Microsoft: we need to do more work to talk

Microsoft's chief product officer for the Xbox One, Marc Whitten, has spoken out in an interview with IGN, about how he feels Microsoft failed to communicate the real message of its next-gen console and that that's the reason for the flip-flopping behaviour of the company.

““I think it’s pretty simple. We’ve got to just talk more,” he said, lamenting the fact that it didn't do a better job of explaining the Xbox One's feature set when it was first unveiled. Citing the recent petition asking Microsoft to again do an about face though, he suggested this was because of a recent improvement in Microsof'ts ability to convey the potential plus points of its more digitally minded features. He also suggested that much of the fan requested features, like Family Sharing, would potentially return in the future – describing it as more of an “engineering reality time frame type-thing.”

Well the numbers are a bit higher than they were last week

Ultimately he said, “we need to do more work to talk about what we're doing, because I think that we did something different than maybe how people are perceiving it.” However, he wanted to make it clear that Microsoft wasn't moving away from digital, as many detractors of the recent 180 degree turn have suggested. Instead, he wants people to consider it as Microsoft giving gamers a choice.

Ultimately, he describes his feelings for the Xbox One, as being mostly pride filled. He believes the events were well staged, but that there wasn't enough talking. If the Xbox One team had talked more, maybe they'd have got the message across.

“I think it’s the number one thing I’d want to do if I went back, was have the conversation more open and more complete.”

KitGuru Says: What do you guys think? Do you reckon if Microsoft had simply talked more openly about the features, there wouldn't have been such a backlash?

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