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Revisiting Ben Kuchera's "Xbox One Backlash Doesn't Matter"
- Thread starter Bigkrev
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I have no idea what this means in relation to my statement.
MS's relatively tone deaf messaging during that period certainly drove me to the PS4, and I'm someone who was, until that point, mostly content to ignore whatever Sony was doing and stick with Xbox. At this point it's not really a grudge, it's just that I see no reason to own an Xbox. I have no software library there, and am content with my Pro, PC, and Switch.
Even though MS abandoned these ideas, they still had a certain bravado in rolling it all out (a bravado echoed by their defenders, and some media folks like Kuchera), and the backtracking was just that - backtracking. There wasn't a clarity in vision, it was "Oh shit, they hate it. I guess we aren't doing that."
My recollection is hazy, but he said something to the extent of "I'll give you $10 if you can find a time I ever mentioned 'secret sauce' [in reference to some rumored special hardware feature on the Xbox One]"
Naturally somebody looked up his post history, and he had once used the term in a sarcastic or facetious manner. Gies declared that it did not count because he was not using the term with the sincere belief that there was as-yet unrevealed "secret sauce" on the Xbox One. So he was literally wrong but figuratively right. And of course he refused to pay up.
EDIT: Found a related image:
A lot of the media was on the same thought train. I remember a number of Bombcasts where they were all saying how it was no big deal and Sony would also be forbidding used games.
People should give more shit to Sim City 2013. THat was the preview of this generation's AAA.
Wasn't Gies the guy who only got a job because he was a room mate of some 1UP guys in the past? Or am I mistaking him for someone else.
I take comfort in the fact that Microsoft isn't going to have the expectation of beating Sony. They know they can't. Their pillar franchises are withering away. As much as I love halo, I think it's time to sunset the franchise after Infinite. Not eternally, but for several years. Gears 5 didn't set the world on fire. I just have franchise fatigue. I want something new. Keep in mind, I absolutely love Xbox. I've been a part of the Xbox one subreddit since it was announced when I was in undergrad. Adore it. I'll buy every Xbox day one. it means that much to me. But the brand has to change. I want stories that touch me. Not bombastic setpieces. It's telling that the best game from an Xbox/pc exclusive (until released on switch) is Ori. People want something different.
anyways, my point. I don't think they're in competition with Sony anymore. They just want to add accessibility. That's been their game plan since backwards compatibility. Just to make sure more people could play more games. Their messaging has been excellent recently. I can't find fault in it and I don't think others can either. They're heavily investing in PC. And they can make these investments because Game Pass is the centerpiece. It's exciting to me. BleedingEdge is a game that SHOULD NOT exist. No way MS would ever invest in that in their old days. But Game Pass shows there's a place for it. I'm hopingone of these risks catches fire
anyways, my point. I don't think they're in competition with Sony anymore. They just want to add accessibility. That's been their game plan since backwards compatibility. Just to make sure more people could play more games. Their messaging has been excellent recently. I can't find fault in it and I don't think others can either. They're heavily investing in PC. And they can make these investments because Game Pass is the centerpiece. It's exciting to me. BleedingEdge is a game that SHOULD NOT exist. No way MS would ever invest in that in their old days. But Game Pass shows there's a place for it. I'm hopingone of these risks catches fire
While MS seems to of learned from their mistakes, I actually think they and Sony are going to struggle launching vs Switch, it's going to me much harder for them post launch epically if Nintendo keeps updating/revising the hardware yet still able to undercut them price wise.
Oh fuck, that shit is hilarious looking back
A reminder that Arthur Gies is an anagram for Shit Arguer
It was mostly western media trying to play up their darling (Xbox) while downplaying Sony.
This trend continued into the gen with 720p 1080 no difference and power of the cloud. Was quite funny tbh.
Kuchera is a clown. Consistently wrong and yet so confident in his hot takes. I don't know how he keeps getting jobs. That he's game editor at Ars still speaks to the shocking decline of that website in the last two decades.
Now that I got that out of the way, the backlash to Microsoft's DRM was so extreme that anyone could see it was doomed to failure. And never forget, the gaming media was largely complicit with Microsoft in attempting to sell us a bill of goods. Kuchera, and Kyle Orland at Ars Technica, and Polygon, and other game journalists/outfits carrying water for MS/EA/etc. to help kill used gaming largely soured me totally on game journalism for good (although that started after Gamestop fired Jeff Gerstmann tbh). The publishers and console manufacturers hold all of the cards, so game journalists have to play nice or they have no access. Car industry journalism is largely the same way. Shit, American political journalism is largely the same way, at least at the bigger media companies and newspapers.
The announcement by Microsoft of the DRM did significant and perhaps permanent damage to the Xbox brand worldwide, and was the defining moment of the console generation. Sony would go on to have the 2nd-highest selling console of all time after rejecting online requirements and physical game DRM, and the Xbox One became an also-ran, last-place console even after Microsoft very publicly reversed their DRM stance. Even Nintendo, after the failed Wii U, has passed them up with the success of the Switch.
I did end up with an Xbox One (actually 3 different models) and I enjoy the system, the controller, the services. Microsoft provided a better product after they had to go back to the drawing board.
Now that I got that out of the way, the backlash to Microsoft's DRM was so extreme that anyone could see it was doomed to failure. And never forget, the gaming media was largely complicit with Microsoft in attempting to sell us a bill of goods. Kuchera, and Kyle Orland at Ars Technica, and Polygon, and other game journalists/outfits carrying water for MS/EA/etc. to help kill used gaming largely soured me totally on game journalism for good (although that started after Gamestop fired Jeff Gerstmann tbh). The publishers and console manufacturers hold all of the cards, so game journalists have to play nice or they have no access. Car industry journalism is largely the same way. Shit, American political journalism is largely the same way, at least at the bigger media companies and newspapers.
The announcement by Microsoft of the DRM did significant and perhaps permanent damage to the Xbox brand worldwide, and was the defining moment of the console generation. Sony would go on to have the 2nd-highest selling console of all time after rejecting online requirements and physical game DRM, and the Xbox One became an also-ran, last-place console even after Microsoft very publicly reversed their DRM stance. Even Nintendo, after the failed Wii U, has passed them up with the success of the Switch.
I did end up with an Xbox One (actually 3 different models) and I enjoy the system, the controller, the services. Microsoft provided a better product after they had to go back to the drawing board.
I've never clicked on a polygon article since. They'll be lots of these in the run up to next gen console release. Kinda like that thing only a month or two back where someone was slating Sony for keeping people in the dark about PS5 and that in turn meant it was doomed or some shit
You're right. Anthony and Matt started a podcast right after closing (rebelfm) and invited him on since he was living with Anthony.
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That is some fucking ether right there. People complain about GaaS a lot now, but as a whole I gotta say the industry is way better than it used to be. Last gen was such just such a huge clusterfuck.
I mean the PS4 and Xbox One are the last home consoles, as that hobby died off in 2013 to Facebook and mobile gaming.
/s
I thought the take was bad then, and I think it's even funnier now.
I sort of lost interests in games around that time, stopped playing, stopped trying to get into the industry, changed career paths, and aside from the time around that E3, stopped paying attention to gaming news and media until early 2015 when I impulse bought a PS4 bundle which remained in its box for months.
Despite my pessimism about game design space/creativity running out and consoles dying to more casual lucrative forms of gaming, I didnt believe Sony would imitate that after the backlash and have always looked at the take of "well if Company B isnt imitating Company A then they just havent announced that they are doing so yet" as lazy speculation.
Im glad we got the generation we did, and even Nintendo has bounced back.
/s
I thought the take was bad then, and I think it's even funnier now.
I sort of lost interests in games around that time, stopped playing, stopped trying to get into the industry, changed career paths, and aside from the time around that E3, stopped paying attention to gaming news and media until early 2015 when I impulse bought a PS4 bundle which remained in its box for months.
Despite my pessimism about game design space/creativity running out and consoles dying to more casual lucrative forms of gaming, I didnt believe Sony would imitate that after the backlash and have always looked at the take of "well if Company B isnt imitating Company A then they just havent announced that they are doing so yet" as lazy speculation.
Im glad we got the generation we did, and even Nintendo has bounced back.
That's probably my favorite headline from anyone ever.
Granted they couldn't foresee that MK8 would be a top selling game on the next Nintendo console also, but this is a classic example of a valid argument that's unsound (attach rate).
It's amazing that some ppl to this day still think Sony was going to do the whole DRM, always online thing too.
I always say this: the effects of the orig policies were still felt after the 180 by MS. So either Sony were better at software, OS's, firmware than MS...
Sony's version was going to be slapped together by duct tape....
Or Sony never implemented it. And was never going to. Maybe years down the line, but not at launch. Probably not this gen.
I don't think the change in how Microsoft approaches Xbox came just because of this backlash.
I think the entire culture change at the company when Satya Nadella took over in 2014 was a much bigger influence (and it has paid dividends for the company as a whole).
I think the entire culture change at the company when Satya Nadella took over in 2014 was a much bigger influence (and it has paid dividends for the company as a whole).
As far as I know, Kuchera still writes for Polygon and Gies left game journalism to go back to school.
Did Kuchera ever wrote a follow-up or something about how he was wrong, or he just ignored it all together when Microsoft backed down?
What 2013 till now shows us is MS just tried to push too much too soon IMO.
Too heavy handed.
This gen played out like some, many of us suggested...leave the always online, DRM to the devs, publishers of individual games.
Digital sales skyrocketed. I remember the meme about me and my 9 friends are all digital, so digital has to be higher.
It wasn't at the time, but god damn did it surge since then.
Yes it was a huge blow for Xbox but they've turned it around and might claw some share back with game pass. People love a bargain.
I don't think you can make that argument. Had MS been able to move forward with their planned approach, would Game Pass look like it looks today? I think there's every reason to believe MS's underdog status this gen forced them to rethink their approach to their digital offerings, and this is what resulted in a totally different business model than what they were pitching at the start of the gen.
While some staunchly stood against digital ownership purely from a "you should always own your games" stance (And therefore still should stand against Game Pass as the way forward for MS), the bigger sticking point for me, and I imagine most consumers was, "What are you giving me in return for taking away my ownership rights?" The answer at launch, was nothing. (Post that, some allusions were made to game sharing eventually, but none of it official and codified prior to the whole thing being tossed out.) MS seemed to believe they could take control of this aspect of gaming, and no one would fuss, but that wasn't the case. Game Pass on the other hand doesn't make any claims about ownership, and is very clearly a completely different business proposition.
I don't think you can ignore how things went early gen when it comes to where MS is now. It very much mattered. Maybe Game Pass was the plan all along, but it's such a drastically different approach now such that it feels a lot more like a reaction to their original plans rather than a logical extension of them.
Sounds like political BS trying to attack the other side while defending your own. As opposed to owning up to the errors and mistakes instead of brushing them away like they don't matter. Sad.
You can Argue with Gamepass and the upcoming rise of streaming services, we are going to end up at that stage anyways, just Microsoft went with the Carrot: "Oh look how much more convient for you this is (ohbtw you can't resell and don't own any of it)" instead of the stick "You cant resell this stuff and it isn't yours, for your own good."
The lead-up to this console generation was a fascinating time to follow the industry. For whatever reason, so many in the games media felt the need to carry water for Microsoft's vision and it resulted in some historically bad takes. This may be the worst one of all.
I'm sure they're all very anxious for you to give them such mercy.
There are dozens, I tell you. Dozens. Only waiting for individuals to leave Xbox.
Might want to compile an exhaustive list, then. This can't be all of them. Don't leave out the janitors, too.
Kuchera is prolly one of the most out of touch people in the gaming press/industry.
Still pure gold.
Still pure gold.
The bad reception to the Xbox One saw the removal of Don Mattrick and the rise of Spencer, which has brought some great changes to the Xbox brand.
Excellent hardware in the form of the Xbox One X, great services like Xbox Game Pass and Live Ultimate, and now solid studio acquisition to bolster their first party line up going forward.
Microsoft are back in prime position for next gen, and to say that the clusterfuck of an announce/launch had nothing to do with it is overtly obtuse.
As an aside, I still like to ponder what Sony's original plans for price and game ownership were before Xbox took the backlash though. I have some off-hand comments from industry friends who seemed adament that Sony were originally going to do the exact same DRM before the public meltdown to Microsofts announcement.
Sony's final slide at the end of their E3 presentation with the price was clearly edited and added at the last second, as it lacked the same styling of the rest of the keynote. I wonder how different things would have been if Sony had launched at the same price as the One, along with the same DRM restrictions. Would it have just been accepted as the new norm if both had adopted the same systems?
Excellent hardware in the form of the Xbox One X, great services like Xbox Game Pass and Live Ultimate, and now solid studio acquisition to bolster their first party line up going forward.
Microsoft are back in prime position for next gen, and to say that the clusterfuck of an announce/launch had nothing to do with it is overtly obtuse.
As an aside, I still like to ponder what Sony's original plans for price and game ownership were before Xbox took the backlash though. I have some off-hand comments from industry friends who seemed adament that Sony were originally going to do the exact same DRM before the public meltdown to Microsofts announcement.
Sony's final slide at the end of their E3 presentation with the price was clearly edited and added at the last second, as it lacked the same styling of the rest of the keynote. I wonder how different things would have been if Sony had launched at the same price as the One, along with the same DRM restrictions. Would it have just been accepted as the new norm if both had adopted the same systems?
I remember this was big in Germany. While the PS camera was ignored :D Nowadays, this is just how it goes right? Alexa, Cortana, Siri and discovering that real people actually listened to what they recorded. Crazy times.
This topic seems to exist exclusively to mock a journalist who failed to call something correctly almost 7 years ago. This is unlikely to generate any constructive discussion, as proven thus far.
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