Xbox One Discussion

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

It's very much a possibility. And a risk I'm not going to take.

[Sami]

If you're not willing to stand by your claims then why should I believe in them? The fact of the matter is that your assumption makes no sense. They're in second place and got a ton of shit for it. It's not coming back. Let it go.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

If you're not willing to stand by your claims then why should I believe in them?

What do you mean? I said I'm not willing to take the chance to trust the Xbox One; how is that not standing by my claims?

[Sami]

Sorry, I thought you meant betting was a risk you didn't want to take.

Not that it matters, anyway. The main point is that it's a silly argument to make when all evidence states otherwise. It won't happen.

[ImPantsAtThis]

Can I just say that seeing MS's original Xbone reveal was like seeing their vision for the video game market -- that is how they see it to be in the future. Obviously the consumers made them backpedal, but it doesn't change the fact that we've seen what they wanted to pull off. Can't say I was impressed with it either; that's why, despite the reversal on Xbone's features, I don't trust the company anymore.

 

Call it a silly argument or whatever, but that's how I feel.

[Sami]

Can I just say that seeing MS's original Xbone reveal was like seeing their vision for the video game market -- that is how they see it to be in the future. Obviously the consumers made them backpedal, but it doesn't change the fact that we've seen what they wanted to pull off. Can't say I was impressed with it either; that's why, despite the reversal on Xbone's features, I don't trust the company anymore.

 

Call it a silly argument or whatever, but that's how I feel.

I agree with you, I just think "I don't want to buy one because they might bring it back in a firmware update" is such a bizarre view of reality that it's a ridiculous stance to take. At least be honest about it. You might as well just admit that you were never going to buy one at all, which is fine.

[ImPantsAtThis]

Yeah, that's fair enough; I find it to be a slim possibility that it'll come back in updates.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

That's more than the equivalent of calling you ridiculous for wanting Nintendo to quickly and foolishly offline the Wii U possibly leading Nintendo into Dreamcast-esque situation, Discoid.

[Blacklightning]

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Don Mattrick went on record at some point stating they were perfectly aware of the way consumers would react to the DRM model and more or less didn't care (but not in those exact words obviously). So it's really just a question of whether they can make money off it - money was literally the only reason they pulled the plug on it to start with, so I'm really not convinced that Microsoft doesn't have the balls to eventually bring it all back once they believe their income is practically guaranteed.

 

Then again, with Don getting the sack and the new guy being especially quiet by comparison (and yes, I know that being quiet in comparison to Don fucking Mattrick isn't exactly a huge feat), so I'm more than willing to admit things have changed and I could be completely wrong. But so far, I'm not holding my breath.

[Sami]

That's more than the equivalent of calling you ridiculous for wanting Nintendo to quickly and foolishly offline the Wii U possibly leading Nintendo into Dreamcast-esque situation, Discoid.

 

How is that even remotely relevant to this discussion?

 

 

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Don Mattrick went on record at some point stating they were perfectly aware of the way consumers would react to the DRM model and more or less didn't care (but not in those exact words obviously). So it's really just a question of whether they can make money off it - money was literally the only reason they pulled the plug on it to start with, so I'm really not convinced that Microsoft doesn't have the balls to eventually bring it all back once they believe their income is practically guaranteed.

 

Then again, with Don getting the sack and the new guy being especially quiet by comparison (and yes, I know that being quiet in comparison to Don fucking Mattrick isn't exactly a huge feat), so I'm more than willing to admit things have changed and I could be completely wrong. But so far, I'm not holding my breath.

 

I think that the Xbox division's current position in Microsoft pretty much guarantees that they won't have the balls to try anything like that again. MS's investors want the whole branch gone already, and last summer's backlash has already shown how disastrous it'd be for them to bring those policies back.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Discoid, if you truly believe that Microsoft won't pull this DRM thing again fine. You have faith in them.

 

Just like back in March 2013 when the rumors were surrounding the web, 360 fans/owners were trusting Microsoft not to pull any of that DRM bullcrap towards them? Right?

 

Yes they have "pulled" back the DRM stuff for now, but Microsoft back then is the same Microsoft today. Nope, they haven't apologized YET for that DRM nonsense, they haven't done anything at all IMO that is telling me "We are sorry, you deserve more then that", probably give out some free games (and no, I'm NOT talking about 5-6 year old games)...I mean see what Sony did when the PSN hack happened. That is what something Microsoft is currently lacking.

 

And until I see a change in them, as I said earlier, Microsoft back then is still the same Microsoft today. And that's why I don't trust them. That's why hardly anyone trusts them now. They got to gain our trust back. How? Well certainly not by still locking down every online feature in XONE unless you have a Gold account...

[Sami]

Why not just be honest and admit that you don't want an Xbox One and never did? Why cloud that statement with an irrelevant claim ("oh no they'll add it back in a firmware update for sure!"), and then support that claim with completely irrelevant complaints towards their business policies? 

 

They tried it. People hated it and it blew up in their faces. It possibly cost them first place, if the past few months have been any indication. There's literally no fucking way they'll disable the system's functionality through a firmware update. It'd be way too fucking stupid of a move for them to go through with, and would very likely lead to lawsuits.

 

For fuck's sake, I'm not even a fan of them to begin with. I don't want an XB1 because I've never felt I was part of the audience they really catered towards, and I don't agree with their vision for gaming in the future. But "I'll buy one when I know they won't add it back"? When will that be? What does that even mean? Just be honest about it, Jesus Christ.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Why not just be honest and admit that you don't want an Xbox One and never did? Why cloud that statement with an irrelevant claim ("oh no they'll add it back in a firmware update for sure!"), and then support that claim with completely irrelevant complaints towards their business policies? 

 

They tried it. People hated it and it blew up in their faces. It possibly cost them first place, if the past few months have been any indication. There's literally no fucking way they'll disable the system's functionality through a firmware update. It'd be way too fucking stupid of a move for them to go through with.

 

For fuck's sake, I'm not even a fan of them to begin with. I don't want an XB1 because I've never felt I was part of the audience they really catered towards, and I don't agree with their vision for gaming in the future. But "I'll buy one when I know they won't add it back"? When will that be? What does that even mean? Just be honest about it, Jesus Christ.

 

Dude, I never said I'll buy an XONE when I know they won't add DRM back. Didn't you see my post a page ago that Xbox never appealed to me?

 

EDIT: Now 2 pages ago...

 

EDIT 2: Wait it was in the PS4 thread...

[Sami]

Dude, I never said I'll buy an XONE when I know they won't add DRM back. Didn't you see my post a page ago that Xbox never appealed to me?

 

EDIT: Now 2 pages ago...

 

Did you forget what post started this whole discussion to begin with? Just read it - 

 

That's great that the Xbone is selling that much... but I'm still not getting it. :/

 

I won't get it until all of the DRM shit is kaput. I'm not holding my breath for that though...

 

I just said, I don't give two shits about Xbox either. The brand has never appealed to me. The difference is that I see no need to mask that with "I'll buy it when the DRM is gone...". No you fucking won't. It's already gone. If you don't want one, you don't want one. It's that simple.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

But the truth of of the matter is that, it's still there. It's merely been disabled.

[Wraith]

But the truth of of the matter is that, it's still there. It's merely been disabled.

 

Don't be petty.

 

The truth of the matter is Microsoft isn't stupid enough to reinstate something that was such an unbelievably consumer unfriendly and stupid idea that it affects their public image even now. No company that's lasted this long could be that stupid.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

The truth of the matter is Microsoft isn't stupid enough to reinstate something that was such an unbelievably consumer unfriendly and stupid idea that it affects their public image even now. No company that's lasted this long could be that stupid.

Clearly you haven't used a Windows OS before!

...

/Macbooks it the crap outta here

[Brad]

/Macbooks it the crap outta here

 

I dunno man Windows 7 was pretty good

 

But if we're talking about Windows 8 let me join you

[goku262002]

Microsoft isn't going to bring back the DRM, they took a real heavy blow when it all happened and had to do some employee restructuring because of the backlash, all they care about now is getting customers back.

They know now that their customers are going to throw shitfits if they feel like they are being ripped off or forced into something they don't want. were not going to see this shit again until at least the next xbox 8+ years from now and by then it may just be norm to have it. but if your going to let those DRM fears still haunt you about this console then you were never interested in this console to begin with and probably just here for another screwup to happen.

I'm still going to get this console, but right now it doesn't have the features or games I want, by the end of the year though it'll be the Xbox I wanted to begin with without the idiot Kinect.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

No company that's lasted this long could be that stupid.

Lol, these are the exact words I heard right here in SSMB before the DRM announcement.

They probably won't do that one hour check in stuff anymore but a part of me says they'll bring something back in a different shape or form.

They haven't really learnt their lesson. They only removed the DRM so their preorders didn't continue to decline. And they won't start looking for new ideas yet, until they have a certain million of XONE owners.

I already said my reasons why I believe Microsoft can pull something stupid again in future. They haven't changed one bit apart from some staff restructuring. They are still greedy. I'll probably wait until E3 to see if they really changed their image, until then I don't trust them at all.

[Sami]

So now that March's NPDs are all in, what's next for the Xbox One? To recap on sales -

PS4 - 371k

Xbox One - 311k

Wii U - 70k

311k is a really great number on it's own, but that's not the important part of the narrative here. Last month we saw the launch of the XB1's single biggest, most important exclusive this year as far as we know. Titanfall's been hyped to hell and back, and was also practically given away with this months discounts and bundles. A $449 bundle with Titanfall included is a better base value than the PS4 - yet that still wasn't enough to even come close to first place.

It goes without saying that in the Xbox brand's primary market, this is a very big deal. The PS3 barely edged ahead of the 360 in worldwide sales thanks to it's popularity in Europe and Asia, but the Xbox dominated United States with a ratio of close to 1:1.71 (if I remember correctly, the current numbers for the US are around 27m for PS3 and 49m for 360). So with all of that said, do you think it can come back? If so, how?

As is, it's definitely doing well, and even better than the 360 was at this point in it's lifespan (though this may have a lot to do with many confounding variables that define this generation in general, such as the prominence of pre-ordering, the abnormal length of the previous generation, and factory production being much faster than in 2005), but the fact that it's losing so heavily in one of the few territories it really needs is definitely troubling. As far as turning it around goes... I don't know. I think an official price cut to $399 (or less, considering the hardware is in fact weaker than the PS4's, and probably nixing the Kinect in the process) would definitely help even the playing field, but the $100 discounts last month haven't exactly been hard to find, and ended up doing very little for it. I think a rebranding and official price cut similar to the PS3's back in 2008 might have a pretty significant impact if they continue to lose every single month to PS4 consecutively. Alongside plenty of games, of course.

It'll be interesting to see if they'll be able to really duke it out with Sony over US marketshare in the coming months. It's no secret that the Playstation brand is far and away my favorite out of the three, but if Microsoft can manage to really turn themselves around and cater to my interests I'd be happy for them (and of course myself, because having more games to play is always cool).

[Komodin]

"Xbox One launches in Japan in September"

 

Microsoft has announced that gamers in Japan will get the Xbox One this coming September, leaving a long summer to be spent toiling away with the Xbox 360. According to the company's Japanese division, the next-generation console will be hitting shelves on September 4.

 

The Xbox One is also slated to launch in many other countries in September, none of which have been detailed at this point. The console is currently available in 13 countries across the world, among which more than 5 million consoles have been shipped.

 

With the sales numbers came a larger gap between Microsoft's gaming console and the competing PlayStation 4, which has sold more than 7 million consoles around the globe. The reason for the difference is up to speculation, with some pointing to the price difference.

 

This follows Just Add Water's CEO Stewart Gilray saying earlier this month that it is "physically impossible" for the Xbox One to match the PlayStation 4's performance. Such comments spurred fairly rabid contention among gamers.

 

SOURCE: Microsoft Japan

 

Now, the question to ask here is: considering that the Xbox brand has generally never been all that successful there, outside of the obvious minority, will Japan even care for this console by then?

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

To be honest, Microsoft shouldn't have bothered with Japan.

Is there ANY exclusive game that is going to cater the Japanese? No? Then XONE will perform worse than the 360.

Absolutely NO reason for the Japanese to care about this console except for "I got all the next gen consoles and you don't!" and a small number of Xbox fans.

You treat Japan like a third world country, they will return the favor.

[Agie]

If the previous two Xbox consoles weren't the most successful in Japan, then I see history repeating itself with the Xbone.

 

Unless Microsoft decides to do something for it that unexpectedly gains attention, intentionally or not, which I doubt will happen either way.

[Milo]

I'm no expert, but I think all 12 Japanese Xbox owners will be very excited for this news.