Yea a few billion customers in a 200m maybe 300m market. Makes a lot of sense there.
Anyway live will continue to grow out and as ms gets ready to launch in more areas then more areas will get xbox live.
XBox One, PS4, DRM, and You
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Yea a few billion customers in a 200m maybe 300m market. Makes a lot of sense there.
Anyway live will continue to grow out and as ms gets ready to launch in more areas then more areas will get xbox live.
But all three of those walled gardens were like that from day one. What MS is trying to do is force gamers into a jail of it's own making, not only to lock consumers in but to lock the competition out.
This works in the PC space because MS has no competitors, or effectively is it's own competition. But it's not the same in the console space. They actually have competition and a customer base that seems to have a higher than normal grasp on the outcome of the decisions that MS has made on their behalf. And in doing so has, with great and spectacular effect, ploughed in completely the opposite direction to consumers needs\wishes\wants.
I think MS has won a lot leverage with the Pubs through this policy and infrastructure investment.
Price is fine for launch as it will sell out its stock at that price. The key questions are how fast can they cost reduce and modify price. Of course, they also have the subsidy model, which I expect to go live as soon as supply begins to exceed demand. Now whether that is 3, 6, or 12 months post-launch is the really interesting question.
The way I interpret Jack Trenton's comments in the gametrailers interview is that 3rd parties can choose to implement DRM on PS4, for online, offline, trade-in restrictions, etc, but the platform doesn't inherently provide for it. And Sony is trying to set a precedent for them not to do those types of things. But unlike some of the posts I have read here; they can't/won't outright prevent it, even in offline only scenarios.
So, if XBO is successful and publishers feel they can implement "operational parity" without significant impact on sales, my guess is both systems could end up in very similar boats. The difference being the PS4 would have a mix of different publisher provided DRM implementations (ie. uPlay, SafeDisk, always-on DRM, blah, blah) which I think would be far worse than a single consistent system.
There is no doubt in my mind that MS's infrastructure is going to come under significant DoS attacks unfortunately ruining innocent peoples experience.
So, if XBO is successful and publishers feel they can implement "operational parity" without significant impact on sales, my guess is both systems could end up in very similar boats. The difference being the PS4 would have a mix of different publisher provided DRM implementations (ie. uPlay, SafeDisk, always-on DRM, blah, blah) which I think would be far worse than a single consistent system.
There is no doubt in my mind that MS's infrastructure is going to come under significant DoS attacks unfortunately ruining innocent peoples experience.
We have a book lover here.
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For those who didn't read the arstechnica article (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/microsoft-defends-the-xbox-ones-licensing-used-game-policies/) - the sidebar with Mehdi claims that you can name anyone to your "family" to share your library with. IF I am reading it correctly (and if I remember correctly about the 10 family member limit) that means I could name 10 people around the country who are my "family" and they could do the same with me, and we would all have access to each others games. That really sounds far too good to be true.
MS really dropped the ball in how they dealt with all this. They certainly dropped the ball with regards to rentals and a Netflix like service attached to Gold. If they had that fleshed out from the start, and opened with services such as that and NOT we are going to let publishers cut off used game sales and rentals, then they could have been at least PR neutral instead of this "monkey fucking a football" they have been appearing to be.
MS really dropped the ball in how they dealt with all this. They certainly dropped the ball with regards to rentals and a Netflix like service attached to Gold. If they had that fleshed out from the start, and opened with services such as that and NOT we are going to let publishers cut off used game sales and rentals, then they could have been at least PR neutral instead of this "monkey fucking a football" they have been appearing to be.
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In what way has the community been misguided? It was purely down to MS to clarify the whole situation, which they have spectacularly failed to do. A situation they would not have been in if it wasn't for their own hubris and inability to connect with the market. You appear intent on trying to make it seem like everyone that didn't bend over and take it from MS are just dumb gaming amoeba, floating around the internet with no concept of what they are doing.
The truth being the opposite. MS just didn't give them credit for being smart enough to work out that giving up consumer rights is a bad thing. Who wants to own a product created by a company who thinks you are just going to steal everything unless some Orwellian big brother control mechanism is in place.
MS will lose a boat load of money of people fail to buy the Xbone. They must have paid out a fortune in R&D, licensing, rights to TV footage etc. If the Xbone takes off like the original Xbox then they are stuffed for this gen.
With each day that passes it makes it look like their success with the 360 was down to a combination of sheer luck and Sony screwing up the PS3. Given the chance to cement that lead they just hung themselves instead. Bravo, way to go MS...
They are misguided cause they think Sony's platform wont have DRM while its actually up to the publishers if they want to include it or not.
I also hear a lot of people running around saying no used games on xbox one and you can't share / lend games. But you can
MS will sell all they can at $500 for quite awhile I would wager and they can allways drop the price later. Sony will also sell all they can at $400 but if they are already at rock bottom pricing there isn't much room for them to go down more.
at the same time , having a pricing buffer means ms can make last minute changes. Dev kits are rumored to be 12 gigs. MS could always make that the retail kits too. Having that buffer can also mean they will take lower yields to produce higher frequency chips or what not.
Spec bumps aren't a bad thing
Even if they are slightly misguided, getting Sony to commit to the staus quo is still a victory and in itself worth celebrating. MS (and the publishers perhaps) are completely at fault because of their failure to find a way to implement this change in a way that it's a give and take instead of just a take. The shared game library, for example, if solidified ahead of time and presented as a replacement for lending games would have probably completely diffused that issue and made the whole thing that more palatable. Other concessions on the platform/publisher side may have been able to mitigate the sting of some of the other restrictions. If consumers were able to feel that this was a negotiation instead of a one-sided concession to publisher interests, they would likely be more accepting.
I think that it's a questionable strategy to prioritize short term profit/loss at the expense of long-term market positioning in this situation. I could be proven wrong. Time will tell.
And how long have you worked for Microsoft? :|
you don't think having a 10 person friend list in which you can share your game content be it a physical disc purchased at a store or digital content purchased on line with out even having to see the person isn't innovative and forward thinking.
The ms way - I buy dead rising and I play it and then go to work. My gf sees it on her console at her place and downloads and plays it. Then my little cousin on the west cost sees it and starts playing it . Then another 8 people can do the same on my family list.
The sony way. I have to go to the store or have it shipped to me. I play it and that's it.... or flash forward to the next time I see my gf or talk to her on text. Oh dead rising is great you gotta try it. Then she has to wait to come over or for me to see her to get the disc. Then my little cousin wants to play it so he either has to wait for me to finish and my gf to finish the game and then I mail it cross country to him or I have to stop playing and mail it cross contry to him. But wait you've been Shyamalan'd and you can't actually do that cause you bought it digitaly and sony stops at 2 shares
I'll take the ms way thank you.
I am interested in what happens if the big retailers go full force into the used game market and cause an appreciable increase in used game trades and sales.
MS has to ability to lock out retailers, but big retailers may simply undermine MS by catering to the PS4. I don't know if MS has the ability to go forward with its used game plan if Sony doesn't move in lockstep. Its used game scheme may simply become moot because every pub opt ins, charges no additional fees and every retailers gets access to XBL servers for used game authenication.
However, any significant increase in used games is bound to irritate and anger pubs but Sony doesn't have any mechanism to limit retailers. Pubs may simply roll their own DRM scheme and all games might end up with an online pass requirement for both consoles.
DD would be a good way to take on the used game markets without any software or hardware gating but I doubt pubs will have the flexibility like they have on Steam because brick and mortar retailers are going to pout over any pricing discrepancies and retailers are still the number one source for hardware sales.
MS has to ability to lock out retailers, but big retailers may simply undermine MS by catering to the PS4. I don't know if MS has the ability to go forward with its used game plan if Sony doesn't move in lockstep. Its used game scheme may simply become moot because every pub opt ins, charges no additional fees and every retailers gets access to XBL servers for used game authenication.
However, any significant increase in used games is bound to irritate and anger pubs but Sony doesn't have any mechanism to limit retailers. Pubs may simply roll their own DRM scheme and all games might end up with an online pass requirement for both consoles.
DD would be a good way to take on the used game markets without any software or hardware gating but I doubt pubs will have the flexibility like they have on Steam because brick and mortar retailers are going to pout over any pricing discrepancies and retailers are still the number one source for hardware sales.
You add nothing to the discussion.
I think it's possible to focus so much on where you want to go that you don't focus enough on where you are and how best to get there. I think this is a lot of MS's problem ATM.
So how do you choose which ten people are your best friends out of all the people you know who game, or the people you game with? Does MS expect you to have no more than ten good friends? What are you supposed to do with the others, who might be a little disappointed with you? Sorry guys I don't like you enough to let you share a game with me. Seems like a good way of setting up divisions amongst your family\friends.
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DELETED. Just seen a statement from Sony clarifying something I thought was unclear.
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