10 Big Industry Gaffs Gaming Companies Want You To Forget
3. Microsoft Demos The Most Anti-Consumer Console Ever At E3 2013
I don't think I've ever seen quite as big a U-Turn in gaming history like I witnessed with Microsoft's disastrous 2013 E3 showing. Along with a conference that decided to focus on pretty much everything except gaming, audiences reeled in their chairs at the prospect of having the next console being online-only - a practice we've seen lambasted fairly by other failed experiments in the medium - along with a restriction on access to used games. It was just one mediocre announcement after the other, and only provided Sony with some hilariously timed rebutting adverts that chimed in on gamers' disbelief at the prospect of having a games console that wouldn't have a focus on playing games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA Luckily Microsoft realised just how stupid the whole affair was and scrapped the most unappealing aspects of the console before it released. Not before they went on to arrogantly insult their consumers however, with Don Mattrick defiantly arguing that the company did in fact have a console for players who wanted to stay offline, "it's called the Xbox 360." 2013 is definitely a year the company won't be too hesitant about forgetting anytime soon.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
