Xbox’s Biggest Flop Was A Decade Ahead Of Its Time

Microsoft’s plans for an always-online entertainment hub don’t seem so wild anymore.

[darthv72]

comments on this one should be interesting.

I'll start. i enjoyed the idea of what the XBO wanted to be. A central hub for all of your entertainment. They just went about it all wrong. It was pretty neat to do picture in picture and snapping different screens around but that was about it. Its performance was underwhelming. Its size was overwhelming. And its marketing was just... tone deaf.

Making the needed changes to correct course took a while but at least they did actually do something instead of stick their fingers in their ears at all the criticism and stay the original course. Every company goes through a learning spurt. And it always seems to be during their third console outing. Usually the third time is the charm but I guess that just does not apply to gaming.

[gold_drake]

i agree that they went about it all the wrong ways.

they should have made it about Gaming first and then be like "oh bee tee dubs (btw) you can do all this other shizz too. cause its a great hardware"

but they went with Media first and games second.

[Cacabunga]

Series is an even bigger flop..

[Hofstaderman]

And even now that they going games first its adoption rate is unsustainable, they lost the goodwill of their 360 crowd and they have been getting absolutely creamed in sales. Come in with a "we going to dominate this industry attititude" without putting in actual work in the form of games, this is what happens. XBOX deserves its 2027 and so do all the idiots that cheered for all their policies up to this point. Cest La Vie.

[Lightning77]

@Hof I know you ppl want them gone so bad so only one remains (not counting Nintendo, they don't compete the same way PS does)

Murmurs of the next Xbox is well underway from what Ive been reading. Not like it matters, another console shouldn't affect your favorite console, but here we are I guess.

[Einhander1972]

You're clearly avoiding talking about the controversial stuff.

Ya know like tying disk based games to your account or using always online kinect to spy on you and sell what you said to advertisers and who knows who else.

[Eonjay]

The premise here is contrived and misleading. Xbox's plans for an always online hub was not a flop. Literally everything else was.

[crazyCoconuts]

Exactly. They didn't get the gaming part right.
Compared to PS they were under powered and over priced and the games were underwhelming

[DaleCooper]

I miss the HDMI IN and using Kinect for voice controls - never really cared for the camera part of Kinect. Now I have a Fire TV Cube and use that for voice controls.

I do feel a lot of the features were ahead of their time, but they did not put enough processing power behind it, and they charged too much when compared to their competition. I still liked Xbox One, but it was a big misstep when you directly compared it to PS4, which was cheaper, more powerful, and focused on games over other media.

[DarXyde]

I'll say this because I feel very strongly about the matter:

Any attempt to digitize without proper consideration on consumer rights deserves to be burned to the ground.

I get it, we're living through it now anyway and people generally don't seem to care that they're paying full price for a license that can be revoked at any time. Fully get that. But I see the office acceptance of what's happening now as the general public being uninformed on the matter. People were very informed on what the Xbox One's plan was, and it was roundly rejected.

I don't think that changes now.

[-Foxtrot]

Can we stop trying to rewrite history with this one, their vision was awful and this kind of shit is still awful today. Just because others do it now doesn't mean it’s suddenly right.

[gold_drake]

exactly

[BehindTheRows]

Nailed it!

[ChasterMies]

100% agree with this. We don’t need kotaku.com trying to gaslight us. Microsoft was trying to kill your used game disc with the Xbox One. It was such a bad idea that it didn’t last a week beyond Microsoft’s disastrous E3 2013 presentation. Other innovations that also weren’t ahead of their time: TV TV TV, Kinect 2.0, and an always on video camera. I’m sure Microsoft is building towards a Game Pass only distribution model for Microsoft games, but they know enough to not announce it.

[GaboonViper]

Another FoxFact comment, hit the nail on the head.

[badz149]

Bingo. I hate this kind of articles trying to alter reality with twisted words! Disgusting!

I'd add articles praising CP2077 like the 2nd coming now after Phantom Liberty yoo in the mix. Keep sucking that CDPR d!ck all you want but nah...not gonna fly with me. They gaslighted gamers - their fanbase and good will for a shady product launch and tried scamming their ways out from it when caught and now craving for attention over a supposed "redemption arc" BS!

[Barlos]

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[anast]

perfect

[gold_drake]

it still seems a wild idea.

cause, what if u dont have internet for some sort of reason?
whatnif theres a storm and snow and lightning and all sorts of shit that can literally affect your internet. or what if the servers are down and your internet doesnt work?

no no, always online is shit. it will always be shit.

UNLESS we all have unlimted access to internet. but we dont.

[Terry_B]

Kotaku being kotaku.

[Einhander1972]

What a conveniently well timed take.

[isarai]

Absolutely not, it's just as sh!t of an idea as it was when they announced it. If you want to.provide benefits to always being online, sure go ahead, the issue was the requirements, being REQUIRED to be online even for so and disc based games, also REQUIRED to have the Kinect, years later we find out they were caught selling people's information/data without consent, imagine how much more invasive that would've been if those requirements weren't shut down. Not to mention their extremely anti-consumer way of handling game where they couldn't even be shared on different accounts in the same console.

If you think it was a good idea or ahead of it's time, you're remembering wrong.

[Hofstaderman]

These idiots are doing what they do best trying change the narrative with a twist; by sustaining the narrative. MS really takes us for fools, it was vehemently hated then and it is vehemently hated now. They think a newer, younger crowd of gamers is going to accomodate their crap? Swear to God they have not learnt jack shit since 2001. This is why they will always be last.

[shinoff2183]

Yea I still don't like alot of the things ms tried doing with the Xbox one. They were horrible idea then and now. A flop it was

[hiawa23]

..

[StarkR3ality]

Yeah this is a bad take.. the console was underpowered (both of them were really but the One more so), the kinect was shit, and the DRM aspect was a disgrace.

From a software side of things I actually thought in the first year or two Xbox had the better/more exclusives, but that just dried out after year 2 and they haven't recovered since.

Think it's time to pull out of the console market and stick to publishing games, and trying to make them good ones instead of incredibly mediocre ones.

[Lightning77]

Umm no, that's still being felt till this day. Guess what we won't be able to buy physical movies and TV shows anymore at Best Buy and Walmart is ridding physical copies of Xbox games also. These companies want to own the things we buy. Online store fronts and services can control what we buy and if we have permission to access.

Slightly off topic but these regulators need to focus on us, stop these companies from fully dominating our living rooms and personal space. They see our library and all of our habits. Focus on us, fight for our purchasing rights. Anyway MS only gave the rest of the industry a bad idea of controlling our living room. We have the illusion of owning, when we are slowly owning nothing year by year now.

[Crows90]

Nope. It's predatory ideas were definitely ahead of its time. But it was not ahead of its time in a good way.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Others have already nailed it. It's just interesting that we still have shills trying to tell us that what Microsoft was doing was a great idea and that we should have allowed them to implement it because it was ahead of its time. Probably before Microsoft comes out with their all digital consoles that would eliminate used games and have an always online connection.

There's a reason why Microsoft is in 3rd place besides not making games but having more money. It's the ideas they come up with that screw over gamers but is played off like it's pro consumer for the industry. And websites trying to still groom us on the idea that we should accept Microsoft's ideas. I've said enough before on this nonsense shills are trying to push for Microsoft. It wasn't wanted then. It's still not wanted now.

[Oner]

As an old gamer myself I have to say it feels good to still be right about all of MS's BS...

[ApocalypseShadow]

Yeah. They're still trying to get us to give up and deal with it. I've been playing since text adventure games, pinball machines, Pong and Red LED handled games. And I still don't think what they want is good for gamers.

But Microsoft is hoping to groom the current generation that may not be paying attention.

[babadivad]

Same thing with the Dreamcast

[1nsomniac]

This is how everything in the world works. People stupidly and naively believe they live in a free world of choice. You don’t. If something is planned and you don’t accept it they will just continue to push it until it is accepted as normal. We see this relentlessly with everything in life yet people either forget or refuse to acknowledge their weakness. It’s just the way of the world.

[Profchaos]

Today Microsoft has pivoted their strategy across their entire product stack to a consumption model they want to remove ownership on windows via cloud computing and windows 365, they want to users to buy gamepass rather than the games they want it's just a more modernised version of the 2013 plan instead of digital codes it's subscription based.

On the subject of their abandonment of physical media or as Microsoft puts it their stance on making Xbox "adorably digital"

Over the last decade I've gone back and forth on this concept.
In 2013 I was pro physical media and my internet connection meant that if I got a game digitally it would take around 12 to 24 hours to download.

When my internet connection improved to the point a game only took 1 to 2 hours to download I softened on digital only and transferrable codes.

Then when I started having previously purchased digital games on multiple systems and devices disappear and my games being edited like GTA IV losing songs and the radio stations being butcherd despite owning the game for a decade I went right back to physical media loving.

I think especially with the switch having physical carts is something I love.

But the conversation around digital v physical is more niche and the Xbox policies show it.

For a game like cod MW2 on ps5 and Xbox series or halo infinite there's zero purpose to the physical disc it's a license so when the servers die your ability to play that game dies with it we all know this but a game like rdr2 or Zelda breath of the wild provided it's kept in good condition we could return to it and replay it 40 years on.

Playing a game 40 years after its launch may seem dumb to most people but as someone who grew up playing the NES I often return to that system and I don't like the way emulation displays the NES colours for the most part. I consider super Mario bros 3 the greatest game ever made and its approaching 36 years old.

[darthv72]

Just to add to what you typed... every game released from 2013 onward is subject to changes at any time. This is due to the required installation of the game data from the disc (or download). At least with many physical games, so long as you do NOT connect to the internet, your game data will be untouched. This also poses an issue as many games were intentionally released in unfinished states. Thus requiring you to complete their installation (and subsequent activation) over the internet.

Pretty much all the games released prior to the start of the 8th gen are self sustaining. They either run from the disc or cart directly and you were not required to download updates if you did not want to. And it really wasn't MS that was pushing for this. They just happened to be the scape goat because they openly stated how this was going to work. Sony were smart to let Ms go first... take the brunt of the damage so they could quietly make a few changes on the back end to mitigate the effects. But low and behold... they too have followed suit with many of the same policies that MS was open about and were ridiculed for.

ME... as a 50y old gamer... Im pretty much done with the whole argument. I will play the games I want however they are provided to me. Via game pass or PS+ or steam or whatever... it doesn't bother me anymore. The younger generation that is growing up with the fortnites and the roblox and whatever... they don't care either. no amount of complaining and telling people they need to buy physical or else is going to change their minds. They will change them if THEY want to... not because WE tell them to.

[Profchaos]

I agree the landscape of gaming changed dramatically post the 7th gen. And if you've seen it recently even PlayStation has updated their terns of service prohibiting the resale of physical games so the debate is bigger than Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. So many games are in broken states on day 1 it really is disheartening to see even the latest Zelda game suffers from poor performance if you play the version on the cart.

I have no issue if someone wants to pay to consume a game for a period of time rather than own that game however I know that when I buy a game I want the ability to revisit it which is why I chose physical I feel that option will be taken away from me eventually.

I think the younger generation may eventually care once they are of a age where they may want to re visit their own childhood classics for people like you and I that may simply be a matter of finding a rom or emulator at the easiest or tracking down a physical copy online at a hopefully affordable price (Earthbound perfect example of ludicrous collectors pricing I'd emulate that one).

When they want to return to a game they grew up with it may not be possible you're right it's not going to happen because we tell them but like music you probably will want to return to what you grew up with eventually I feel they will want to they may not know it yet given most of the games that are hugely popular with young people today are server based it's going to have a giant technical hurdle to get access private servers reconstruction of the game bypassing server check in and encryption.

Even if the consoles we have now morph into ecosystems that continue to offer BC for multiple generations the servers that run the original games may not continue or if the player wants a specific version again to give a example I prefer the nes version of Mario 3 vs the SNES remake probably nostalgia driven but I never gelled with the new repeating background textures

[shinoff2183]

You sure did type a whole lot for being done with the argument Darth

My whole issue is the lengths ms wants to take as of physical and digital can't coexist

[shinoff2183]

Exactly profchaos. Alot of they younger ones gonna get older and wish they could go back and play a game from their childhood, teenage years , etc. Those games won't be there legally like they once were. Ie, wii, wiiu, 3ds, ps3(maybe or soon)

[Chocoburger]

Kotaku writing a garbage, ignorant, moronic, useless article with a horrible take? Color me surprised!

What Microsoft tried to do back in 2013 was unacceptable, and they thoroughly deserved the sales beatdown that they received. After this humiliating defeat, they should have focused on what matters, high quality first party games. But instead, what did they do? Focused on services, exactly the kind of thing I don't care about.

With all their infinite money, the Xbox division has potential to be some real competition to Sony, and yet they go about everything the wrong way. Now the Series consoles are tracking under the One consoles, and once again this is thoroughly deserved.

Whichever idiot at Kotaku that wrote this article (I don't know, because I refuse to click), you have it backwards, Microsoft is BEHIND THE TIMES, they are not supplying us with incredible gaming experiences, and haven't done so since Philly Spency took over back in 2014. A decade of failure is not "Ahead of its Time." you fool!

[Murdability]

I think it may still be a few decades ahead of its time. Heck maybe even a century. I don’t think we’ll ever get to see its success even

[Aaroncls7]

tiny equestrian talk aside, that was a huge mistake.
They should've eased it in by making the "aLWaYs oNLInE" feature optional.

still, credit where credit is due, they were indeed slightly ahead of their time with that one.

[badz149]

do you know what was really ahead of its time? PSP Go! there I said it

[darthv72]

It was the switch before the switch. Could dock to a tv, use an external controller. I loved it. Still have one with all the accessories.

[badz149]

and the first fully-fledged console/handheld relying on digital distribution with 16GB or storage

[DazaMc]

I thought the current Xbox was it's biggest flop.

[jambola]

ahead of it's time in the same way that the first company to suggest spying on people was ahead of it's time
sure

[jambola]

but then this is kotaku
not surprised

[YourMommySpoils]

What ahead of its time? It screwed us all!

[Kosic]

I got the Xbox one thinking picture in picture would be amazing. How wrong could I had been. It was a laggy POS, that Microsoft ended up removing the feature altogether.

The series x is a great machine which should've had the same optipn for tv passthrough. But sadly they didn't bother.

[PhillyDonJawn]

What they should've did was make the console itself traditional and beefed up the Kinect to be a standalone streaming device that not just give you the kinect stuff but also access to streaming games, Xbox home, etc. So the Xbox One would be traditional and Kinect would be the all in once Hub experience. They would've been much more successful and very innovative without making a group of games feel the console just not for them. Xbox one would been cheaper from the jump and kinect would've had a bigger purpose that would've made ppl actually want it for those that was into the TV, streaming, voice, motion, etc.

[derek]

Revisionist history, the article doesn't even really address why that presentation flopped so hard. Microsoft also went on to largely abandoned any real investment in AAA gaming as a first party publisher for a solid decade. They just continued to run the halo, gears and forza franchises into the ground with little to no investment. They behaved this way because they never have and never will need gaming to be financially successful like the other 2. So their interest fluctuates with their ability to making gaming fit inside their larger business goals like services.

[anast]

Shillin ain't easy

[BrainSyphoned]

With nearly identical sales numbers between the One and the Series, at least the One had an excuse for selling bad.

[rippermcrip]

The article didn't provide any example for how it was ahead of its time? Always online was ahead of its time? No, that's stupid and still is. What else did it offer? Absolutely nothing.

[Firebird360]

None of it would have mattered if xb one had games like 360. Thats where they failed and continue to fail.

[jznrpg]

We got this article not too long ago from somewhere else this person just added 10 years into the title.

Everything about the Xbox One reveal sucked. The console itself was weak and it was more expensive on top of always online physical games only can be sold where we say and the rest of the crap they tried to pull. This was when I knew I was done with Xbox no matter what. They showed who they really are.

[HyperMoused]

I remember the opening from Don, Sports and TV etc....gamers dont want to hear that for a new games console.