Current Events > Phil Spencer Remembers The Xbox One Launch, And What They Got Wrong Out The Gate

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/phil-spencer-remembers-the-xbox-one-launch-and-wha/1100-6468802/

"If you go back and watch [the reveal], what you'll see is an event that was very much focused on Xbox as a TV platform," Spencer said. "We showed things like The Price is Right, for instance. In fact, I think the first piece of content that we ever showed on an Xbox One was a TV show."

In May 2013, Microsoft revealed the Xbox One, a console advertised as the new nexus for home entertainment. Before the reveal, Microsoft and their new product--codenamed Durango--already faced something of an uphill battle. In the months before, the backlash from comments from former Microsoft executive Adam Orth, who downplayed concerns from consumers about the next console potentially being online only, was still fresh on the minds of many. So going in, Microsoft had some ground to cover. Taking place in Redmond, Washington at the Microsoft campus, this event--also possessing a codename, Newcastle--was meant to be the console's big moment. But as history shows, things didn't work out as intended. Spencer went on to describe the mood following the event, and how employees weren't satisfied with what they saw.

"If you were an employee in team Xbox, then you were [a part of a team of] thousands of people that work on the Xbox. But there's like a handful of people that stand in front of cameras, on the stage and talk about things. There can be a divide between, 'Why is that person saying that? That's not the product I'm building,' or, 'Why are we doing that? That's not what I think we should be doing.'"

As the console's first showing, it was a heavily promoted event. In the opening montage, developers and gaming personalities alike talked about the potential of the new platform, and even film directors like Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams heaped praise on the new hardware. The key takeaway from the reveal event was that the Xbox One was presented as more than just a videogame console, but rather, a new home entertainment experience. This sentiment was made abundantly clear during the first half of the event, which treated viewers to a deluge of films and TV shows viewable on the Xbox One. The first games to make an appearance at the showing would be titles from EA Sports, well after 30 minutes had passed. Spencer stressed in our interview that the reveal missed the mark in properly showing what the console was all about.

"The feedback we got from the employees, maybe said and unsaid, was, 'We've been working really hard for two years to ship this product. You stand on stage at this event and blow up all the good work that we've done by talking about the product in a way that's not really matching what the soul of an Xbox console is about and what our customers are looking for from us,'" Spencer said while describing the frustration from employees. "I think the team just gets disappointed because they feel let down by the leadership team and I'd say that's the feeling I heard the most from the team. I had people come up emotional, like they're reading the forums and people are accusing us of being dishonest with them or having bad intent with why we were building the product that we were, and if you're a member of the team, you don't necessarily see across everything that's going on."

Such a colossal fuckup in so many ways but I think they got the right lessons from it.
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Microsoft really fucked up the launch of the xbone. The online only was a big slap in the face to consumers.
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What They Got Wrong Out The Gate

-naming it the Xbox One

God that dude that got replaced by Phil Spencer was such a dick. It was sheer arrogance.
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WrestlinFan posted...

God that dude that got replaced by Phil Spencer was such a dick. It was sheer arrogance.

Don Mattrick.

The 360 also got worse under him.
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Darmik posted...

WrestlinFan posted...

God that dude that got replaced by Phil Spencer was such a dick. It was sheer arrogance.

Don Mattrick.

The 360 also got worse under him.

Was he the one that told people to buy a 360 if you didnt have internet?
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Yeah, that shit was awful.
Anyone remember that game that was all quicktime events?
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Darkninja42 posted...

Darmik posted...

WrestlinFan posted...

God that dude that got replaced by Phil Spencer was such a dick. It was sheer arrogance.

Don Mattrick.

The 360 also got worse under him.

Was he the one that told people to buy a 360 if you didnt have internet?

Yes.

"Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to stay connected; it's called Xbox 360"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_JVVUnCWnY" data-time="
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