The first week after the fateful E3 press conferences is now in the past. Shots were fired and returned, and preorders for both the PS4 and the Xbox One are open in many countries.
Who is faring better so far? DualShockers set out to search the top sellers and preorders lists of the most popular online retailers in quite a few of the countries where the two consoles will be available at launch.
Daniyal from eXputer: "Dragon Ball FighterZ was so close to a revival but ineffective communication and a dubious launch of an anticipated update botched that hope."
IGN: "We talk to Yoko Taro and Hyung-Tae Kim about the ways that Stellar Blade is inspired by NieR: Automata, comparisons between EVE and 2B, and much more."
From my perspective, there are three critical mistakes that Microsoft have made with the Xbox One.
First
The whole stance on DRM/Used Games is the strangest and most ironic of the three mistakes. In various articles I’ve seen the XOne called futuristic and forward thinking. But if this is true, why didn’t Microsoft realize that the DRM/Used Game issue will eventually disappear on its own? Currently I have a PS3. Sometimes I buy disc based games, and sometimes I download them when I can get them at a discount or for convenience. I expect to be able to sell and trade my disc games, and I don’t expect that of my downloads. And over time, I am downloading more and more. See? This issue will naturally go away as we move into the future! So if Microsoft was so forward thinking, why didn’t they recognize this and just leave the issue alone. Better to potentially alienate a segment of your customer base?
Second
The unveiling event for the XOne was a colossal mistake. Not the event itself, but how they focused on the non-gaming aspects of the device. Much of this has been said already, but I think two things stand out for me and bear repeating. The most obvious is that the people who will buy the XOne are gamers, so that aspect always needs to go first and be emphasized. The media elements come next and should have been presented as a bonus. As with the first argument above, Microsoft seems to be tone deaf to their customer base for no apparent reason. But then there’s this: as cool as the media elements are, I can’t shake the feeling that there will be a box from Apple or Roku in a year to two down the line that will do the best aspects of what the XOne can do for $100. Why would I pay $500 for that? Well, I might if I were a gamer and the features were just an add-on to my system. Which again, makes Microsoft’s approach to marketing the console seem misguided and sloppy.
Third
I can’t shake the wonder that maybe Microsoft doesn’t really want to be in the gaming market at all. Do I really believe this? No. Of course they want to be here. But the thought occurs to me when I see what Sony is doing. Let’s be frank here. Sony is a large corporation with a track record of bad decisions and trying to force customers into their way of thinking (especially as it pertains to proprietary formats and really pushing their media acquisitions). They didn’t look like that at the PS4 unveiling and at E3 did they? They look like an upstart company, doing whatever it takes to win. They know Microsoft is their target, thanks to Nintendo’s strategy of self-irrelevance. They can’t wait to talk about how their product is better than their competitors, and is probably making decisions directly based on what Microsoft has done (I wonder how many such decisions were actually made after the XOne E3 presentation?). Sony is the fighter that’s telling me “I want your business and will only make decisions that I know will make you happy”. Microsoft seems to be saying, “jeepers, we think we’re really cool and you should be on board with us”. An oversimplification of the two positions? Of course, but I’m not that far from the truth, am I?
Ultimately, I think Sony and Microsoft deserve to be in the position they are in right now. Sony is fine and can sit back and wait. Microsoft needs a direction change between now and November. If they continue to act the way I have described, there will be no change, and they will get crushed in 2013. If they can address these issues, then maybe they can level the playing field. It would all come down to whether gamers believed they were sincere or not. That doesn’t seem to be a question for Sony at the moment.
It begins. PlayStation mania is back baby (it really never left) but you know the level I mean! ;p
LOL What's going on in Canada? I know the PS4 is sold out, but come on! don't go to the dark side.
Don't forget all the countries where the Xbox isn't launching.
as bad as the news is for the xbox one its sad to thing this is only about 20% of how bad the ps3 got it, aw man i cant help but look back at the early days of the ps3, who else remembers the comparisons where they would edit and use the best possible tv/settings for the 360 but use scart and the worst possible tv for ps3 etc aw funny stuff.