Schell: Microsoft should have held its nerve on Xbox One

4.7
Microsoft's submissiveness in the face of public outcry over Xbox One policies was a mistake, according to a prominent and respected games developer.

Jesse Schell, games designer and professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center, believes a firm nerve is necessary in order to reinvent established businesses.

"Your customers want you to stay the same, even if it drives you into the ground," Schell told GamesIndustry International.

"The reality is that companies can't do what the customers want," he said, in reference to Microsoft's extraordinary volte-face on Xbox One's pre-owned and always-online policies.

"Basically, Microsoft said 'we're going to be Steam. You like Steam, don't you?' They said, 'we're gonna do this new thing', and the customers said no we don't want that, we hate that, even though it's what they really want and what they will ultimately buy."

"So now Microsoft has had to say they won't do all that stuff, but someone will. That's how it always goes. This is the lesson of the innovator's dilemma. Why is it that big companies fail when the technology changes? It happens in every industry, so what's the pattern? What are they all doing wrong?

"Everyone says, 'Oh, it's because they're stupid. Big companies are stupid.' They can't be stupid. How did they get that big and stay that big if they're stupid? Microsoft isn't stupid.

"There's one mistake that they all make, and that mistake is listening to their customers.

"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' When you want to do something really different - the solution to the innovator's dilemma - you can't take your big brand and say it's going to be completely different."

Xbox One pre-orders are said to be roughly double that of the Xbox 360 at launch, according to Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot. The same is said for Sony's PS4, a demand that has led to PlayStation Europe capping its guaranteed launch day pre-orders.

Nevertheless, Schell believes the growing and diversifying competition to games consoles will have a noticeable effect on their market share.

"E3 convinced me that they are going to be struggling," he said.

"I haven't seen anything that made me think, yeah, you're gonna get that market share back. I'm convinced that all [of the consoles] are going to have a gradually eroding market share over the coming years. Because tablets are going to be eating their lunch more and more, and other platforms are going to start to take off and catch fire."

Posted:
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/422580/schell-microsoft-should-have-held-its-nerve-on-xbox-one/

Related Articles

Comments

"Schell: Microsoft should have held its nerve on Xbox One" :: Login/Create an Account :: 99 comments

If you would like to post a comment please signin to your account or register for an account.

MitzzLIVEPosted:

looking at the picture the xbox one design look simple but I think it's a box with holes haha

Julianoz1224Posted:

sbc123 I love how people are defending online 24/7 when to be honest its kinda stupid. Ya I don't care what they do with their DRM ******** but online 24/7 is ridiculous. Us as a consumer should be allowed to use our products whenever and wherever. Not when ever Microsoft decides to hook it up to life support on our internet. Think about it.........Done? Why would people want to go back to the 360? If you can't afford it we all understand but seriously telling someone to stick to 360 is retarded if they don't agree on a certain thing. Of course people are gonna want next gen consoles but don't stop people from having their opinions on the new technology that they want to buy. Every opinion counts even if you disagree with it. People just need to respect other peoples opinions and the world will be a better place.


It doesn't mean you need to turn your xbox on and connect it at least once every 24 hours

sbc123Posted:

I love how people are defending online 24/7 when to be honest its kinda stupid. Ya I don't care what they do with their DRM bullshit but online 24/7 is ridiculous. Us as a consumer should be allowed to use our products whenever and wherever. Not when ever Microsoft decides to hook it up to life support on our internet. Think about it.........Done? Why would people want to go back to the 360? If you can't afford it we all understand but seriously telling someone to stick to 360 is retarded if they don't agree on a certain thing. Of course people are gonna want next gen consoles but don't stop people from having their opinions on the new technology that they want to buy. Every opinion counts even if you disagree with it. People just need to respect other peoples opinions and the world will be a better place.

The_KilljoyPosted:

DeFuhse
var
XBLobbies
LuckyOtter
var
grunt987654
HDITeRRoRiZeI
xSTaTiCBLuEx OMFG why doesn't everyone just shutup about this whole fiasco. The DRM Policy was a BAD idea and anyone with a **** brain cell would realise why it doesn't 100% work.


Do you have no internet connection? NO You have internet connection
There is not a problem with DRM, if you have a internet connection, why complain about it if it doesn't concern you? I don't understand people like you


It doesn't **** matter if I have internet. It's the principle. If I someday lose my internet or become interested in single player only games and don't want to be online, then I damn well have the right to play my on my console without internet if I please.


Then that sucks for you. Go back to 360 then. Your defending something that would have made the Xbox One completely unique to the PS4. DRM was a great idea and if you cannot afford internet you shouldn't be able to afford a $500 console.


I completely agree. If you live in the US and are spending 500 dollars on a gaming console but don't have internet then maybe you should work instead. Because last time I checked you can get internet in the US at almost any location now. I used to live 20 minutes outside of a town of 5000 population. My town had a population of 216. We had internet. If you live in the US and don't have internet then you probably have something more important to spend your money on then an XBox.

I will take my good friend for an example,
His family has internet as of now. He saves money and can buy the xbox on his own. His mom doesn't have the best of jobs and his dad isn't with them anymore. His mom tries to buy internet but cant allways aford it and they will go a month or two without internet every once and a while... So he wouldn't be able to use his xbox for a month or more at a time. That is my look on the whole thing. Plus what does it help with? Not ****.


Its still the same. If its that bad he should not be buying a next gen console.


Var you are an idiot what if someone goes up to their cottage for a week or something and wants to bring their xbox with them and they aren't aloud to play because they don't have internet


This is why I game on PC. We simply don't have these issues. I play what I want, when I want, whenever I want, with or without an internet connection. Steam Games I don't even need a disc. Why do people even buy consoles? You can do everything on a PC that you can do on your console and every computer these days can be hooked up to a TV. Don't like mouse and keyboard? Xbox 360 controllers are 100% compatible with any computer running Windows.
Someone also please explain to me why you would buy a console over a PC. Console cost 400 to 500 dollars, cost 60 dollars for every controller and game, 60 a year if you have xbox live and even more money for over priced accessories. PC is about 500 plus 100 for a decent graphics card. No subscriptions and generally cheaper games. Plus most computers come with massive hard drives. One more added plus to PC is you can download disc mounting software so you can download you disc image and never worry about scratched disc's (if you for some reason don't use steam).

DeFuhsePosted:

var
XBLobbies
LuckyOtter
var
grunt987654
HDITeRRoRiZeI
xSTaTiCBLuEx OMFG why doesn't everyone just shutup about this whole fiasco. The DRM Policy was a BAD idea and anyone with a **** brain cell would realise why it doesn't 100% work.


Do you have no internet connection? NO You have internet connection
There is not a problem with DRM, if you have a internet connection, why complain about it if it doesn't concern you? I don't understand people like you


It doesn't **** matter if I have internet. It's the principle. If I someday lose my internet or become interested in single player only games and don't want to be online, then I damn well have the right to play my on my console without internet if I please.


Then that sucks for you. Go back to 360 then. Your defending something that would have made the Xbox One completely unique to the PS4. DRM was a great idea and if you cannot afford internet you shouldn't be able to afford a $500 console.


I completely agree. If you live in the US and are spending 500 dollars on a gaming console but don't have internet then maybe you should work instead. Because last time I checked you can get internet in the US at almost any location now. I used to live 20 minutes outside of a town of 5000 population. My town had a population of 216. We had internet. If you live in the US and don't have internet then you probably have something more important to spend your money on then an XBox.

I will take my good friend for an example,
His family has internet as of now. He saves money and can buy the xbox on his own. His mom doesn't have the best of jobs and his dad isn't with them anymore. His mom tries to buy internet but cant allways aford it and they will go a month or two without internet every once and a while... So he wouldn't be able to use his xbox for a month or more at a time. That is my look on the whole thing. Plus what does it help with? Not ****.


Its still the same. If its that bad he should not be buying a next gen console.


Var you are an idiot what if someone goes up to their cottage for a week or something and wants to bring their xbox with them and they aren't aloud to play because they don't have internet

BobMarIeyPosted:

VanCity DRM was stupid. What if my internet connection goes down for a while? what am I going to do?


i agree. i had too many times where it caused an isssue for me. Down with DRM haha

S14Posted:

DRM was stupid. What if my internet connection goes down for a while? what am I going to do?

alexv1994Posted:

the whole internet connection was dumb i mean what if i go to my lake house and in my down time i decide that i wanna play but i wouldnt be able too because of that

IlIuminatiPosted:

XBLobbies
LuckyOtter
var
grunt987654
HDITeRRoRiZeI
xSTaTiCBLuEx OMFG why doesn't everyone just shutup about this whole fiasco. The DRM Policy was a BAD idea and anyone with a **** brain cell would realise why it doesn't 100% work.


Do you have no internet connection? NO You have internet connection
There is not a problem with DRM, if you have a internet connection, why complain about it if it doesn't concern you? I don't understand people like you


It doesn't **** matter if I have internet. It's the principle. If I someday lose my internet or become interested in single player only games and don't want to be online, then I damn well have the right to play my on my console without internet if I please.


Then that sucks for you. Go back to 360 then. Your defending something that would have made the Xbox One completely unique to the PS4. DRM was a great idea and if you cannot afford internet you shouldn't be able to afford a $500 console.


I completely agree. If you live in the US and are spending 500 dollars on a gaming console but don't have internet then maybe you should work instead. Because last time I checked you can get internet in the US at almost any location now. I used to live 20 minutes outside of a town of 5000 population. My town had a population of 216. We had internet. If you live in the US and don't have internet then you probably have something more important to spend your money on then an XBox.

I will take my good friend for an example,
His family has internet as of now. He saves money and can buy the xbox on his own. His mom doesn't have the best of jobs and his dad isn't with them anymore. His mom tries to buy internet but cant allways aford it and they will go a month or two without internet every once and a while... So he wouldn't be able to use his xbox for a month or more at a time. That is my look on the whole thing. Plus what does it help with? Not ****.


Its still the same. If its that bad he should not be buying a next gen console.

CanidaePosted:

Time will tell with these next-gen consoles


Latest Downloads

Latest Tutorials