Penello: 'People just weren't ready' for all-digital Xbox One

4.7
Microsoft Senior Director of Product Management Albert Penello called the reveal of the Xbox One "the dark days," when the company didn't present a clear message to customers and it saw a wave of backlash to an all-digital, DRM-tuned console.

"I do feel like we never got a chance to have a rational conversation about what we were trying to do," Penello told Engadget.

When Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, it didn't have consistent answers to basic questions: Was it always on? Would it allow used games? Eventually, Microsoft announced Xbox One would require an internet connection once every day, and that didn't go over so well. Microsoft reversed its DRM features a few weeks later.

"Sometimes the customer just says, 'No. I look at it this way, I'm done, I've made up my mind,'" Penello said. "And we go, well, we've gotta fix it. It's not worth it. And that's where I think we were on the digital stuff. We'll get back to some of the cool stuff, and we have a lot of the cool stuff still in there."

Penello said Microsoft hasn't given up on a fully digital future. "We just think that's the way the future's gonna go," he said. "We may have been right. What we were wrong about was that it's just too soon. People just weren't ready to make that leap right away."

Posted:
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/11/08/penello-people-just-werent-ready-for-all-digital-xbox-one/

Comments

"Penello: 'People just weren't ready' for all-digital Xbox One" :: Login/Create an Account :: 32 comments

If you would like to post a comment please signin to your account or register for an account.

Bbag97Posted:

i don't think Microsoft understands that not everyone has internet connection or that some people don't get on every day

CaszechPosted:

I wish Microsoft said this first off.

Int_WolfPosted:

Yin They didn't explain themselves properly. Even saying that, I am about 90% sure I would have still disagreed with the direction they were going if they did explain it fully. Telling me a console requires an internet connection at any point in it's lifespan is crap. It is a console. It's great if they add in options for all digital, but they should never make it mandatory. Buying games digitally like that also means that you don't legally own any of your games as well. Need some new laws in place to protect those consumers.


Steam does the same thing, but it only needed an internet connection every 24 hours.

DeadMousePosted:

People just freaked out... Microsoft should of explained themselves better.

MPAAPosted:

Yin Need some new laws in place to protect those consumers.


Was thinking of the same thing, maybe like forcing MS (by federal law) to allow you to connect to download your legally bought games, even if banned.

YinPosted:

They didn't explain themselves properly. Even saying that, I am about 90% sure I would have still disagreed with the direction they were going if they did explain it fully. Telling me a console requires an internet connection at any point in it's lifespan is crap. It is a console. It's great if they add in options for all digital, but they should never make it mandatory. Buying games digitally like that also means that you don't legally own any of your games as well. Need some new laws in place to protect those consumers.

Evo8Posted:

Everyone over reacted because they didn't take the time to fully read what they were doing. Ignorant people who cry when most don't even buy their own console lol.

DreamsPosted:

"we may have been right" lol customer is always right u can make the console however you want but your gonna have millions of consoles sitting in your warehouse collecting dust if its not the way the public wants it

suckit206Posted:

I feel sorry for Microsoft. They made an attempt to push consoles into truly next gen gaming. As it stands, there aren't many new features that make "next-gen" anything special. A lot of their ideas resembled those of Steam and look at how successful that is. If Microsoft can just keep pushing the Xbox One how they originally designed (with a few modifications to fix some of the issues later discovered) the future will praise Microsoft for all the critics they went through to get us there.

MPAAPosted:

Pashtun People weren't ready for Microsoft's money scams.....


This.

I don't want anything to do with the 'cloud' and it's got nothing to do with modding either, NSA anyone?