10 Times The Games Industry Had No Idea WTF It Was Doing

6. Charging Ahead With Online-Only Ideas

Xbox One X
Microsoft

Just like they did with their idea of an all-digital future, in the early days of the 2010s the video game industry was charging full steam ahead with the thinking that consoles and games should require a connection to the internet to work.

While it's not a terrible idea in itself, all goodwill was squandered with the announcement of the Xbox One, which then needed an internet connection to work and restricted players from sharing their games or playing them offline.

The final nail in the coffin though was the arrogant way Microsoft went about defending their approach, going so far as to tell players who could only play offline to stick with the Xbox 360, as the new console wasn't for them.

Of course the company eventually went back on their online-only design, but only after Sony showed them that the world wasn't ready for their vision of the future following the raucous response to the more accessible PS4.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.