Microsoft surprised by 'how negative' reaction was to Xbox One DRM

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Microsoft's director of product planning Albert Penello says the firm expected controversy over its original always-online Xbox One pitch, but was surprised by "how negative" the reaction was.

"If I had to go back and wish that I could rewind time and redo one thing, that would be the one thing," he told Rev3Games, admitting flaws in the firm's messaging.

"I think with time, people have understood what we were trying to do, and in fact I'm sure you've seen it with the fans. They were saying, 'God, I wish some of this stuff would come back'," he said, likely in reference to the axed Family Sharing plan that would have allowed gamers to share all their games, digital or retail, with friends.

"People got in their minds that what we were trying to do was evil or anti-customer when, in fact, we were looking at what Steam does, we were looking at what iOS is going, we were looking where the customers were going and saying 'I think we can actually give you a better all-digital experience."

"So was I surprised that people had a reaction to it? No. I mean, we knew it was going to be a controversial decision. Was I surprised how negative the reaction was going to be? Yes," said Penello.

"We were surprised at how vocal it was, we were surprised at the reaction and the assumptions that people had about what we were trying to do. So we did the famous '180'."

But Penello insists that an all-digital future is imminent. "Nobody debates there's going to be a world, whether it's this gen, or next-gen, that discs are going to go away, it's gone away in just about every medium," he said.

"I think if anything we thought it was going to happen sooner than the customer. We took a hard stance on it.

"I hope that in some point in the future some of those cool features - some of the Family Sharing, the household sharing stuff, the games are always with you - we want to bring that stuff back."

Posted:
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/428147/ms-surprised-by-how-negative-reaction-was-to-xbox-one-drm/

Comments

"Microsoft surprised by 'how negative' reaction was to Xbox One DRM" :: Login/Create an Account :: 128 comments

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iiExaMplezZzPosted:

Breading it was their own fault next time microsoft go into to detail about your policies


Exactly, they just kinda threw that DRM at us without explaining what the benefits of it were.

SwiftPosted:

Breading it was their own fault next time microsoft go into to detail about your policies


Exactly what I was going to say.

They did not explain it at all and only pointed out the stupid things.

MonokumaPosted:

it was their own fault next time microsoft go into to detail about your policies

TwiiitchyPosted:

People need to get over the fact that it WAS NOT Microsofts fault! It is your guys' fault for complaining and b******* about it so damn much. It is 100% the fans fault and Microsoft was just listening to their fans.

TomorrowLandPosted:

They screwed up big time trying to it, same with the kinect.

Dr-JPosted:

I miss the drm. I loved it...
I hope it will be back one day

KylanPosted:

I think the problem was is that Microsoft had bad PR. They ended up not selling the console at it's strong points, and instead advertised it at it's weaker points. DRM had some good features, as well as a few negative. But overall, Microsoft could have done a better job.

WoobiePosted:

They did a poor job of explaining it in my opinion hence the negative feedback.