I know that Xbox is currently undergoing the biggest restructuring in its historyand yes, it’s all bad, even if it’s probably a necessary change for the future of the company. Instead, I want to take you back to the days of yore, when the infamous Don Mattrick was in charge.
By all accounts, Mattrick inherited a golden goose Xbox 360only to break it into millions The disastrous announcement of the Xbox One. That moment completely wiped out the goodwill Xbox had built up throughout the Xbox 360 era, effectively handing over the entire console generation to the PlayStation, and creating problems that the brand is still arguably dealing with today.
on BlueSkytalked about a meeting between former Halo 4 developer Don Callan 343 Industry then and Don Mattrick. Callan remembers it like this:
“I have very distinct memories of having to demo Halo 4 for Don Mattrick and realizing that these people are just living on different planes of reality… I was demoing my mission and when Mantis appeared… he raised his hand and said to the group, ‘Someone here played… Diablo 3?’… Then he continued his offer We need to move the real money auction house idea for campaign mech skins…“
Callan explained that while everyone around Mattrick reacted like it was a brilliant idea on the surface, privately they thought it was beyond stupid, especially considering that Halo 4 was already 90% complete. He finally summed up his experience thus: “The game execs remain stupid grubbing money allocated to stupid.”
I have to admit, as much as I disliked Halo 4 and its gameplay loop (don’t worry, I enjoyed the campaign), this would have been a really baffling decision, and I’m glad it never came to fruition. It’s also worth remembering that Diablo 3’s real-money auction house was widely criticized at launch and was eventually removed from the game.
Hopefully, Xbox’s new leadership makes more sense than Mattrick thought at the time. With the company still in the midst of a major restructuring, tensions are understandably high both within Xbox and among fans watching from the outside. But let me know what you think. Would Halo 4 be worse with a real money auction house? Leave a comment below and don’t forget to take our poll below:
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