Why did Microsoft Reverse their policies when the damage is already done?

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theuprising

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Jun 19, 2013
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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...
 

Norithics

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Jul 4, 2013
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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.
 

Anthony Corrigan

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Jul 28, 2011
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theuprising said:
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...
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 it

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
 

Terminate421

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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
 

LT Cannibal 68

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imahobbit4062 said:
I'm buying one now that they reversed their shitty policies. So your logic is kinda defeated right there.
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.
 

Nazulu

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Jun 5, 2008
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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.
 

rob_simple

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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...
 

AidoZonkey

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Oct 18, 2011
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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.
 

MetalMagpie

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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.
 

Hades

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AidoZonkey said:
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.
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

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Hades said:
AidoZonkey said:
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.
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.
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 massive
 

BloodSquirrel

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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.

Hades said:
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.
That's a meme that's been going around without actual basis in fact. The 360 has been very profitable.
 

Strelok

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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.
 

The_Echo

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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...
theuprising said:
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.
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware ridiculous policies and 'features' were what defined a next-generation console.

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.
 

Jenny Jones

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Jun 10, 2013
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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.
 

RJ 17

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Nov 27, 2011
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Terminate421 said:
As a possiblity, but I personally think Don Matterick felt like giving everyone the finger.
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.

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?
 

KrossBillNye

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Jan 25, 2010
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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.
 

Zeh Don

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Jul 27, 2008
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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.