14 DAY TRIAL // Peter Molyneux, the veteran game designer, believes that the reaction to the announcement that the Xbox One would require an always online Internet connection was unfair to Microsoft and shows that the gaming community can be reactionary rather than forward-thinking.
The game maker who has led the Microsoft development studio tells TechRadar that, “It’s quite an unfair thought that Microsoft are trying to control our gaming, they’re trying to force us to be online all the time. Didn’t really think that through.”
Microsoft was basically just trying to push gamers away from the retail model in order to create a digital distribution infrastructure that would have benefitted gamers in the long term.
Molyneux also believes that big corporations might seem focused on making profit at times, but they are actively trying to offer the best possible service to their customers because they know that otherwise they will lose them.
He adds, “But the world we live in now is that we have to realise, especially if you’re a big corporation, if you make one step wrong, the world will leap on you, and unfairly, very unfairly, they will judge you.”
When Microsoft announced its always online policy, fans criticized it openly because it placed restrictions on used games and on borrowing.
The company went silent for a while and then announced that all its connection-related policies would be similar to those already used on the Xbox 360.
Recently, the company has also backtracked on the requirement to use Kinect at all times on the Xbox One, saying that the device can be turned completely off if the player wishes so.
Peter Molyneux was one of the core game makers for Microsoft during the Xbox 360 era, but he is currently leading indie outfit 22 Cans, which announces new video game projects in the near future.