MS Cancels 1 on 1 Interviews with GB, GI.biz, Tapezilla...MCV?: "Scheduling conflict"
- Thread starter Miles Quaritch
- Start date
Outstanding
seriously, they could taking advantage of the E3 time and be working on games for all we know. cancelling interviews is a whole lot of nothing.
elmariachi
Banned
Not ready?
This event was not a spur of the moment, or last minute. It a yearly thing that all the 3 parties prepare for. Also this is a knife fight since they are fighting to sell their systems to the consumers. MS made some statements and now does not want to defend their stance so they avoid all questions like a coward.
Coward is putting it nicely.
Why are they "not ready" to answer the questions? Do they need to study more? Do they have a team of monkeys working around the clock to come up with answers?
Or is this the "completely unwilling" definition of "not ready"?
shinra-bansho
Member
I assume Polygon will still get their interview though?
SolidsnackooFoxhound
Banned
Obviously they're trying to avoid more bad press, I don't know if this is the best way to do it, considering that running away will generate bad press and at the same time it confirms that they don't want people to know certain things.
Probably the best compromise was to still make the interviews but asking the press to get the questions early so that they could give more clear answers and avoid confusion.
Probably the best compromise was to still make the interviews but asking the press to get the questions early so that they could give more clear answers and avoid confusion.
Woo-Fu
Banned
Microsoft will fax the story to them.
It could have been a good gentlemanly knife fight. Now every perceived opponent has been poisoned in their sleep.
Why is it so strange to imagine there are elements of the publishing pipeline that aren't finalized? The console isn't out for five months, that's a long time to dot Is and cross Ts.
maquiladora
Member
If there are elements that aren't finalized then there is nothing to stop an MS exec saying that in an interview and then moving on the next question. You shouldn't have to cancel roundtables and 1 on 1 interviews a few days before the event and then say it's because of scheduling conflicts for that reason.
The console is out in five months, and they don't know anything about it?
pieatorium
Member
Why did they schedule the interviews in the first place?
Move on to the next question? That wouldn't happen. And the next question would be about production yields, or faked UI demonstrations, or some other embarrassing thing they won't want to answer.
There will always be profound issues during the course of a product's development, I don't see what MS has to benefit from taking these interviews, it's not going to help them, and if these things are non-issues when the box ships, it will have been a bad news cycle for no reason at all. If these problems still exist at launch, then I think it's time to rip them apart, I just don't see the point yet.
Cowardice implies some sort of equality between the media and MS, and that's not the case at all, they're just part of the marketing campaign, and right now, MS is choosing not to use them.
You got me.
Binning roundtables and one on one interviews writes the stories for people. It says all you need to say, you think people arnt going to latch on to the fact they are getting stonewalled by ms and just go on to write a positive piece? thats not how it works.
Writing a story that MS isn't giving interviews pales compared to actual footage of execs refusing question after question.
I'm guessing Microsoft knows this. I'm guessing they also know that whatever bad publicity they'll get for doing this, it's far better than what would happen if the interviews did take place. They have terrible policies and terrible hardware, and they're going to be showing exactly two things at E3 this year: smoke, mirrors.
How is this forum pro-Sony? Were you living under a rock the last year, when Vita has been lambasted time and time again by all the doom threads? People here are pro-Sony's current stance on DRM, openess to indies and other things while Xbone gets shat on justifyably because of massive anti-consumer BS and Wii U isn't gaining traction because of antiqued hardware, behind the times OS features & online stuff with a sad looking release schedule. If or when Sony does similar stuff, they do get teir fair share of hate, as proven by early current gen dismay for PS3's price, OS/online vs 360's, lack of games among other things.
maquiladora
Member
I did a search for xbox and yields on Google News and got zero articles. A lot of those negative stories exist mainly on gaf and probably wouldn't come up in interviews much if at all. Obviously there will be some tough questions on the wider issues of used games, online and privacy (the same questions will be asked to Sony) - but if they can come up with a 3 page presentation about those issues then surely the execs should be able to provide some type of answers, even if it was to refer to those same details or say "we'll have more on that in the future"?
It will once and for all show the journalists for what they are in this industry, are they just there to reprint and post pr emails or are they there to inform us the consumer. Interesting few days ahead.
I just googled "Xbox One Yields" and it led to here and other forums with "[NeoGAF:Rumor] Xbox One having ESRAM yield problems."
As I said earlier on the page they're expecting the sketchy used/lending practices news of the last day to be buried under E3 news. If they don't talk to the media about it the media can't keep the controversy alive and it gradually dies out. It's not cowardice, it's a calculated move acknowledging the fact that they have little to gain from talking to the press at this point. The press will still cover the MS E3 conference and devote plenty of time to XB1 features and games. They don't need to defend shit. They'll just let the press bury the news deep enough that the public will largely be unaware or unclear on the issues.
Well, I think you're wrong, and I think MS think you're wrong too, hence why they cancelled.
Pretty much, yeah.
Jhriad, excellent post.
Sloane_Ranger
Member
So, does this mean Polygon & Verge exclusive interviews with select Microsoft Executives? <shudder>
Wait a minute - are the interviews also paid exclusives? Just sayin'
Wait a minute - are the interviews also paid exclusives? Just sayin'
Aeriscloud
Banned
I wonder how many planted audience members Microsoft will need for their E3 presser.
everyone.gif
ThisWreckage
Banned
No, if the shoe fits. Cowards is an appropriate description right now. It's blatantly obvious that Microsoft planned to release their plans on DRM before E3 and then cancelled the roundtable and the one on one interviews so they wouldn't be grilled on it. That's the definition of a coward. Announce your plans and then hide in a hole, praying that things will blow over.
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
7 rows at least. There will be cheering every time Mattrick takes a breath
Yeah, they just have to walk down a couple flights to the Polygon office, so not too much conflict could happen along the way.
If the media had any balls at all they'd demand interviews, they'd refuse to cover their conference, they'd wait next to stages and interview people without permission. MS aren't scared, they just don't give a shit because the press are pussies that wholly rely on first parties to do their job.
and outside of lala land, back in the real world where not every decision is based on whether they're "pussies" or not, the press need to cover the conference to compete with other outlets and can't just pretend the Xbone doesn't exist because they have families and bills that aren't worth risking on account of taking a stand against a video game console. There are other ways of gathering information.
The Polygon article is just gonna be "how awesome is your new DRM?" "So awesome."
"We're fucking you all over!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"We hate you!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"TV Watercooler Halo show Steven Spielberg Callladuty Dog!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
And that's why MS aren't scared. They can't lose media support, because they can kill any outlet they want by blacklisting them. I'm not saying the media aren't right to be spineless, just that MS is right to exploit that.
ok, you really don't know how things work.
You can't just limit all of your publicity to one site.
They're dodging one interview and then it'll be business as usual with info and reviews and hands-on, etc.
If not, who will talk about their system.
You're absolutely right. I would love to live in a world where journalists (game and actual) didn't just parrot what they've been told and the masses didn't just accept everything without question.
WrenchNinja
Member
Transparency is always better.
"Dear Polygon,
We are sorry that we weren't able to make the appointment for your interview due to a
scheduling conflict', so here is a Fax of the questions we are sure you would have asked plus the answers we would have given you. Please be sure to mention how sincere our representative sounded ,and if you need extra flavor you can say he was wearing Jeans and a collared shirt, but with a Blazer over top to appear fun AND professional.
Sincerely,
Microsoft
XOXOXOXOXO"
I know that a website was blacklisted by Sony and a very senior member of staff was fired for it because they can't survive without first parties.
I don't know what this means, no one is suggesting they are going to do this. If you mean Polygon, I'm pretty sure people are just referring to TLoU review thread, and it's a joke.
They're not dodging one interview, they've cancelled many I believe.
Everyone is going to report about the system, cancelling these interviews is going to change nothing other than cause a few articles about being stonewalled, and that's infinitely better than actually having to stonewall a publication in an interview.
Whoever their marketing department hires to talk about it?
Let's be honest, if all the gaming sites got together and refused to cover the X-Bone, if the entire internet conspired to pretend it didn't exist...
... it would still sell millions of units.
I think he meant besides Polygon
ThisWreckage
Banned
That has zero to do with Microsoft being a coward in this situation. You said it was harsh for them to be called a "coward", but you were only half right---it's a harsh reality.
By one interview, I meant the post-conference one, but yes, with several outlets. Ok, so Sony blacklisted a site and there was a shake up. Now every site is gonna fire people because Microsoft just blanket canceled a ton of interviews? And so now it's gonna change nothing, where before it was gonna "kill any outlet they want." Got it.
It doesn't need to sell millions, it needs to sell 10s of millions and to do that, yes, you need more than Polygon, IGN, and Game Informer.
Millions sure, but how many fewer million than otherwise? This thing could sell tens of millions and still be a colossal failure given where they're coming from.
I just disagree it's cowardice, they're not scared, they just have nothing to gain from it, and nothing to fear from not doing it. It's lose/lose for them. It's not cowardice to not fight when you know there's no possible way to win.
That's not what I said at all. I said no outlet would ever dare to challenge MS, because MS could kill them, not that MS is going to, they don't need to, because no one is going to try it. No one is going to do anything other than cover every MS related game happily then bitch on a podcast that in terms of console install bases, no one listens to.
mmh hmm
here's the first U.S. mainstream article I've seen knocking them:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=579541
I guess MCV is big in the UK? They've been knocking them too.
Other mainstream U.S. media sites who aren't beholden will give it similar negative coverage. They're scrambling to find a positive PR message, they're not being arrogant.
Do you think my post meant no one would ever say something bad about MS? Because it didn't.
I don't know what you're trying to say because every time I use the words you use in the context you use them, you say "that's not what I meant!"
So, I'm all done here lol
So if it wasn't for Giant Bomb etc, then all those nines of millions of people wouldn't even know the XBone existed? I think you seriously overestimate the reach of gaming publications.
Oh, it's already a colossal failure. All that remains is to see how many people buy it anyway.