16 Most Controversial Gaming Moments Of The Decade (So Far)

2. The Entire Launch Of The Xbox One

Almost repeating the mistakes of 2007-era Sony verbatim, Microsoft entered the current generation of consoles one step ahead of the competition; with the largest market share and a huge amount of fan adoration - the company in early 2013 could do no wrong. But then the gaming giant unveiled its new console - and proceeded to quite literally do everything wrong. First they announced the console would need to always be connected to the internet - not a terrible idea in the current digital age - but when this functionality meant that Microsoft would effectively kill the used game market and treat your favourite video games as services rather than purchases, it rightly annoyed everyone who was giving them the benefit of the doubt. And then, instead of taking the mature stance to the audience backlash, the company's PR went into a state of complete meltdown, posting passive aggressive responses over social networks to disgruntled fans and insisting that the console simply wouldn't function without an online component (or without the Kinect either for that matter - another peripheral that Microsoft was shoving down gamers' throats without their consent). Of course, Microsoft eventually completely dropped these controversial policies and the Xbox One has slowly been making great strides to win back its audience ever since. But for a time, there was a feeling that this once-respected company was digging itself into a hole it simply wouldn't be able to climb back out of.