
No Matter What Microsoft does, the Xbox One is Doomed to Fail - Flopsy
http://www.gamerheadlines.com/2014/07/no-matter-what-microsoft-does-the-xbox-one-is-doomed-to-fail/
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__Joker
There are multiple problems with Xbox One sales. Prominent being as the
article mentions the DRM backlash.

After June, when MS started to sell kinect less XBone, the playing field was
on level for MS and PS4. Unfortunately PS4 has a runway lead.

The only thing now decides, which console to buy, is what exclusive are on and
which console are your friends on. The exlusive part is looking more blurry,
while with the early lead most probably, your friends will be on ps4.

Interesting what steps MS will take in coming months, but expect some
exclusive and price cutting are in the offering.

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badthingfactory
What an obnoxious point of view. The author is taking the perspective that
anyone who doesn't like the Xbox One is a miserable unhappy person. In
Reality, most people were going to buy only one next gen console. Microsoft
did everything they possibly could to piss off gamers.

Sony got a standing ovation at E3 for allowing people to trade physical copies
of games. Microsoft blew it and gamers shouldn't have to explain why they
aren't spending $400 on another console just because Microsoft made things
better.

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PhantomGremlin
It's amusing that people hate Microsoft/XboxOne _more_ than Sony/PS4. And this
is after Sony's stumbles, such as the CD root kit fiasco and removing ability
to run Linux on the PS3.

How could Microsoft have allowed itself to get into this situation? Wow!

Will Xbox do better now that Uncle Fester [1] (aka Steve Ballmer) has
"retired"?

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Fester](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Fester)

~~~
badthingfactory
After the PSN SQL injextion attack, I was all about getting a next gen
Microsoft console. And then rumors started swirling that it would be always
online. This immediately after diablo 3 and Sim city had such disastrous
launches. As soon as they confirmed it, they lost me. I'll take data breaches
over always online DRM any day of the week.

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mikestew
What has two thumbs and is an Xbox fanboy? The author of this article. I don't
use the derogatory term lightly here; the article is dismissive of genuine
complaints, and concludes with "so make up your mind. When will you be happy?"
Oh, yes, folk who spent $500 on a console to find out it ain't all that just
can't be pleased! (And here's a clue, smart guy: the ones complaining about an
issue and the ones complaining when the issue is "fixed" may not be the same
people.)

You know why users complain? Because there are a bevy of things about which to
complain. The author sees this as "can't be pleased". On the contrary, users
can be pleased but Xbox started so far in the hole that they'll be a while
digging out. Their Kinect argument harkens back to the IE days with the DOJ:
"Kinect is so integral to Xbone that we _can 't_ unbundle it!" Six months
later, in response to low sales and pricing complaints, what do they do?

If bought on launch day, that extra $100 gets you a Kinect whose voice
recognition engine, on a good day, might hit 80%. More often than not it will
leave you asking yourself, "why didn't I just pick up the goddamned
controller?" as you repeat the same command three or four times.

Most annoyingly there are a number of things that worked wonderfully on XB360
that are broken on Xbone. Their later fixes to the party system took it from
"plain broken" to "sucks less than it used to", and it's still a move backward
from the 360. Users still occasionally need to power cycle the box just to get
the microphone to work. And speaking of voice parties, where in the hell is my
wireless headset? I'm astounded that it's going to be close to a year before
that piece of hardware comes out (and I've heard nothing to say it will _ever_
come out, but I don't pay a lot of attention).

Without writing a line item list of "reasons I wish I didn't spend $500 on an
Xbone", I'll summarize. Every Facebook/Google/Whatever article on HN will have
someone in the comments who thinks they're clever by pointing out that "if
you're not paying for it, you're not the customer, you're the product!" Haha,
yeah, you're a real smart guy. But the Xbone comes across as a product that I
not only paid dearly for, but I'm still the product. What did Microsoft do to
make _me_ happy? Not much in comparison to what they did to make game
publishers and content providers happy.

Finally, why I scroll through the comments on the article page is beyond me, I
know better by now. But this time it paid off with this gem that may state the
case better than my paragraphs of text: "Fighting a losing battle...where even
your own fans want you to lose just so they can justify how mad they are at
you".

