards compatibility will add a significant initial cost to the console for the consumers and we're not seeing the numbers to support a potentially purchase-deciding risk".

Well they did manage to scrounge together nearly half a billion dollars for the NFL (of no interest to anyone outside the USA). And they're forcing ads and kinect down every users throat. And of course the XBL subscription. So I think they could've managed backwards compatibility.


Personally I think immediate access to hundreds of titles on a brand new console, instead of a dozen, would've given it a distinct edge over Sony (it's not like they wouldn't continue to make money selling XBLA games). Instead it's starting from scratch again, and doing nothing to reward customer loyalty - it's a jumping off point.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Do these people even talk to gamers?

They should hire one of us. We would make them tons of cash.

 

[Silly Hats]

I glad that this is a thing, everyone was really reaching to find things to complain about the PS4 launch. This is the sort of that that the entire Internet was looking forward to.

 

[Racecarlock]

Looks like I'm keeping my 360 for a while. Then I'll buy another one when it fails. I guess being 19 I'm too old for your hip ass crowd, microsoft.

By the way, anyone see any cheap copies of ocarina of time and super mario 64? I'd really like both. Because my 64 seems to be immortal.

 

[Dracknorin]

Hmm. So apparently, to work at Microsoft, you must first graduate from the University of being a complete Jackass. This and Windows 8 are the top two reasons that I'm considering committing arson.

 

[Whateveralot]

I don't think this deserves the fuss it's raising.

See, Xbox 360 AND PS3 were not backwards compatible and people still bought them to play newer games anyway.

Eventually, nobody truely skips buying one for these reasons. Maybe it has a bit of a delay, but that's it. I dare say less then 1% eventually doesn't buy one. Having to raise the cost of the machine by over 10% just because of <1% of the customers, losing more other customers because of the pricing (maybe even for multiple generations, as they might as well buy a PS4 then), is not the better option.

I can understand their reasoning.

 

[Roxor]

Seems this guy has forgotten that Microsoft has been a champion of backwards compatibility for decades in the form of Microsoft Windows.

 

[DoctorImpossible]

The real kicker for me is the snub at everyone who ever bought a digital XBL game.

I can, kind of, almost accept old discs not being playable. But totally digital purchases? And this jackasses answer is "hang onto your old console?" Sony just shitcanned the best selling console of all time, you dickhead, and of the many things the 360 is known for, stability and reliability are not among them. They won't last. Right now you're telling people their digital purchases have been glorified rentals.

I think MS shined up their jackboots one gen too early. This has to be a huge practical joke. You don't get to be this evil while also being this stupid unless you're in a Mel Brooks film or something.

 

[Souplex]

According to him, only five percent of customers play previous-generation games on new gaming systems.

... That's because the current gen doesn't allow you to play many of them.

Yes, there are some that work, and yes there were some crappy HD remakes, but the vast majority of Xbox games didn't work on the 360, and the PS3 ironed out backwards compatibility in later versions.

If the entire Xbox library had been available on the 360, I am certain that the number would be more than 5%.

To be fair, there wasn't much on the original XBox, so there's not much to be backwards compatible for. (Halos, the good Fable, and... Blinx the time sweeper?)
The 360 on the other hand has a huge library of great games to warrant backwards compatibility.

 

[ciasteczkowyp]

pc can and sometimes will emulate all old console games without people having to pay boatloads of cash or listen to stupid execs that don't realize the potential of nostalgia.

 

[bug_of_war]

I suspect that he won't be an executive for much longer. And when he's wondering why every hates him and wht he said and he's begging for his job, we'll only have this to say;

I don't think he'll be loosing his job anytime soon, and he wont be looking at the fans and asking why, he'll more or less blame people for not getting, "The Future". While I can't say anything about the new Xbox pleases me, I'm not about to shoot it down before it's even come out. Yeah, I'll probably get a PS4 instead of the Xbone, but that doesn't mean it can't have it's uses.

As for backwards compatibility, I always found I got the most nostalgia from video games when I played them on their original console, and I do find it odd that people would trade in a gaming console simply to get $100 or so off the next console. People aren't backwards, they just want good value for their money.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Keep digging Microsoft, keep digging. That hole must be getting pretty deep by now.

 

[flarty]

Considering the fact they have sold over twice as many 360s they did original Xbox's, and the fact they sold nearly triple the amount of games this time round compared to the last generation also. These statistics are probably more relevant than the nonsense Microsoft is spewing out about how relevant backwards compatibility is.

 

[Strazdas]

Oh christ, that was an incredibly dumb statement.

except that it wasnt. im sure many will jump on the badnwago like you. but people who know at least basic knowledge about programming will understand this statement. if you are runing for backward compactability, you end up isntead of going for new features, removing existing ones to make it work on old drivers/hardware/software/ect. there is a reason a lot of games are dropping directx9 support, because being able to support that woudl signifacnatly hamper their ability to do what they want to do. becasue the odl tech simply does not support such possibilities to begin with. a certain level of backward comapctability is a necessity because not everyone upgrades instantly, but the more backward you are the more you turn to what was than what is to be.

Congratulations Mr. Mattrick, you just kicked up a hornet's nest.

This should be an interesting show.

Not really. while here on escapist we like to rage about backward compactability, most gamers cant give less fucks about it. they wont even try to play any of their old games on the new machine. they dont want to. sure, it sucks to be a minority and not ahve everything tailored to you, but thats your own choice.


Capcha tells me to decribe nintendo. even capcha entered console wars.
My answer: nintendont

 

[Orekoya]

Since I have no console at all, I don't really get the fuzz about backwards compatibility.

It's because you have no console at all that you don't really get the fuzz about backwards compatibility. Ultimately the best way to sell a new console to people who already own the current generation, aka most console gamers, as a justifiable expense at launch when the console will be highest in price (and also when sales will matter the most to them) is if it is an upgrade to the existing generation's console, not a replacement. Since most launch titles tend to be veer towards Shit Island at full mast, any incident they can give people to consider this an upgrade should be welcomed with open arms and the easiest way to pull that off is making the new console compatible with their existing library of games rather than trying to sell them on getting a new console at launch with zero games that they want.

 

[Strazdas]

"Wait to buy it again" is what you really said there. And what happens if your old consoles stops working? What happens if you need to trade it in because you are on a budget and just can't quite afford the new one without it?

really? thats your argument? i cant afford it so they must make it work cheaper? how about you cant afford then dont buy it? are they forcing you to buy it with a gun to your head or something? if you cant afford it, your not the person they care about to begin with. why is that so hard to grasp for 90% of people here?

 

[VoidWanderer]

Wow...

What is being passed around the major gaming companies/divisions lately?

EA drops their $10 season pass thing, which is good. Sony drops licensing Fees for Indie developers for the PS4, which is good.

Nintendo screws over any LPers or people who breath the word Nintendo, which is stupid. Microsoft think that Backwards compatibility is stupid and are charging people who try to use any second hand games a fee, which is stupid.

So, I ask again, what the hell are they drinking, and why did Microsoft ask for more?