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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CampfirePosted:

They shouldn't have been surprised about it.

ZigsPosted:

Dr-Ponyfile
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol


No thy had like a bluray drive sold separately


I've never heard of it some how... I can see why they didn't sell much


Yea it was old , like when the 360 first released. My store had like 1 in stock


Oh okay so that was a long time ago. My Xbox One portable disk drive would work better though because the console wouldn't have a disk tray at all. Even if it slimmed the price between $50-$100 less it would still be worth it. All it means to me is that the graphics are better. I have a blu ray player so I watch blu rays on it. It might help you as well, idk. This pyramid chat belongs in Egypt.


Ima post this qithout quoting so it doesent take up to much space, but from what I am reading Microsoft are trying to cater for everybody. Families who like to watch movies with other family members in comfort they have catered for that. They are transfering to Blu Ray which means extra storage for bigger games so less discs, Microsoft where trying to push everybody into the digital age but personally I am not ready for it yet nor are a lot of others I did like the family sharing thing but the bad outweighed the good. I saw that you qouted the price aswell that it would be cheaper not to have you are correct yes but as I said a lot of people are not ready for that jump yet I agree that they could release the option to have the console without the drive to bump down costs but microsoft are trying to cater for everybody and not everybody is going to be impressed. Last thing to say is we will have to wait and see what Microsoft has in store for us.


I agree. I like passing around disks to friends and stuff, but I think they are working on being able to share digital games with family or something? You can always buy my portable disc drive haha (I successfully added you to the pyramid btw)

Rocky5Posted:

DavidDo0M It all seemed rather simple to me. First of all, it was NEVER always on. It simply required a daily connection. That was required to keep people from robbing them blind through Family Sharing. Also, they NEVER said the Kinect was required for the X1 to be operational. That was another case of misunderstanding. It was NEVER required that the Kinect stay connected. They said it was necessary for initial set up and that it was required that you buy it, as it is part of the bundle. They didn't come back and change that policy. They merely clarified it since so many people, gaming sites included, had misinterpreted the message. I'll admit that Microsoft "screwed the pooch" in their attempt to convey their policies, making it confusing to those incapable of complex thought process or understanding. However, I stand firm behind my belief that none of their initial policies needed to be changed.


100% agree.

I was looking forward to no disc required gaming & the fact I could share all my games with my friends & brother, I mean people forget the games are still DRM'ed you know or we could all make copies oO also now I can't sell digital games :-@

What really got people's pants in a twist was trading games :-(

I hope they bring the above back, I don't care about the second hand market or being online all the time, my xbox is always online, god I pay for live so why the hell wouldn't I be online :-@

Dr-PonyfilePosted:

Ima post this qithout quoting so it doesent take up to much space, but from what I am reading Microsoft are trying to cater for everybody. Families who like to watch movies with other family members in comfort they have catered for that. They are transfering to Blu Ray which means extra storage for bigger games so less discs, Microsoft where trying to push everybody into the digital age but personally I am not ready for it yet nor are a lot of others I did like the family sharing thing but the bad outweighed the good. I saw that you qouted the price aswell that it would be cheaper not to have you are correct yes but as I said a lot of people are not ready for that jump yet I agree that they could release the option to have the console without the drive to bump down costs but microsoft are trying to cater for everybody and not everybody is going to be impressed. Last thing to say is we will have to wait and see what Microsoft has in store for us.

ZigsPosted:

Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol


No thy had like a bluray drive sold separately


I've never heard of it some how... I can see why they didn't sell much


Yea it was old , like when the 360 first released. My store had like 1 in stock


Oh okay so that was a long time ago. My Xbox One portable disk drive would work better though because the console wouldn't have a disk tray at all. Even if it slimmed the price between $50-$100 less it would still be worth it. All it means to me is that the graphics are better. I have a blu ray player so I watch blu rays on it. It might help you as well, idk. This pyramid chat belongs in Egypt.

Dr-JPosted:

TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
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Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
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J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol


No thy had like a bluray drive sold separately


I've never heard of it some how... I can see why they didn't sell much


Yea it was old , like when the 360 first released. My store had like 1 in stock

LostPosted:

They knew it would be negative they just won't admit it.

ZigsPosted:

Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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Dr-J
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J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol


No thy had like a bluray drive sold separately


I've never heard of it some how... I can see why they didn't sell much

Dr-JPosted:

TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol


No thy had like a bluray drive sold separately

ZigsPosted:

Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
Dr-J
TTGxExecutive
J17 I thought I would have been just fine. They made a big push toward no discs but apparently the fans didn't care for it. It won't be long unit discs are completely gone.


Then again, why bother making it a blur ray player which ups the cost of the console unless the disc drive was intended to be uses solely for entertainment on the movie side of things. If they wanted no discs, what if they created a console made for gaming that was priced lower and they could sell portable disk drives so that if the gamer wanted to purchase one later on they could.


I'm happy about blu ray.i can watch all my movies on my console now!!


Haha that's what I mean. That's all it would be used for if they eliminated discs so they could make 2 different consoles. One for gamers with maybe a little more power or something a little stronger that would benefit the hardcore gamers and the entertainment console used by casual gamers who play in their free time and watch a lot of movies.


Well I'm a hardcore gamer but a casual movie watcher, where would I fit in ?


Well you have to options, you can buy the gaming one which comes with the blu ray drive and is well beyond qualified for gaming or you could get the portable disk drive that you could plug into the console so that you could watch your movies when ever you wanted.

I'd do the second option tbh


haha Exactly my point! It's a good idea.

Yea they had that portable thing for the 360. I don't think it sold a lot lol


They had a console with out a disk drive? lol