I think Jelle Shell, a man involved in game design, is mistaking psychology for market value.
firstly, It's a console. It's values are nothing like the values that could (and did) work for PC's and Steam in particular. I never felt that Steam was forced on me beyond the scope what is convenient for both myself as well as for the companies involved. ALSO I didn't think Valve's primairy interest for the platform was to control ME or what I (can) do.
I do not feel the same way about EA's Origin and I will not go into bussiness with that offer. Similar system, same platform, no dice. The platform stays in one place, is always connected to the internet (aside from irregularities), and yet the offer doesn't work.
What MS was suggesting in the console space, with very different existing values as well as 'things that I could want from this product', was that I could play what they would 'allow me'. Which is not an offer at all, it's pointing a gun at someone and telling them to like it. Nobody likes that, if that even needed pointing out.
Secondly: Microsoft's main problem is that their offer is a goddamn mess. "TV! VIDEO! GAMES.. SORTA!". I am an experienced and relatively informed gamer and I have no idea what the fuck they want to offer in terms of value to me. In fact, I don't believe they offer anything at all. Tv? I can watch that on a Wii U, and look how that's selling. Or not selling, to be blunt. Video? I mean, seriously? any device on earth will do that. games? same shit, different console. (even bringing back Killer Instinct as a tool... how futuristic! )
I know that they probably took time to think and thought "look at that value!" during board meeting, but the truth is that they don't offer anything worthwhile at all, given their multiple control schemes (like the mess with Wii U....) of which one is the forced Kinect, which gets Hi-fucking-larious when combined with the PRISM leak.
"Listening to the customer" was an act of desperation, not a "mistake" on their part. Why? because they have no real offer and they know it.
/ rant
( I mean: kicking out the Xbox dvision head after presenting the offer? Or actually presenting the offer when you know you're leaving? I mean, reaaaally? How was that not going to look bad to the audience? -yes, my whole world consists of nothing more than consoles and nothing more, but I do think that any type of marketing planning was either ignored or thrown out in this case. Certainly knowing how tight MS is on marketing)
PS: too offtopic?