Molyneux: Microsoft's E3 Conference Was "Unprofessional"

[Palademon]

I agree. Nintendo easily had the best E3 Conference. Just Iwata coming out and 40 minutes of going "Here's the games. I hope you like them. I am sorry I you are annoyed by delays".

No buzzwords.
No bullshit.
No famous people.
No talk about great innovation.

JUST FUCKING GAMES.

 

[Mr. Q]

"Molyneux likened Microsoft and Sony to "two frat houses," playing off one another."

So does that make Nintendo your parents house? *shrugs*

I will agree that Sony was trolling Microsoft to one-up them, but that's mostly due to the bone-head logic their rivals are going with as they act like the Xbone's shit doesn't stink.

 

[RJ 17]

Their complete disregard for customer satisfaction is mind boggling. Every time Mattrick opens his mouth I think "He's supposed to be selling this to us, how can he be so bad at marketing and PR?" They're entire attitude has been just shut up and buy the thing rather than giving us good reasons to buy it.

Seriously, I'm starting to think there's some kind of conspiracy going on here. I think Mattrick must have a LOT of Sony stock or something. I mean, the XBone reveal was bad enough, but every - single - thing that they've done since the reveal has just been one horrible PR move after another. Every interview they give they come off like arrogant pricks...they're trying to put out a fire by pouring gas onto it. I don't know who, but SOMEONE at MS has to stand to make a LOT of money if the XBone fails.

I agree. Nintendo easily had the best E3 Conference. Just Iwata coming out and 40 minutes of going "Here's the games. I hope you like them. I am sorry I you are annoyed by delays".

No buzzwords.
No bullshit.
No famous people.
No talk about great innovation.

JUST FUCKING GAMES.

Amazing, isn't it? To think that gamers - that is, people who actually BUY game consoles - just want to be able to play games? No bells and whistles necessary. Just build us a frickin' machine that plays frickin' games and everyone will be happy.

 

[Madman123456]

"Unprofessional?" you don't say?

Mr. Molyneux seems to be backpedaling himself, it seems that now he wants to go with the understatement route. Next game he's going to announce he'll be like "the dialogue system is ok i guess..." and then it's going to be revolutionary.

 

[Something Amyss]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

Indeed. Peter really should check a mirror once in a while. He's been so wrapped up in empty promises that he's never once considered how the consumer is impacted.

 

[Gray Firion]

On the one hand, yeah, both are to fault for their message. On the other, it's worth noting the differences.

Microsoft shows a "gaming console" that, while it has games, it treats its consumers like criminals: needing to prove that the games they bought are legally owned every 24 hours and removing said "privileges" if the consumer fails to do so; forbidding them to trade games between themselves; forbidding them from selling their games without a pre-approved middleman; telling it's costumers that if they don't like the Always On they can suck on... You know what? I'm not gonna spend half the day listing these. We're abundantly clear on that and they keep adding more shit to the pile anyway.

Sony shows an actual game console: also has games; it's not region locked; doesn't restrict it's userbase in any way apart from the new PS+ measures and even then, it's a much more attractive service than XBLG, with a lower subscription price and patently good free titles for download every week. The only way they might be called unprofessional, is due to the whole "Haha, Look, we're not Microsoft. Microsoft is stupid, but we're not, haha!" thing. Could it have been done better and more transparently? Yes, absolutely. Shouldn't it be done at all? Hmm, well, if Microsoft were an innocent being, I'd say so but lately? Oh yeah, I love the barbs Sony's been throwing at M$.

The Fat Houses analogy can be said of the entire Industry at this point, with the notable exception of the Indie market and 1 or 2 AAA developers and publishers.

Hmm, now that you mention it, I specifically remember a certain developer who overhypes features on the games he makes, only for said features to disappear as the day of release approaches. This is so frequent in fact, that said developer has become more and more of a joke about this, to the point that if a game of his features all features from beginning of production to end it's heralded as an actual miracle. Could he have behaved better and been more transparent? Yes, absolutely. Should he have done it? Of course, it's his word afterall. Why didn't he and why does he expect others to behave as he should when he doesn't? No idea. We should ask him, really.

 

[rasputin0009]

I think the biggest PR fuck-up that Microsoft's done lately is the combination of this week's "Can't be online? Get a 360" and last week's "Backwards capability is for the backwards thinking" remarks from executives. That's a PR nightmare for any company. Even my local rock radio station is talking about how bad the next Xbox is going to be and they never talk about gaming.

I'm just wondering if Microsoft can change this bad reputation around in the next 6 months. Or will they keep the "Deal with it" comments coming?

Or will it mean nothing in 2 years when all the launch games have come out? Look at Sunset Overdrive. That's fucking Insomniac Games. That's gonna be real hard for me to skip out on. But if I have to spend $120 for Xbox Live on top of a premium internet connection and the Xbox One itself to play it, it's gonna be real easy to skip.

 

[rasputin0009]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

Indeed. Peter really should check a mirror once in a while. He's been so wrapped up in empty promises that he's never once considered how the consumer is impacted.

Isn't Curiosity his creation? How much bullshit was that?! Something "Life-changing" ended up being an announcement for a new game in development. If he sold chocolate, he'd start advertising it six months in advance as a new form of oral sex that cured hepatitis, and even now we'd still be disappointed every time we put some in our mouths.

 

[Lightknight]

Actually, Sony is specifically getting at Microsoft's throat BY remembering the consumer. They're doing it so thoroughly that they're even able to mock Microsoft and we laugh along with videos like how used games can be transferred. So I don't think that we're looking at both parties forgetting the consumer, just one and the other capitalizing on it.

I also don't think the issue is poor communication. It's what is being communicated. The more they say the less we like so better communication isn't the issue. It's just that Microsoft and several publishers believe that we should want these things and that we will benefit from them. They see it as inevitable. They, for some reason, don't get that consumers don't want this. We like ownership of our stuff. We like having freedom to arrange things appropriately and to not be pushed around by the people we're literally paying to meet our needs. Microsoft is straining that relationship and is somehow baffled that we don't want it.

 

[Jamous]

Say what you will about Molyneux (and I'm sure you will) he seems to be pretty damn right here.

 

[Norix596]

Saw what you will about Molyneux, he's one of the best salesmen going. He can get you excited to buy a product even if he's made you excited to buy a product from him and then let down more than once. If he lived in the old west, he's have a snake oil empire. That's not necessarily saying anything against him, just complimenting his impeccable marketing skills. He's got MS's problem down to the simplest point: they need to convince customers that their online restrictions are good for them. They have not done anything so far to fight the perception that these restrictions are for the benefit of Microsoft and publishers at the expense of the gamer. They've just been bashing people who criticize it (if you're backwards compatible you're backwards; offline capability is so yesterday). They need to show the 70 million people with Xbox 360's that exhibiting brand loyalty is not an indictment of their intelligence.

They missed the boat on me so they can word on the other 69,999,999 360 owners -- PC-ward ho!

 

[Zer0Saber]

Like this kind of crap hasn't been going on forever. Anyone remember that Genesis does what Nintendon't.

 

[zinho73]

I don't know if MS PR is unprofessional. Incompetent, sure. But unprofessional means a lot of things that I'm not sure is happening (like bribes, fake applause, lies, etc).

during the Reveal back in May a good majority of the actual journalists in the audience said that the clapping and cheers weren't coming from anyone near them, but from the very back of the room where Microsoft employees were located.


so, yea, in a way Microsoft has been very unprofessional this year.


Peter does make sense though, Microsoft has yet to tell me why I would want a Kinect and the advantages for being online 24/7.


I doubt they ever will clear any of that up.

Yeah, I heard about that, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt (however, apparently there is no doubt).

On the subject of the lack of reasoning in the MS speak I agree completely too.

But what it really means is that what is hurting them most is the incompetence and not the lack of professionalism, but this is just a game of words, really, as the actual intent on Peter speech is very clear.

 

[The Great JT]

Well when you're right, Peter, you're right, and you sir are right as rain.

As for the comment of why we should be always-on, it's an interesting point to make. If there' a legitimate reason to keep us online at all times I can get behind it, but first someone's going to have to come up with something that would want to make me be online at all times. I seem to recall Fable 2 doing something sort of like that where you were given money in-game for playing for five or so minutes depending on properties owned, so maybe Microsoft could look into an idea like that...once they stop looking at their earnings projections.

 

[Neonit]

It always disappoints me when people dismiss someones opinion "Because some time ago he did bad, bad things!"
So what? He still has a point. A very good one at that.
But i guess some people are too petty to see valid criticism from people FAR MORE EXPERIENCED IN THE FIELD THAT THEMSELVES.

oh well...

Most of the "features" that were presented, dont really apply to the gamers, more to the publishers.
What do I gain from being forced to be online every 24h?

Why do i have the feeling that WE, as customers are seen as.... part of the product? And that the product isnt marketed to me, but to publishers?

Its a strange world....

 

[CrystalShadow]

You're right Mr Molyneux. They might have been a bit unprofessional. I mean, it's almost as bad as a developer promising a lot of features for a video game and over hyping it until it becomes a shell of it's former self... oh... oh...

Well, look, when you get right down to it, promising much more than you can deliver may be ill-advised, but it's still aimed at trying to please your fans. - Yes, you will dissapoint people when you inevitably don't deliver on what you promised, but you're still at least trying to tell people something they might actually want to hear...

What microsoft has announced is just plain stupid. Pretty much nothing they've announced is anything their customers would want to hear.
In fact, they've announced dozens of things that pretty much nobody wants, and then can't come up with a single point that can convince anyone that any of these things have a benefit.

Openly announcing unwanted things that nobody wants as if they were some amazing feature, when it just looks like a negative (and you can't come up with a single thing to say about it that might come across as a point in favour of said feature) is in a whole different class to announcing things people do in fact want, but that you might not actually be capable of delivering...

 

[elilupe]

This is why, despite all the broken promises in his games, I will always respect Molyneux, because he knows what is what and isn't afraid to say things like this.

 

[faefrost]

Oh look Uncle McCrazihead got let out to speak to the press again. It must be new game season. Please oh please oh please Game Journalists and sites like the Escapist and IGN and Gametrailers and similar. STOP SPEAKING TO THIS MAN! STOP LISTENING TO HIM! STOP POSTING HIS INANE CHATTERINGS AS GAMING GOSPEL. He is a nutty game developer. He made one or two good games. More bad ones, and is most famous for being an opinionated blowhard with an overinflated sense of self. Please stuff him back into whatever closet you keep him along with American McGee. Give him some Lego's and tell him they are Cubes.

 

[timboo_drow]

And I'm saying that tying any benefits arbitrarily to mandatory online will NEVER be received well because it's unnecessary and savvy consumers know that. Any attempt to convince us otherwise amounts to artful BS.

Alright, well then I suppose I simply think your wrong there. I don't think necessity has much to do with it. As I pointing out with the Steam example, people are more than willing to put up with unnecessary inconvenience if they believe they're benefiting enough from it.

Necessity has everything to do with it. Steam is an ONLINE gamestore. In order to use it, you have to be online. What MS is trying to convince us is that ALL gaming has to reside online. Even when I purchase items on Steam I don't have to check in every time I want to play. I'm ok if a seller wants to authenticate the sale of their game at the POS, but to insist you need to check in EVERY DAY is not necessary, and won't be OK no matter how much you try to convince people it is, or how many "features" you try to tie to your arbitrary check-in system.

 

[Neonit]

Oh look Uncle McCrazihead got let out to speak to the press again. It must be new game season. Please oh please oh please Game Journalists and sites like the Escapist and IGN and Gametrailers and similar. STOP SPEAKING TO THIS MAN! STOP LISTENING TO HIM! STOP POSTING HIS INANE CHATTERINGS AS GAMING GOSPEL. He is a nutty game developer. He made one or two good games. More bad ones, and is most famous for being an opinionated blowhard with an overinflated sense of self. Please stuff him back into whatever closet you keep him along with American McGee. Give him some Lego's and tell him they are Cubes.

Did you actually bother to read what he said, or did you just assume that what he said was stupid?
Because without providing what particular part of his opinion you dont agree with.... you look a bit insane yourself.