You know some ppl actually wanted those policies and were ready for a brave new digital age, but why did MS change course? I haven't heard ONE person say they are getting an XB1 and most don't even know XB1 did a Uturn. What was the point but alienate the ONLY ppl who were going to buy it in the first place? No no one is going to buy your console b/c all you did was make a console that was just a repeat of last gen. Like the PS4 but more expensive. Skipping this gen of consoles...
Why did Microsoft Reverse their policies when the damage is already done?
- Thread starter theuprising
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Because the only thing that ponderously huge corporations do better than shutting reality out of their happy little profit bubbles, is backpedaling with the ferocity of a nine year old who just realized halfway down a hill that her bike doesn't have brakes.
Because they now have a HOPE of getting SOME customers. Your right I have poled xbox fan friends and most of them still have no idea that SOME (and remember its only SOME not ALL the policies which have changed) have been reversed but that is more because they have done this really BADLY. That's why the rest of us are still angry, they were willing to do this and NO ONE HAS APOLOGISED for ittheuprising said:
Furthermore I'm assuming the bit you liked was the family sharing, assuming that wasn't smoke and mirrors (and we have evidence suggesting it was) why did it HAVE to be removed in the first place? It could have been made for digital downloads only and everyone could have quite happily made a choice "do I want to share this digitally or do I want the disk?", so why did they remove it? because they had a sulk and took there toys home. That's the only reason
Because it might have been the "Bad press is good press" thing where so long as people talk about it, then it is considered a good thing, even if it does suck. Then if you change it, people will buy it.
As a possiblity, but I personally think Don Matterick felt like giving everyone the finger.
captcha: Face the music
As a possiblity, but I personally think Don Matterick felt like giving everyone the finger.
captcha: Face the music
qft me too lol and the "damage" as the op refers to is not as bad as people like to think, both consoles are selling very well so imo this thread is utterly pointless and flame bait.imahobbit4062 said:
Probably because it wasn't making anywhere near enough as the PS4 after the comparisons were made. Or maybe they ended up feeling sympathy for those locked out, did you see that letter from the US army? I think that's right.
It still has one original pain there, the mandatory Kinect and it's spy bit to give you ad's aimed to your interests. A feature they enjoyed sharing for some reason. So I reckon the masochists can still celebrate with that known.
It still has one original pain there, the mandatory Kinect and it's spy bit to give you ad's aimed to your interests. A feature they enjoyed sharing for some reason. So I reckon the masochists can still celebrate with that known.
I may pick one up in the future (probably after the first inevitable slimline re-issue) depending on how the exclusives pan out/my disposable income situation. Prior to their DRM u-turn, I had no intentions of ever buying one.
As others have already pointed out, you're fighting an imaginary enemy.
Captcha: 'move along'. Yep, probably best to...
As others have already pointed out, you're fighting an imaginary enemy.
Captcha: 'move along'. Yep, probably best to...
The damage has been done yes, but the fact that they changed their policies shows a willingness to do better. Due to this, I am debating whether or not to pick one up, I mean I cant at the moment as the consoles have pre-sold out every were along with the PS4, but maybe later in the year I might actually buy one.
Actually the fact that its has sold out every were shows that the damage is limited at best and they are still going to potentially make massive profits.
Actually the fact that its has sold out every were shows that the damage is limited at best and they are still going to potentially make massive profits.
Well, they demonstrated that they listen to the views of their customers. And now that they've changed their policies, I think most people who were initially put off will be happy to buy it.
Massive sales? maybe, but profit? I thought neither the xbox or xbox 360 actually made much profit for Microsoft. Maybe that's why they tried to go all anti consumer. They might have been desperate for actual long term profit.AidoZonkey said:
True, the policies did seem like a quick cash grab. I still think they will return a profit at least on day one sales as they are that popular but yeah your right probably not massiveHades said:
Dropping the online check-in has moved me into the "potential buy" category.
The damage was done, yes, but with the source of the damage gone they can start trying to heal.
The damage was done, yes, but with the source of the damage gone they can start trying to heal.
That's a meme that's been going around without actual basis in fact. The 360 has been very profitable.Hades said:
Seriously? Cause they need sales, why would they care though, now they have a free scape goat when things go wrong. Promised features start disappearing and they just have to say the community demanded these changes. Besides once all is done and everyone that doesn't know any better gets a XBone, they just flip that switch right back again and say they had no choice, come launch day expect some massive mess and they start hinting that all that needs to come back.
Because Microsoft saw how much everyone hated it. So they went into maximum backpedal and damage control mode.
I honestly can't imagine why anyone would enjoy the policies they had in place...
Far be it for me to assume, but I thought what separated a console from its predecessor was a jump in power. I mean, that's how it was for every single console generation thus far.
A lack of new features doesn't mean a repeat. The new consoles are more powerful than their previous incarnations, allowing things like bigger games with better graphics. That's all you need from a new console. That's all we've ever needed.
I honestly can't imagine why anyone would enjoy the policies they had in place...
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware ridiculous policies and 'features' were what defined a next-generation console.theuprising said:
Far be it for me to assume, but I thought what separated a console from its predecessor was a jump in power. I mean, that's how it was for every single console generation thus far.
A lack of new features doesn't mean a repeat. The new consoles are more powerful than their previous incarnations, allowing things like bigger games with better graphics. That's all you need from a new console. That's all we've ever needed.
Consoles? They're still around?
Joking aside, I can see that SOME of their ideas were really good like the sharing of downloaded games with friends and family however there were just too many strings attached. As Jim Sterling pointed out the major PC players especially steam do have some strings attached but they offer a massive community, don't charge for playing online and have massive sales. The XBOne had little of that and all the strings leaving us feeling like puppets.
I think people will be in for a very big surprise during this console generation especially when it moves more to downloading games rather than installing from discs.
Joking aside, I can see that SOME of their ideas were really good like the sharing of downloaded games with friends and family however there were just too many strings attached. As Jim Sterling pointed out the major PC players especially steam do have some strings attached but they offer a massive community, don't charge for playing online and have massive sales. The XBOne had little of that and all the strings leaving us feeling like puppets.
I think people will be in for a very big surprise during this console generation especially when it moves more to downloading games rather than installing from discs.
That's been my theory on the matter as well. NO ONE can be that unapologetically bad at handling press, especially considering he was the president. For god's sake he flat out told people NOT to buy his product with the infamous "We do have an offline console, it's called the 360. Just stick with that" comment. I think he knew that he was going to be leaving MS, maybe his contract or something was going to expire and MS had no intention of renewing it. Apparently this happened on bad terms because it seemed as though he was actively trying to sabotage Xbox's and MS's reputation with every interview he did.Terminate421 said:
And now he's the CEO of Zynga...I still find that to be fucking hilarious.
OT: Why bother backing away from the policies? Because it sure as hell couldn't hurt?
There were pretty much riots in the streets when it was announced that the XBone was going to have fuck-you-in-the-ass DRM. Giving MS the benefit of the doubt, they GREATLY underestimated the number of offline gamers/gamers with unstable connections. When people are opening salad bars outside your E3 press conference so other people can have a place to buy tomatoes to throw at you, you know you've done something terribly wrong. So you listen to what people are complaining about and make some cuts. "Gamers are wanting to crucify us for putting DRM onto a console. As it is the XBone is looking to crash and burn in a way that hasn't been seen since the Dreamcast." "Well shit, get rid of the DRM, then."
Now they at least have a chance to win back a portion of the market. I'm still not getting one, though, as long as it comes connected to a Kinect. Microsoft can go fuck itself with their little advertisement spy-cam. I find it funny how they said "The lesson we've learned is that consumers value choice, so we're going to give it to them." And yet you still have no choice but to have a Kinect. "Well you can just turn it off if you really don't like it." Then why the fuck should I pay an extra $100 for something I have absolutely no intention of using?
Why did they reverse their policy?
Sales is why.
I went into one of the retail stores, asked them how the pre-orders for the consoles were going and they said and I quote: 64 preorders for the PS4 and 8 orders for the XBone.
This was right after E3's conference.
If this was accurate and the same elsewhere. You can see why microsoft felt the need to make the change.
Sales is why.
I went into one of the retail stores, asked them how the pre-orders for the consoles were going and they said and I quote: 64 preorders for the PS4 and 8 orders for the XBone.
This was right after E3's conference.
If this was accurate and the same elsewhere. You can see why microsoft felt the need to make the change.
The "damage" wasn't already done - as evident by their changes, it was entirely optional "damage" that has been removed.
If you're referring to the PR damage, the anti-Xbone campaign the internet was beginning to put together had only just started to take shape. Come the end of the year, I'd wager most Xbone customers wouldn't even have known about the original form of the Xbone. Because we never got a chance to take it that far before Microsoft realised it had killed off it's early adopters and forced them straight into the arms of their competitors.
If you're referring to the PR damage, the anti-Xbone campaign the internet was beginning to put together had only just started to take shape. Come the end of the year, I'd wager most Xbone customers wouldn't even have known about the original form of the Xbone. Because we never got a chance to take it that far before Microsoft realised it had killed off it's early adopters and forced them straight into the arms of their competitors.
...Damage control? If a fire is already started by the time firefighters come, they don't let it continue they put it out aka damage control.
Microsoft made a fire in their sales and now are trying to put it out before more damage is done hoping to save some of the lost sales.
Microsoft made a fire in their sales and now are trying to put it out before more damage is done hoping to save some of the lost sales.
The moment preorder numbers started showing up, the XBO was clearly more than a little dazed by their antics. Think about this, the ps4 day one edition had more units to sell than Microsoft's day one version did. That's why with them both sold out you see the ps4 day one at the #3 best seller of 2013 (so far) and the sold out XBO version is at #6:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/2013/videogames/ref=zg_bsar_nav_b_0_b#1 (note that either company could add more units to their day one versions and throw these figures off).
What's more, the XBO day one version did not sell out until last week and the ps4 sold out in what? The first couple weeks after being announced? Additionally, Sony's other bundles were selling like hot cakes, assuming hot cakes sold well in their day. Sony had four other bundles (Killzone, Knack, Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4) in addition to the standard version. I said "had" and not has because all of them are sold out except for the standard version which likely won't ever stop selling because it does not make a launch day promise. The ratio people initially talked about regarding the ps4 outselling the XBO at 2:1 was actually really low, we may be looking at 5 or 6 times or even more. Even with their backing out of Microsoft's statement, the XBO is still getting hammered (note that the XBO standard version isn't even on that link I posted above, but the standard PS4 is currently at #61 and rising AND Sony has alternate bundles of the ps4 that are sold out at #79 and #96 as of the time of this posting. The knack and killzone bundles had less units but they are also sold out and killzone was still on the top 100 list last week so it's not far behind). We're looking at a massive stealing of the show by Sony.
In any event, the huge disparity in sales for a company that had a sizeable lead over the ps3 last generation surprised and pushed them to make the change. As the CEO told reporters, they had done market research and expected backlash for the policies that they made but did not anticipate that it would make any difference when it came to buying the system of choice. Because consumers don't care about the details, they said. They did not count on just how aware the internet and media would make them into a running joke and just how clearly the word would get out there. They underestimated us and that was drastically apparent the moment the preorder sales came back.
So they did the only thing they could do, try to save face by rolling back policies that customers by and large did not want.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/2013/videogames/ref=zg_bsar_nav_b_0_b#1 (note that either company could add more units to their day one versions and throw these figures off).
What's more, the XBO day one version did not sell out until last week and the ps4 sold out in what? The first couple weeks after being announced? Additionally, Sony's other bundles were selling like hot cakes, assuming hot cakes sold well in their day. Sony had four other bundles (Killzone, Knack, Watch Dogs, Battlefield 4) in addition to the standard version. I said "had" and not has because all of them are sold out except for the standard version which likely won't ever stop selling because it does not make a launch day promise. The ratio people initially talked about regarding the ps4 outselling the XBO at 2:1 was actually really low, we may be looking at 5 or 6 times or even more. Even with their backing out of Microsoft's statement, the XBO is still getting hammered (note that the XBO standard version isn't even on that link I posted above, but the standard PS4 is currently at #61 and rising AND Sony has alternate bundles of the ps4 that are sold out at #79 and #96 as of the time of this posting. The knack and killzone bundles had less units but they are also sold out and killzone was still on the top 100 list last week so it's not far behind). We're looking at a massive stealing of the show by Sony.
In any event, the huge disparity in sales for a company that had a sizeable lead over the ps3 last generation surprised and pushed them to make the change. As the CEO told reporters, they had done market research and expected backlash for the policies that they made but did not anticipate that it would make any difference when it came to buying the system of choice. Because consumers don't care about the details, they said. They did not count on just how aware the internet and media would make them into a running joke and just how clearly the word would get out there. They underestimated us and that was drastically apparent the moment the preorder sales came back.
So they did the only thing they could do, try to save face by rolling back policies that customers by and large did not want.