Those millions of gamers might not be an ongoing focus for MS.
As with any large firm, you perform ongoing trending and consumption analysis. If the numbers for MS show that it's the connected userbase that tend to consume the most content and in turn proves to be the most profitable for the company, they'll naturally cater to that userbase.
And yes, there is a large delta between the landscape in 2013 vs what it was in 2005 with regards to connectivity. Seeing that the console will likely last 5+ years, it's very safe to assume that the proliferation of the internet will continue, the console and it's services will continue to cater towards the connected user.
If MS wants to fire a segment of their customer base with the justification that by not catering to them, their potential in an untapped userbase improves dramatically and can be economically viable, then it's completely upto them to make that decision. You as a consumer can either support that vision or find an alternative (of which there are).
Your points here are much more relatable imo.
Because yes, of course MORE people will connect online this gen than they did last gen. And yes, of course the landscape is different with regards to connectivity now. And you're absolutely right, Microsoft can cater to whatever market they like.
I am simply pushing back against the idea that this should be an
expectation of videogame consoles now. Every single videogame system ever so far has not had that requirement, and last gen 32 million people still did not connect to XBL, to say nothing of PS3 and Wii (100 million users vs. a fraction of that being online). That a consumer would walk into the store and be a little surprised at what they bring home in this case is no big stretch. And that we should push back against such requirements is also not in question, as we've seen the community unite behind the issue.
And we actually do have a decent indicator. Wii U is connected to the internet by 80% of its extremely hardcore ownership base. So, if those number trends were to continue for PS4 and Xbox One, that's still a massive percentage of people who refuse to connect online.
Microsoft can refuse to cater to them and lose those customers, but since they don't exist in a vacuum, that's extremely stupid. That said, you are right that they are well within their rights to make such a system. It's just strategically dumb, since even in a system that allows you to connect offline, there's nothing stopping the same amount of people who wanted the online functionality from supporting the ecosystem as extensively as they would have anyway.
