Deal with it: Microsoft employee tweets aren’t hurting the next Xbox, silence is

Sony’s PlayStation 4 messaging has been blessedly simple, compelling, and on point. The system will be easy on developers due to its PC-like architecture, the company is breaking down barriers to allow smaller developers to release their games on the PS3, PS4, and Vita, and patches and game updates will be easy to apply and download in the background.

The PlayStation 4 seems to be a system that’s built for the future, and its design will make things easier on both gamers and developers. It’s no wonder the system has been gaining traction in the court of public opinion.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has been silent. The rumors are swirling that the system will require an always-on Internet connection, and Microsoft creative director Adam Orth’s recent tweets in support of an always-on console didn’t do the company any favors. His account is now protected, but damn near every blog and news outlet have already repeated his statements about people needing to “deal with” systems that are always online.

[clintos59]

My thing is if this is true will microsoft be able to stop it like if the system was built for the purpose of being connected all the time? Or they just trying to see how the consumer & media react to it & debunk it whenever they decide to do so?

[Godmars290]

This is the same mentality which caused them to integrate IE into Windows: make it required and embed its necessity upon the consumer. Make it the first browser most people use even though its one of the lowest rated.

Or in the case of Xbox3, make online required, get people to get gold XBL subscriptions.

Its also what they're doing with Kinect. Integrate it so that it doesn't matter whether it actually works or functions with all games. That they further plan to use it for advertising, to monitor customers so they can make money from ads, is just another thing to MS's benefit at the likely expense of Xbox owners.

[darthv72]

in this day and age we have seen how easy it is for someone, anyone, to pass themselves off as someone else on the internet.

These rumors are just that...rumors. They are being given weight because people are not thinking clearly but interpreting them as if they are in fact true.

the key words to think about here: "Microsoft, on the other hand, has been silent." so wouldnt it be more logical to wait for the official word from the executives of the company than to believe rumors that were started to 'possibly' gauge public awareness? Or flat out see how far they can fool the public into believing them.

It's almost as if people forgot how the internet works and really believe "you can't put anything on the internet that isn't true" just like that insurance commercial.

[Why o why]

Why didnt greenberg just kill the rumour he woke up to address? You dont know the guy right......................... .. ....yeah...ok but what about what he said....any words on that greenberg.

[Godmars290]

That's the argument.

And I'm sure its been pointed out many a time how MS instantly shut down the rumor of Halo 3 going to PC.

Also, your comment does not address mine.

I was on about what and why MS have done what they've done in the past and how it relates currently. Didn't even say anything about rumors.

[g2gshow]

if you're government said we are going to put a video camera in your home an make you pay for it what would you say?

where's?? the petition they did it to epic, valve even for a simple game dmc but when it's something of real important's. gamer's just cry an do nothing makes me sick how dumb an stupid gamers are fight about a game mascot b.s. you think M.S cares about how you feel or respects you as a person they wouldn't even want to be in a room with any of you they see you as fool's dumby cash cow's
another thing to all you stoner's people with gun's an women who like to walk around you'r home naked , mom's an dad's with kids do you really want someone watching what you do. when you are playing you'r game or listing to you'r every word you say. i didn't know video games had to be apart of my real life an family didn't know gaming was so important an trust me when i tell you you're box will get hacked an people will be watching you including the law fu%&# fools ill just turn it off or point it at the wall real smart but something your afraid to have in you'r home

[Godmars290]

The camera is like a landmine: its only going to be noticed when its stepped on.

If and when someone hacks the camera, and that then gains enough public notice, only then will it become the concern it should be.

And even then MS will be there with spin and damage control.

[Ritsujun]

Xdoomx. #dealwithit

[AngelicIceDiamond]

I was starting to think the same thing. MS's Getting the community all riled up, and then they might announce the console out of no where. A console announce could be underway.

Again, I think MS is just trying to blindside people right now for whatever reason.

[T2]

Id have to say at this point that seems like a bad idea. The sooner they get real, positive info out the better for them... But I could definitely see them charging 199 for the console with a required 2-3 yr xbl gold subscription... People fall for simple tricks. Look at cellphone contracts.

[MariaHelFutura]

What's all this fuss about? Sorry, my internet was down. :}

[adorie]

Seriously, MariaHelFutura, My net was down for 10 mins and I had an angry body here ranting about how he can't keep track of his stocks. :T

Verizon FIOS, 25 down/5 up.

[KingofGambling]

ha, good one.

[Ezz2013]

ohhhh, i see what you did there.
you smart devil ;)

[Heavenly King]

I really think this is the case, because M$ cant be that stupid.

[Yi-Long]

... haven't you seen them releasing Windows 8, a tablet/phone OS on laptops/desktops!?

What about the last 3-4 years, where their focus for the 360 has been on dashboard apps and Kinect-games!?

MS is being run by idiots nowadays. Sadly, cause I loved the original Xbox and I loved my 360 the first bunch of years of it's existence. It's disappointing to see the decisions they've been making.

[Nilemonitors13]

All I know is that if this is true, and people still buy the new xbox, it'll prove that people will let anything or anyone stomp all over them, let us Ps fans enjoy our console, and let xbox people "enjoy theirs" there's only so much we can do to warn them to avoid M$ dirty business practises, in time they will realise their mistake, stubbornness cannot be cured. Let's only care for our future as gamers and support our company.

[Sandmano]

Well if It will stop the pirates then I understand why they are doing this. Although this will cause many other problems, possibly outweighing the problems their solving by doing this...

[Cirran]

This wont stop pirates. This will just make them more eager to pirate the console and make it so you can play offline. Just like with Sim City.

[kostchtchie_]

pirates? ha ha this or any other DRM is not to stop pirates, you think games cant be cracked? steam games get cracked, d3 is playable offline, you can play Sim city offline

DRM does nothing but hurt legit players, while pirates play the FULL VERSIONS of the game, rather than the crap developers spew out to legit gamers with pre order bonuses across multiple versions, DLC, and all the other crap they push

but so long as there are people like you out there that think DRM is good, they will always get away with DRM

[Sandmano]

I didn't say I agree with DRM I'm totally against it but like I said If their trying to make it harder for pirates I understand.

[guitar_nerd_23]

@kostchtchie_

I gave you a bubble. Spot on, totaly agree.

[ziratul]

They will never stop pirates, that is not possible.

[SonyPS360]

Stopping pirates should never be at the cost of paying consumers.

[Unlimax]

This won't stop the pirates , It will stop you from even playing YOUR OWN GAMES !

http://i.minus.com/ibwI1puh...

[GribbleGrunger]

MS have responded:

"We are aware of the comments made by an employee on Twitter. This person is not a spokesperson for Microsoft, and his personal views are not reflective of those of the company. We have not made any announcements about our product roadmap, and have no further comment on this matter."

http://www.gameinformer.com...

No denial of the always online policy ... It could be happening folks.

[Jek_Porkins]

If they denied it, it would be an announcement for the next Xbox, Microsoft doesn't want to announce it yet. Do people not understand that they haven't actually admitted to their being a new Xbox on the way?

I know the hardcore, forum going gamer's all know about it, but the regular Joe Blow gamer's probably don't have a clue. I am sure Microsoft wants the Xbox 360 to sell as well as possible until they are ready to unveil the Xbox 720.

The fact that they came out and said some guy doesn't speak for them tells me that they are probably ticked off a bit at the rumors, but getting forced into announcing a console due to negative rumors probably isn't what MS wants and I don't blame them.

[despair]

lmao you beat me to it.

[monkey602]

I can tell you from working in retail that these 'regular joe blow' gamers are talking about the ps4 and next Xbox. They are also keyed in on all the latest rumours. I reserve judgment personally until an announcement as should everybody else but if there is truth to these rumours the Durango is dead before its born. As impatient as I am I wish Microsoft would give us something already, there is a market for next gen as people seem eager, and Sony are getting a strong foothold with being first in line.

Edit: This was in reply to jek porkins. While I agree with the rest of your post, I think you underestimate the common market and the interest in the next gen jump

[brave27heart]

A simple "We're not considering always on internet connection for any upcoming hardware" kills the rumour without confirming the next xbox exists.

[lastofgen]

I've given up trying to convince reason with internet folks.

Apparently, rumors = truth, opinion = truth, apology without confirmation = makes it worse.

People just don't respond to reason anymore.

[despair]

They haven't even said they had a new console coming, everyone knows its coming but how can they say the console they haven't revealed isn't online only, especially in a response to asinine comments by a low tiered employee.

[Ezz2013]

like what brave27heart said
" "We're not considering always on internet connection for any upcoming hardware""

nothing wrong in saying that

[Arai]

They could easily change it with a firmware...IF they want to.
Whatever the case people will still buy the console.
If RROD several times didn't stop them then I don't think something like this will.

We'll see in some years how good/bad this strategy has/will be for them.

[clintos59]

Well thats why microsoft is no push over. Money talks & even though I dont like seeing them have their way with consumers but we cant stop them just like u said even with rrod & subscription fees to play online people will still buy it.

[Objective]

Why should MS be baited into saying anything if that is not their plan? Rumors are rumors and only ignorant few make a hoohah about rumors. There's certainly no need to indulge rumor mongers.

[Jek_Porkins]

They haven't announced a next Xbox, so why would they deny a rumor about said unannounced console? Yes, we all know a new Xbox is on the way, but Microsoft will want to show it off at it's own show, when they decide to do it.

I can understand the frustration of the rumor mill and wanting to know what's going on, but these same rumors blasted the PS4, and Sony didn't quickly rush out and say something, they said something when they were damn well ready, and I expect the same from Microsoft.

We know they are going to reveal something in May, or even late April, so we'll find out then.

[redDevil87]

Yeah but in the meantime their name and the Xbox brand is continually getting tarnished.

All the rumours that have come out about Durango have been bad. They can be quiet all they want, but they have to know they and the Durango are looking bad right now.

[Jek_Porkins]

Actually they haven't all been bad, the kid who claimed to have the dev kit and who's house was raided said the next Xbox is the more powerful console, Gamestop CEO says it's an impressive console and people will love it, meaning it probably wont block used games, and Ubisoft said the console is on par with the PS4 as far as power and specs.

The Xbox brand is fine, as long as MS comes out when they announce the next Xbox and allow used games and don't require DRM, they'll be fine. You cant even pre-order the PS4 yet, so no hard, no foul.

[monkey602]

PS4 preorders have been taken for about 2 months now where I work and in a lot of stores since the play station event.

[despair]

Meh, this is all blown out of proportion. Kotaku quoted an "unspecified source", which in my book is, they made shit up, and the universe got angry.

Even if there is a necessity for the Durango Dev kits to be always connected doesn't mean the proper released system will be so. Microsoft are not idiots and know that it will hurt more than help to have an online only console, also people seem to forget the big noise that was made when another "source" said that sony's PS4 would not play used games and look how that turned out.

[GraveLord]

Microsofts silence has allowed more and more negative rumors to pile up. The MS employee practically confirmed one of these negative rumors...

[majiebeast]

Lol it just hit Yahoo. Good luck Microsoft, you are gonna need it and that generic PR statement you gave GI, isnt gonna cut it. Especially if sites like Kotaku and EDGE among others, keep leaking stuff before your console announcement.

[mrmancs]

deal with it.

[silvacrest]

im pretty sure the tweets hurt all the same

MS did comment but considering what they said, they should have just said nothing at all

[monkey602]

Agreed, while we have to understand that they won't give us a thing on their unannounced hardware, their reply looks like a dodge. It would have been smarter to ignore these comments true or not

[MultiConsoleGamer]

"silence"

And yet all everyone is taking about is the next box. Good or bad it has grabbed every headline.

[brave27heart]

Theres a myth that theres no such thing as bad press. Trust me there is and this is hurting MS.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Most of the time I would agree with you. I would even say that people who believe the "no such thing as bad press" myth are fools.

But in this case I think MS is setting everyone up. And when they find out that it doesn't block used games and it's not always online it will be a big relief for the fans. And everyone will have spent the last couple of weeks talking about next box.

These stories really have knocked the ps4 right off the front page. For better or for worse.

[Hicken]

You're one of these people that thinks that, somehow, Microsoft will come out looking like "heroes" if they do deny these rumors when they announce the 360, aren't you?

I don't know where you guys get that idea, but the ONLY people who could POSSIBLY think that are individuals like yourself, who already think Microsoft can do no wrong.

The nextbox has NOT grabbed every headline. The hottest here aren't all Xbox, neither today nor for the week. And it's been that way since the PS4 was announced.

You think these people talking about how bad these rumors are- how it'll deter them from the next Xbox- will convert into sales if Microsoft says, "Hey, guys. No need to worry. Always online isn't part of our console?"

Get real.

Get real.

[MikeMyers]

"I don't know where you guys get that idea, but the ONLY people who could POSSIBLY think that are individuals like yourself, who already think Microsoft can do no wrong."

The reality is you never think they ever do anything right and you're thriving on all the rumors. Then when someone does say something positive about MS or shows an example you are ready to give a favorable plug-in for Sony.

It really is sad how venomous some forum members can be where they actually get more joy out of putting down the competition than actually enjoying the products they want everyone else to like.

You look at how vocal people were about Diablo III and yet it sold over 13 million copies. You look at how vocal people are here about Call of Duty yet each year it outsells any other title, by a landslide. People advertise exclusives all the time but many fail to sell well. People were actually quite surprised at Vita not costing as much as anticipated and how wonderful the system is yet it has failed to capture much in sales. Nobody expected much out of the Wii yet it sold the most. Now the Wii U is having a touch time repeating that success.

There is no consensus for reality here, most is opinion based and a lot of it stems from bias. All of these rumors about the next Xbox have gone viral and I agree, it's not helping matters and their silence is not supporting them either. However we really don't know what real impact these rumors will have in sales and we don't know if these rumors are true how the next Xbox will fare. One thing we do know is many people here on this site have picked a winner long before the rumors even started.

[Scenarist]

LOL THIS ...... is what they break the silence with ?

GG everyone..... GG

[sourav93]

I think MS might be playing it smart with the silence. Think about it: Everyone is hating on them right now for their possible implementation of this always-on feature on their next home console. So, when they do go and announce the next xbox, and say that they never had an always-on feature or that they "listened" to the gaming community and removed the feature, they come out of it as heroes. Their console might not have anything special, or maybe it'll be monster specs and features wise, we don't that. But when announced, people on the internet are going to be talking about whether it has any of those rumored restrictions such as always-on and used game blocking. It'll gain it a lot more publicity.

Maybe I'm thinking too much into it and maybe MS aren't really playing such dirty politics. But then again, this is a company that's been here for a long time, so they'll never want to intentionally alienate their users. I guess we'll find out around E3 time.

[monkey602]

I seriously don't think Microsoft will be stupid enough to remove the trade game market and hopefully this online required is bull too, but they won't be seen as heroes for announcing they revoked these requirements because of backlash when you think that the ps4 has already been stated to play second hand games and work offline, this has put that console in a positive light. They can't be seen as the people's saviours when the competition has gotten there before them.

[sourav93]

Yeah I guess that's a fair point. Like I said, I was probably thinking too much into it.

Politics like this have been used by many third world countries before. Right before an election, an electoral candidate of the ruling party and e.g. the national water supply company would get together and increase the cost 15% (the candidate's involvement is kept secret). The public get outraged and the politicians are put on the spot. Then the electoral candidate, who caused the increase in the first place, would then drop the price increase to 5%. He appears as a hero to the public, and the water company get a price hike anyways. So you see where I was coming from.

Anyways, I hope MS understands the risks of having such features, and how it'll affect them in the future.

[Clarence]

Really arrogant attitude by M$, but Xbox fans put up with RROD. M$ knows they will put up with this.

[Jaqen_Hghar]

and a price hike on an online subscription fee that was already $50 more than the competition (steam, Wii, and PSN). Honestly when will these fans wake up and see themselves being taken advantage of?

[Zeusprototype]

When is willingly paying for a service being taken advantage off. Do you realize you sony fany boys care more about are subscription fee's then we do?

[Jaqen_Hghar]

When every other piece of hardware offers it free, a man believes that is taking advantage of the user, especially when so many games require online to get the real experience these days. A man would not have bought as many games at full price this generation if he were setting aside $60 just to do what should be free (also he would not be able to use any of the apps that are mentioned so much or enjoy indie titles on Arcade without paying). A man is no Sony fanboy. A man supports the Nintendo, Steam, AND Sony strategy of offering free online. A man can't compare PS+ because it is merely offering hundreds of dollars of awesome content and still lets you play online and access apps and store without paying.

[kenshiro100]

I don't think this silence is good.

[RuleofOne343]

The silence is madding , but weather official or not . I will be getting the next Xbox no matter what

[vigilante_man]

Microsoft are NOT playing it cool with their silence.

They are playing catch up with Sony's hardware. Let's face it Sony caught everyone off guard with their early announcement. Great move!

Microsoft's hardware must not of been as good. 66% of Sony's if the rumours are to be believed. That's a massive lead to give your competitor.

"Holy Crap! We gotta change some stuff here..". I would of done the same thing. Look how hard core the PS4 seems to be for GAMES.

So please remember folks that we all owe Sony a great deal when we play our PS4/XBox 720s next gen. They have pushed the next-gen console bar to great heights..

[ThatsGaming]

What is hurting ms? everyone is talking about the next xbox, not the ps4...

yes it is negative, but obviously ms thinks they have it covered otherwise they would say something to stop the discussion.

[urwifeminder]

Glad its great news to see so many gamers intrested in what MS are doing classic fear of the unknown well played.

[Zeusprototype]

Iv been browsing these forums alot recently and all i ever see is xbox hate. xbox hate based on 2nd hand rumours hate based on a console that t technically doesn't exist it makes me giggle people agreeing with each other, getting so caught up in there hate that they discuss speculation as facts.

I personally have been xbox this generation (playstation +sega the previous)but i have owned a playstation 3...i just preferred the feel of Xbox live the fact that it felt i was actually gaming with friends.

i feel myself being drawn to the ps4 this time around, not based on any bullsh*t rumours or because i convinced my self the new xbox will never make a hardcore game like a lot of the ps4 fan boys think but because its qualities speak more for it then a bunch of keyboard warriors, panting off of there own hate.