Adam Orth, Microsoft Creative Director Deletes LinkedIn Account

Gadgehit.com writes: "Adam Orth, a Microsoft Games Studios creative director who caused a massive row on Twitter, Neogaf and several other gaming websites when he dismissed ‘Always Online’ DRM as a major issue in gaming, has now not only protected his tweets on Twitter, but has also removed his account from the professional network, LinkedIn. Orth’s profile, which appears to have been removed in the last few days at most, linked the man to Microsoft, which is probably why it has now been removed."

[Pushagree]

Clearly trying to damage control the situation. Pretend he doesn't exist and soon enough he won't according to Microsoft.

[RyuCloudStrife]

next move, live under a rock.

[aCasualGamer]

You know, i'm starting to think maybe Microsoft won't release an "always online" system integration in their next console. Why?

Because a company that big, with all that money and all those investors... Would they really be that naive to think it will stop piracy? Piracy which is pretty much non existent on consoles. They would hurt so many sales of the consoles, even if it did stop piracy all together, they would loose money on it. So, there is no logic to it. It would be mind-numbingly illogical.

I just don't see it. So what is all the fuss about then on the debug units? I think it's probably to keep someone from opening and disecting the units or even steal them? I don't know, but come E3.. either Microsoft is neutral again or they will loose the console war before it has even started.

[Muffins1223]

I see you took Spongebob's strategy when he tryed to get away from Sandy..

[MikeMyers]

Not sure if they should fire the guy. He didn't mention the new Xbox did he?

[shivvy24]

I'll Deal with it and get a PS4 ! :)

[NukaCola]

The account just doesn't show up because he must of lost an internet connection for more than 3 minutes.

This is either the biggest mistake MS could ever make or the greatest trolling. They say no publicity is bad publicity, but I can't see anything good that comes out of this.

[crxss]

i LOVE the memes going around about this guy. i hope they keep coming

[Reverent]

#1. Rule of the internet... Don't be an ignorant douche bag.

Well, it might not be #1, but it's definitely up there.

[GenericNameHere]

So... it's perfectly fine to say he was an idiot for undermining the importance of not having DRM, blabber we his mouth, told people to "Deal With It", and is now getting fired by Microsoft... And to put the cherry on top, is now an "Unknown" guy according to MS??

Should have followed rule 101 of online business... Always watch what you post.

[BrianC6234]

Did he get fired or do you just assume that? He should at least get reprimanded. I'm not sure he did anything to get fired over unless he violated a Microsoft policy and they want to get rid of him.

[GenericNameHere]

Lol if a major MS exec fails to acknowledge one of their creative directors, and MS themselves have to speak up to prevent more blabber by the guy, AND this guy goes on to delete his social things, we can more than assume that this guy's career is in DEEP DOO-DOO, and is probably fired right now (or REALLY close to getting fired)

[BrianC6234]

Maybe Microsoft will just hide him a while and hope it settles down. I don't know a thing about him. Is he at least good at his job?

[Tultras]

I doubt he got fired, like you said he needs to violate a policy, companies can't just fire people depending on their mood.

Like Microsofts statement and common sense directs, the guy stated his personal opinion, he doesn't represent Microsoft.

[rainslacker]

Most companies as big as MS do have a code of ethics. They don't outright restrict you from voicing your opinion, but they usually won't allow you to speak in a manner that belittles the consumer or behave in a way that is demeaning to the company or others.

This guy was known as a MS Creative director, and his Twitter profile stated as much. As soon as he associated himself with MS, he is bound to behave in a professional manner. If nowhere on the net did he let his allegiance be known, then he could have said whatever he wanted.

That being said, most of these policies are pretty broad, and are made up so the company can fire someone if they believe they have cause. It's there to protect the company.

[Soldierone]

Hahahahaha! I would love to see him act like a hardarse now!

[Ezz2013]

MS cut the electricity off him so he can't turn on the vacuum and can't turn on the internet
http://assets.sbnation.com/...

[clintos59]

I found it funny that microsoft acting like they didnt know him hahaha.

[BrianC6234]

Maybe he'll eventually just disappear completely. I'm sure Microsoft would like that. I hope everyone learned a lesson from his mess. If you work at a company but aren't authorized to talk about something just don't. He really created a mess.

[rainslacker]

This is one scenario where he should have used the anonymity of the internet be his shield.

[Lone_Man]

it doesnt matter he stays or not..the main thing is "Always On" feature.adam orth is just a guy who is working for microsoft and as a good employee he tries to defend that shitty feature(but i think he doent know how to handle pressure and just blabber means things one after the another). Microsoft is trying very hard to disassociate from adam but it doesnt change the fact that durango will have the "Always On" Feature.

[JeffGUNZ]

What is so wrong with Always on? It's probably going to be similar to "sleep" function of a PC. I see this as when you power down, the system goes to a "sleep" like mode, real low energy mode (always on) and that way you can get system updates and game updates that are saved to HD while you're at work or out with your family, etc (always connected). If that's the case, then those features are great. It's poor journalists who are spinning it to needing an internet connection for the system to function, which makes no sense and MS would never do that.

[bbad]

so he could not "deal with it"

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

I will absolutely "deal with it" by laughing my butt off at your hilarious idiotic statements.
"IF MY ELECTRICITY GOES OUT FROM TIME TO TIME, I DONT BOYCOTT VAC. CLEANERS DO I?"

yeah, because peoples lousy $30 a month dsl is just as reliable as comed....

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Debacle.

[M-M]

Getting fired soon? Deal with it.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Like I said before, only in the game industry does companies make such asinine comments to their consumers which is why it will never be taken seriously.....

[FrigidDARKNESS]

He should be fired for this.

[hazelamy]

for somebody who believe in always on, he's doing a great job of taking himself offline.

live by the sword and all that. ^_^

[Snookies12]

Lol! Great response. The guy dug his own grave on this one. He could have just kept his mouth shut (which is what he should have done considering his position at MS).

[Agent_hitman]

#dealwithit let's go and tweet more with this hash tag.
Who know he might become an internet sensation.

[perfectCarbonara]

Oops ! You're out of a job Adam, how you gonna pay your ISP now Adam, how you gonna be always on Adam ?

[sourav93]

You are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Anyways, That vacuum cleaner statement never actually made sense. He said if the electricity is out, you shouldn't buy vacuum cleaner, as it won't vacuum without electricity - that is true. But when it comes to consoles, you need the internet to play the multiplayer aspects of the game; the single player should work perfectly without internet. So most of his "analogies" are utter bollocks,

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I think there was a bit of back and forth between "always on" and "always connected" ...they are different but often they are used in the same arguments to mean the same thing.

[Jek_Porkins]

In the day and ago of social media you need to be careful what your personal opinion is. I know it sound stupid, but you cant just spout off and not expect consequences.

It's the same thing if you take drunken pictures and put them on Facebook, I've heard of people getting fired for things like that, you just need to be careful and basically not have an opinion. I feel sorry for the guy because Tweets aren't endorsements and hist personal opinion might not have anything in common with Microsoft's thinking, unfortunately he now has no job and will probably be black listed.

[rainslacker]

A person is perfectly entitled to their opinion, so no reason to be careful. They should just be more conscious about how they spread that opinion given their situation.

It's one thing for us to go on about our opinions, because individually we're pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. What we do spurs discussion without any real ramifications most of the time.

It's another when one is known to hold a certain position, and represent a 3rd party(even if not directly), to go on about their opinion in a way that may be detrimental to said companies objectives.

I personally didn't find his opinion insulting, just the way he delivered it. I would have thought this regardless of who he was. The fact that he publicly acknowledged he held a high position within MS, means that one can infer he was talking on a subject that was related to MS. It may not be true of course, but he still should have considered his situation better. He knew what kind of people followed his twitter, and since he's probably not stupid, he probably knew how such a thing could be construed.

Think of it this way. For all my opinions and arguments on here, I can say whatever I want. If one day I became a hugely popular, or even a higher up within a game company, I would be quite concerned that people may see what my opinions are on here. I know when speaking publicly, everything I say will be held up to scrutiny. I wouldn't want something to come back and cause negative publicity either on myself, or the company I worked for, because it's just not professional.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

after the shit storm I don't blame him for pulling his linked in account, etc... No way would I want to be a target like he became. He did bring it on himself but still... I would be doing similar. Crawl under a rock and hopefully learn a lesson on how to behave in public forums/spaces when you work for a large consumer tech company.

[gaffyh]

It does seem like Microsoft will introduce a new Twitter / Social Media rule for their employees in the future.

[Sgt_Slaughter]

What if they set this up so come E3 and the Xbox 3 reveal, it is the complete opposite from the rumors...

Those clever bastards.

[KillrateOmega]

To all the MS fanboys, get used to seeing the above hashtag, because that sh*t isn't going anywhere for a while.