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

[Callate]

Yeah, no one plays old games. That must be why GOG.com went out of business and Nintendo never developed that whole Virtual Console idea and Sega hasn't made any money on those collections of old Genesis games.

As long as we're indulging in inflammatory spin to try to make people feel insecure for wanting things the product you're selling doesn't have, Mattrick, howzabout this: The console you're selling will be a piece of outdated crap in five years when you and yours try to sell us another one. Assuming there's no red-ring-of-death equivalent to make that lifespan overly optimistic.

So, hey, why bother? Let's just wait for XBox 2, when they'll try even harder to convince you you're hopelessly out of touch for wanting features they don't offer and insecure and entitled for being angry that it wants to be sure your DNA matches before turning on.

Short form:

HEY! PR PEOPLE! YOU ARE NOT DOING YOUR JOBS WHEN YOUR COMPANIES' EXECUTIVES MANAGE TO RELEASE STATEMENTS THAT MAKE SIGNIFICANT NUMBERS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS SCREAM '#%$@ YOU' AT THEIR SCREENS! GET ON THAT, WILL YOU?

 

[faefrost]

I can't understand why oh why an MS executive would ever come up with an approach like this? It isn't even a matter of whether or not the console is backwards compatable. But please treat your customers like adults, or at the very least intelligent people.

When faced with the same exact question, SONY put forth a perfectly valid answer. They politely explained that while they would have liked to be able to do that, the change in core architecture made emulation problematic. They explained why Cell Processor games would have issues on the x86 console. We might not have liked the fact that we could not play our PS3 games on the PS4, but SONY at least treated us respectfully. They told us exactly why in an intelligent adult manner. We can respect that.

But this? Dear gods? Why not try simply urinating on your customers? MS basically called us all backwards losers. It's not hip to want to play your old games once your 360 RROD's for the last time. Come give us more money. No don't ask that question! Only 5% of LOSERS ask that question.

Is SONY actually paying these MS execs under the table? I mean they can't actually be this stupid could they? someone has to be bribing them?

 

[xPixelatedx]

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!

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

 

[Black Reaper]

Microsoft has some of the most intellectual staff i have ever seen,i bet if they wrote a philosophy book it would be deeper than the final level of Dig Dug

I think Microsoft just made me change my views on life,now,instead of playing the Ds Castlevanias on my 3ds,i'm going to get the newer Castlevania that has quicktime events and no jump kicks,and instead of using my Vita almost exclusively to play the psp version of Guilty Gear XX^C+,i'm going to download the vita version that has a smaller screen and no net play!

Was the full version of Mirror of Fate good?,i tried out the demo and didn't like it

 

[Deacon Cole]

Man, this has been a problem that hardware manufacturers simply cannot and will not accepts since 1982 and the Atari 5200. Not having backwards compatibility is like saying to your customers, "Know that library of games you bought for the previous Xbox because you are a loyal Microsoft customer? Well, fuck you. Maybe if you're good we'll release them as a download so you can buy that game again."

They can make all the pretty speeches and arguments and excuses they want. This is what it feels like on the receiving end. If they don't at least acknowledge this, they don't deserve anymore customers.

 

[Thanatos5150]

We're also eight years INTO this console generation.
I don't play games from 2004 often, because I have more recent games. And those old ones? I have a PC for that.

 

[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.