Xbox 720: Why Microsoft Can’t Afford Bad Publicity

"Recently, rather infamously, a Microsoft employee took to twitter to vent his frustration at fans who did not like the idea of an ‘always-online’ Xbox 720 console. " | Explosion.com

[wishingW3L]

what's done is done. All there is left if for them to finally announce the console and clarify things if there's anything to be clarified.

[NukaCola]

Yeah, this lack of defense just seals the deal for a failure.

[iGAM3R-VIII]

@NukaCola Well it would be best for MS to not say anything so that the gamers would still be in doubt if the 720 would be 'always online' and it would still not be official, so MS were smart,... for once about not saying anything

Anyway I agree with the article, MS really can't do anything bad now and really have to try their best. If they keep having incidents like this, people just are not going to buy into it

[MikeMyers]

"Yeah, this lack of defense just seals the deal for a failure."

Sensationalism at its best. Nothing is sealed but these rumors are not helping. On top of that Windows 8 and the Surface are not doing very well. Ballmer should leave the company and let someone else take charge.

[Knight_Crawler]

Wow...talk about free advertisement - MS would be nutz not to go with the 720 name, this thing has not even been announced yet but 90% of gamers are talking about it.

MS E3 will be the most watched and talked about E3 conference since haters and fans want to know if this is true.

Well I am hyped but hope we can play games with out being online...if anything we have to thank all the PS fans since they are the ones that seem more concern about this than XBox fans - thank you PS fans for making MS know that you dont like this idea and making them not add it.

[NastyLeftHook0]

lol hahaha, i know alot of people put lol on the internet asjust a phrase but i literally am laughing my ass on in real lif at the free advertisement line.

[LOGICWINS]

^^Whats funny? It's true. MS will look very pro consumer when they debunk this rumor. Then we'll get vids on Youtube about how MS cares for gamers. It's a strategic move by MS. Why others can't see that is a mystery?

They aren't commenting now because they WANT this hooplah to continue. They want the 720 to continue being in the minds of people(negative or positive), then later in the month, they will dismiss the "always on" rumors.

If Microsoft wants to take full advantage of this opportunity, they will announce a single player initiative with at least 2 new exclusive offline RPGs for the 720 a month before E3.

They'll say something along the lines of "We understand, unlike our competition(referring to Gaikai) that the world isn't ready for an "always online" gaming experience, so we have ventured into several offline projects"

[punisher99]

" thank you PS fans for making MS know that you dont like this idea and making them not add it. "

Why would any real gamer in their right mind like that idea???

[GamersRulz]

you guys don't remember 2005 do you? after xbox360 released all the media shifted its attention to PS3. there is nothing special, people like rumors and speculations. if it was the X720 that was announced Feb 20th, all media will focus on PS4 (naturally). the same happened with Samsung S4 and iphone5.

[dcbronco]

Logic

I think they aren't commenting because they are more then confident in the machine they have designed. They know gamers will posture more than most and once a better machine launches only the fanboys will continue to hate on Microsoft.

[rainslacker]

We've been talking about the 720 for years. Don't you find it odd though that in the past month or so the only thing we've been talking about is overwhelmingly negative, whereas all the Sony press has been overwhelmingly positive. I doubt it's all because of some fan boy conspiracy, and the thoughts on this issue seem to be pretty unanimous on both sides of the fence.

You think people are going to tune out the Sony conference because of this? There are more unknowns with Sony right now, and quite frankly, given how much positivity there is surrounding PS4, it seems more people would rather see that than see if they should care about Xbox.

The only thing I can concede is that more people may tune into MS conference now to see if it is a true sinking ship. But likely the minds of many are going to be made up long before E3. MS can use this to their advantage, but only if they had the intention to do this in the first place. It's highly unlikely they're going to change their vision for the Xbox at this point in time.

@logic
At this point it's hard to say. People could just come out and say that MS got scared and changed their mind. I find that to much more likely. If they debunk the rumor, it won't matter really what was true in the first place. As I said above, most people will make up their minds long before E3.

MS could certainly turn it around. Take note of what people are saying and address concerns, or move to make the system the ultimate gaming machine. But at this point, if it isn't already, it's going to be hard to make that happen between now and E3. It's not really as simple as just saying "recode the software".

[rhcpfan]

Guys, most gamers out there don't even follow gaming news... N4G is not real life.

[jronj]

All will be forgiven if they show great games coming out for the system.

[aceitman]

They will show halo , gears of war, forza , and a cod game.

[stage88]

You're kidding right?

Even if MS shows great core games I'm still not buying one.
Why? Because this gen they had core games at the start then half way through they said a massive F U to everyone and started releasing all casual titles.

I will not fall for the same trap again.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

[MNGamer-N]

No one wants to play kinect

[Rush]

You mean like Sony did with the Playstation Move?

Only difference is Kinect actually caught on, if move had of proved successful for Sony I wonder if you would be making the counter argument.

[nthstew]

like what forza again, halo 5? , gears of war? ,fable or Alan wake .. I will pass..
I better buy ps4 for uncharted,resistance,jack and Dexter, ratchet and clank, infamous,killzone, last guardian ,gran tourismo , god of war and many more

[Jek_Porkins]

People wont remember this after they announce the next console and it isn't DRM, because there wont be anything to remember.

I think the fact that everyone is talking up the next Xbox is a great thing for Microsoft, that just means everyone and their mother will be watching the Microsoft reveal when they finally decide to do one.

[greenpowerz]

This isn't doing anything but hurting Sony's hype and helping MSFT bring awareness and anticipation to the 720(good and bad, doesn't matter. Now the Xbox will have more people waiting to see the xbox than ever possible without the rumors. The media will be flooded with whatever MSFT announces.

The xbox brand attacks helped the 360 before it was announced by bringing so much attention to it. Then all MSFT had to do is announce the xbox 360 with features never seen before and after that you couldn't find a 360 to buy until after April the following year, in some places.

I see this backfiring on the trolls feeding this fire hurting Sony in the end.

All this Online nonsense picked back up after the months old rumor about the 720 having two GPU's was brought back into the spotlight after being planted on April 1st to try and discredit the rumor/leak. I mean the next day.

This 720 attention is going to hurt Sony bad after the 720 is announced with different or misunderstood specs.

For all we know what is being talked about, is simply a dev kit feature/security to track all devs with 720 games and hardware if not completely made up. MSFT would have to have a super computer console to overcome the consumers that would be lost because of not having internet.

[Gamer-40]

Microsoft needs to quickly response?
Why?
Sad, but always-online and blocked used games 100% true.
That's the problem and no response.

[hard joe]

they already did

[StreetsofRage]

So much talk about a console that hasn't even been officially announced.

Kudos Microsoft.

[SDF Repellent]

WOW...I never thought this day would come...MS news dominating Front page on N4G!!! Well played and nice marketing scheme MS, well done.

[WillM17]

Did anyone notice that they are scared of Sony. They would not keep it a secret for so long if they were not. It may be early to say this, but the next-gen is the PS4