How Gamers Unknowingly Saved the Industry and Games as a Medium

Gamers standing up for what they believe is the perfect industry may have helped more than they knew.

[cyguration]

No, it wasn't unknowingly...we were all well aware of the crap that they tried putting on us and the industry they tried to kill with greed.

[Reverent]

After the reception EA had with SimCity, Microsoft should have known what would happen. Of course the same thing happened to them, and as a side effect, we don't have to deal any of it now.

I thank the internet.

[jeffgoldwin]

Was more to do with lack of pre-order sales than it was raging over the interwebs.

[cleft5]

Yep, everyone knew exactly what was up. People need to give gamers a lot more credit, we aren't all a bunch of underage kids that know nothing and only care about CoD, mind you I do like CoD. We are some of the most intelligent and savvy consumers out there.

[admiralvic]

Exactly.

If people weren't aware of why they should do something, then no one would have done it.

[SegaSaturn669]

To save the industry, Don Mattrick must be sacrificed to the great Sega Sanshiro.

[RiPPn]

He may be moved in tomorrows big Microsoft shake up, lets hope!!

[SegaSaturn669]

That would be music to my ears! Here's hoping.

[cyguration]

Dang this post was prophetic:

http://n4g.com/news/1294585...

The great and wise Sega Saturn really knocked it out of the box on this one.

[Gigaguy777]

And killed the best form of game-sharing there ever was.

[GreenRanger]

@ Gigaguy777
I think you mean demo-sharing.

[SilentNegotiator]

Even if it was what everyone initially thought, that means that people would be sharing games among TEN PEOPLE.

In what world does that "solve" used games? Do people really think that the average used copy of a game is kicked around TEN TIMES?

[LocutusEstBorg]

*form of piracy.

[ltachiUchiha]

If that was a true fact I dont see why wouldnt it be hard for them to give free games to xbl users now for paying for the service like ps plus. U know why because for the simple fact. GREED & they rather make something out of it then nothing. Thats how microsoft has always been. Its nothing new for their business practice.

[aLucidMind]

Gamers didn't kill it, Microsoft did. It is very easy to do their family sharing plan without the always-online requirement. Microsoft was just pissed that they had to ditch their scam or wind up with only 1/3 of people buying their console over PS4, so they took their shiniest toy and went home to tell everyone how evil the cruel, selfish gamers are.

[jeffgoldwin]

Always-online meant a 1-2 sec ping once per 24 hours. U did know that right?

[aLucidMind]

Yes, I did know that; that is why I never had a problem with the once-per-day check itself. I had the problem with the restrictions they put on damn near everything, which they claimed was BECAUSE of their always-online requirements as well as both their lie about family sharing requiring those restrictions+always-online and insinuations that WE, the gamers, took it from everyone.

No need for you to take a condescending tone when (1) literally everybody knows that and (2) I never said it was anything but what you and Microsoft stated.

[nosferatuzodd]

Their are some Xbox fanboys that was saying drm is the future this and that I'd like to see the looks on there faces now to all the none bias Xbox fans out there that see this danger 1up to you cuz you guys help save gaming
If it was up to the xbots everyone would be drinking DRM for tea right now

[No_Limit]

I for once need to thank Sony fans. If they would have kept their mouth shut and not trolling every xbox sites and articles with negativity and just play along and pretend the DRM is a good thing, MS would have stay on course and I would have second thought about the Xbox1 and might get a PS4 instead. Now, I am so happy that the system is DRM free and I can go ahead and feel good about my purchase.

[ddurand1]

it has nothing to do with sony fans.

that decision was bad for all gamers everywhere.

[nosferatuzodd]

Yep you're right every gamer benefited from this except No Limit classic Xbot terminator cclv213 model manufactured by Microsoft sss

[admiralvic]

"it has nothing to do with sony fans. "

That is highly debatable, since N4G is a predominantly pro Sony site. Why is this important you ask? Well writing an article attacking the Xbox's DRM was very easy degrees on N4G, which in turn means you probably got a lot of reads. This also caused a lot of people to see the articles, but come the end of the day, you're right.

While you might write off this reason, there are / were some people that supported the Xbox One's DRM. One of those was the EiC of the site I use to write for (he mostly supported it because he was a reviewer and it wouldn't affect him. Sadly, that is pretty much a direct quote too...) and a few other people that enjoyed the things the DRM added.

Obviously this didn't happen because the 'righteous' Sony fans valiantly saved the 'pathetic' Xbox rubes from the damning fate M$ wanted (Sadly I feel I need to note this is a joke...), but it's silly to believe that they didn't play a part in preventing it.

[WeAreLegion]

...and he's still going to buy it.

Ladies and gentlemen

I present to you...

...a fool!

[heihoosilver]

Shhhhh...
You shouldn't tell people who you are, some realy bad people in the net, molesters and so...
Let people have their choices and be happy.

[WeAreLegion]

Clever, but it looks like I won that charade.

[heihoosilver]

Fair to me.
This time ill pick first Ps4 and 1 year or so later pick a Xbone.
Maybe we meet in PS+.
Good Gaming.

[ltachiUchiha]

See thats what xbox extremists believe but the true fact is if microsoft succeeded with this, the future for all gamers as a whole would change drastically because every corp would follow that trend what microsoft was trying to pull off & it would only get worse. Im glad even those who love their 360 but wasnt going to take the bs microsoft was trying to pull off took a stand aswell. Just proves the power us gamers have can be heard & change even the biggest corporates in the world. Dont bite the hands that feeds u.

[CalvinKlein]

I think it would have failed and served as a lesson on what not to do. I think what you said could come true if sony had done the same stuff, but as long as sony wasnt going tho then the xbox1 would fail.

I think the new xbox will still struggle but it would have been DOA if they hadnt reversed their policies.

[pixelsword]

@ No:

could you troll Sony about the pay to play, maybe?

:D]]

(mah fat guy with double chinz)

[CalvinKlein]

well sony fanboys love to bash MS no matter what so when MS does stuff that is actually retarded you can be sure they will complain and bash them to no end.

If they were smart they would have praised MS and then the xbox brand that they hate so would be in an even worse position and flop harder than it is going to already.

Im not big on what ive seen from xbox1 but there is no doubt in my mind that it wouldnt matter much for the industry if they had gone through with it(as long as sony didnt follow them). It could have actually been good for the industry to witness the xbox1 fail so badly because of its BS that they would learn a lesson. There is no doubt in my mind that the ps4 will dominate next gen anyways, but it would have been total domination if ms had stuck with their policies. Devs would have had to go to the DRM less ps4 just to get the potential of sales, thats how bad it would have been.

FOr reference, I ave all xbox and ps systems and hate sony fanboys. Im open to xbox consoles and have no desire for the new one at all still. That is how bad MS is doing now. They clearly forgot how hard it is to actually sell consoles, kinda like sony with the ps3 launch or nintendo with the wiiu. With all the big 3 success clearly goes straight to their head and they need to be put in their place before they change their ways.

Right now sony is not doing this "for gamers," they are doing it because the ps4 is their best chance to help their struggling company and ms/nintendo are making it very easy for them. In the coming years ms will have to work harder to sell anywhere near as much consoles/software as 360 did, and in the process they will either kiss our asses or exit the gaming industry.

[Furesis]

it goes the other way around too

[Hicken]

Yes, it was only Sony fans, and all they were doing was trolling. They didn't actually care about how what Microsoft was planning could negatively affect gaming. /s

[MikeMyers]

Fair point but what are 'Sony fans' doing now? Many certainly don't seem to be very positive about the Xbox One even though the DRM for disc games is now dropped. Even though multiplayer being behind a paywall isn't as much of a concern anymore now that Sony is doing it on the PS4. Even though they showed a lot of exclusives for core gamers and not much in the way of casual Kinect titles.

Instead what we have are 'Sony fans' continuing doing what they do best, make sure the Xbox One is the least amount of threat to the PS4 as possible.

[iceman06]

@MikeMyers...to be fair, this is what fanboys do!!! You are lashing out at a WIDE fan base and it's actually a minority that is your trouble...the fanboys. Now when you come to a forum, the chances of concentrating these fanboys is higher than in the real world. Plus, the voices of this DRM issue were not just Sony fans. It was Xbox fans as well. Now, you STILL hear these same fans voicing their mistrust in the company that tried to pull a fast one on them. Some Xbox fans are just shocked that people will forget that so fast because MS has shifted it's focus.
In the end, fans don't care what YOU play or espouse. However, fanboys of ALL systems will ALWAYS be waiting to click away. That's pretty much their sole reason for coming to N4G.

[urwifeminder]

I agree I now hold sony fans in a higher regard their constant barrage of social media sites and countless articles really made ms change I know ms gamers are not as vocal or bother to go on sites voting about consoles they are all playing most of the time.

[Imalwaysright]

Oh so Sony fans were the ones that did not pre-order the X1? Face it, it weren't just Sony fans that did not want to bendover, it was consumers in general. The only people that were ok with MS anti-consumer policies were MS fanboys that will forgive and defend MS no matter how many times they kick them in the nuts.

[kneon]

Yes there are plenty of hard core Sony fans that just would never ever order an Xbox, but they did go out and order a PS4.

If they were both doing poorly then Microsoft may not have changed anything. But the orders were so massively in Sony's favor that Microsoft had to do something.

[levian]

Like other people have said, it was the entire gaming community. I'm not a Sony fanboy, but I've had mostly Sony gaming systems. I had a 360 for a year and a half till it died.

I wasn't going to get the XBone after hearing the DRM. I love collecting my favourite games, and the XBone would have made those obsolete in 10 or so years. Now, I'll actually consider getting one for some really awesome looking exclusives I resigned myself to not playing.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

Regardless of which console you play, a rip-off is a rip-off. It amazes me how many people on this site fly in the face of FACTS.
Ranting about them, ignoring them or just plain denial NEVER changes them.

[Scarecrow411]

Nice article. I enjoyed reading it but it ended abruptly. And yup, I played Chrono Trigger in my DS.

[nix]

Unknowingly?

Nope.

[PirateThom]

Reminder: Microsoft are still the same company who tried to impliment these restrictions. Nothing has changed, it's still their end game.

[aLucidMind]

Don't forget that their terms and conditions explicitly state, in a line of text isolated from the rest (which shows they wanted the line to be prominent) "Microsoft has the right to change any terms or features at any time".

While I will give MS props if they do not, it is possible that they might wind up pulling a bait-and-switch several years down the road.

[iceman06]

So true. I can't buy a company spending 4 years of developing a console, business plan, and vision and just scrapping the whole idea. It's their vision of the future. Hard to see them letting that go.

[sAVAge_bEaST]

We gotta fight,,.. for our right.,.. to paarttyyy & g4me.

[nix]

next up - PRISM.