So Microsoft announced the third-generation Xbox console today, and just to confuse everyone they called it the Xbox One. I can’t quite make up my mind whether this is more or less stupid than the “Xbox 720” moniker that everyone inexplicably latched onto a while back, but the fact remains that it’s a stupid name. And not stupid in the same way that the Wii has a stupid name; no, calling the third Xbox “Xbox One” is stupid in that it is misleading and confusing. Have Microsoft learned nothing from Nintendo’s apparent difficulty at communicating that the Wii U is a completely separate system from the Wii?
It seems not. And apparently Microsoft are not particularly keen to learn from anything either — least of all the general buzz surrounding the machine prior to its official reveal today.
No mention was made of the rumoured “always online” requirement, at least — though that doesn’t mean it won’t be there, of course — but in possibly the biggest facepalm news of the day, it was revealed by Wired that the Xbox One will indeed feature some anti-used games technology — not an outright block as was originally rumoured, thankfully, but instead an apparent requirement that all games be installed, and that once a game is installed it is tied to a single “account”. Other “accounts” (and it’s not clear whether this refers to a single console or literally a single user) may install and run the game by paying a fee. It’s not yet been announced what this fee will be… but it’s there.
Here’s the quote from Wired:
There’s one feature of Xbox One from which we can infer quite a few conclusions: You can install any game from the disc to the console’s hard drive, and then play that game whenever you like without having to put the disc in.
Wired asked Microsoft if installation would be mandatory. “On the new Xbox, all game discs are installed to the HDD to play,” the company responded in an emailed statement. Sounds mandatory to us.
What follows naturally from this is that each disc would have to be tied to a unique Xbox Live account, else you could take a single disc and pass it between everyone you know and copy the game over and over. Since this is clearly not going to happen, each disc must then only install for a single owner.
Microsoft did say that if a disc was used with a second account, that owner would be given the option to pay a fee and install the game from the disc, which would then mean that the new account would also own the game and could play it without the disc.
But what if a second person simply wanted to put the disc in and play the game without installing – and without paying extra? In other words, what happens to our traditional concept of a “used game”? This is a question for which Microsoft did not yet have an answer, and is surely something that game buyers (as well as renters and lenders) will want to know. (Update: Microsoft called Wired after this story was originally published to say that the company did have a plan for used games, and that further details were forthcoming.)
Some of that quote is, of course, drawing conclusions from the things that Microsoft said (and, for that matter, didn’t say) but the fact that this “fee” is present at all is further evidence of the growing anti-consumer trend in the mainstream gaming industry. Between all the stupid preorder bonuses, season passes, DLC that should have been part of the game in the first place, Online Passes (recently discontinued by EA — now we know why!), the “business” side of things is not presently particularly friendly to the people who, ultimately, hand over the money at the end of the day: the consumers.
The fact that Microsoft implemented this system at all is utterly bewildering. Surely someone at the company noticed the overwhelmingly negative attitudes expressed towards even the slightest rumour that the new Xbox would either block or restrict access to used games. There is absolutely no way that no-one at Microsoft would have noticed this — which means that they’ve taken an executive decision to simply ignore public opinion. This smacks of arrogance — and of pride before a fall. Although there are already Microsoft apologists in comments sections across the land saying that they “don’t mind” this proposed “fee” system, there are significant numbers of people saying they will jump ship to Sony if this is the way that things are going to be.
Sony learned this lesson the hard way after enjoying the huge success of the PS2 and then falling on their asses when they tried to overreach with the PS3 — something they still haven’t quite recovered from. That left room for Nintendo to swoop in and corner the market with the technologically-inferior Wii, and then for Microsoft to catch up with its successful courting of the casual gaming “dudebro” contingent who play little more than Call of Duty and Madden. While Microsoft has built itself a considerable degree of brand loyalty over the last few years, they’re in serious danger of “core gamers” (ugh) leaving them in favour of the PS4 if they’re not careful.
But perhaps this doesn’t worry them at all. The Xbox brand has gone from a hulking dark grey slab that featured a warning not to drop it on children in its manual (really) to an all-in-one entertainment solution with an appalling interface and an all-but-mandatory subscription fee if you want to do anything vaguely cool with it. People are still buying the 360 even though its user experience has gradually got significantly worse over the years — and despite a proven track record of hardware failure. The Call of Duty loyalists still see their beloved game as an Xbox-centric title. With all these people, perhaps they don’t need the support of the more dedicated gamers who want to do more than indulge in brown-tinted manshoots. Perhaps the Xbox One will be little more than a Call of Duty machine so far as games are concerned.
To be honest, if that happens, it’s actually fine with me — it saves me a few hundred quid. It’s just a bit sad that what should be something exciting — new consoles for the first time in quite a long while! — is instead reacted to with caution and cynicism rather than genuine enthusiasm. How the times have changed.
I’ll revisit my opinion on the Xbox One once I see some games for it. But for now, Microsoft have done a very bad job of selling it to me — someone who has been playing games since he was old enough to pick up a joystick. And I’m not alone in that viewpoint.
