Game On or Game Over: Microsoft’s DRM backflip

Microsoft versus Sony, Battlefield versus Call of Duty, and Forza versus Gran Turismo. These are some of the rivalries that can get people talking about console wars. To promote solidarity, Stevivor.com and StickyTrigger.com have donated two stunningly brilliant (and good looking) writers to tackle some of gaming’s most controversial subjects. Game On or Game Over is your place to get inside the minds of Nicholas and Andy as they seek to find the true meaning of gaming. Both are award winning authors – although the awards haven’t been mailed yet, or created yet, they have won many! Trust us, we wouldn’t lie!

Andy: Well now svelte one, what a difference a week makes. Last week at E3, Microsoft was widely denounced for the list of draconian features they wanted to include with the Xbox One. Fast forward a week, and Microsoft is singing a different tune. Gone are the DRM policies, the 24 hour internet check-in, region lock, and how they handle used games. Microsoft claims they were listening to gamer’s feedback, but were they really just listening to the lost funds they were seeing from Sony and their PS4 pre-orders?

Nicholas: I know right! Usually I’d be criticizing a company for going back on its word, but I do respect Microsoft for this one. I think it’s good that all those people who were planning on jumping ship to PlayStation have a decent reason to keep with Microsoft. Whether it’s a case of listening to customers or seeking higher profits – not too sure really, I think it can go either way. Microsoft has been receiving a LOT of flak ever since the One was announced for these DRM changes, so I can definitely see how this is simply a way to get back in consumer’s good-books. On the other-hand, Microsoft is a business, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they predicted sales would drop considerably, so they had to get their fan-base back. I’d like to be more positive than cynical though, so I’m going to go with the former of the two. Here’s something though – do you think this was planned by Microsoft all-along? The Xbox One sure looks more promising on launch than the PS4 now doesn’t it?

Andy: I don’t think this was planned all along, for a couple reasons actually. One, I don’t see Microsoft as a company that would spend  as much as they did at E3 and their official reveal, only to change policies a week later. I have never subscribed to the any press is good press adage. Second, and this is more important I think, I firmly believe Microsoft has (or had) a vision of where they saw the future of gaming. I think they were trying to slowly peel gamers away from disc-based gaming and go towards a more Steam-style model. Unfortunately, the gaming community wasn’t ready for that big of a shift yet. Do you think Microsoft would have been better off implementing just one of those measures now and slowly add more over time to show gamers the benefits of those policies?

Nicholas: I believe that would have been a nice way to start. Simply taking away (or imposing such strict restrictions) on the second-hand market/trading games was always going to be hard for gamers to adapt to. Maybe they should have stuck with their used-games policy, but allow sharing between friends (or family) – have that sort of middle-ground. I think the biggest problem with this entire DRM situation (and the reason it feel apart as badly as it has) was the sheer lack of communication and clarification from Microsoft – there were so many unanswered questions (and there still are).   Whether we like it or not, eventually we are going to move away from relying on physical media, and this could have been a real stepping-stone for the console sector of the market, but I just don’t think Microsoft explained their vision well-enough. I’d love to ask, in your honest opinion, do you see this backflip as a win for gamers, or a step back for the future of the gaming industry?

Andy: Honestly, I think it’s both. On the gamer side, there was a lot of pushback on the ‘big’ issues. For any number of reasons (either listening to fans, or because of revenue loss) Microsoft backed off almost every controversial issue. In the short-term gamers will think they won. Whether gamers want to believe it or not, Microsoft was trying to push the industry forward with some things they were trying to do. The cloud gaming, taking your digital library wherever you go, and sharing digital copies all would have benefited gamers. Taking all that away now in one fell swoop stunts innovation and progress. Where Microsoft failed was communicating their vision and the benefits of that vision. Gamers focused solely on perceived injustices and not the long-term broader benefits. There is still a lot of chatter from frustrated Xbox fans though, does this sudden reversal even the playing field for the next console release, or do you think Microsoft still needs to dig deeper to appease those gamers?

Nicholas: The phrase ‘haters gonna hate’ comes to mind when I read that last question. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt about gamers (and the internet), it’s that people will always find something to complain about in everything. If we take a look at all the things that Microsoft have announced so far with regards to the Xbox One, I think the launch is looking really strong. The console itself has some great hardware and software, there’s some fantastic support in the way of launch titles, the all-in-one entertainment box idea is promising, and now we don’t have to worry about any of the DRM restrictions – if Microsoft has lost fans to PlayStation after all this, I’m not too sure exactly what they’d have to do to win them back. Sony really haven’t revealed any features of the PS4 that blow the One out of the water, so I’m sort of scratching my head on what reason they’d still have to jump ship. I did read that pre-orders for the PS4 are currently beating the Xbox One 3-to-1, but given the fact Microsoft just announced their new DRM changes, I think we’ll need to wait a little while to see how gamers really react to the news. I think it certainly evens the playing field though now moving forward. What do you think?

Andy: I think at the end of the day, Microsoft was their own worst enemy. It started with their one hour reveal, continued at E3, and culminated with Don Mattick basically insulting gamers with his “we have a system for you, it’s called an Xbox 360.” line. What they should have done, in my opinion, is be very upfront with not only what they were implementing but WHY. At the end of the day they left gamers with more questions than they answered, and when they did answer a question it was cryptic and created yet more questions. If they would have explained the benefits in greater detail, and had more tact than trying to drive a pick-up truck through a pinhole, I think it would have been more palpable for everyone. Maybe they just didn’t want Sony to steal their ideas – no-one will know. I do know that it could have been handled much better though. So, peer into your crystal ball here for a final thought. Do the policies that Microsoft wanted to implement have a chance of becoming features either later in the Xbox One’s life cycle or down the road with another console?

Nicholas: Without a doubt. I don’t think it’s so much a question of “if” than “when”. I think it’s a shame that whatever vision Microsoft had with the Xbox One has now been killed (temporarily), but they will definitely come back at some stage to try and push the gaming industry into that next phase. Eventually gamers will need to realize that we can’t stick with discs forever, and that change will bring with it some inconveniences, but it’s going to happen eventually, and much like with every change, there’ll be a time when we’ll look back on this and say, “I can’t believe we made all the fuss we did”. Microsoft might not be implementing its DRM policies (and all the other features that come along with it) now, but we now know what the future of gaming holds, and I really hope that Microsoft help to push us towards that. It needn’t happen in one big step, but at least with one change at a time. The Xbox One is certainly shaping up to be a promising console, I really hope Microsoft make the most of its capabilities.

Tune in next time for the next instalment of Game On or Game Over. If you have any ideas for our next time, feel free to contact Andy or Nicholas on Twitter.