Xbox One fans are petitioning Microsoft to return the console to its original state. The company had removed controversial game-sharing restrictions after backlash from the gaming community, however not everyone is happy with the decision. The petition is asking Microsoft to give gamers back the Xbox One they were promised at the Electronics Entertainment Expo earlier this year. In response to the petition, Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten admitted that Microsoft hasn’t done a good job communicating its messaging surrounding the new console.
“I think it’s pretty simple. We’ve got to just talk more, get people understanding what our system is,” Whitten said in an interview with IGN. “The thing that’s really gratifying is that people are excited about the types of features that are possible, and it’s sort of shame on us that we haven’t done as good of a job as we can to make people feel like that’s where we’re headed.”
The executive said that Microsoft needs to do “more work to talk about what we’re doing,” adding that the company is now doing a better job of listening to the feedback of the gaming community.
As for removed features such as the Xbox One’s family sharing ability, Whitten noted that Microsoft will “find the right way to bring it back” if demand is there. He explained that while there isn’t set road map for the feature, the company is going to “continue to push” other areas such as how advantages from Xbox Live Gold can be shared with family members. Whitten did admit that he “should have been more clear” on the day Microsoft changed its policies.
“We took some feedback and realized there was some stuff we needed to add to the program,” he said. “Taking Family Sharing out of the launch window was not about ‘we’re going to take our toys and go home’ or something like that. It was just sort of the logistics of ‘how do we get this very, very clear request that people really want, that choice, and how do we make sure we can do an excellent job of that, get to launch, and then be able to build a bunch of great features?’”
Whitten continued, “One of the things I think we learned was that we didn’t talk enough, and we were incomplete in a lot of how using the system would work. We weren’t participating in the conversation in a deep enough way, it got us sort of off cycle about how we talk about our program. I think we’ve learned a lot of lessons. And I think it’s something that you’re going to see a lot more from us, frankly, is engaging more with the community. 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.”
