I know Xbox is currently amid the biggest restructuring in its history, and yes, it all sucks, even if it’s probably a necessary change for the company’s future. Instead, though, I want to take you back to days gone by, when the infamous Don Mattrick was at the helm.
By all accounts, Mattrick inherited a golden goose in the Xbox 360, only to smash it into a million pieces with the disastrous reveal of the Xbox One. That moment all but erased the goodwill Xbox had built throughout the Xbox 360 era, effectively handed the entire console generation to PlayStation, and created problems the brand is arguably still dealing with today.
Over on BlueSky, former Halo 4 developer Don Callan spoke out about a meeting that was held between 343 Industries at the time and Don Mattrick. Callan recalls it as follows:
“I have very distinct memories of having to demo Halo 4 for Don Mattrick and realizing that these people just live on different planes of reality… I was showing off my mission and when the Mantis showed up… he raised his hand and said to the group, ‘Has anyone here played… Diablo 3?’… He then went on to suggest we should copy their idea of a real money auction house for campaign mech skins…”
Callan went on to explain that while everyone around Mattrick outwardly reacted as though it was a brilliant idea, they privately thought it was beyond stupid, especially considering Halo 4 was already around 90% complete. He ultimately summed up his experience by saying, “game execs remain stupid detached money grubbing idiots.”
I must admit, as much as I dislike Halo 4 and its gameplay loop (don’t worry, I enjoyed the campaign), this really would have been a baffling decision, and one I’m glad never became reality. 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 has more sense than whatever Mattrick was thinking at the time. With the company still in the middle of a major restructuring, tensions are understandably high both inside Xbox and among fans watching from the outside. But let me know your thoughts. Would Halo 4 have been even worse with a real-money auction house? Leave a comment below and be sure to take part in our poll below:
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