In a recent interview with The Guardian, Phil Spencer of
Microsoft said, “We’re committed to the digital ecosystem that we talked about
at the beginning of Xbox One.”
To me, that immediately rings alarm bells in my head about
what the future of next generation could hold for those that dip their toes
into the Microsoft ecosystem. Ever since watching the initial announcement, I
was slamming the announcement livestream, and at the same time absolutely
dreading the product that we would end up seeing later in the year. Even if
Microsoft was massively screwing up with their then always online DRM policies,
it wouldn’t be good for the industry as a whole. To me, the idea of Microsoft
potentially doing this could lead other publishers and console manufacturers to
following in their steps if it ended up working out well, which would be an
awful look for an industry I love and care about.
Which is why I was so surprised when they had ended up
reversing their policies. I was on vacation back in June when the initial
reversal of the Xbox One occurred: When they went against the idea of requiring
you to always be online to use your Xbox One. Back at that moment, it felt
absolutely insane, and only being able to occasionally get updates from friends
on Twitter due to Wi-Fi being average at best and NeoGAF being down, I almost
thought it was some sort of joke. Microsoft had pushed the “positives” of an
always online, always connected Xbox One with the force of a battering ram, why
would they go against it now?
Was it a decision to help aid all of the gamers that were
against always online DRM? Did Microsoft finally realize the error of their
ways and how requiring the internet for their console was an incredibly dumb
move? No, they probably didn’t. In reality, it was all more than likely a
response to bad PR and incredibly low pre-orders for the Xbox One. It seems
rather obvious to say that Microsoft most likely did all of this to save their
own hides as opposed to any face turns or changes of heart; they had a product
that was ailing about a half a year before it would be released—and had no
indication that the outcome would improve, so the idea of the first reversal
seemed like a no brainer in a way. Although I was interested, in a strange sick
and twisted way, to see an Xbox One launch with always online required, it was
much more of a relief to know that they had gotten rid of that. It was a
positive for gamers worldwide, without a doubt.
Of course, this kind of quote and these kinds of attitudes
completely frighten me in regards to the Xbox One. Although, in a sense, I am
interested in getting it to a degree (though at the moment the console being
bundled with Kinect and it being much more expensive than the other next
generation consoles turn me off of buying it at the moment—though that’s
another story altogether), but at the moment, it feels like Microsoft can’t
exactly be trusted with goodwill towards their customers. Not saying in the
slightest that the other console manufacturers have been paragons, but
Microsoft even less so. Microsoft’s sudden decision to reverse their initial
policies all in hopes of gaining back some favor with gamers and the media,
while nice, rubbed me the wrong way in a sense. It wasn’t exactly done out of
the goodness of their hearts, but all in an attempt to gain back some favor
with the market. While, obviously understandable due to Microsoft being a
business, it still shows the idea that Microsoft doesn’t exactly care about the
customer—the people who built up their brand, and only about the wallets that
the customers are holding.
There’s been a voice in the back of my mind since the
reversal was unveiled that warned me not to forgive Microsoft and not to buy an
Xbox One anytime within the first year or so of the console’s release. Because,
in all honesty, slightly paranoid or not, I have the feeling that Microsoft
could go back on their reversal; a re-reversal, so to speak. With enough people
now pre-ordering the Xbox One, and assuming that within one to two years they
have a sizeable user base, there’s always the chance that Microsoft could try
and stealthily implement these changes. Considering, if I recall correctly,
that all of the online DRM policies are to be removed with a Day One patch for
the console, there would be very little stopping them from releasing a patch
for the console later on that would just implement it all.
Is this line of thought just a worst-case scenario? Maybe it
is. I hope it is. I hope that none of the possibilities I’m discussing come
true and that all of the next generation consoles remain as they are now (or,
if possible, improve).
But at the same time, I still feel like it could be a very
real threat looming over head. In a sense it makes me glad that I’ve never been
in Microsoft’s ecosystem, nor have I had friends in their ecosystem that have
pushed me towards it. But at the same time, that’s a very real scenario for a
lot of people. A lot of people are already in the Xbox 360 ecosystem, or have
friends in that ecosystem that’ll be moving onto the Xbox One and will be more
encouraged to move to that console as well. And then, again, there runs that risk
of Microsoft just re-implementing that DRM a few years down the line once the
user base is big enough.
I won’t be getting an Xbox one at launch and after this
(alongside my already wanting to sit back and wait) I probably won’t get one
for a few years, if at all. Some of the games, admittedly, do interest me, but
I don’t want to potentially support this type of DRM for these games. So I’m
just going to sit back, wait, and see.
And hopefully we won’t be seeing this happen a year or two
down the line.
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