Microsoft Creative Director Can’t Sympathize With Always-Online Concerns

[Sonereal]

Though the Official Policy of Microsoft Corporation is not to comment on rumors surrounding the next Xbox, like for example whether it’ll require an always-online connection to function, sometimes the Corporation doesn’t need to speak to drive a point across. In response to the resurgence of the always-online rumors, Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth decided to take the issue into his own hands.



Sorry, I don’t get the drama around having an “always on” console. Every device now is “always on”. That’s the world we live in. #dealwithit

— Orthy (@adam_orth) April 4, 2013

Contemptuous of unhappy customers, much? It just gets better from there. UPDATE: He’s using a protected account, which prevents some of his Tweets from being embedded, though as of the time of this writing they’re still online. Mr. Orth’s Tweets will thus appear in text or image format, though you can still view them here.

He kept going with the always-online apologetics:


I want every device to be “always on”.

— Orthy (@adam_orth) April 4, 2013


@theonlyalexw Those people should definitely get with the times and get the internet. It’s awesome.

— Orthy (@adam_orth) April 4, 2013

http://gengame.net/2013/04/microsoft-creative-director-cant-sympathize-with-always-online-concerns/

On the back of the disastrous SimCity release, one has to wonder why a company employee for Microsoft would go to bat for the idea so hard. Aaron Greenberg, Chief of Staff for Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, had this to say.

@LynnDawson Very sorry if you were offended, I don't actually know who he is.

https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/320008254841311232


Mind you, there has been confirmation that the Xbox 720 (ugh) will be always online, just rumors. However, it does seem like there might be a trend going into the future of more and more games requiring an internet connection to play. SimCity may have set that trend back a few years, since no game wants to be compared to SimCity in anyway for the next few years, but it is slightly worrying.

Thoughts?

 

[warpus]

Always online consoles? So you can't play your games when your internet is down?

Yeah, that will make me want to buy one of those...

 

[Maniacal]

Mind you, there has been confirmation that the Xbox 720 (ugh) will be always online, just rumors.

I think you mean "hasn't". The same rumours were going on about the PS3, and its all bullcrap, like almost all rumours about new consoles. I don't know why they keep getting "reported" as "news" because they have no real source and almost none of these gaming rags fact check.

 

[Sonereal]

Always online consoles? So you can't play your games when your internet is down?

Yeah, that will make me want to buy one of those...

It would be an extremely odd move if there are any talks about it in Seattle.

I think you mean "hasn't". The same rumours were going on about the PS3, and its all bullcrap, like almost all rumours about new consoles. I don't know why they keep getting "reported" as "news" because they have no real source and almost none of these gaming rags fact check.

Sorry, did mean "hasn't". I don't remember the PS3 rumors. I think the Xbox ones are louder because of SimCity and everyone reporting on rumors. It doesn't help when company employees troll the fanbase.

 

[Maniacal]

Crap I typed Ps3 instead of PS4 even tough I said to myself "Remember to type it as PS4 not PS3".

So apparently he was "just joking around" with a friend. Publicly. On twitter.

Spoiler :

Judging from his other tweets though, I think he's just a twit.

Spoiler :

 

[Matthew.]

Fail analogies.

My power goes out maybe once a year and for no longer than a few minutes. I also only vacuum for a few minutes every couple weeks.

Avoided the obvious mess that Simcity was going to be, but I did play Diablo 3. Even if I only played that game as often as I vacuum, I would have run into server issues.

A better analogy would be that I purchased a vacuum and every third time I try to use it, I can't because the company that made it is having server issues. And the times it does work, it doesn't function at optimal performance (you know, server lag for my vacuum...)

 

[Hawawaa]

I'm not buying consoles but if I was and this stuff was for certain going to happen thats a big no sale for me.

 

[Thrawn]

I could see always online being fairly normal for most games, especially ones from the big publishers in the future, but internet infrastructure isn't really at the point of that being particularly viable for a lot of people. I don't really mind always online requirements too much, but my internet is generally pretty stable.

 

[GoodGame]

Actually, you have to turn off your appliances during certain parts of air travel.

Also incredibly ignorant to say that people should want to be connected to the internet 24/7. And to imply that those who don't, 'don't get the internet'. There are privacy concerns. Internet isn't free, neither.


Telling one's customers that it's 'my way or the highway' is not in-line with customer-centered business philosophy---which probably will cause it to lose customers and hurt revenues over the long run. Seems to be the obsession with the lost sales due to all types of piracy is going to hurt their business model in the long run.

 

[sophie]

Telling one's customers that it's 'my way or the highway' is not in-line with customer-centered business philosophy---which probably will cause it to lose customers and hurt revenues over the long run. Seems to be the obsession with the lost sales due to all types of piracy is going to hurt their business model in the long run.

I mean, they essentially already do this with minimum spec requirements on computer games. Either get x GB of RAM or don't play the game. Either get a Windows OS or don't play the game. Get a PS3 or don't play baseball video games. No XBox no Halo etc. I like always-online functionality as little as every other person right now but this really isn't any different than the sort of stuff they've been doing for a long time.

 

[Dell19]

Its a little different as its possible to buy the right equipment whilst some people would have to move home to be able to get an always reliable internet connection. When I was living in north London the internet regularly went down or slowed down considerably. Where I am at the moment I wouldn't have a real issue with an always online connection as several of the games that I've played recently have this feature.

It seems likely that this is something that games and console makers are going to keep on pushing more and more and maybe they could release two versions of the Xbox with one being cheaper but requiring the user to always be online.

 

[GoodGame]

I mean, they essentially already do this with minimum spec requirements on computer games. Either get x GB of RAM or don't play the game. Either get a Windows OS or don't play the game. Get a PS3 or don't play baseball video games. No XBox no Halo etc. I like always-online functionality as little as every other person right now but this really isn't any different than the sort of stuff they've been doing for a long time.

Specs are usually guidelines though. Yeah the DX version is usually non-negotiable, as is the minimum video card RAM, but most other things in computers are scaleable.

Most console games are not online multiplayer required---most have single player modes of those that are multiplayer online. That's why demanding 'always on' is technically not a logistical demand. It's obviously some kind of tracking/anti-piracy measure that is a bit extreme. I'd say console gamers are even less likely to own an internet connection than PC gamers, and not likely to pay the Xbox service fee. Regardless, Steam doesn't try to imply in advertising I'm a super-savy gamer for choosing Steam for this option, nor do they insult me as a customer if I choose to go into off-line mode.

I'm not a console gamer, so I don't care. Just saying that this borders on insulting the customer. It'd be more honest if they said 'always-on' is to deter lost sales due to cartridge/CD piracy, rather than insistent customers are luddites for not wanting to be on-board with the new policy---which is pretty dishonest as well.

As a PC gamer, I do check the specs and usually refuse to buy games that have any kind of always-on requirements. And I do buy and download mostly from Steam, but I'm really only online to either DL or multiplayer. With Steam, there's the option for off-line mode, which is perfect if the internet goes down.

 

[coanda]

Most console games are not online multiplayer required---most have single player modes of those that are multiplayer online. That's why demanding 'always on' is technically not a logistical demand. It's obviously some kind of tracking/anti-piracy measure that is a bit extreme.

Depends on the game. Journey, for example, doesn't really make sense in offline mode - they added it, but I wouldn't have been particularly disappointed if they hadn't. SimCity is another example - I know everyone is screaming that it was anti-piracy, but really my sense is just that given the way the game works, it would have been a fair amount of extra work for them to set up a seamless single-player mode. They'd have had to create fairly sophisticated AI mayors, or make the city-to-city interaction just be gutted and single-player cities operate in a vacuum. Either of those would require significant additional development time and costs, and could lead to lower-quality playing experience. I don't blame them for making it always online. For making such an absolute hash out of it - that, I blame them for. They were no even close to prepared for the launch, and seem not to have even done any contingency planning before it blew up in their faces.

Diablo 3, on the other hand, could absolutely and easily have had a single-player offline mode added... and the fact that they're now planning on releasing console versions which enable offline play makes it pretty clear that they made it online-only purely as an anti-piracy measure.

 

[TheDanish]

Stuff like this has turned me away from big developers. The only "big" game I've bought recently was Guild Wars 2 which, being an MMORPG, must be online.

But I've turned largely to indie games for my single-player fix. They produce fantastic quality stuff for much lower prices, and almost never require a constant internet connection. Steam has been the best thing to happen to the PC gaming industry since... well, since the PC gaming industry. Sure, you need to go online to download a game, but offline mode is a great feature.

 

[Maniacal]

but really my sense is just that given the way the game works, it would have been a fair amount of extra work for them to set up a seamless single-player mode

The game works perfectly fine when forced into offline mode and the automatic disconnect disabled by a simple tweak in the files. The only thing it can't do offline is save and some MP features of course.

They'd have had to create fairly sophisticated AI mayors, or make the city-to-city interaction just be gutted and single-player cities operate in a vacuum

The other cities you aren't playing are 'frozen' in time, just like they are in SC4. They don't need an AI to be running them, just one that can still make neighbour deals. Plus having all those cities running at once would be rather taxing on the computer.

and could lead to lower-quality playing experience.

Considering how close to rock bottom the game already is I think that is the least of our worries.

I don't blame them for making it always online.

Why not? Its been well documented that there is absolutely NO need for it to be always online.

 

[Dell19]

Why not? Its been well documented that there is absolutely NO need for it to be always online.

A number of games that don't need to be online all the time have been made that way recently so there must be a reason...

 

[Maniacal]

DRM, microtransactions.

Also what other games? Besides Ubisoft ones, which was entirely and only DRM.

 

[Luckymoose]

Any game that requires Origin.

 

[Maniacal]

Origin doesn't have always-online DRM, and indeed its offline mode probably works better than Steam's. Also only a few, recent games even require you to launch it to play them.

 

[Sonereal]

I've never used Origin, but I haven't had problems with Steam's offline mode in a long time.