7 ms·

The promoted comment at the bottom makes a good point. It seems like this could be a recent change in direction. While it's possible that this was the intention

by pyre 14y ago

The promoted comment at the bottom makes a good point. It seems like this could be a recent change in direction. While it's possible that this was the intention all along (but Microsoft was intentionally or unintentionally vague with employees at various levels, and sent out this email to get rid of rumors), this seems an unlikely scenario.

JimmaDaRustla 14y ago
I was under the impression that MSFT did it for, or was pressured by the game developers - EA would love if MSFT could make it so that their games are always online to prevent reselling products and reduce piracy. That being said, I can imagine that it is still a possibility for game developers to use this tactic on the Xbox, just not a requirement. Doesn't seem like MSFT would gain much for wanting to force an always online connection.
skc 14y ago
I highly doubt they'd change anything this late in the game though. For all intents and purposes the console will mostly be used while online so this whole saga sounds to me like "anonymous sources" got their wires crossed to begin with.
tomku 14y ago
Alternately, they're sick of employees running their mouths off about things like this and fueling the rumors further, like that guy who got canned for talking about it on Twitter. Keep in mind that MS has tons of employees, and the majority of those people are not privy to the details of products that haven't even been confirmed publicly yet. I find it entirely credible that they wanted to make sure that nobody would cause another "incident" before the public announcement, and were willing to tell a little more than would be normal to do so.
- pyre 14y ago
  | the majority of those people are not privy to | the details From the article: | internal Microsoft e-mail sent to all full-time | employees working on the next Xbox I'll concede that not all MS employees working on the next Xbox might need to know everything, but it's not like this was a broadcast to all MS employees to avoid employees from unrelated business units from running their mouths. | like that guy who got canned for talking about it on | Twitter Adam Orth was an exec in Microsoft's gaming division. He wasn't some random uninformed Microsoft intern shooting off his mouth on Twitter.
  - egad 14y ago
    > Adam Orth was an exec in Microsoft's gaming division. This is not accurate. He was a (not the) Creative Director, which is several levels down the hierarchy from anyone that would be considered an executive. Think of it as one step above Senior Designer.
    - pyre 14y ago
      I stand corrected. I've seen him referred to as a Microsoft exec in stories/comments, related to his whole Twitter debacle.
  - tomku 14y ago
    I stand corrected about the audience, but that really doesn't help your point either - when you make a change, you announce the change, you don't send out an internal email asserting the "new" policy like the old one never existed. This sounds much more like a reminder or clarification than an about-face.
  - contextfree 14y ago
    You'd think people working on a project would know better than to believe inaccurate press rumors about the project they are working on, but unfortunately that's not always the case in my experience. While I was working in the Office division there were certain rumors about the next version of Office which had gotten play in the press and had become incredibly widely believed among people working on the next version of Office, despite everyone having access to the real plans (and despite the rumors not making any goddamn sense, but I digress). It's not a matter of being "privy" to the details. Just having the ability to get accurate information doesn't mean you'll bother to take advantage of that ability.
mrgoldenbrown 14y ago
I work at a large company. Emails reminding people of existing polices are quite normal. Sometimes it is in response to someone violating one of the policies.
- aluhut 14y ago
  I can confirm this. Big international company here.
Coincoin 14y ago
Maybe they were tired of all the speculations and simply sent a mail clearly stating what the reality is so that the employees won't feed the rumor machine.
overgryphon 14y ago
A couple weeks before release? Unlikely.
- pyre 14y ago
  The Xbox 720 is a couple of weeks before release? That's news to me. I've heard Christmas 2013, or even delayed into 2014.
  - ebrenes 14y ago
    I assume the intended word was "unveiling" as Microsoft said it would unveil the product May 21st, if memory serves me right.
    - overgryphon 14y ago
      oh right.
illuminate 14y ago
Why is it an unlikely scenario? Perhaps they just wanted a "reliable" leak after all the empty rumormongering. Any way, this sort of email is very common in companies that involve hardware and software roadmaps, NDAs, etc. I don't think it's an insightful comment, and it's annoying when Ars Gawker-like promotes these comments for the sake of controversy.

by pyre 14y ago

JimmaDaRustla 14y ago

I was under the impression that MSFT did it for, or was pressured by the game developers - EA would love if MSFT could make it so that their games are always online to prevent reselling products and reduce piracy. That being said, I can imagine that it is still a possibility for game developers to use this tactic on the Xbox, just not a requirement. Doesn't seem like MSFT would gain much for wanting to force an always online connection.

skc 14y ago

I highly doubt they'd change anything this late in the game though. For all intents and purposes the console will mostly be used while online so this whole saga sounds to me like "anonymous sources" got their wires crossed to begin with.

tomku 14y ago

Alternately, they're sick of employees running their mouths off about things like this and fueling the rumors further, like that guy who got canned for talking about it on Twitter. Keep in mind that MS has tons of employees, and the majority of those people are not privy to the details of products that haven't even been confirmed publicly yet. I find it entirely credible that they wanted to make sure that nobody would cause another "incident" before the public announcement, and were willing to tell a little more than would be normal to do so.

pyre 14y ago
| the majority of those people are not privy to | the details From the article: | internal Microsoft e-mail sent to all full-time | employees working on the next Xbox I'll concede that not all MS employees working on the next Xbox might need to know everything, but it's not like this was a broadcast to all MS employees to avoid employees from unrelated business units from running their mouths. | like that guy who got canned for talking about it on | Twitter Adam Orth was an exec in Microsoft's gaming division. He wasn't some random uninformed Microsoft intern shooting off his mouth on Twitter.
- egad 14y ago
  > Adam Orth was an exec in Microsoft's gaming division. This is not accurate. He was a (not the) Creative Director, which is several levels down the hierarchy from anyone that would be considered an executive. Think of it as one step above Senior Designer.
  - pyre 14y ago
    I stand corrected. I've seen him referred to as a Microsoft exec in stories/comments, related to his whole Twitter debacle.
- tomku 14y ago
  I stand corrected about the audience, but that really doesn't help your point either - when you make a change, you announce the change, you don't send out an internal email asserting the "new" policy like the old one never existed. This sounds much more like a reminder or clarification than an about-face.
- contextfree 14y ago
  You'd think people working on a project would know better than to believe inaccurate press rumors about the project they are working on, but unfortunately that's not always the case in my experience. While I was working in the Office division there were certain rumors about the next version of Office which had gotten play in the press and had become incredibly widely believed among people working on the next version of Office, despite everyone having access to the real plans (and despite the rumors not making any goddamn sense, but I digress). It's not a matter of being "privy" to the details. Just having the ability to get accurate information doesn't mean you'll bother to take advantage of that ability.

mrgoldenbrown 14y ago

I work at a large company. Emails reminding people of existing polices are quite normal. Sometimes it is in response to someone violating one of the policies.

aluhut 14y ago
I can confirm this. Big international company here.

Coincoin 14y ago

Maybe they were tired of all the speculations and simply sent a mail clearly stating what the reality is so that the employees won't feed the rumor machine.

overgryphon 14y ago

A couple weeks before release? Unlikely.

pyre 14y ago
The Xbox 720 is a couple of weeks before release? That's news to me. I've heard Christmas 2013, or even delayed into 2014.
- ebrenes 14y ago
  I assume the intended word was "unveiling" as Microsoft said it would unveil the product May 21st, if memory serves me right.
  - overgryphon 14y ago
    oh right.

illuminate 14y ago

Why is it an unlikely scenario? Perhaps they just wanted a "reliable" leak after all the empty rumormongering. Any way, this sort of email is very common in companies that involve hardware and software roadmaps, NDAs, etc. I don't think it's an insightful comment, and it's annoying when Ars Gawker-like promotes these comments for the sake of controversy.