10 Years Ago, Xbox Lost Its Grip On REALITY...

foreign [Music] the last month marked a decade since Microsoft inadvertently dug an early grave for its just announced Xbox one after unveiling a raft of restrictive consumer unfriendly policies in the run-up to E3 2013 Microsoft lumbered through the event touting technology they intended to revolutionize the living room with subsequent backlash sets to lock the unreleased system inside a coffin before burying deep underground Microsoft announced a spectacular u-turn the run up to and hangover from E3 2013 is an awkward time in Xbox's history one where Microsoft's own misguided strategies surrounding expansive TV and home entertainment left them a distant second place in a two-horse race did their remarkable 180 degree turn shortly thereafter one whereby they're already announced controversial policies of always Online requirements their Draconian measures to prevent game resales and their befuddling no sharing regime Mark Amir feeble attempt to douse the Flames of a fire after the house had already burned down team Xbox is on a new mission design and build an all-in-one system to light up a new generation of games TV and entertainment there was just enough positive PR spin a week after E3 to deflect the Xbox One from being buried in that self-doubt grave before it's even been released but only just however the ramifications of such a bundling mass of announcements and backtracking are still influencing Microsoft to this day principally Microsoft calls it controversy on three fronts one they planned on incorporating strategies to prevent sales of pre-owned games or to at least stifle any attempts for a disc to be used on a second Microsoft account by charging a nominal fee and two this sale prevention tactic extended to loaning Friends games too as games installed on the Xbox One's HDD won't continue to work unless said friend hops onto the online store to pay for it and the two parties had to have been on each other's friends list for at least 30 days and the game can only be loaned out once too and finally three in an effort to prevent video game piracy Microsoft opted for an always online component to their next-gen console more specifically users would need to establish an internet connection at least once within a 24-hour period if playing on their primary console and at least once an hour if accessing their game library on someone else's console fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity it's called Xbox 360. right so stick with 360 that's your message if you don't like it if you have zero access to the internet that is an offline device this last Point understandably provided the biggest bone of contention as should users fail to meet these requirements then they'd be locked out of accessing their titles even offline ones until a network connection was re-established obviously this is not okay as already stated less than a week after E3 2013 Microsoft backtracked on these three controversial pledges was the damage already done by this point the pace of pre-orders in a handful of days following E3 would suggest yes with PlayStation 4 outselling Xbox One by three units to two although preliminary pre-orders aren't an exhaustive method to measuring the success of One console over another it gives us a clue as to which console resonated with consumers the most following E3 Microsoft's reversal was twisted into something positive of course their PR team presumably working overtime to salvage a dire situation with their next box Chief Don Matrix stating that they've been listening to feedback with words to the effect of player passion being most important in any strategic decisions the company makes going forward what is evidence is swathes of Goodwill were lost to Sony and Playstation 4 during this time were Microsoft really listening to Consumer feedback or did they Panic at The backlash to be clear they didn't admit their about turn was a complete reversal and they didn't say that it was in response to Sony's brutal drubbing at E3 a week prior either although surely pre-sale figures plus Sony's obvious Glee their firmly established competitive advantages surely took influence yes Sony's E3 Keynotes took maximum opportunity to twist the knife into Microsoft's bumbling stating outright that their own upcoming next-gen consoles would be free of used game limitations and mandatory Online requirements but in truth Microsoft had left them an open goal any damage Sony exacerbated was already self-inflicted so what else went wrong well the Clue's in the name Xbox One Microsoft in all their misguided wisdom wanted to shift their next-gen effort away from just console games to an all-in-one media and entertainment center one fully integrates it with everyone's home TV setup it was an audacious plan and one which at best was two ahead of its time and at worst an impossible feat to accomplish either way translating the remote control experience to simple voice commands that it seamlessly instructed TV confused by an interface overlaying the original signal proved too hard and not to crack and one Microsoft should have been able to predict given Google struggles with a similar thing a few years prior with the long snuffed out Google TV TV service providers have since begun experimenting with voice activation but when the facility is interweaved into their own system there's less chance of something going wrong the way Microsoft wanted to do it to plug a cable boxes HDMI straight into the Xbox One to feed Channel data through was always going to be mired by failure or disruption instead of simplifying the process Xbox One added an extra step Microsoft were also keen on pushing unproven features such as the ability to place a Skype chat on screens side by side with live TV again these are simply things people hadn't asked for and unsurprisingly it didn't take off also cause for controversy was Microsoft opting to equip every Xbox One with its connect motion sensor now on paper this doesn't seem like the worst Revelation in the world and indeed it isn't there was sound strategy behind this decision as connects prior guys as an accessory meant only a handful of developers were choosing to create titles for it in every Xbox owner having access to connect the Hope was more developers would incorporate the technology into their games the downside to this was the hike in price when compared to the PlayStation 4. another fact Sony took extreme Delight in pointing out during their E3 Keynotes event in fact the PlayStation 4 was announced a retail at a hundred dollars less than its Xbox One counterpart despite the PS4 being more powerful on paper and perhaps anecdotal compared to Microsoft in the current ERA but the Xbox one was at a notorious disadvantage to PlayStation 4 when it came to supporting Indie developers with Sony providing Small Time Studios ability to self-publish games on the platform encompassing an all-in-one media machine with upgraded connect system inarguably does nothing to positively impact the overall gaming experience at the end of the day the Xbox One was a good console with an unshakably strong lineup of launch cycles and first-party experiences in the pipeline it's just that Microsoft lost its way somehow and it's taken a decade for it to catch up juicer Phil Spencer's influence Xbox game pass is thriving the Xbox series X is the most powerful console currently available and the company itself occupies a much more user-friendly ethos as ever though it's games that sell consoles and it remains to be seen in this current generation which console will win the video game arms race come the end of this generation The Horizon is looking somewhat Rosy following Microsoft and bethesda's recent Xbox game showcase an excellent event which saw 27 games shared for the Xbox series X and S and PC with hotly anticipated sci-fi role player Starfield the pick at the bunch although Forza Motorsport finally announced its release date alongside promising glimpses at Old Blade 2 and other games underlining Microsoft's resurgent consumer Focus Global Supply of Xbox series X and S was pledged to increase alongside a series s with boosted memory capacity something Microsoft claimed fans have been clamoring for for quite some time the meats of this feature perhaps downplays Microsoft and Xbox's current status this is unintended as whilst their XBox One era was indeed checkered to say the least the brand is resurgent with a promising future ahead and with that we've reached the end of this video have anything to say let us know in the comments below also we upload new videos every single day on gaming bolt so please consider subscribing as it really helps us out thanks for watching

Channel: GamingBolt

Views: 4,221

Keywords: the failure of xbox one, what went wrong with xbox one, xbox one, microsoft xbox one, gamingbolt, xbox

Id: 9qGb1Qt2V4k

Length: 10min 41sec (641 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 03 2023