I've been reading the comments sections of youtube and gaming websites as well as the Facebook news feeds and Twitter feeds since the announcement of the XBOX ONE. There are mixed reactions ranging from pure bliss to outright rage. I will share with you some of the comments I've seen (and I'll paraphrase in doing so).
"How dare they (Microsoft) tell me I have to have internet for the console to work"
"Shut up and take my money"
"I'm not putting that dinosaur in my living room"
"My hands are ready"
"Could they have made it any bigger"
"Why can't it be out already"
"Microsoft fails again"
Those are just some of the comments I came across in my exploration to take the temperature of the response to the announcement. It has become commonplace to hate on a system because you are loyal to the other, and also to love a system because you are fan of it. I was unable to tell what the general consensus was about it, but it did pose a few great questions to me.
- Why are some people so upset about the always online requirement?
- Why are some people nitpicking the aesthetic of it?
- Who is Microsoft trying to market this console to?
Why are some people so upset about the always online requirement?
The answer I came up with for this is multi part. First of all, there are parts of the USA and the world where internet connectivity is either spotty, expensive, or unobtainable. Spotty meaning unreliable. Windy places, places that get bad storms that routinely knock out the cable, etc. Expensive for the areas that have bandwidth caps. If you go over your cap the provider charges you more money and the cost can be significant. Unobtainable for people that live in areas that are not wired for cable. I know this sounds like it applies to other countries, but there are plenty of places right here in the United States that are not wired for high speed internet. Rural areas especially.
There is another part of this answer and it lies with low income households. With low income households, cable TV, internet, and telephone are usually the first things to get shut off when money is tight. It is possible that the low income gamers probably feel like they are being written off, and they might not be far from being right.
Why are some people nitpicking the aesthetic of it?
This is a pretty easy one but I'll offer a few opinions on it. First of all, haters gonna hate. Hating on things just to hate is a cool internet trend right now.
Secondly, fanboys will find anything down to the most minute detail to use to try to make the opposing console look bad.
Third, there may actually be people that live in small areas that just don't have the room for something of that size. I remember when people in Japan were complaining about the Original XBOX and even the PS3 because of the size of the units.
Finally, some people genuinely don't find it attractive. Believe it or not, some people just flat out really think its ugly.
Who is Microsoft trying to market this console to?
There are plenty of people that were upset that Microsoft didn't focus on the games during their XBOX ONE event. But I think their mindset was that it goes without saying that the XBOX ONE will play video games. Another thing to take into account is that E3 is just around the corner and they didn't want to spend the entire conference talking about non-game related features, instead opting to get that out of the way early.
We just went over the low income gamer. I feel like Microsoft is not trying to position themselves to be a device for the low income gamer. Instead I feel like they are willing to gamble away that demographic to pick up a totally new one. The market I believe they are aiming at is middle class, upper middle class, and upper class. They are trying to appeal to the market that has money they can spend on the services that they have to offer.
With the new interactive TV experience (like the integration of fantasy sports leagues) they seem to be reaching out to appeal to the sports fan. They also talked about movies. It seems as if they are positioning themselves to compete with the likes of Apple TV and other On Demand movie services by offering a digital move rental and sales service.
The XBOX ONE wants to dominate your living room experience. Watch TV and movies with it, watch your sporting events on it, watch your political events on it, get your news from it, surf the web with it, run apps on it, and play video games on it.
This is a gamble that they are willing to take and a risky one at that. There was a figure released some time ago that suggested that over 60% of the XBOX 360 consoles (and I'm being conservative with that number) that have sold since launch have never ever connected to the internet.
EVER
They obviously feel confident that leaving the low income gamer out of the picture will not hurt them because of the gains they can make in other areas including TV and movies. We'll have a better understanding of how this decision will play out after the first couple of quarters of sales.
In conclusion, the XBOX ONE seems to be marketed as not only a gaming console, but the future of entertainment. The XBOX division of Microsoft seems to be treading into product diversity with the new console and Microsoft in known for forward thinking and redefining experiences. It hasn't always worked for them in the past, but no great things have ever come from playing it safe.
We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below or at www.facebook.com/bigupsgaming please visit us and like us for updates! Thanks for reading and stay tuned to Big Ups Gaming for more gaming articles!
No comments:
Post a Comment