JinxRake said:
Microsoft will have a very successful platform with the XBox One. You need to be a child to not see that. They will sell well in North America, they will make money off Halo and Forza, they will endure easily for the coming gen, even competitively.
What just happened was that they were not offered the next gen on a silver platter. They have been offered the pole position after the XBox 360, same as Sony after the PlayStation 2, and decided to take very big leap of faith in trying to reshape an industry model that is right now very comfortable to everyone, one that focuses on the company's needs, real or fabricated. How that will pan out, it's anyone's guess.
What some people are forgetting though is that consoles have been, are and will continue to be TOYS. As many features as you want to cram in, they are essentially toys and the need for them will be driven by a younger generation, one that is already growing accustomed to not owning their content, to phone games that can't be traded, to micro-transactions as part of their normal gaming life. They won't care that they can't lend a game of CoD Ghosts to a friend because they'll play it multiplayer and each of them will already own it.
So no, I don't feel bad for Microsoft. They are far, FAR from being in a bad position, certainly not one that would prove problematic for them. Sony knows the market better than Microsoft outside of America and they have capitalized on that knowledge and on the growing anti-user fears. It has played out for them, for now, and it just remains to be seen if they can ride this wave as far as they can.
Also, I'm calling it now, Microsoft will not back out of ANY of the features announced for the XBox One. They certainly don't see Sony as a threat in this regard, same as they didn't see them as a threat with the free online play. Any weakness shown by Microsoft will only serve to hurt their stocks I imagine, so to all those that think they'll drop the DRM / No-used games scheme...you are very wrong, sorry.
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