Adam Orth, Creative Director at Microsoft Studios, would probably know whether the next Xbox has the oft-rumoured, hugely controversial always-on connection requirement. Yesterday new citations surfaced that pointed to two individual sources saying this is the case, which has caused at least one Microsoft employee to speak up.
It’s worth noting that Tweets don’t always represent the views of an employer, of course, but Adam Orth said last night that he didn’t “get the drama around having an ‘always on’ console”, saying that “every device now is ‘always on’. That’s the world we live in.”
“#dealwithit,” he added.
Well, judging by comments on our site, consumers will deal with it by not really getting very excited about the console. Hardly the most comprehensive market research but remember the Xbox has always had issues with piracy and if all this is true it’s not hard to find reason for doing it.
But, anyway, back to this story. After Adam was queried what this might mean for those without an internet connection, he replied that “those people should definitely get with the times and get the internet,” adding that “it’s awesome.”
“Sometimes the electricity goes out,” he tweeted, “I will not purchase a vacuum cleaner.”
Adam’s tweets are protected but screengrabs of when they were public are available at both the source links below. It’s a very strange situation – although Adam makes no reference to a specific Xbox console it’s not hard to read between the lines, even if we’re reading it completely wrong.
Does this mean the next Xbox will require an always-on connection? No, of course not. Microsoft haven’t even acknowledged the new machine publicly, and everything and anything can change before they do. But it does make you wonder if that was the plan at some point.
And now surely Microsoft has to respond…
Torquemada
I hope hes talking about personal opinion and not fact. Im a massive Xbox fanboy and I will not buy any console or game with such restrictive DRM. Its worrying that these comments came from a Creative Director at Microsoft. Microsoft if you’re reading this, dont do it guys. I will switch back to Sony, as well everyone else. It aint worth it so think on
hazelam
what a douche.
the reason a vacuum cleaner doesn’t work when there’s no power is because the electricity is necessary to make it work.
connecting to a server to run local content isn’t, it’s an artificial requirement those guys create to control what we can do with our purchases.
but i do agree with one thing.
deal with it.
that’s exactly what i’ll do, and my way of dealing with it is to avoid it like the plague.
Foxhound_Solid
They’ll lose their core fans. To be fair every 360 gamer I know is looking to become a Playstationist with what they’ve seen. Most people I know are playstationists but the green team owners I know have their consoles chipped and run pirate games. None of them buy original titles unless they wanna play online. MS are a team I’ve never been a fan of, I still can’t work out if this is to tackle the piracy issue or for them to advertise their fans to death. Either way, I’m out *bannatyne voice* – I’m sticking with my Playstation Family.
Kennykazey
MS needs to act, they’re getting a lot of bad press with this.
Pete_UK
Thinking on this further, could it be a prelude to a much bigger push of ‘games as a service’? Will the new MS console come with subsidised subscription options where paying say £10 a month over a certain timeframe gets you the console?
KeRaSh
What a prick. If MS really goes down the always on road, I’m sure they want to at least word it a little nicer than “deal with it”.
Nintendo is struggling with the Wii U and if MS scares off their customers with such drastic DRM measures, Sony could potentially have another PS2 on their hands.
theshockwave
On the other hand you could look at all this as something MS could use. If in their console announcement they tell us that these always-on rumours are utter nonsense and you can play just as happily offline, that’ll grab a few headlines, right?
kjkg
Dangerous approach to take but you just never know. Do you think Microsoft would take such a big gamble? I’m not so sure.
Starman
Yes the vacuum cleaner needs electricity, doesn’t mean you leave it on all the time! Daft example.
The thought that while playing a single player game that if my internet cuts out (as it often does) that the game will stop and maybe boot me back to the dash is enough to completely rule out buying the next Xbox.
TechnoSphere
I have been on XBLA since 2006 or 2007,but if you push this through I will just go for the PS4 #dealwithit
Oh and you arrogant tw*t.
The Lone Steven
Oh course. What a muppet i feel like for not liking the shitty always online requirement. I must have been living in the stone age. It’s awesome to have to be unable to play your 720 collection due to internet problems. It’s awesome to become pissed off when the net goes down and the save becomes corrupt due to the game switching off whilst it’s saving. Oh wait, it’s not. Unlike a hoover, the 720:Durango requires your net to be always on. That uses electricity which costs cash. And depending where you live, it could be a game of can i get this fecker to work today? Plus i doubt that people leave their hoovers plug in and on. And not everyone is a fan of having to leave their PC on due to it being the only way to turn their net on.
Looks like i may have to go with the PS4 or PC platform next generation as i would rather have the virtual boy then a console that requires you to have access to the interent. I don’t envy those who live in university halls as i can see them being unable to use it thus having a quite expensive bit of kit that can only be used as decoration untill they find somewhere that allows them to connect their console to the net.