Just how badly does Microsoft want the Xbox One to fail

[TinCow]

The plan all along has been to control the living room by being the set top box. DVD/Blueray player, DVR, streaming movies, games, internet, just one central entertainment device. Most of that requires internet access for proper usability, if they can attempt to solve content-related control problems with fulltime connectivity they will. The built-in survellience tool is just an added bonus.

Quite right and, from a business standpoint, quite sensible. The 360/PS3 battle was fought as much for the media center as it was for the gaming console. When it came out, the PS3 was the cheapest Blu-ray player on the market, and many, many people use their 360/PS3 as their main media interface boxes. That's a increasingly significant market these days, and it's only going to grow more so. Cable and satellite companies provide basic boxes, but the reality is that they are pretty crappy. None of us want to have 3-4 different boxes sitting under our televisions. It's 2013 FFS, we want convergence in all electronics, and our entertainment centers are no exception. The only console I've owned since the NES is a Wii, and the Wii purchase was exclusively because of my wife. That said, I probably would have picked up a 360/PS3 to use as a media center if I hadn't become a TiVo addict years ago. My main TiVo is a very, very heavily used device. I would go bonkers if I didn't have a set top box that could stream Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, and music/video off my home network. If I somehow lost my TiVo and couldn't get another one, I would very seriously consider a console to fill that role.

[TinCow]

I also never buy used games anymore, but I sure did when I was younger and I think its quite unfair to push them out of the market. If not for used games, i'd have never had any games at all as a kid.

This is true, but also deceptive. The reality is that consoles have been devices for adults for many years now. When I was a kid, I saved up my allowance and gift money for a year and bought the most basic NES set at $100, and that was shortly after release. Games were still expensive then ($40 per, IIRC), but I could get a couple a year if I saved my money. Basic console sets now are priced well out of the child/teenager market. These things are purchased by adults and their features are targeted at adults. If children have access to consoles now, it is because their parents buy them. MS and Sony are not aiming at the market of people who want to save $20 on a game, they're aiming at the market of people who can pay $500+ for an electronics device and then $50+ for games. Those aren't kids. A device that is aiming at the lower cost market is the Ouya.

In any case, the days when the console was something for children only is long gone. It's an adult/family device now:
http://www.theesa.com/facts/

1. Consumers spent $24.75 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in 2011.
2. Purchases of digital content accounted for 31 percent of game sales in 2011, generating $7.3 billion in revenue.
3. The average U.S. household owns at least one dedicated game console, PC or smartphone.
4. The average game player is 30 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
5. The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 35 years old.
6. Forty-seven percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).
7. Sixty-two percent of gamers play games with others, either in-person or online.
8. Thirty-three percent of gamers play games on their smartphones, and 25 percent play games on their handheld device.
9. Seventy-three percent of all games sold in 2011 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+.
10. Parents are present when games are purchased or rented 90 percent of the time

[Beskar]

I support TinCow on a lot of this stuff, especially Steam. I love the name XBone which reads as X-Bone, though it gives mental images of bowchickachicka version of the Xmen.

One thing that does grind my gears though, is that DRM prevents old-school coop. If I have two PC's at home and I use the game for both of them (let's say Laptop for travel and PC at home), I should be able to play co-op if TinCow came around to my house with the game. Whilst this is fine for some games like EU3, other games purposefully prevent you from doing this. Really frustrating as I don't want to pay for two-copies of the game and I am sure TinCow doesn't want to buy a game to use on my computer.

[TinCow]

One thing that does grind my gears though, is that DRM prevents old-school coop. If I have two PC's at home and I use the game for both of them (let's say Laptop for travel and PC at home), I should be able to play co-op if TinCow came around to my house with the game. Whilst this is fine for some games like EU3, other games purposefully prevent you from doing this. Really frustrating as I don't want to pay for two-copies of the game and I am sure TinCow doesn't want to buy a game to use on my computer.

This annoys me too, particularly since I spend a lot of time gaming with my wife. I have more money than sense though and gave up being angry with the situation several years ago and just started buying multiple copies. I think we spent something like $180 just on Borderlands 1. That said, for many single player games we simply share a Steam login account and make deals about who plays in online mode and who plays in offline mode. It's still annoying, but we can both play at the same time that way with a single purchase, though only in SP.

[Gregoshi]

In any case, the days when the console was something for children only is long gone. It's an adult/family device now...

I've been working at Target in the electronics department for nearly three years and my personal experience, with no numbers to back me up, is contrary to some of the stats presented and TC's comment about adults and consoles. Most consoles sold at our store were parents buying them for their kids - school aged (5-6) and up for the Wii and pre-teen and up for Xbox/PS3. Similar experience with games - parents buying games for school-aged kids and most of the rest in the 18-25 year old range. Of course, I'm guessing ages, but in my particular situation (retail/department store), a 30 year old average gamer age seems high. Also, most parents are clueless about the consoles and are purchasing them under the direction of their teenager or with our (store employees) guidance for younger kids. As for female gamers, most of our games purchased by/for female gamers are fitness, dance or family oriented (to play with their young kids).

As for the XBone (like that name too) and the battle for the living room, I'm skeptical about the tactic. An all-in-one device for the living room isn't a bad idea, but this could lead to problems with family members competing for the TV. I have a PS3 hooked up to our TV in the family room, yet I rarely play with it (issue with using a controller aside) because the wife wants to watch TV or a DVD, my son, his girlfriend and her kid want to watch TV/DVD too and my son wants to play with his Xbox. Fortunately, my daughter has a TV in her room or things could be worse. Hence I rarely get TV time to watch/do what I want to unless it is very late at night after everyone else has gone to bed. I image the situation with the XBone will be similar - gaming dies or TV/video watching dies or everyone gets a small slice of time to do their thing on the shared device and no one is happy. And with an XBone in the living room, who is going to buy a second one for another room in the house if the price is too high? Perhaps Microsoft should be commended for their attempt to bring the family back together, but I'm not sure how that is going to fly in this day of everyone doing their own personal thing.