How Microsoft is losing the console war- from a Microsoft supporter

Microsoft has long been a company that I admire. I'm not at all ashamed to admit that. Hell, I worked for the company when Windows 8, the Surface tablet, Office 365, and the Xbox One were all released. I worked for Microsoft's retail division in sales during a big shakeup in the company's management, reinvention of their image, and the mind-boggling gambles of the last two years. I no longer work for the company, and while that is a story in and of itself, I want to discuss the Xbox One and Microsoft's approach to gaming from the perspective of someone who has worked on the inside and was privy to a lot of internal discussion about the future of Xbox.

I do like my Xbox One, although I don't use it very much. I prefer my gaming PC, but there are a few games I play on the thing. I got it on launch day for a slight discount and I have most of the AAA titles for it. I mostly use it for music and video content, and I do enjoy the cohesive experience with my phone and tablet. All that being said, Microsoft has been issuing a lot of "**** you" statements to people who bought the console on day one, and now that Microsoft is going to sell the device without Kinect for $100 less than the asking price at launch, I can't help but feel this is a move being made for the wrong reasons and at the wrong time.

The Kinect 2.0 is a nifty peripheral, but it's not the selling point of the console. When I worked for Microsoft, they wanted us to demonstrate the Kinect during just about every customer interaction involving the Xbox One. I managed to sell a few consoles to non-gamers on the promise of the Kinect alone, but I have certainly never much cared for it. It's there, I use it for some convenient voice commands, but I can take it or leave it.

EVERYONE can take it or leave it, and forcing people to pay a premium for it was a mistake.

The games for it aren't particularly good, and navigating menus using the device can be slipshod at best. Using voice commands like "Xbox go to Netflix" while there are other people in the room will inevitably lead to your friends shouting things like "Xbox turn off," or "Xbox suck a fat dick." That last one got real old, real fast. And watching a Netflix movie with people on the couch will often cause the Kinect to pick up on someone's hand reaching for a tasty beverage, sometimes pausing, rewinding, or changing some sort of setting. The Kinect is awesome when you want to use it, which is seldom.

So now they're selling the console for a hundred bucks less without the thing, and those of us who bought it on day one are feeling a bit cheated. Even the Titanfall bundle that was being sold for $450 and packaged with the game was a slap in the face to everyone who bought the console day one, while Sony is enjoying plenty of satisfied customers who have a console with a lot of power and a lower price point.

The option to purchase the console without the thing should have been an option from the start, and making it an option just over six months from launch with no consideration for other consumers is caving to demand while abandoning those who were there from the beginning. Yes, there are a lot of Xbox One owners with a bit of buyer's remorse. There aren't many games, the console isn't as powerful as the PS4, and it's a bulky monstrosity in my entertainment unit. That being said, I still like the device, but this new price reduction leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Microsoft made a lot of mistakes with the rollout of the new console, sending all the goodwill earned by the stellar Xbox 360 up in flames. As one of the experts in my store regarding all things Xbox, I had to answer a lot of questions about a lot of things I wish Microsoft had just not said or done. Microsoft is Microsoft's biggest enemy right now. They're the Peter Molyneux of console manufacturers. They promised a lot that sounded good and a whole lot more that was little more than the wishful thinking of a marketing department run amok. All Sony had to do to seal up launch supremacy was say, "this here. It plays games. Look at them games. Them games is awesome. Buy this and play games." And it worked. Hell, it worked beautifully. If Microsoft had any sense, they would give every "day one edition" consumer a free $60 game of their choice to make up for this.

I still have hope for the Xbox One, but right now the thing is sitting in my entertainment unit gathering dust. My Astro A50 headphones began to have connection issues and firmware-flashing problems from the day I plugged them into the thing, and right now, I use it mostly to watch Blu-ray movies and watch Netflix, occasionally playing a few games of Titanfall or Dead Rising 3. I still have hope, but right now I'm really not appreciating the way Microsoft is looking down its nose at the gamers that were there on launch day, ready to fork over more money for something that didn't live up to its promise.

Good read, and you hit the nail on the head.

They initially didn't do much with the backlash they received. Consumers need to be treated as an investment rather than a quick buck, and many who bought an Xbox1 at launch are feeling like the latter. The fact that MS is making much needed changes to the Xbox1 is a good thing, despite some feeling a little cheated.

Been an MS fan for over a decade, but I am extremely skeptical of the company, which is why I've yet to buy an Xbox1.

I've never been happier with my day 1 purchase of my Xbox One. Sure at the beginning I despised their decisions but I am glad they turned that all around. Now with Phil Spencer in charge, even more great features and new changes have been brought into the One. Bring on E3 is what I say.

You worked for Microsoft? I'm terribly sorry you had to suffer through that. Although I have a friend who works at Microsoft, (He does the Internet Explorer part). Seriously though, Kinect is crap, always was and always will be. There is no if ands or buts about it.

I don't feel buyer's remorse, but I respect your opinions. I personally think the Xbox One's original vision was exactly what I wanted... all digital, no used games, emphasis on media and other non-gaming features, and a wide array of interface choices. I do think they should have copied the Steam model more closely, offering an offline mode instead of 24 hour check-ins, but that's another conversation.

Like you, I play mostly on PC these days, and view consoles as 'exclusive game and media devices' only. If cutting the cost helps them sell more units, then that's fine with me, as I want the One to remain viable for publishers, but there has never been a better time for them to release a Kinect game that actually makes people want to buy the Kinect. The tech demo they showed that was a hybrid of FPS and gestures was very compelling, and I still think that it may be incorporated into a big first party game as a means of winning back the anti-Kinect crowd. Halo 5, perhaps?

Games with gold plus the other changes make the xbox plus gold worth having. Why be mad at them for releasing a cheaper Kinect less xbox? This only helps not hurts us early adopters. This will help with the $100 price gap and get people to actually buy a xbox. More people who buy and xbox the more games we will get for xbox. Its a win win, us early adopters always pay more for less, it just a fact of electronics.

I feel like Microsoft is going to have some really killer stuff at E3. No doubt in my mind that they're going to try to put their best foot forward here. Right now, I'm hoping for the best.

I agree with you there.I think Microsoft will take E3.

@Master_Of_Fools: Actually, my experience with the company was overwhelmingly positive. It's a fantastic company to work for, and they do offer plenty of perks and some great freebies to employees. I can't reveal too much, but they do have a hierarchy system even in their retail stores that puts some people in a different class than others. When 2/3 of the people working in a location get free surface tablets and phones while the others have to watch, it is infuriating and makes you feel like a lower-class. And yes, I was a member of this lower class, despite being leagues more qualified and devoted to the job than those in the higher class. It was a maddening system that pitted some people against each other, but even with all that, it was a great job that I sincerely wish I was able to keep.

It's a well known fact that if you buy a console on day one, your gonna be paying more than if you waited a while. Was looking into getting a pa4 but I may stick with Microsoft now what with this price drop.

Sounds like every job, really lol. A cunning but smart way to force friendly competition and force people to compete if they really want it.

A few comments:

1.) Purchasing an item during its launch window always affords the chance of it dropping in price or being offered with different incentives. That's a gamble taken by early adopters.

2.) While I understand where Microsoft was going with the inclusion of Kinect it was a forced necessity that many people didn't favor. Myself, I am surprised how much I enjoy it. Would I have purchased it separately if it wasn't mandatory in the beginning? No.

3.) Although $100 is not a lot of money when it comes to having a hobby such as gaming, the crappy economy and such have made the addition Ben Franklin a bit much for people to swallow. A larger selection of titles might have taken that price and made it a bit less sour. Last generation we all witnessed what a solid library coupled with a lower price point did for the PS3. History repeats itself.

The Kinect didn't need to exist in the first place, but since it's there they should have bitten that bullet and driven it to success.

All Microsoft needed was a big enough installed base to allow developers the chance to make a killer app, and they blew it.

I've yet to jump into the next gen, but when Xbox One was busy showcasing non-gaming features I knew I wasn't interested. I cam watch TV already. Heck, the TV I use for gaming isn't my TV watching TV.

The Xbox One is a microcosm of a larger problem in society and that is lowering the bar to reach the widest possible demographic. They took a video game playing machine and tried to turn it into am everything box. Same crap is happening in movies. R is practically banned because we just have to have everything in PG-13 so more kids can show up.

Give it time bro, the console race aint even a year old! :)

@TalSet_11: Although they made mistakes, you should know that trying to fix them would have come to kinectless. I can't blame them for doing it. It's exactly what any company would have done if they made the same mistakes..

They finally listened.

@TalSet_11:

I don't feel slapped in the face because I have accepted that change is constant and that's life. It's absurd to me that people are personally slighted by this. Anyone who buys a 2015 corvette in Nov, pays more than the person who buys one in Nov of 2015 after the 2016 has been revealed. Spare me the crying. This is how free market works. Buy a console at the end of its generation then.