So you know the details. Microsoft has back pedaled and dropped its DRM and 24 hour check in. They’ve also dropped the sharing games with your family and used games blockage. Hurray, good for them. I know most of my friends who own a 360 definitely were put aback by all of the restrictions the new XBone was putting on them. After going through a solid shit storm of bad PR for the past month or two and PS4’s knock out “you can play used games and no online check” gut punch at E3, it would seem only natural Microsoft’s execs had to come to terms.
Microsoft has lost a great deal of consumer trust in the past weeks and it would take something like this to make it move toward gaining some of it back but is it too little too late? I see people on Facebook and Twitter exclaiming “THEY LISTENED…THEY’RE GOING BACK BECAUSE OF US!” but I believe they couldn’t be further from the truth. MS saw the numbers. They saw the PS4 out-selling the XBone 3-2 and in some instances 4-1. They also seen the shenanigans Sony pulled at E3. If Sony came out and said “So this is how DRM will work on our system…” MS wouldn’t have backed down on its stance. You can guarantee that.
What happened is they were able to read the writing on the wall come holiday season and clearly did not want to step in with a new console where people are focusing on its restrictions instead of its games. You can imagine a kid at GameStop unsure of what to purchase for Christmas or a parent buying their children a console being told by an employee “Well, this one’s $100’s more and doesn’t allow used games…also you have to be connected every 24 hours and there’s a camera..that’s always on…always listening.”
I’m not going to say I would respect Microsoft more for standing their ground but literally a week ago we were just being told how being always connected would benefit us as gamers and cloud gaming would be the be all end all. Now that’s not true..interesting. I honestly wonder what Microsoft is thinking. From its reveal it marketed XBone as an “always connected ” machine, now it’s “Well, you can connect to it but don’t need to.”
I guess the only thing that’s more alarming is the fact that MS can change their terms at any point in time and say a month or year from launch they pull a “Remember that used games thing? Yea, we’re blocking them now..” or “Remember always online..? Yea, we’re doing that now.” I mean what are people gonna do, return their consoles? After that investment it’s hard to return something like that.
I definitely think Microsoft has the games and that’s going to be what they have to focus on come the end of this year. They also have to do something more then just drop their restrictions to really gain a one up on Sony, maybe some free XBox live at launch? Who knows, what are you thoughts about this, has Microsoft gained your trust back as a consumer?
