Microsoft Exec: Offline Gamers Should Stick With Xbox 360

[Gormech]

Guys (and gals), I think I've found a way to make sense of all of this.

Microsoft has given up and doesn't want to pay for handling all of the hardware.
They also don't want Sony/Nintendo picking up the rest of the customers so they're kinda trying to stay in the game just t o detract a few sales.

The biggest thing is that by doing all of this, they are making consoles in general look bad.
That means people go to pc gaming.
They own a huge part of that market.

THEY ARE TRYING TO TRICK YOU INTO BUYING INTO THEIR COMPUTERS!

 

[Taylortron5000]

I see this story and I'm reminded of a similar one. It takes place about seven or eight years ago, except instead of Microsoft sounding arrogant like they'd already won the competition, it was Sony. It was Sony that had come right out and said that 700 Dollars (American) would be alright, people like Sony products and would continue to like Sony products, so the people will continue to BUY Sony Products.

And it bit them in the ass. Lots of dropped 3rd party support (the back bone of any console, even the Wii U is going to have to deal with that elephant sooner or later), stalled consumer base until... what, two years ago? Admittedly, they had exclusives that I was interested in more than on the Microsoft side of things (Infamous and Uncharted intrigued me more than Halo and Gears of War), but their stance on "people are going to buy it anyways" annoyed me. The 360 got way more game time / game purchases on my end. I liked their earlier exclusives that WEREN'T the two I mentioned above (Mass Effect, Fable 2, Forza for some strange reason as I usually hate Sim racers and prefer things like Burnout), and any multi-plat game that came out I picked up for 360 for achievements. Not loyalty, but a freaking number.

Sony saw what happens when a console company makes regulations and restrictions on what the consumer can do, and decided that it wasn't actually a foregone conclusion that people would buy PS4, so they made it more attractive by having no online check ups or extra fee's for used games (online passes are still allowed but hell, for some reason they're allowed now so that's not a change, that's just keeping current instead of changing), and truth be told, a lot of the arrogance of a few years past has left. Instead, the people buying the systems showed them that competition exists and that the 360 could hold it's own against the juggernaut of Sony's Playstation.

It reminds me of something that Paul Heyman once said: Sometimes you need to get your ass kicked. Because then, you know what you're capable of, you're going to come back hungrier, and not quite wanting to get your ass kicked again. Sony learned.

And Microsoft picked up on Sony's arrogance and self-delusional "They'll buy it for the brand name instead of what the actual content is" mentality. The mirror image from the last gen's announcements just astounds me to no end.

 

[DracoSuave]

Okay.... the problem is he hasn't actually gotten the MESSAGE we've been trying to tell him.

Having a console CAPABLE of connecting every 24 hours and download constant updates, etc etc? Yes. That's a GOOD thing. PS+ customers have had that for a while... they have that option available to them should they decide to use it, including cloud saving etc.

Consumers don't have problems at all with the BENEFITS of it, and many are willing to pay for the BENEFITS that creates.

The PROBLEM is that consumers want an OFF SWITCH so that they can have the option of NOT doing this, should they want it. Are you offering a means to -turn this OFF-? No? Then talking about the benefits [which we can already get if we want] means you're ignoring the issue. If we can get the benefits, today, without the hassle of being unable to turn it off or decide the level of control over it, then where is your justification for not including the OFF SWITCH, which we ALREADY HAVE.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

No, no, Mattrick, you got the name of the console wrong. People looking to play on a console with no internet should buy a PS4/Wii U. I can see how you could be confused, with your head shoved so far up your ass.

 

[zinho73]

Apparently defending Microsoft with calm rationale is seen as being a blind fanboy. I certainly don't like the idea of any of this. Part of me just hopes that there's actually going to be a reason for all of this in the end.

I guess you can be calm, but not very rational. The reasons to buy an Xbone are as follows:

1. You love their games and couldn't care less about their policies.
2. You are pretty sure their policies will not affect you negatively - you do not plan on hold onto games for over 10 years, you do not sell or buy used, your internet is spotless and you believe MS will keep their serves online and protected at all times and so on.
3. You have blind faith on the company (also known as fanboyism).
4. You disagree with their polices and know things should be different, but you cannot resist Halo because you are weak (I've been there).
5. You have lots of money and don't think about reasons to do something. If you want it, you buy it.


The most rational is number 2, but it is also kind of naive.

 

[Demolition_Human]

So basically, what you are telling your potential customers is...

Okay Microsoft, but you're wrong though. There is another system that is offline capable and its the PS4. I already have a PS3 and it looks like I'm staying Sony this upcoming generation and will get a WiiU down the line. And to leave it off, I say screw you Microsoft, screw you.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

What boggles the mind is to watch this shit going on and realizing that Microsoft could have taken this generation in stride.

Instead, they seem so intent on digging their own grave it's not even funny. Maybe I'm mistaken, and their bouquet of bullshit business model will be very, very successful.

I just still don't want anything to do with it.

Best PR of the day: You don't like it? Keep using that old crap, then! We don't need your stinking, offline money! We don't even want to sell you our new console! If you don't let us have our way, you ain't part of our transparent and quantifiable horders of money on legs! Go away!

 

[Two-A]

Or I could just buy a PS4.
Or play on my PC.
Or buy a Wii U if I'm really desperate.

To be honest, I think the 360 is the first and last MS console I'm buying.

 

[DoctorImpossible]

Let me see if I've got this straight: He's basically saying that, if you don't have a stable internet connection, "We at Microsoft still want your money, we just don't want your poor-ass, non-internet having hands all over our new toy. Here take our last generation model as a consolation prize and kindly fuck off."

How's that, am I paraphrasing that correctly?

Go to hell Microsoft.

That's exactly what it sounds like. "If you're poor, rural, or live outside the US, then stick with the old model, loser."

 

[Mr.FrigginMarvelous]

At least they're being blunt about it.

 

[Strazdas]

Though this comes off as super arrogant, I get what he's trying to say. The 360 is a great console, and they're releasing a new one, so they're obviously still intending to support it for some time. Microsoft is really trying to get people to get behind this cloud idea, and though I'm still skeptical, I honestly hope in the end I can go "yeah, I see why they've done this." Their stance might just be too firm, but I understand what they're trying to do here.

so basically you are buying it because you are hoping that MS will magically after decades of bad practice actually start doing things better than promised?
im sorry for your upcoming dissapointment.
and you seem to ignore all the reasons for not buying it.

Oh, I'm not saying I agree with what they're doing at all, and I'm certainly going to hold off on buying it at the very least. I'm just one of the few people willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt here. If it's complete shit, it's complete shit, and I won't be surprised, but I think Microsoft is hoping that people will understand what they've been going for.

Apparently defending Microsoft with calm rationale is seen as being a blind fanboy. I certainly don't like the idea of any of this. Part of me just hopes that there's actually going to be a reason for all of this in the end.

if it looks liek a car, sounds like a car, drives like a car and has been a car for the last 15 years, its probably a car. Sure it may turn into a truck tomorrow, but how realistic is it?

People understand what MS is going for ever since Win8 announcement. and they are not happy.

Calm rationale, and arguments based on unrealistic hopes are not always the same thing you know.

That's exactly what it sounds like. "If you're poor, rural, or live outside the US, then stick with the old model, loser."

Oh, the old "hur dur im so ignorant i think other countries have no internet" speech again? US internet is bad. real bad.

 

[GonvilleBromhead]

There's a term in Britain, "the Ratner effect" or "Doing a Ratner"(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1573380/Doing-a-Ratner-and-other-famous-gaffes.html), that seems the most appropriate way of describing Microsoft's Policy.

 

[garbutt]

"Offline gamers should stick with the Xbox 360"?

Don't worry Microsoft, I plan to...

 

[Something Amyss]

Not really, even if the Xbone was console Jesus its market penetration would be slow at first. Some people cant or wont afford one, others might want to sit on the fence for a bit and see which console gets the best support. Other gamers might want to avoid that horrible post launch drought of releases, if both the 360 and the Xbone are profitable it doesn't really matter.

Which would be great if those were the people Microsoft was addressing.

You don't need to make excuses for them.

 

[Masterdebator]

I fail to see why everyone's so upset.

Mattrick just saved us 500 dollars.

That's a nice guy in my books.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Oi, we actually do have good high speed connection (here in Australia), atleast some of us..... The NBN will help abit too, but regardless the XBone isn't even for those with perfect connection since once its servers are off so is your system :-/

Yes, well, given that I know a lot of people in Australia, I'd have to question that idea somewhat...

A while back I recall being on skype with someone in Brisbane who was kind of bragging about his 4 megabit connection as if it was some kind of big deal...

Meanwhile, here in England (which has a reputation for something like the worst internet provision in Europe or something... XD), I had a 10 megabit connection which basically amounted to the cheapest possible internet access I could get...
(Meanwhile, that same connection, at basically the same price, has since been upgraded to 20 megabits...)

And my experiences with everyone else I've been in contact with in Australia seem to back that up. (As does the comparatively low video quality of dedicated Australian sites.)

For that matter, the constant mention of monthly download limits... Sound unfortunate.
I'm so used to 'unlimited' internet these days (it's in quotes because they might slow down the connection if you use a lot of data during peak hours), but it still makes me wonder what the state of internet access is like in Australia...

And that's not even considering what happens if you're not in a major city...

(Just one of those things to worry about, given I may end up moving back to Australia sooner or later...)

I have 100mb/s internet, before this I had 80mb/s, then before that 30 etc etc, haven't had anything near 4mb/s for the last 5 years or so, then again i do live in Sydney which while not the capital, is the financial and business capital of the country.
I also have 500GB limit which I never even get near, it's basically unlimited to me

Well, that's pretty good. So, um, I'd say that things have improved a lot then. (at least, in some areas of the country).
500 GB isn't that bad... Though I suspect I average 200-300 GB a month on a much slower connection than yours.

But the problem with limits like that, regardless of what they are, is not whether you hit them or not, but what happens if you go past them...

Still, I'm glad to hear things in Australia aren't as bad as I thought.

 

[Gameguy20100]

Well Microsoft as the cynical friend said to the creator of the feces powered helicopter "this shit will not fly"

 

[SteewpidZombie]

*Myself in 60 years*

"That Billy is the story of how the great XboxOne came crashing down and turned itself into a pile of useless shit"

"Really Grandpa?"

"LOLZ dunno, I never found out since I was too busy with my PS4"

 

[Jesse Billingsley]

Microsoft, I will be keeping my 360, however I feel that this will be the very last time I use live ever......