OK, so I've tackled the always online and used game DRM and how micosoft just botched how they handled that. Here is my theory why they botched it; they put all their confidence in the selling power of the Kinect. Here's the problem, the Kinect was Dead On Arrival. Just by definition the Kinect is a failure. Before I get ahead of myself, let me talk about how they handled the Kinect.
OK, first a little history for the guys reading this 10 years from now. Back in the last couple of years of the XBOX360, Microsoft made a nifty little camera thing that plugs into your XBOX360 and you could do motion controls without any controllers, unlike Nintendo and Sony. I tried it, and it was kind of cool. The games were lame, like the Wii tech demo games, but it was still nifty. Well Microsoft really shoehorned it at the end of the 360 with most of the 360 exclusive games being Kinect games. Well, no one really cared about the Kinect. I give them credit for trying something different, but people really didn't care. Fast forward a couple of years, Nintendo reveled the Wii U, a console that didn't rely on motion controls, and it looked like we were just going to get back to simple gaming. Uhhh, wrong. At the revile of the XBOX ONE, Microsoft showcased the Kinect 2.0, a new and improved Kinect that can read people's faces, recognize extremities as small as fingers, automatically sign in whomever is holding the controller, and loads of voice commands. OK whatever, Microsoft made an even more nifty motion control camera. It'll be a nice little accessory I'll likely pick up on sale at the end of the console life. WRONG! Turns out, every XBOX ONE console will be bundled with it, and not only that, the XBOX ONE won't work if the Kinect isn't connected. You have absolutely no choice if you want this or not. We're doing this so developers can confidently develop for the Kinect because it has an install base. Oh yeah, and because of it, our console is $100 more than the PS4, but Sony makes you buy their motion control camera for $60, we're giving you ours for free*.
*$100 higher price is the result of an add on you don't even want.
Oh yeah, 10% of the hardware is reserved for the Kinect. Even if your game doesn't use Kinect features, you won't be able to use all the hardware.
OK, lets break this down:
1. We're forcing you to buy an add on if you buy our console
2. This add on is why we are $100 more expensive than the competition.
3. We want to make sure developers know there's an install base for it so they feel confident developing for it.
4. You have to use it otherwise your console won't work.
OK Microsoft, let me tell you about another console that shoehorned motion controls. When Nintendo made the Wii, it was pretty revolutionary. Home motion controls. Who could beat it? Wiis were flying off the shelf. Everyone was out of stock. Why were people buying it? Because it was a cool gimmick. What happened though is not pretty. No one really bought any games for it. The attach rate was around 1 to 1 (an average of 1 game per console.) People bought it for Wii Sports. The top selling game, Wii Play, only sold that many copies because it was the only way to get a second remote for the longest time. Most of the games that utilized the motion controls were shovelware. The semi-decent games botched the use of motion controls. There were only 2 really good games that fully utilized the motion controls. Everything else was lame or didn't utilize the motion controls. All those average Joe people stopped playing their Wiis after 2 years and left them to collect dust. The "hardcore gamer" didn't buy the Wii for the motion controls, they bought it for Mario and Zelda games. Nintendo realized the mistake with the motion controls and dropped them in favor of a second screen on their next console. On the 360 Kinect, shovelware. Kinect 2.0, only shovelware. People don't care about motion controls or voice commands.
OK so Kinect is a flop. How could that be the root of all their problems? Simple. They put all their eggs in the Kinect basket. Instead of trying to explain why consumers need always online or used game DRM, and explaining how that family sharing thing worked, they focused all their efforts on why you need a Kinect. All this "we built the XBOX ONE with the Kinect in mind. Everything about XBOX ONE is Kinect. We want to make sure that you get the full XBOX ONE experience and the only way to do that is by forcing the Kinect." When compared to 360 Kinect, "no that was an after thought. We built the XBOX ONE with Kinect in mind. You need Kinect." People don't care about motion controls. "That's because it's never been done right with great technology. We have super advanced tracking capabilities that make the Kinect integral to the XBOX ONE experience." What if my Kinect gets damaged? I have a cat that will chew through the cable. "Well, make sure it's safe. It would be a shame if you weren't able to enjoy the Kinect, and that's why we're forcing it." And on and on and on. They wanted the Kinect to succeed so badly.
Fast forward a couple of months,they realize that maybe requiring Kinect for the XBOX to function was a bad idea. Naturally, they make a day 1 patch that will allow you to not have the Kinect plugged in. However, they are not budging on the bundling.
"You made it so I don't need it, so why not just sell me a console without a Kinect for $100 less?"
"No no no, we only did this in case of catastrophic loss of Kinect. This way, if there's some error, you will still be able to use your XBOX. However, the Kinect is still an integral part of the XBOX ONE experience and we want to make sure developers can confidently develop with Kinect in mind."
The Kinect is the problem. If Microsoft didn't waste all of it's lipstick on the pig that is Kinect, maybe, just maybe, they could have found a way to successfully market the always online and used game DRM. As I stated before, always online could have been marketed as a positive. Used game DRM could have been worked out to find a happy medium, and we would have known how family share works. But no, focus all efforts on this stupid peripheral that no one wants and no one cares about. Want to know a funny thing? Once people got their XBOX ONE, they tried the Kinect. They say it is stupid, doesn't work properly, and would rather have their $100. The only reason they have it plugged in is because they have it so why not use it. You put so much focus on the Kinect. You felt that this was the most important thing to try to market. You thought this was more important than always online and used game DRM, that you were going to focus all your efforts on it and not try to explain why the other aspects were good for the consumer. No one bought the "this is integral to the experience" load because they knew that they would not buy games that focus heavily on Kinect. You even had the audacity to not want to include a headset "because you can just use the Kinect, it does the same thing as a headset and so much more," ignoring the fact that people don't want their conversations coming out of the TV and don't want the muffledness of yelling at a microphone that's on the other side of the room as opposed to a headset mic that's right next to their mouth. If you didn't focus heavily on the Kinect and just cut your losses on the most useless aspect of the XBOX ONE, then maybe you wouldn't have had to do all those reversals. There are people who say "I could forgive the always online and used game DRM, but the Kinect is unforgivable and I will not buy an XBOX ONE so long as it's forced into every XBOX ONE purchase."
Now as with everything else, I am not the norm. However, this time, it's
a little different. Most people don't want the Kinect at all. However, there's a part of me that does want the Kinect, but not for gaming purposes. The only reason I want a Kinect is for collectors purposes. I have a PS2 EYE, I got it for $1. I want a PS3 camera, and I'm willing to pay $10 maximum for it. I want an XBOX360 kinect, and I'm willing to pay a maximum of $15 for it with the Kinect sports adventure game. I just want them for collectors purposes, and will only pay a little for it. I don't want to spend $100 on something I won't use because I don't care about it.
Alright, I made my peace with the XBOX ONE original concept. As of right now, the XBOX 180 is much better than the XBOX ONE original idea. Until I can buy one without Kinect though, I still won't buy it. Once people start selling their XBOX ONE's to GameStop, I guarantee you that GameStop will offer to resell them without the Kinect. Well this has been Happy Gamer, and don't put all your eggs into the motion control basket, because it will break them.
No comments:
Post a Comment