Mehdi On Public Reaction: "Kind Of As We Expected"

(CNN) -- "This is a big change, consumers don't always love change, and there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand."

[a_bro]

Microsoft Damage Control in all of its glory.

[US8F]

LOL, change should be progressive and not enforced in one go. Honestly, they are so dumb!. Same as the dreamcast, it was so powerful at its time and look where its at right now!. The wise learns from others mistakes and the stupid keeps doing it again and again and again

You justifying buying the Xbox because it offers the steam model is so stupid. How is ps4 not doing it digitally? What's wrong with having the best of both worlds, whoever wants the steam model can go ahead and download digitally and whoever wants disc based can play from disc.

It's the Kinect monitoring crap, check ins and limiting the trade of disc to a select few retailers which doesn't give the original purchaser full ownership is where the problem lies. If you can't see that then your heads are so deep in the sand.

As for discounts, hahaha. Come on, discounts happen in both digital and physical. Meh, if a publisher wants to make more money and he thinks digitally is the way he can do that in PS4 too. Like I said variety is the key. If you enjoy restricting yourself to one method then all power to you.

DON'T SHOVE THINGS DOWN OUR THROATS!, WE ARE ADULTS NOT KIDS! Heck, even if you force a kid to do something he doesn't believe in, he will develop an inner hypocritical nature and that is not good for either party.

Bad business practices, and it takes people with guts to admit mistakes, apparently not Microsoft.

[MikeMyers]

It is progressive. We had games up to about $20 be very successful like Journey and Limbo, both came out digitally (but later on disc as well). We've had season passes to enable DLC packs and we also had online passes both EA and Sony adopted to help alleviate used games. Now we have platforms like Steam and Apple be fully digital with no used market. The Xbox One is in the middle of that. It is treating disc based games sort of like digital but also a controlled used market. It also allow 10 family members who can share the whe game library with one another. Something disc games don't do now and if they do 10 people cannot all log on their own accounts, Xbone will.

The bottom line is this, if you don't want to support this type of format don't. A company like Valve survives regardless of people wanting used games and other benefits discs can provide.

[abzdine]

what he believes is good isn't necessarily good! their policy has only drawbacks since the early rumors from end of last year! I cannot see any going back for them.
And if they believe digital is better why didnt they release a disc free console instead? Wasn't the PSP Go a proof enough of the market's needs? they should have learnt from that.

Greatness awaits
4>1

[HammadTheBeast]

@MikeMyers

When they charge $10 for new games, I'll gladly give up used games. Until then, they can **** off.

[bviperz]

@Mike

Then when what's the point of owning an Xbox? Just stick to PC. It's already doing DRM like the Xbox is, so why is Microsoft trying to force it on the console as well? Sharing libraries is a cool feature, but how will that affect game sales? How do you think developers will react when they realize that each copy sold could potentially be 1/10 of what it should be? Why buy more when you can share your copy with 10 people? The irony is, it's just like pirating, which I think is why the put the system in place to begin with, to try and combat it.

[DARK WITNESS]

" It also allow 10 family members who can share the whe game library with one another. Something disc games don't do now and if they do 10 people cannot all log on their own accounts, Xbone will. "

This is possibly the stupidest thing I have read in defense of this crap so far... did you really believe all that?

when my brother lends me a game to play, do you think I login to HIS account on my xbox to play the game.. or do I just pop the disc into MY console and play the game on MY account which is already signed in? I get pick up any disc game from any of my friends and play it on MY account on My console for as long as I like. I am not just limited to 10 people either.

The only.. only advantage is the geographical one. thats all. if my friend happens to live in a different country then ya, it's a + but nothing else.

[MikeMyers]

@abzdine
"And if they believe digital is better why didnt they release a disc free console instead?"

1. Some people have data constraints and downloading 50GB games simply isn't feasible to many. You can now install the full game and a copy is applied to the cloud.

2. That copy to the cloud can now be access by you on other Xbox One systems as long as you log in.

3. You can sell that disc, digital copies can't be.

4. You can give a copy to a friend (one time only), you can't with a digital copy.

5. Up to 10 family members on the Xbox One can access your game library from anywhere and on another Xbox One and they can do it logged into their accounts.

@HammadTheBeast
"When they charge $10 for new games, I'll gladly give up used games. Until then, they can **** off."

Even new games on Steam aren't that cheap. Nor are new games on the PS3, Xbox 360 online stores. However now that used games can be monitored better they could be priced more competitively like we see on Amazon and Steam.

@bviperz
"Sharing libraries is a cool feature, but how will that affect game sales? How do you think developers will react when they realize that each copy sold could potentially be 1/10 of what it should be?"

All used game sales now have no proceeds going back to the publisher. This policy is also up to 3rd party publishers to support or not. Microsoft Studios will. We also don't know the full details on how many people can play the same game at the same time. It's probably two, you and one other persona at a time. When people loan games none of that goes towards publishers now either. So even if it's 1/10th it's still better than nothing which is what they see now.

@DARK WITNESS
"when my brother lends me a game to play, do you think I login to HIS account on my xbox to play the game.. or do I just pop the disc into MY console and play the game on MY account which is already signed in? I get pick up any disc game from any of my friends and play it on MY account on My console for as long as I like. I am not just limited to 10 people either."

No, you're not. But how do you play that disc while he plays? From my understanding another person can play as well from your library and there are no disc swapping going on. Your copy is stored to your hard drive and he can access your games. Again this needs to be explained in detail better, I am just going by what I heard that Spencer guy say from Microsoft. It also saves you from getting your game back whenever you want. This makes it much more convenient but on the other hand discs (on other systems) can be shared with anyone.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

"This is a big change, consumers don't always love change, and there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand."

We know what the word "restrict" means MS. You don't need a masters degree to know what the hells going on with the X1.

[StanSmith]

Agreed. This quote has pissed me off though.

"This is a big change, consumers don't always love change, and there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand."

So it's my fault Microsoft that you are trying to take my consumer rights? It's my fault that I won't buy your glorified rental machine?

Good grief! Sony's arrogance when announcing the PS3 wasn't even as bad as this. MS have freaking lost it. To announce all these anti-consumer policies, high price tag and then tell me i'm uneducated. Can they be anymore offensive?

They claimed on stage they were listening. They claimed to be for gamers. Now, the people who they listened to and are for, are uneducated. You can't make this stuff up!

[zeee]

Did they? I mean, I thought for a while that they didn't. If they did and still went ahead with pi**sng off their fan-base then I am not even going to feel sorry for MS anymore!

Seriously, I want the big three companies to be making a good profit but to know that what you are doing is anti-consumer and that people won't like it and to still go ahead with that is like showing you a big middle finger.

[Ju]

But listen. You don't understand. Let me explai....

<runs ducking>

[SquareEnixFan]

Poor consumers don't know whats best for us. Thankfully we have MS to show us the way.

[haymoza]

Microsoft is literally shooting all its limbs, not just its foot.

[Chapter11]

"We knew we were screwing people over, we just didn't give a shit"

[Mikeyy]

Pretty much. Where has greenpowerz been to defend this insanity?

[MysticStrummer]

How many companies invest years and millions developing a product and then expect this kind of reaction, not only from consumers but from federal officials in various countries?

That would be... none.

As Lewis Black joked, when the germans call your product a twisted nightmare you might want to consider taking another pass at it.

EDIT - I know that joke is more about Kinect than what this article is talking about, but since Kinect is built in it's applicable.

[WolfOfDarkness]

Microsoft cant force the customers to buy Xbox One or any of there products ! The customers not stupid ! If Xbox one ( more powerful, No DRM , No Region locked , No always connected to Internet and cheaper than PS4 ) People will BUY it and will love Microsoft products too .

[Slapshot82]

"...ultimately consumers will decide which is better."

Yes. Yes the consumers will most definitely decide which is better. And it's funny that he states this in this interview after he himself maintains an authoritative attitude throughout the majority of the interview. Do you know what *not* to do when you're trying to sell a product? (Hint...hint)

[AceofStaves]

"there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure people understand."

The problem you're having with the One is not that people don't understand. It's the opposite. We understand the restrictions the console places on our gaming habits and experiences. And thanks to the Snowden leaks regarding the PRISM program, some of us aren't comfortable with having a mandatory voice activated 3-D camera in our homes.

[MWH]

expect this:

[MWH]

...

[OrangePowerz]

For something they expected they where piss poor prepared for it.

[Skynetone]

Mehdi hinted that the digital rights management transition might unlock some more interesting game access and distribution methods later on.

"In the future, you can imagine the capability to have different licensing models, different ways that people have to access games. This all gets unlocked because of digital

ill translate: in the future you will be even more xboned

[cyhm3112]

What Microsoft trying to do now is to try to fool those people that are even stupider than themselves. This is damage control at its best, but it looks like they aren't even good at damage control, they are really THAT stupid!

[ArtificiallyYours]

"consumers don't always love change"

This part never gets old, I bet this'll be their defense on future backlash. Good luck following the FOX News protocols of rhetoric.

[SpinalRemains]

I am telling all of you.

MS PR people have a Goebbels playbook.

Their propaganda and spin is absolutely epic! They get their moves from the master.

[kenshiro100]

It's sad that they believe the crap that they're spewing out right now.

[Information Minister]

PROTIP: People love change when it benefits them.