10 years later, the Xbox One vision everyone rejected has become a reality, and I couldn’t be happier
The Xbox One launch in November, 2013 will live on as one of the most interesting console launches in history, and certainly the most interesting for me to witness. So many ambitious plans, missteps in communicating them, lack of clarity around the hows and whys, and an undeniable arrogance that led to Microsoft losing the worst possible generation.
There was little room for nuance back then; you were either a police state supporter who were okay with your Xbox One phoning home every few days, and happy to stick a camera with a mic array in your living room. Or, you were the Gamer ™, saviour of the consumer who rejects all of that nonsense without really unpacking why.
You couldn’t come out and say that game preservation is important, but we’re going to inevitably lose some rights as the march of time is dictated by Capitalism. Nor was there any chance you’d be taken seriously if you’d said, well, some of those ideas are actually terrific, but Microsoft‘s heavy-handed appeal for them ruined its case.