8 Disastrous Failures That Killed The Xbox One
4. The Disastrous Reveal
What did you expect when Phil Spencer's predecessor enthusiastically bounded on stage at E3 in 2013 to announce Microsoft's newest addition to the family? The ultimate media device? A thoroughbred games console that elevated the power of the 360 to a whole new level? Free Xbox Ones for the masses?
Okay, so that last one would have been a bit of a stretch even for lifelong optimists, but nobody could have foreseen what Don Mattrick had in store for audiences on that fateful day.
Once the glitz and glamour of its sleek announcement trailer had abated, all it took for excitement to take a long walk off a short cliff was Mattrick's long-winded explanation of how the Xbox One wasn't just a games console, but a self-policing plastic box. One with the inbuilt power to punish users who didn't adhere to its creator's self-prescribed rulebook on used games and DRM.
Just like that, the hype declined rapidly and even after a total U-turn, the stigma never truly went away. Turns out consumers don't particularly enjoy being roadblocked by anti-consumer policies. Shocker.