I'm glad to see Sessler didn't do a fluff interview. He did ask some serious questions.
Albert isn't being totally honest when he says "we looked at what Steam was doing". No, you didn't. Steam does not have a 24 hour DRM check. That was the single biggest reason people got upset about your plans.
I also don't think Albert is being totally honest when he says things like "people got it in their heads we were being anti consumer, etc". You created the 24 hour check in, and we've already seen examples of how digital games can be handled without such arbitrary controls being put in place, so that leaves us one conclusion. Microsoft wanted total control, and that was what the consumers rejected. A power grab with minor upside for the customer.
The same story with Kinect. You've got some cute and small improvements for UI related stuff, controller recognition, etc. And THAT justifies an extra $100 cost? No, and frankly it only leads me to believe there are bigger reasons Microsoft wants that device included and plugged in at ALL times, because we clearly see no real gaming related reasons for it, and the UI stuff is minor. I won't use the word "evil" regarding your intentions, but there is clearly more to this than "we think the UI experience is so much better we want to make our console $100 more expensive than the competition". Data gathering/marketing purposes clearly played a part in the entire Kinect decision.
The biggest problem with the steam comparison is that what MS was trying to do was different in a few key ways. Yes, they were doing a "steam-esque" thing, but they were also trying to also preserve the ability for people to sell/trade/gift games and allow for family sharing. This is why they
had to put those stringent checks in.
You can make up whatever explanation you want about the 24 hour check thing...that they think we're all thieves, that MS is evil and wants to send our data away, etc....but ultimately it was because
they were trying to go digital AND keep the physical disc world alive. This was ultimately their failure.
If they had chosen to either go full digital (steam), full disc (360), or some hybrid of the two (opt in: use discs if you want, but if you go digital you get some of the sharing features, but with some DRM), the reaction wouldn't have been so crazy. I, like basically everyone, wasn't a big fan of their original model. I absolouetely abhor "always online" stuff...and I hate that the industry is pushing so hard for it all of the time. But, I would have really been happy with the hybrid (opt in) approach. And I hope that is where they eventually go (and from what I've read, it sounds like that is their current plan).
I won't go as far to say "they were ahead of their time," but they were definitely thinking towards the future. They were thinking of how to make a smooth transition to digital and also keep some of the features that people will still want (game sharing, ability to sell/trade games) in place. You can't have that model without some type of DRM. I hope people realize this... If you want Steam and you want to be able to go offline, you don't get all of the other stuff (game sharing, ability to sell/trade games). I'm actually fine with steam and that model. But I also realize what I'm giving up in doing so.
I personally don't think their intentions were evil as most here think they were...I just think the way they explained it was utterly horrible...and they didn't do a good job of explaining the benefits of the system or answering the hard questions in the beginning. Of course, I'm glad they retracted their original plans, but it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.
People thinking they're going to bring back their original DRM system-wide on the Xbox One are a bit crazy, though. That just isn't gonna happen. I wish that premise would die.
On topic: I thought it was a good interview, and I'm glad Albert did it. While people might think Albert's answers are "PR-like," I actually think he answered the majority of the questions directly. He seems very genuine, and very passionate about games/gamers. That was obvious from the way he posts here, but it's cool to see that come through when he's speaking in person.
I felt the interview actually had some tough/to-the-point questions in it, so it was nice to see those points addressed. You can argue that some of the answers are "fluff" (e.g. on the graphics, which I actually think he isn't that far off on), but he gave pretty good answers over all.
And I hope people do watch the interview and don't just read the summary in the OP. It's actually one of the best Xbox One interviews I've seen yet.
