It was October of 2005 and I was the editor-in-chief of a niche gaming site and forum called Evil Avatar. We essentially were a blog with a very strong gaming community, so the EiC title didn't mean much, but something was about to happen that would change the way I approached gaming coverage forever. Microsoft, or more specifically a PR firm representing Microsoft, contacted us and wanted us to go to New York City to see the Xbox 360 a full month before release.
You have to understand, in 2005 this was unheard of. Gaming blogs like Joystiq and Kotaku were in their infancy, some like Destructoid didn't even exist yet. The concept of the enthusiast media was only emerging but Microsoft was buying into it early on in the Xbox 360's life cycle. They knew the community and the audience these sites reached were the key to creating buzz around their second attempt at a console. These were the core gamers, the early adopters, and the rabid fans. Not only did Microsoft build hype with the new age media, but with consumers directly in the Mojave desert at their Zero Hour event.
A picture from that infamous NYC event.
Up until this point the console race had been dominated by Sony. The PlayStation 2 absolutely destroyed Microsoft's Xbox in sales and even console veteran Nintendo's GameCube. Sony's marketing strategy was simple at the time, focusing in large on glitz, while their sales numbers blinded them to the 360's launch; which beat their own PlayStation 3's by almost a full year. Sony's press conference at E3 2006 exemplified their brashness, made famous by one liners like "Ridge Racer," "Massive Damage" and a $600 price tag on a system. Sony was used to gamers eating what they were serving and instead Sony was forced to eat some humble pie of their own.
Digital Offerings
Microsoft continued to change the console game immediately after the Xbox 360 launched and the years that followed with Xbox Live Arcade. Originally touted as a service where we'd see HD remakes of classic games, like Joust and Robotron 2084, it grew over the years as a place for smaller studios to showcase bite sized games for $5-$10. One of the Xbox 360's strongest launch titles was Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved, which showcased the system's power and its new focus on cheap downloadable games alongside full retail titles. By 2008, Xbox Live Arcade was in full effect with huge titles like Castle Crashers from The Behemoth selling over a million copies that year at just ten bucks a pop.
Developers were dying to get on Microsoft's service, which wasn't an open platform, but a carefully tailored marketplace where Microsoft would pick and choose what could be showcased. Every week gamers were anxious to get the next big XBLA release - Microsoft had managed to create the same level of buzz and excitement as a full retail release on a digital storefront. There was big money to be had here but it was something Microsoft knew they couldn't dilute. With the iTunes App store taking off and showing the problems of a mostly unfiltered solution, namely copycat apps and cheap cash ins, Microsoft needed something else.
In late 2008, Microsoft's plan was to bring on Indie developers utilizing a subset of tools that many professional developers were already using. The plan was to create a community that would self regulate its games and make them available for anyone to download on Xbox Live. Xbox Live Community Games was born, but it failed to gain the traction Microsoft hoped. Soon Microsoft started to change what it meant to be on Xbox Live Arcade (the service originally had a size limit on what a downloadable title could be). When XBLA launched a game had to be 50MB or less, by March of 2007 it was upped to 150MB. A year later the limit was upped once again to 350MB as XBLA hit its peak. Finally in 2009 Microsoft upped the limit to 2GB in size, basically removing what was once a restriction which helped usher in some truly innovative titles by forcing developers to remain lean.
Castlevania made it's way to XBLA thanks to a size limit increase.
But the size limit wasn't the only thing Microsoft was changing. While gamers were used to their downloads costing $5 or $10 as the norm, we soon saw $10 and $15 more and more often. This increase came more from the types of games being released rather than an arbitrary price hike. Bigger more full featured titles were being released instead of the quicker arcade games and HD remakes games of years past.
Of course, Sony wasn't going to just sit back for all of this; they wanted PSN to be a digital stomping ground, too. And while Microsoft may have been garnering some big name titles, Sony was building their own portfolio thanks to first party studios like Q Games with their Pixel Junk series and 3rd party support from studios like Housemarque, who created Super Stardust HD.
Sony's problem was their whole "me too" attitude, and instead of just trying to do their own thing, they kept trying to keep up with and emulate their competitors. Unfortunately, all of the playing catch-up came to a grinding halt when the PlayStation Network was hacked in April of 2011. Millions of user accounts were stolen, servers were taken offline, and gamers were unable to play online for weeks as Sony worked to remedy the problem and shore up its infrastructure.
The timing of this hack was, in a way, fortuitous for Sony. E3 was right around the corner and Sony addressed it head on during their press conference. The former industry leader was humbled and apologetic, it might just have been the turning point.
I think a lot of gamers underestimate just how much the PR game has changed in the past six or seven years in their hobby. Obviously the advent of social networks like Twitter and Facebook have changed the way companies interact with their consumers. There's no longer filtered channels of feedback or communication happening. "Comment Cards" are extinct. There was a point where a carefully controlled message was the norm, and while it still exists, it's much harder to maintain that control. Those larger outlets aren't necessarily the outlets with the biggest influence anymore.
I mentioned earlier how Microsoft started the generation by giving the enthusiast media unprecedented access to their console. That was just the beginning. Soon Microsoft created their own voice to talk directly to the consumer as well. Larry Hyrb, aka Major Nelson, was brought on as a blogger, podcaster and face to the product. Larry's focus was on the community and he knew how to engage them and how to excite them for everything Xbox. I can remember meeting Larry for the first time at that Xbox pre-launch event. He was generally interested in my feedback on everything from the games to how the controller felt and looked. It was easy to see that he cared and was passionate about the product. Over the years his podcast and blog expanded into video shows on the console itself, which eventually expanded even further bringing in other personalities with different focuses like Trixie360.
Christa Charter, aka Trixie360, created another voice for Microsoft and an even further focus on community. Like Major Nelson, Trixie360 had a video series on the Xbox dashboard where she could talk directly with and to the community. She also helped usher in "The GamerSpotlight," in which a community member was featured on the Xbox 360 dashboard and website for their 15 minutes of fame. For me, personally, Christa helped us create Xbox Live Co-Op Nights, which were a subset of Community Playdates. These specific events focused on a game or theme and invited the Xbox community and other websites to invite THEIR community to join in and play with staff, developers, and Microsoft employees. Once again the focus on community and inclusion was huge and having your website featured on the Xbox 360 dashboard was equal parts exciting and terrifying.
Finally Microsoft clinched and combined the community and the enthusiast media through a team called The Gamerscore Blog. These group of individuals were a dedicated team for Microsoft to help facilitate their message through the smaller niche sites. Their work throughout the few years at Microsoft was phenomenal in creating a core community of influencers. Individuals' contributions to the Xbox 360 were so "powerful" that in 2003 Microsoft added Xbox as an official MVP program category and really expanded it thanks to the Gamerscore Blog folks. This program was typically reserved for people that excelled in the technical aspects of Microsoft's other products like Windows Servers and Visual Studio, but recognizing the importance of community knowledge, Xbox MVPs became an important facet in the Xbox community.
Sony wasn't completely ignorant in this category - during the PlayStation 2 era they created a group called the "Gamer Advisory Panel" which rewarded the most dedicated PlayStation enthusiasts. The group stemmed from their PlayStation Underground venture and while it wasn't as small or exclusive as the MVP group Microsoft created, it did provide a direct way for folks to give feedback to Sony.
Sony's PS Blog Meetup in 2009
It wasn't until the middle of 2007 that Sony launched their own social media efforts alongside their PlayStation Blog. The site initially failed to find a voice - instead acting only as a mouthpiece for Sony's PR. That all changed, though, as they quickly brought in several personalities like Jeff Rubenstein to run the North American side of things and Jem Alexander, a former Joystiq blogger, to help out on the European side. An official podcast was added and Sony took things even further by inviting developers to blog about upcoming projects directly on the site.
It was obvious Sony realized just how important community was to their product and soon held Community Meet-Ups bringing PlayStation gamers together for food, drink, and, of course, games at various cities around North America. In an unprecedented move they even opened up dozens of seats at the 2009 E3 press conference just for their community members. Sony went as far as to host a reality TV show on PlayStation Network in which members competed to become a QA tester for PlayStation.
Microsoft is a company in the software business first and foremost. They are well known for their excellent development tools for Windows and Xbox consoles alike. But while the Windows tools were available to anyone, you had to pay a boatload of cash to have access to tools for the Xbox 360. Enter the Community Games initiative.
In February of 2008 Microsoft launched the tools via their XNA Game Studio Express toolkit to allow anyone to develop games that worked not only on Xbox 360 but on a PC as well. What was even more enticing was the promise that developers could sell their games on the Xbox Live marketplace - with Microsoft taking a cut of course. These cross platform development tools brought in hundreds of games to Microsoft's platform and developers initially flocked to the system on the hopes and dreams of creating the next big game.
Microsoft once again relied on their community as the only way to get your game on the marketplace was by going through a peer review process. Over the years the process evolved as did the Community Games initiative. The dashboard updates saw the indie games constantly shifted and buried despite a strong group of developers releasing dozens of games a week. While the service got a bit of a bum rap, there was nothing like it out there on any of the consoles; with the closest "competitor" being the mobile marketplaces of Google Play and Apple's iTunes.
SCHAR: Blue Shield Alliance on the Dashboard!
As someone who created a game via this service it was both a rewarding a frustrating process at the same time. The sense of accomplishment from seeing my game listed on the Xbox dashboard was immeasurable, but inconsistencies in the process and it's quick burial among other apps was a disappointment.
But what about Sony? What options did they offer small developers to get on the PlayStation 3 hardware? Sadly it didn't exist, at least, not yet. That's not to say smaller developers haven't found their way onto the PlayStation Network - we've seen titles like Retro City Rampage, Journey, and Tales from Space: About a Blob. While these titles were mostly from established studios - a few managed to be from the little guy. The difference here is they still had to go through a pitch process to get there.
Up until now Microsoft and Sony had a hard time coping with what indie developers had to offer their audiences. The concept of an "open" system is incredibly infant on consoles, and if anything, a little scary for their curators. But it seems, at least to some degree, that is the trend in game development - a careful mix of big budget, middle tier and the indie game.
Now as we approach the next generation of consoles we're seeing quite the shift. Sony came out swinging at their press conference where they unveiled the PlayStation 4. While hardware and features were mentioned, it wasn't the focus. Instead it was all about games, games and games. The bigger surprise was a dedicated focus on indies. Sony brought Jonathan Blow on stage, one of the biggest names in the indie biz, showing a willingness to work with the once close-minded corporation and sending a message that as a company it might be willing to change. Even more surprising has been Sony's focus on the PlayStation Vita, opening up development tools for the mobile platform and inviting in a greater audience. We're seeing a lot of smaller games playable on both PlayStation and Vita - with a purchase getting you the game on both systems. Sony has shown it is fully embracing digital distribution and flexibility in one bold commercial statement.
Mike Bithell is the creator of the indie game Thomas Was Alone, a unique little platformer that has been available on the PC since earlier this year. "The conversation was one of those serendipitous things, I was a fan of Sony and really wanted to see the game on handheld and TV," Bithell told us, "We all got talking, and with Curve's help got it on to [Sony's consoles]." So while luck played a part, it was Sony that was inviting the indie developer and even offering up support to get the game on their platform.
Microsoft on the other hand has seen support for indies degrade. Late last year they announced an end of support for Game Studio Express tools, which aid in the creation of Xbox Indie Games. The community around these games has fractured as well. Seeing the writing on the wall, most are looking to develop their games on other platforms.
To make matters worse, Microsoft's Xbox One reveal has been nothing short of a PR disaster of mixed messaging. Gamers were originally told the Xbox One wouldn't have service similar to the current Indie Games channel and if they wanted a game on the next console, they would have to work with a 3rd party publisher. Yet days later, Don Mattrick told Kotaku that "We're going to give people tools [to create indie games]. We're going to give more information [at a later date]." This sort of mixed messaging isn't reassuring to small teams and individuals with limited time and budgets.
Speaking of the PR disaster, the Xbox One's reveal from May 21st was Microsoft's biggest in a while. The company sounded very much like Sony did six years ago - showing off features that the core audience could, at least traditionally, care very little about. Could having a group like the GamerScoreBlog around help with something like this? "I think the decision was that a console moving away from the fickle hardcore gamer demographic didn't need a dedicated PR/Marketing/community team of fickle hardcore gamers, " said Chris Paladino, former member of the GSB, "I would imagine that the GSB team could have helped the transition, and help some of the hardcore outcry from the Xbox One announcement by answering core gamer questions, bringing up the potential issues before the launch [announcement] took place, and making sure that core gamers knew the facts they needed to know."
So why didn't the GSB help with the Xbox One announcement? Sadly, Microsoft phased out the Gamerscore Blog along with several of the other personalities, like Trixie360, starting in 2010. The MVP program, of which I am a member, has also changed and evolved quite a bit. While NDAs prevent me from saying much - I will say it doesn't feel like the feedback channel it used to be.
All of that said, despite the internet outcry about the Xbox One reveal - which focused almost entirely on media consumption - it's those same people raising their voices that are also using their console for that purpose. On an average day in June I fired up my Xbox 360 at 8:30PM Eastern - prime gaming time. I had 13 friends online, 11 of them were using Netflix.
I'd say my friends list is filled with mostly "core" gamers, so why aren't they all playing games? There could be a lot of reasons but it's hard to argue against Microsoft's perception that consumers want easy access to digital media.
In the days that followed the Xbox One reveal information was unveiled regarding the console and how it would handle used games, how it would utilize Kinect, how it would require an internet connection. The internet reaction would make you think Microsoft has nefarious plans for the Xbox One. Putting aside the absurdity that you couldn't turn off the Kinect, let's talk about the used game debate. What we've been told is that every game will require a one time activation online (making online a requirement at least once a day). This activation and any further activations of the disc would require a full fee. What this means is that while it kills the ability to loan a game to friend, it helps add an additional layer of distribution for Microsoft by simply passing a disc around and installing off of it. In terms of what it does to the used market, that's yet to be seen. Initial rumors seem to point to the ability to to trade in games at "partner" retail stores with Microsoft taking a cut of that trade in and allowing the game to be reactivated without cost.
Essentially Microsoft would be cutting directly into retailer profits on used games which long term, could mean the end of used games. Fans of Sony shouldn't be too quick to cheer though. It would be naive to think that one of the big console manufacturers would have this system in place with 3rd party publishers without the knowledge of a similar system existing on the other side of the fence. If this happens, it's going to happen industry wide and from what we've seen, something is going to happen here that changes used games.
Update: And on cue Microsoft has clarified previous statements and "put it in writing." While Microsoft won't directly be taking a cut they are allowing 3rd party publishers to take a cut of trade-ins if they wish. The digital policies they are putting in place seem pretty fair though - and the ability to share your library with up to 10 accounts is extremely generous.
Another big area Sony has made strides in is their PlayStation Plus service. Competing head to head with Xbox Live Gold, plus has changed the proverbial game by offering up free monthly content in the form of full game downloads to its members. People have complained from the beginning that paying for multiplayer on Xbox Live was unnecessary, and the added paywalls for things like Netflix further exemplified that, especially since you can get Netflix on a myriad of devices for free.
More recently there's been a vocal rise about the amount of advertising on the Xbox 360 dashboard when users are shelling out $60 a year to use the device. Sony's subscription solution seems to be gaining further traction and could end up being an alternative to rental and used game fallout in the upcoming generation for frugal gamers.
Before the launch of the PlayStation 3, the device was being touted as the center of the living room. The PS3 would be the place to watch TV, play your movies, playback your music, and, of course, play games. Sony has had this grand vision for their systems since the PlayStation 2 integrated a DVD drive and it's something we've heard time and time again, but it really wasn't until midway through this generation (thanks to firmware updates) that we've seen consoles morph into multimedia devices.
Microsoft seems to be leading that charge this time with the renewed focus on media first, games second. The one problem that comes from this - and this will most likely be evident in both consoles - is now we're changing what it means to be a console.
Consoles typically launched with dedicated hardware that was at or near bleeding edge computer hardware. This gave them an advantage graphically for years over the PC until computers caught up. Furthermore, they could do more with less because consoles didn't need to worry about multitasking, a full operating system, or several other processes. Think about it - the Xbox 360 only has 512MB of RAM right now. The minimum system requirements for the PC version of Resident Evil Revelations, a game that originated on the 3DS, is 2GB - 4x the limit of what the Xbox 360 has. Yet Revelations runs just fine on the Xbox 360.
Now with the next generation, while the hardware isn't slacking; it's once again close to bleeding edge PC specs. But now the console will have a lot more to do other than just play games - it'll need to manage online connections and stream video captures to social media. In the Xbox One's case it'll have to take Kinect into account along with the media capabilities of the box for "fast switching." In fact, according to the technical panel that took place after the reveal, the Xbox One is running two operating systems in virtualized environments on the box - one for games and one for everything else. This means even more memory is going to be eaten up and less of that 8GB will be available for developers to utilize. While that might not be an issue now, five or six years down the road it could cause problems.
In fact, both consoles are based on x86 PC architecture. These are essentially computers with as close to off the shelf components as we've had from consoles. There's a convergence happening here and while it makes consoles more flexible, it also makes them more obsolete.
As we get closer to the next generation of console launches, we're seeing Microsoft get further away from the community and core gamer values it created for the Xbox 360 while at the same time we're seeing Sony migrate and adapt towards the same values Microsoft seems to be abandoning. Where Microsoft was once the community champion, pulling for the little blogger and the indie, Sony seems to be stepping in. Microsoft is going for a different audience altogether, focusing on broad entertainment coverage instead of the core demographic.
I fully believe the reason Microsoft was so successful this generation was because of their initial focus on community. This drive of people to the platform coupled with the Xbox Live service and the social aspects of it, is what kept people buying multiplatform titles on the Xbox 360. Time and time again I'd hear people say, "I'm getting the Xbox 360 version because that's where my friends are getting it and I want to play with them online."
Core gamers, the gamers that are willing to drop $400 on a console launch and buy a new game every release day are what drive hardware adoption. These are "the friends that get the game." With E3 right around the corner, Microsoft is going to have a lot of work to clean up the PR disaster of the Xbox One reveal. They need to sell their console to the core - show that's where the games are going to be. There's no doubt in my mind core gamers love Netflix, and movies, and technology and everything else - but they already have dozens of devices that are doing the same. Those features won't drive them to buy into the console. Microsoft has said the show would focus on games, so let's hope they deliver.
Some of the Gamerscore Blog team during a Halo 3 Community Event Prior to Launch of the Game
Sony has already sold their messaging to the core gamer. They showed off a dozen games, they showed off the system's "power." They told us why and how independent developers can create new experiences on their platform. They talked about the social aspects of the PlayStation 4 and how we can game together in new ways. Sony seems to have learned from their past mistakes and is trying to make amends.
While it might seem that a chunk of this article is in reaction to the Xbox One reveal and the possible policies surrounding it, I hope I've shown that Microsoft has been changing their focus for some time now and the reveal was merely the bigger stage for it. Could this convergence for consoles and the evolution of their games distribution see a gradual migration toward or back to Steam and the PC? Some say it's already happening, but that's a conversation for another day.
The console gaming industry is changing, there's no doubt about it. I've been in this hobby for almost 30 years now and have seen trends come and go. The thing about trends is it's difficult to know what is becoming the new normal and what will become a bad memory. It's easy to get caught up in all of the politics of the gaming industry. It's easy to get angry with companies for changing what you were already enjoying. As consumers, as fans, as gamers we still hold the power to say what we want, play what we enjoy and control where we spend our money. And that is something Sony and Microsoft always take into consideration.
Additional Editing by: Andrew Gaskill and Jason Love