Microsoft Creative Director 'Doesn't Get' Always-On DRM Concerns 572
New submitter SoVi3t points out comments from Microsoft Studios Creative Director Adam Orth about the debate over always-online DRM, brought to the fore recently by the disastrous launch of SimCity and rumors that the next-gen Xbox console will require it.
"Don't want a gaming console that requires a persistent internet connection? 'Deal with it,' says Microsoft Studio's creative director. In what he later termed a 'fun lunch break,' Orth took to Twitter to express his shock at people who take umbrage with the idea of an always-on console. When quizzed by other Twitter users about people with no internet connection, he suggested that they should get one, as it is 'awesome.' He then likened people who worry about intermittent internet connectivity being an issue as the same as someone not buying a vacuum cleaner because the electricity sometimes goes out. While Orth later apologized, saying it had being a bit of banter with friends, it did raise awareness that there are more than a few people who are very unhappy with the possibility of an always-on future version of the Xbox. Orth has also now switched his Twitter account settings to private."
Re:Better answer (Score:5, Funny)
When quizzed... (Score:5, Funny)
"When quizzed by other Twitter users about people with no internet connection, he suggested that they should get one"
"When quizzed by the Microsoft Studio's creative director about clues, other Twitter users suggested that he should get one"
good stuff (Score:4, Funny)
http://i.imgur.com/IWPsqOR.png [imgur.com]
This is the shot I saw of some of his comments that was posted on Reddit. He seems to be rather out of touch.
Not sure if this one is real (the above I feel pretty confident is untouched) but found it funny:
http://i.imgur.com/rixjoS6.jpg [imgur.com]
Re:microsoft should make (Score:5, Funny)
The Microsoft vacuum cleaner, the first Microsoft product that doesn't suck.
Re:Better answer (Score:2, Funny)
(1) A vacuum cleaner is almost a necessity, a console is a luxury.
You don't have kids, do you?
Re:Better answer (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Better answer (Score:3, Funny)
"You don't have kids, do you?"
You don't have any parental abilities do you?
While the kid lives in your house it does what you tell it. If that means no console then it'll have to suck it up or get out. If you haven't grasped that then you're another in a long list of douches who should've used contraception.
Re:Better answer (Score:4, Funny)
You're right about the budget numbers, but I wonder how much of the $100M is sales and marketing costs, which a kickstarter needs less of, since they get paid upfront for development.
Not kidding myself about kickstarted AAA games, but a good team might be able to come close.
Re:Yep, Like a Vacuum Cleaner (Score:2, Funny)
Not to be a shill or anything here, but there is a benefit that DRM brings to the end user: it keeps the prices for games more affordable, and it makes multi-million dollar games possible.
Gaming is already risky. They invest a lot in those big games, and require millions of copies to sell to break even, plus they expect to make a profit.
Let's say a hypothetical game costs $50,000,000 to create. At $50 they have to sell one million copies to break even. If they have figures showing DRM increases paid-for copies sold by 50% (in other words twice as many people buy it if they can't get it for free from a download) they would sell only 500,000 copies, and so would have to charge $100 per copy to break even. And since fewer people are willing to spend $100 per copy, the game is less likely to break even.
You can argue with me that my example numbers are bad, that customers hate DRM, that customers don't buy DRM games, that game companies profiteer from gamers and exploit programmers, and that thousands of examples of existing profitable DRM-free games all go to prove that DRM is wrong, and all that's fine and true but completely misses the point. The game companies are looking at DRM from the economic point of view, not the gamer's side of things. This is how they see it.
How you as a gamer see DRM isn't their main concern - making money is.
Re:Better answer (Score:5, Funny)
if its a legitimate rootkit...
sorry couldn't resist
Re:Better answer (Score:5, Funny)