The XBOX One

Reemul · 2013-06-07T10:49:10.000Z

Quaro:

What an avalanche of negative sentiment on the Xbox One. /r/gaming is almost entirely bad Xbox memes. Forum threads everywhere sound like this one. Wow.

Some portion of that is MS catching flack for what will probably be the same with Sony but damn. The sheer quantity and volume just reached some kind of critical mass.

I do think it would turn around almost immediately if they announce some crazy new free (or close to it) subsidized plan.

I think if Sony do the same the same feelings will be there as well.

One thing i’m having trouble getting my head round is how the average consmer is going to cope with all this. I worked in retail as a manager for 20 years and the average customer is quite ignorant when it comes to shopping. Go stand in a computer shop and listen to the mums/dads/grans and grandads ask simple questions and lack understanding at present let alone with all this MS mumbo jumbo comes out. online what, alwys on, cloud what, cant resell or bring back what!!. Maybe that’s what they are relying on, customer ignorance.

Midnight_Son · 2013-06-07T10:52:02.000Z

Polygon turns on their overlords! http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/7/4406170/xbox-one-internet-trade-policy

Next week, I will visit the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual celebration of video games’ biggest corporations. Microsoft will be hosting a lavish press conference to further acquaint the world with its new system. But the company’s executives won’t be meeting with much of the press. They canceled their post-press conference interviews, all of them as best I can tell, and have even canceled some interviews at the show itself. I understand. They probably couldn’t fit everyone in between all the CEOs they have to meet with.

Microsoft is married to business now. They don’t have time for consumers anymore.

Penny_Dreadful · 2013-06-07T10:54:09.000Z

Quaro:

What an avalanche of negative sentiment on the Xbox One. /r/gaming is almost entirely bad Xbox memes. Forum threads everywhere sound like this one. Wow.

I’d like to believe otherwise, but I’m pretty sure it’s all just bluster. Once the thing is released and the new Maddens and CoDs are on the store shelves, the systems will sell. People will see their friends buying them or be enticed by the pretty new graphics and they’ll convince themselves that all of the DRM BS is a non-issue and life will go on. There was no stopping this from happening once PC gamers told publishers that this was an acceptable business model.

Cyrano · 2013-06-07T10:54:12.000Z

Paul Thurrott has repeated $500 with no subsidized plan from an inside source, but of course that could still be wrong.

Telefrog · 2013-06-07T11:02:59.000Z

Midnight Son:

Polygon turns on their overlords! http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/7/4406170/xbox-one-internet-trade-policy

Wow. They really did turn on them.

After a month of vague corporate comments from Microsoft executives, we now know the Xbox One’s game licensing policy was written from the ground up for companies. It’s aggressively anti-consumer and anti-middle class, and it outright ignores underprivileged gamers. It’s gross, despicable, greedy, pathetic, cowardly and out of touch with a growing global resentment for corporations.

Moore · 2013-06-07T11:03:15.000Z

Quaro:

What an avalanche of negative sentiment on the Xbox One. /r/gaming is almost entirely bad Xbox memes. Forum threads everywhere sound like this one. Wow.

Some portion of that is MS catching flack for what will probably be the same with Sony but damn. The sheer quantity and volume just reached some kind of critical mass.

I do think it would turn around almost immediately if they announce some crazy new free (or close to it) subsidized plan.

This is sorta funny if true: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1fv5yj/i_saw_microsoft_employees_monitoring_this/

Reemul · 2013-06-07T11:03:24.000Z

Penny Dreadful:

I’d like to believe otherwise, but I’m pretty sure it’s all just bluster. Once the thing is released and the new Maddens and CoDs are on the store shelves, the systems will sell. People will see their friends buying them or be enticed by the pretty new graphics and they’ll convince themselves that all of the DRM BS is a non-issue and life will go on. There was no stopping this from happening once PC gamers told publishers that this was an acceptable business model.

You cant really compare it to the pc though, it’s a different sort of consumer that buys and plays pc games (outside the casual crowd anyways). Granny and grandad dont buy pc’s for their grankids etc etc. It’s a totally different audience out there and seeing them getting the hang of this or just ignoring it might take something special. Of course it could just happen, but im happy to bet the sales once everyone understands what it entails will not be up to this generations level.

Midnight_Son · 2013-06-07T11:06:57.000Z

Wall Street Journal (Libruls!)

http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/06/07/microsofts-xbox-one-how-things-have-changed/

Microsoft’s Xbox One: Owning Your Video Games Is So 1994

Joe_M · 2013-06-07T11:12:36.000Z

Penny Dreadful:

There was no stopping this from happening once PC gamers told publishers that this was an acceptable business model.

I don’t know. I pay pennies on the dollar for games that will work until Valve fails and will run on my current PC and any PC I build in the future. This seems like a significantly better deal than renting a game at retail price for a single console generation.

stusser · 2013-06-07T11:12:53.000Z

Moore:

This is sorta funny if true: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/1fv5yj/i_saw_microsoft_employees_monitoring_this/

Sure. Astroturfing is very common, and reddit is extraordinarily influential. Not surprising at all.

TurinTur · 2013-06-07T11:19:09.000Z

stusser:

Sure. Astroturfing is very common, and reddit is extraordinarily influential. Not surprising at all.

The funny thing is he says he is from a marketing firm, and even then, he is somehow surprised MS also uses reputation management / corporate shilling on the net. Like, really? It’s the big companies the ones that invented the practice!

Crater · 2013-06-07T11:19:12.000Z

Penny Dreadful:

There was no stopping this from happening once PC gamers told publishers that this was an acceptable business model.

I dunno - for a long time, my Steam library consisted of Half Life 2, and the Half Life games that were activated from my original disc’s CD key. It wasn’t until they started slashing prices that I started supporting their business model. And that’s the piece that’s missing from the equation so far. I’m willing to accept limitations on selling/trading games as long as the price is reduced to account for the reduced value of the game to me.

I have to hand it to MS, though. Drop the news Thursday before E3, and hope that the media blitz of “Games! Games! Games!” causes people to forget about it, or care less at the very least.

mixuk · 2013-06-07T11:24:10.000Z

KWhit:

Uh… Amazon?

Downloadable games are US only.

KWhit:

Greenman gaming?

These are essentially Steam games.

KWhit:

GoG?

I don’t feel like GoG and Steam are competing for the same customers. They have different types of games, with a different mindset. Of course, you could argue that it proves how PC is a more versatile platform compared to consoles, which is absolutely true.

But there is no free big market where I can hunt for the chepest place where to get the latest Call Of Duty for my selected digital platform. Does PC have more games available to it as a platform? Absolutely. Are there a multitude of different sources for the latest games? Not really.

mixuk · 2013-06-07T11:27:54.000Z

Phred:

As an avid PC Gamer it’s surprising you are not familiar with GMG or GoG. GMG frequently undersells Steam and half the time they’re doing it on a steam key. They also offer tradeins on select games. Other discounters have been mentioned on this very board several times a week. There’s even a grey market in Eastern European keys.

The question was that is there an alternative digital platform to Steam. At least for me.

Alstein · 2013-06-07T11:41:15.000Z

mixuk:

The question was that is there an alternative digital platform to Steam. At least for me.

There are alternatives, but PC consumers rejected a market that didn’t have heavy Steam dominance.

If Steam truly went full evil, I think PC consumers would reject Steam- there are still alternatives.

JeffL · 2013-06-07T11:41:31.000Z

Penny Dreadful:

I’d like to believe otherwise, but I’m pretty sure it’s all just bluster. Once the thing is released and the new Maddens and CoDs are on the store shelves, the systems will sell. People will see their friends buying them or be enticed by the pretty new graphics and they’ll convince themselves that all of the DRM BS is a non-issue and life will go on. There was no stopping this from happening once PC gamers told publishers that this was an acceptable business model.

Unless they read that the new games look a lot better on the PS4. Or even a little better on the PS4. I know people who were going to purchase a PS3 and saw articles that showed that RDR and Skyim looked better on the XBox and bought an XBox instead.

Again - Microsoft seems to be behaving as if there is no competition. They have no competitive advantage they are offering (that I can perceive) over the PS4.

Telefrog · 2013-06-07T11:41:36.000Z

mixuk:

Downloadable games are US only.

These are essentially Steam games.

I don’t feel like GoG and Steam are competing for the same customers. They have different types of games, with a different mindset. Of course, you could argue that it proves how PC is a more versatile platform compared to consoles, which is absolutely true.

But there is no free big market where I can hunt for the chepest place where to get the latest Call Of Duty for my selected digital platform. Does PC have more games available to it as a platform? Absolutely. Are there a multitude of different sources for the latest games? Not really.

If you dismiss all options, then Steam is the only choice.

Savillo · 2013-06-07T11:42:58.000Z

Alstein:

There are alternatives, but PC consumers rejected a market that didn’t have heavy Steam dominance.

If Steam truly went full evil, I think PC consumers would reject Steam- there are still alternatives.

You can’t discount the power of entrenched investment.

Alstein · 2013-06-07T11:48:05.000Z

Savillo:

You can’t discount the power of entrenched investment.

Unless Steam bricked or forced you to pay for old games, you could just not purchase new games.

Also, in such a case- you’d see folks cracking their Steam games they cared about like mad.

Reed · 2013-06-07T11:51:18.000Z

Crater:

I have to hand it to MS, though. Drop the news Thursday before E3, and hope that the media blitz of “Games! Games! Games!” causes people to forget about it, or care less at the very least.

Yep. Let’s be real… If they have some exciting games on tap, then this stuff will fade into the background.

For most gamers, the connection stuff will be a minor inconvenience at worst. Broadband connections don’t drop out often and not for that long. It’s all about the games. You’re not going to miss out on the latest Halo, Forza, Gears, Crackdown because you can’t bring your giant Xbone to the beach house once in a blue moon.