If there's one company who has the worst PR team I've ever seen, it's Microsoft. I'm sorry, but it's almost entertaining to listen to some of the things they, as a company, have said. Sure, they've fixed some of the their mistakes, but that doesn't mean they never happened, or weren't entertaining. So, I decided to count down their top five blunders in the past year or so, according to my humble opinion. So, without further ado, let's get down to it:
Honorable Mentions:
The PS3 sucks, and that's why the PS4 is winning. Ummm...what? First of all, though quality is subjective, the only empirical fact to draw on, is that the PS3 outsold the 360, so this statement holds no weight. Second of all, on earth, if people are dissatisfied with a product, they're less likely to invest in its successor, or at the very least, aren't more likely to. As hilarious as this recent statement is though, it wont have any effect on the company's reputation, so it didn't make my list.
Indie games aren't going to be around for much longer. Again...what? I've been getting the sense lately that Microsoft hates indie games. I can't imagine why, because indie game support gave Xbox Live an advantage last gen. Either way, just because you don't like something, Microsoft, that doesn't mean it's just going to blow away. All this statement has accomplished is that it pushed fans of indie games away from the One.
And now for my actual top five:
5. Backpedaling, backpedaling, backpedaling. Microsoft has proven that we can't trust a word they say, because they'll most likely change their stance before long. I read an article calling them liars, but I don't think they are, since they did originally intend for their ideas to work. However, they'll do a complete 180 if it means more sales. This blunder is low on my list, because I actually hated virtually all of the things they've backpedaled on, and think the One is a better system for it.
4. All their hardware talk. It's no secret that the PS4 is more powerful. You would think the company behind the weaker system wouldn't want to call any more attention to that fact, than it already gets from inferior multiplats. Sure, they've cried wolf several times, over updates and things that'll level the playing field. Many actually believe the dx12 thing, so we'll see what happens with that, but in the meantime, the One is the weaker system, and Microsoft is better off pushing other angles.
3. Their system's big reveal. The last thing gamers want, is a system that's not really about games. Well, that's exactly what the Xbox One's disastrous reveal told us about the system. It seemed, at the time, that Microsoft was more interested in producing a media hub, than a game system. Actually, I think that's still their philosophy. Anyone who wanted a game system first, and a media hub second, moved over to Sony's camp.
2. #dealwithit. There's really not much to say about this one that hasn't already been said. If gamers don't like something, don't tell us to deal with it. We are the ones who buy your product. If you want to start a war with us, we'll make sure it's one you can't win. We'll decide when we want to embrace an all digital future, thank you. Many people dealt with it by getting a PS4, which could be part of why it's in the lead right now.
1. Don't buy our system. One evening, after a day at E3(either the first or second day of the show floor), my hotel roommates and I kicked back, and read some gaming news. The biggest thing that caught our eye, and gave us a good laugh, was Microsoft's insistence that people without strong Internet, are better off not buying their system.
They said the 360 was the answer to that problem, but someone who commented said "actually, it's called the PS4". Microsoft, if you really want to push your own agenda, you probably don't want to tell people not to support your product.
Well, there you have it. What are your thoughts on Microsoft's PR blunders? Leave your comments below.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
I'm actually glad that MS had so many PR blunders. I've never seen so many hilarious gifs and videos about a subject in my life. They say that laughter extends your life by 5 minutes every time you laugh; in that case Microsoft has made a lot of us immortal.
MS presented future console developers with very clear step-by-step instructions on how not to market a console.
My favourite is their initial insistence that the DRM could not be removed, and that Kinect is an integral part of the Xbox 1
...only for them to remove the DRM and unbundle the Kinect.
And yeah im glad they did both those things but now that they have its effectively pointed out that they are happy to lie to our bare faces to try and get what they want.
This whole thread so far is just 100 percent true facts.
Yeah it's been entertaining to watch MS try to knock one foot out of their mouth by shoving the other one in. This newest thing about PS4 doing well because people weren't happy with PS3 is really funny.
People were so down on PS3 that they bought a PS4 immediately… riiight.