Tech bloggers and reporters love to complain about dealing with public relations companies, but there’s a reason these firms exist — and a reason they get paid so handsomely. By working with PR firms on messaging and positioning when it comes to hot button issues, scenarios like the one that unfolded during Xbox boss Don Mattrick’s interview with GameTrailers might be avoided. Instead, Microsoft’s Mattrick told the world that there is a clear answer to critics who don’t like the Xbox One’s requirement for an internet connection: Just buy an old Xbox 360 and forgo the future of gaming.
During the video interview, GameTrailers asked Mattrick about the new console’s connectivity requirements. The following is a transcription of his response:
Some of the advantages that you get, of having, a box that is designed to use an online state, so, that, uh, to me is the future-proof choice, and I think people, could’ve arguably gone the other way if we didn’t do it and fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity, it’s called Xbox 360.
The interviewer pressed, asking if that was really Microsoft’s message. Mattrick continued:
Well, if you have zero access to the internet, that is an offline device, I mean, seriously, when I read the blogs, and thought about who’s really the most impacted, there was a person who said ‘hey, I’m on a nuclear sub,’ and I don’t even know what it means to be on a nuclear sub but I’ve gotta imagine it’s not easy to get an internet connection.
Microsoft’s Xbox One will cost $499
with an included Kinect sensor, one controller and a game when it launches in November this year. The video interview with Mattrick is embedded below.
