Several weeks ago, the gaming world went into a collective uproar when Kotaku broke a story about the next Xbox console possibly implementing an always-online connection to play games and launch apps. They cited multiple sources who all claim that this rumor is true, which led many to wonder why Microsoft would even consider this type of model for a piece of hardware. Before drilling into the merits of this rumor, and the possible motivations of Microsoft employing it, let me provide a brief analysis of why the always-online method for protecting digital assets came to be in the first place.
Game development isn’t a cheap business to be in. Creating today’s triple-A titles can cost a studio over $20 million dollars, which means the studio needs to sell at least 333,333 copies of a game just to break even (assuming a $60 price point, as well as assuming no other costs, such as marketing, review units, etc.). Unfortunately, many game studios end up going bankrupt due to these extreme costs of doing business. It seems that a handful of major development shops end up closing each year, which is a troubling trend for the industry that has so many adoring fans. These closures do nothing but harm the growth of video game development, which leads to less new IPs being created, and more sequels being released year after year.
The high costs of developing modern games are one reason developers struggle these days, but what ultimately led to the implementation of an always-online model is the rampant piracy of digital games. It has become far too easy for games of this nature to be stolen online through the numerous forums and sites dedicated to distributing stolen digital goods. Gamers don’t even have to be professional hackers to steal video games anymore. All it takes is a simple Google search, mixed with a little PC know-how, to find a seedy forum that is posting the source code of hot games that the public is clamoring to play. Many times leaks like this happen before a major video game is released, which will certainly lower sales numbers to an extent. The math is simple; developers just can’t survive in this type of environment, which is why many companies have turned to a form of DRM protection.
This model ensures that a game can only be played if the gamer’s device is connected to the internet. Checking into a particular studio or publisher’s server ensures that only paying customers will be able to play the game. While this is a valid reason to use this model, publishers and developers who implement this type of piracy protection need to do a better job using it, as Diablo III and SimCity have so aptly demonstrated. At its core, it’s a useful model to help protect the hard work that game developers pour into their titles, but it’s not perfect yet. It’s a solid way to protect software, but it makes no sense when it comes to hardware, which takes us back to the argument that Microsoft would be foolish for using it on their next console.
Knowing that always-online is meant to protect software sales how would implementing it in a piece of hardware benefit Microsoft? The concept, when applied to a game console just seems ridiculous, and it’s a great way to ensure that a majority of gamers won’t buy a company’s new wares. Maybe the tech gurus in Microsoft’s R&D department have become so used to working and living with cutting edge technology that they forgot that a good portion of the world is still not online reliably. America is a world superpower, yet there are large sections of the country that do not have access to a high-speed internet connection. Even if you live in an area that does have broadband access, the cost of using it could be high enough that it falls out of your monthly budget. If Microsoft actually enforces its new console to be connected to the Internet just to play a disc-based game, which was bought from a retail store, it will effectively limit the next Xbox’s install base, and ensure that they lose the next console war.
Backlash became so fierce on this topic that Adam Orth, Creative Director of Microsoft’s Xbox Division, lost his job due to some unfortunate tweets on the subject in early April.
Nobody wants the Xbox platform to fail, but that’s the only foreseeable result if the always-online rumor is true. One can only hope that the gaming world’s reaction to the “next Xbox always-on” leak has caused Microsoft to rethink its strategy. Even if a majority of those who have taken to forums to bash this rumor are just doing it to be trolls, there’s still a strong argument to be made for those consumers who live in rural areas where high-speed Internet isn’t a possibility. Microsoft should leave this inflammatory subject for publishers and developers to figure out, because it doesn’t make fiscal sense for them to use an always-online model for a piece of gaming hardware.
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