Analyzing the Xbox CEO’s Latest Announcement
Here’s a story about how listening to your users’ pain points, and the pain points of your competitors’ customers, can turn into great PR.
One of the biggest challenges of the digital age is ownership.
Until recently, ownership was pretty straightforward. When you bought a CD or DVD, you had a physical item that lived in your house and was clearly yours. No one else had access to your copy unless you handed it to them.
But in the digital age, the lines of ownership have blurred. And it has created something of a nightmare scenario for consumers, called digital fatigue.
Libraries don’t own digital copies of e-books. Instead, they often license the right to lend them a certain number of times before they have to renew that license. Obviously, that isn’t an issue with a physical book. But as e-books have grown, these licensing models have put additional strain on library budgets.
Consumers are running into the same problem.
One man made headlines after losing access to a digital copy of The Lord of the Rings that he had purchased through Google. Google stopped carrying the movie in its catalog, and suddenly, his “purchase” was no longer accessible. The fine print, it turned out, indicated that he hadn’t actually owned the movie. He had purchased the right to stream it as long as it remained in Google’s catalog.
Heck, if you have a MyQ garage door system, you may not even own the right to open your own garage door without paying for a subscription.
It’s a real headache for consumers. And while subscription and licensing models can be a significant revenue generator for businesses, they can also become a significant PR headache as consumer complaints grow.
That brings us to the video game industry.
PlayStation announced in July that it would begin producing digital-only games starting in 2028. That means players could increasingly find themselves without physical game discs and facing the same digital ownership questions consumers are encountering elsewhere. It also means they can no longer sell their games when done with them, as they can with physical media. PlayStation players were not happy, and backlash ensued.
Enter Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
She started at the company in February and is already making people take note of her work. In August, she announced a new disc-to-digital feature designed to address a major pain point for gamers.
The basic idea: Physical discs can come with a digital license, allowing players to continue using their physical discs while also giving them digital access.
Here’s a video of Sharma explaining the new feature, and here’s a basic explanation.
The initial announcement has generated an incredibly positive response, though admittedly some are skeptical…it seems a little too good to be true for many players. While it remains to be seen how all of this will ultimately play out from a financial standpoint, there are some important communications lessons here.
What people don’t like about your competitors can be your communications opportunity.
The backlash PlayStation experienced over the elimination of physical media created an opening for Xbox. Instead of simply watching consumers complain, Xbox identified a pain point and introduced a feature designed to address it.
Your competitors’ customer complaints are market research you didn’t have to pay for.
Pay attention to what people are frustrated by. It might point directly to an opportunity for your organization.
That requires the ability to listen and listen well.
Remember why your organization exists.
Your organization exists to provide a product, service or solution to a problem. When we lose sight of how we can help people and focus too heavily on maximizing profits or efficiency, we risk losing goodwill with the people we’re supposed to be helping.
We don’t yet know whether this move will result in a long-term revenue boost for Xbox. But Xbox users seem to appreciate the gesture.
And that goodwill has value.
The words you choose matter.
Did you catch that Sharma called her customers “players” rather than “consumers”?
That’s a small detail, but it matters.
The distinction says, “I see you, I know you, and I care about you.”
It’s a small way to make people feel like they matter rather than like they have a dollar sign printed on their forehead.
Good communications isn’t just about what you say. It’s about showing people that you understand them.
Sometimes, the best place to find out what people need from you is to listen to what they’re complaining about somewhere else.