Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi recently commented during an interview with The Telegraph on the reversed policies of Microsoft regarding the Xbox One. One of the most famous reversed policies was concerning digital games and their sharing and re-using rules. Medhi stated that at the time Microsoft didn’t make enough effort to communicate with their followers and just ask them what they want. Instead, they went on with what they though was the “right vision”.
“I think it was the right vision,” Mehdi said. “I think a digital future for games is the way to go. I think where we missed was that we didn’t give customers the choice if they wanted to sell or pass on their disc. If we had more dialogue with our fans, we would have heard more loud and clear that this was important and we would have delivered that future. If we had done that maybe we would have gotten to a better place. Who knows, maybe fans would have said no, let’s skip the disc and give me those features.”
At E3 2013, Microsoft had announced that their Xbox One console would require a 24-hour online log-in, strict rules on re-selling games and a “Family Sharing” concept that allowed you to share digital games with up to 10 people but that too had its own fine-print rules such as having the person as a friend for a certain period of time, among other things.
Microsoft has recently released their $399 Kinect-less Xbox One with plans to roll out standalone Kinect cameras later this year.
“There were certainly some developers that make dedicated Kinect games that would like it to stay in, but in the broad masses we arrived at the conclusion that if Xbox was more accessible that will bring more people to the system which over time brings a better platform for developers,” Mehdi said. “Ultimately what developers care about is the reaching the broadest audience with their games. The hope is that people will come and use the system and they’ll be encouraged to buy a Kinect.”
He also praised how Sony handled their console’s policies and demonstrated it with wonderful style at last year’s E3. Finally saying that whatever both Microsoft and Sony does with their consoles, it will benefits the gaming industry and the gamers.
“Hats off to Sony, they’ve done a really great job with their launch,” Mehdi said. “What is good for them and for us is good for the industry and is good for gamers. It means the console generation is vibrant, more developers will come and write more games and we all get to play more excitement entertainment.”
