Poll: MS may be pricks but maybe they aren't complete morons.

[Doom972]

I think that they know what they're doing and that they're going to make a lot of money.

I doubt most of the Xbox consumer base isn't well-informed and will just buy it because of the brand. Add to that children who will want the new Xbox for christmas, and those who actually know about the flaws but decide that "it's not so bad", you have a huge consumer base.
The restrictions on game sharing will more than make up for the money lost due to people who will switch to Playstation on this generation.

I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Yeah, no, that actually shows how moronic they are. "We built a new console that requires an internet connection, but if you don't have an internet connection, just get our old System! Sure, that'll mean we loose money because you buy an old Xbox 360 instead of our brand new XBone, but... Uhhhh... Oh, wait, I know, we'll just end up removing the online features from the 360 soon! Then you'll have to buy the XBone... Wait, you mean, they really, really don't have the internet, and thus we're loosing money and can't make these people buy the XBone?! Ummmmm... Then uhhhh, we won't be making any more games for the 360! That's it! If you want new games from us, then you'll have to buy the XBone! ... What do you mean, we hardly made games for the 360 anyways, and that third parties have been making most of our games, and continue to do so for the 360?!!!"

 

[Something Amyss]

I think most of us know that consoles are often sold at a loss to the company, especially at the beginning of the console's cycle.

Haven't people already done the math and said Microsoft stands to see a profit on these consoles, even with assembly and the end retailer markup? I thought they had.

What MS makes all its money from is the subscription fees to XBL. Therefore by making their console require an online connection every 24 hrs, they're basically weeding out the consumers who would buy the unit but not likely pay for xbl.

The main reason one takes a loss on hardware is to get a larger install base. This justifies developing for you and justifies the fees you charge people for the privilege. At this point, Microsoft is flying in the face of that logic and potentially shooting themselves in the foot for a chance at a payday early. In that instance, they might as well sell for a profit.

If anything, this MIGHT be seen as a move to weed out people who won't get their advertising. I bet that's where the real money is anyway. Gold actually provides services.

The problem for them I think is that they might be overestimating the loyalty of their fanboys. Or maybe not, these are people who stayed loyal when the 360 had a 50% defect rate and the xbl fee got hiked up so who knows.

The 360 never had a 50% defect rate.

The reason Microsoft got away with a high defect rate is that they launched first and were literally the only game in town for a year. Sony didn't help, either; they offered a more expensive console so they could win the HD wars and made their console hard to program for (and even bragged about it as a feature).

This smacks less of brand loyalty than the phenomenon Yahtzee commented on with the whole "guess I have to get a PS4 now" thing. Gamers are programmed for the lesser of two evils. Maybe Microsoft is counting on brand loyalty, but I'm not sure it's as present as they think it is.

It's a real dick move but it's one that might make/save them a lot of money.

So might buying a ton of scratch tickets.

Anyway, they may think they have a plan, but I wouldn't exactly rule out bath salts as the motivator here.

Besides, doubling down on this like they are has no positive repercussion. Shit like "deal with it" and "Stick with the 360" are bad PR moves. You might as well start advertising the PS4.

 

[rodneyy]

the problem with ringfencing getting rid of the people who dont make them as much money and only pander to the ones buying gold is that they loose market share. if say before it was 50/50 (i know it wasnt but hey) market share last gen, publishers are going to want to make games for both systems and put in perks pre order stuff etc.

if the ratio changes however MS might be makeing more money as they are not loosing on the non gold members but say it changes to 70/30 in favour of sony the game devs are going to want to sell as much as they can so put more effort into the ps4 it will be designed round that and then maybe ported over or they will just go colsole exclusive. then all of a sudden its cool to have a ps4 thats what all your friends have and there are more games etc.

just because the people incharge look like they know what they are doing does not mean they really do. look at all the banking stuff. they all seemed super sure of what they were doing but they would they were all coked outta their brains half the time. now im sure there is a lot less coke at MS but they are there to make the decisions and then look like they are sure they know what they are doing be confident and others will follow

 

[GonzoGamer]

Shit, I didn't say it was a good idea. Like the rest of you, I'm just trying to figure out why they would be constantly spitting on their consumers.

 

[Requia]

They're batshit insane. They *might* make a lot of money anyway though. The key is going to be keeping that online check going without major issue for the first year or so. If they can avoid issues people will eventually get used to it, and late adopters (which is most of them) won't be scared off. If there are outages, and people can't play single player games (and keep in mind, once every 24 hours means if its been more than 24 hour since you booted up, that network needs to be functional), the constant bitching will shut down sales.

No, RROD isn't equivalent, only people who didn't claim warranty had RRoD more than once, and even at a 40% failure rate[footnote]number pulled out of my ass to illustrate a point[/footnote] a buyer knows that they'll *probably* be OK, a DRM network outages fucks over every last customer.

 

[Something Amyss]

Speaking as someone who fully plans on getting at least 1 Xbox One, I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Just remember that this is the company that made the Zune.

Not sure If good or bad,

If the same division that made the Zune, made the X1 it would feature

-plays any game from any console(nintendo,sony,dreamcast)
-Exact same specs as competitors if not better
-Comes packaged with a high quality headset
-Well designed hardware with multiple color choices and limited editions
-A user interface designed by some sort of design deity
-More than likely half the price then the competitor
-Picks up any wireless signal that even sneezes in its direction

and ultimately no-one would buy it because its not apple

Unfortunately, it's not the design team but the marketing team. I bet the people who designed the Zune were all fired for gross competence.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Microsoft's presentation was so amazing, their competitor's value went up!

Wait.

Honestly, I'm not sure. Somehow, despite all this terrible press, I suspect there will be a crowd of dudebros who buy the thing anyway, possibly out of some delusional loyalty to a name, rather than quality. But hey, maybe it will just go the way of the Dreamcast, with a few die-hard evangelicals preaching its praise while the rest of us just grab up the competitor's offerings like free snowcones on a hot day, and let it run itself into the ground quietly and unobtrusively.

 

[theresay]

No one at MS can actually come out and say this, but they are doing exactly what EA and Activision want them to do. All of this restrictive nonsense is for the benefit of publishers. If they can convince enough dummies to re-upp, the publishers will have gotten a foothold and the "customers second" ideology will spread to Sony and every future console. This is why it's critical that XB1 fail decisively.

EA and Ubisoft have made statements about how they're unsure whether or not they want to opt-in for Microsoft's used game thing. The opt-in option definitely shifts blame to publishers rather than Microsoft if a game can be resold, so I think they would be wary about participating.

Oh, Microsoft threw them to the wolfs and they know it.

 

[WanderingFool]

I would generally assume that a corporation with this much money has a pretty good idea on how to keep making this much money, but right now... I don't know.

Maybe they are actually geniuses and they're pulling a New Coke. We'll have to wait and see.

Heck, maybe the Xbox1 is going to fly of the shelves like hotcakes. [small]I fucking hope not![/small]

Im pretty sure I called it on the XBone not being a complete bomb, simply becuase there would be more than enough people that either dont know any better or dont care. In the end, The XBone will do just well enough that Microsoft doesnt drop their gaming division before the next console gen comes around.

Actually, thinking about it, I would almost say that Sony's and Microsoft's positions have shifted from when the PS3/360 were introduced.

Also, If Microsoft does go for the "Coca-Cola classic" marketing plan and release a "better" version of the XBone, I would call it out for being a dick move... and for being unoriginal...

Also, Im getting myself a Coke now...

 

[Tony2077]

considering what they did with windows 8 i wouldn't be too be there not

 

[Tanakh]

I disagree, MS seem to be complete morons. I had hopes for a master plan of sorts emerging somewhere just because i love plot twists IRL, but each day it passes it seems more and more like they aren't pricks, just have zero contact with their intended marked and are amazingly stupid.

 

[Calcium]

So I suspected this before and now I'm all but sure of it after reading the latest:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124891-Microsoft-Exec-Offline-Gamers-Should-Stick-With-Xbox-360

I think most of us know that consoles are often sold at a loss to the company, especially at the beginning of the console's cycle. What MS makes all its money from is the subscription fees to XBL. Therefore by making their console require an online connection every 24 hrs, they're basically weeding out the consumers who would buy the unit but not likely pay for xbl. The problem for them I think is that they might be overestimating the loyalty of their fanboys. Or maybe not, these are people who stayed loyal when the 360 had a 50% defect rate and the xbl fee got hiked up so who knows.

It's a real dick move but it's one that might make/save them a lot of money.

The fee never got hiked up for me, and although I had the red ring of death twice, those occured under warranty, with the second time only under warranty because of the extension that was given due to the mass problems it had. I've 'stayed loyal' to my pc even though it broke three times as much and lost me all my documents twice. It's not so much a question of 'loyalty' with these purchases, but more of "Well, this pc/xbox cost a lot so better get the use out of it!"

Personally, I suspect they're hoping to get their return not from gamers, but from other media consumers. Trying to appeal to everyone - though as the saying goes, they may very well end up appealing to no one. They're certainly not appealing to the majority of gamers as things stand. Games may not be as large a priority though, considering the market peaked in 2008. I believe it was something like ~$28 billion, compared to the estimate for this year of ~$21 billion.

 

[TheCommanders]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Xbone is a representation of pretty much everything wrong with the executive landscape in gaming... and it won't matter a bit because majority of people who actually buy consoles (read: everyone OUTSIDE of the core demographic, i.e. "hardcore" gamers) have incredibly low standards and are ludicrously uniformed. Microsoft has simply realized that all the discussions and marketing and debates are pointless. The kind of people with the most buying power are the same people who didn't know that Sarah Palin wasn't Obama's running mate, so they've just decided to do whatever the hell they want. The majority of people are idiots, and this console will sell well.

 

[DANEgerous]

The way I see it is they thought "If it looks cool and is called Xbox they will overlook anything for it positives" they think we are blind or stupid and yeah many though likely not the kind on here that just researches games and has favrote developers and even individual personalities but the kind that if a new CoD of both Modern Warfare and Black Ops came out on the same day would view it as a gaming revolution and drop 120$ for both games with all the per-order bonuses and they will make their money here, so yeah they know what they are doing to make money but are going to see their fan base just get gutted.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

I think that a much overlooked theory is that this is an experiment set up by Sony, Microsoft, and game developers/publishers. On one hand we have the PS4 which is basically an offline capable, pro-physical copy system when the X1 is an Offlin incapable machine which is focused on digital copies. Yeah they have disc but they need to be installed then the disc isn't used.
These groups are trying to see if the X1 will sell past a certain amount despite having the PS4 as a competitor. This is simply to see what they can get away with in the future. At least, that is one possibility. Can't say it's impossible.

 

[Saltyk]

No one at MS can actually come out and say this, but they are doing exactly what EA and Activision want them to do. All of this restrictive nonsense is for the benefit of publishers. If they can convince enough dummies to re-upp, the publishers will have gotten a foothold and the "customers second" ideology will spread to Sony and every future console. This is why it's critical that XB1 fail decisively.

EA and Ubisoft have made statements about how they're unsure whether or not they want to opt-in for Microsoft's used game thing. The opt-in option definitely shifts blame to publishers rather than Microsoft if a game can be resold, so I think they would be wary about participating.

That's because EA and Ubisoft, despite some relatively recent examples to the contrary, somehow have better PR people than Microsoft.

These restrictive policies are clearly bad for us, but it's not like MS is doing it out of the blackness of their hearts. They're doing it because they want to squeeze more revenue from us. Stands to reason publishers would get in on that action and, potentially, lend greater support and exclusives to the more profitable platform. Otherwise, MS is just dicking us for fun?

I think you and I more or less think the same thing. I foresee EA/Ubisoft using the feature and claiming that they are just taking advantage of the infrastructure that the XBOne makes available. Meanwhile Microsoft simply claims that they are not at fault as the publishers don't have to take advantage of the feature that they made easily available for them. Maybe I am just being cynical, but I can easily see both sides trying to pawn off the blame on each other. Hoping the consumer will simply roll over. All the while, EA claims this is NOT Project 10 dollar all over again.

Also, what is with these annoying ads that cover up the text box? They are intrusive, annoying and rude. How can I even write a proper response when a good chuck of the field is covered? Worst still, you can't close them completely. They just stay there.

 

[Lunar Templar]

That strategy might work for them if they didn't have any competition. And they act like they don't.

I'm going to second what Adam here said, They're acting like they're the only game in town when they clearly aren't, and it will come back to bite them

 

[Madara XIII]

Speaking as someone who fully plans on getting at least 1 Xbox One, I wouldn't be so sure of that.

Just remember that this is the company that made the Zune.

you really had to remind me of that....

I still regret that purchase 5 years ago...