Once they recognised from preorders and then actual sales how much behind they were and someone internally ran realistic projections of how it would turn out if they did not course correct they reacted and strongly (while I prefer a company starting out well instead of being forced by the market to behave well, hence why I respect MS for the introduction of the 360, albeit how they rushed it to market had some HW repercussions, and why I give props to Sony this gen for how they started and setup their generation ahead of time in the right way).
This is why I like how both MS and Sony rushes to save their generation and respect them for doing that, but I need to give props to their competitors who started the generation better and did not need to make as many amends.
Before this users were paying to browse the web or to use Netflix or MMO’s / F2P (all requires Xbox LIVE Gold, now only MMO’s and F2P games do), crossplay became an issue only (if you want to see it this way) when it could be a thorn in Sony’s side (it was ridiculous to see companies like Bethesda kind of imply Fallout 76 was going to be crossplay unless Sony changed their tune for this to completely change once Sony announced their change of intentions and plans).
The narrative around MS changed for sure (and Xbox owners should be happy that the company did not pull a Nintendo with the Wii U and abandoned the console albeit introducing the Xbox One X to change the narrative does not do much for the people who bought an OG Xbox One or an Xbox One S which was their first meaningful HW fix/speed bump but they did improve services and introduced enhanced BC support) , but part of it is the usual underdog perspective where the market leader that got there doing the work early and needed not to catchup to their competition is seeing in a much less favourable light than the competitor who is kind of beaten by the market into submission/changing their policies. Some of the media that is seeing Xbox Next as dominating next generation was saying the same before despite Sony being the most costumer friendly of the two (supporting cross play, supporting free online multiplayer and video streaming, etc... BC started as super top notch being compatible with PS1 and PS2 titles, but customers determined that they preferred them to focus on new games and lowering the cost of the console and they voted with their wallet... consumers seemingly gave up on BC and did so quite happily) and outselling their competition on a month by month basis for years which allowed to catch up... not a surprise it mostly happens in U.K. and U.S. media which are the areas where Xbox mindshare and popularity is the strongest. In some cases it kind of smells like they wish Sony would just go away
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I also think that there is this perception that they only mimic others and never innovate (see comment about GamePass and game downloads on PSNow... btw, PSNow allows you to play games in MP without paying for PS+ and has done so for a good long while while GamePass is on top of Xbox LIVE gold) and I do not think it is completely fair.