US Army tried to buy 360 units, told no

By Ellie Gibson Published 10 February, 2010

Plans to train soldiers with consoles stall.

A US Army training expert is claiming the military tried to purchase Xbox 360 units to train soldiers with - but was turned down by Microsoft.

Chief technology officer Roger Smith told Wired he discussed a potential deal with the platform holder in 2006. He claims Microsoft execs refused to sell consoles or license the use of XNA tools to the Army because of concerns about damage to the company's reputation: "Do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?"

Smith said Microsoft was also concerned that a big Army purchase would create a hardware shortage, and that profits from software would be limited as the military would only buy one game per console.

A representative from Microsoft's PR agency said he had no knowledge of such a conversation, but pointed out that military simulations have been developed for consoles before - such as Ubisoft's America's Army and Full Spectrum Warrior from THQ.

"Or, if the Army prefers to build a simulation without engaging game development professionals, Microsoft has also enabled independent developers to create games for the Xbox 360 using the XNA Game Studio development tools, and deploy and play them on retail Xbox 360 consoles using an XNA Premium Creator’s Club membership," said the representative.

The author of the Wired article wrote a similar piece for the Training and Simulation Journal, in which he asked: "Could interactive consoles become military training assets?"

Apparently the Army's keen - consoles are seen as a cheaper and more stable option than PCs. Wiis are already used by military and civilian hospitals in physical therapy programmes. The Army's Future Combat Systems project is investigating the use of game controllers to direct unmanned ground vehicles, and controllers have been used to operate UAVs.

However, there are issues with licensing, certification, costs, video capture and so on, and the platform holders haven't been able to clear them up. According to the article, after a month of enquiries from the Army, "Neither Microsoft, Nintendo nor Sony could deliver a coherent answer. The responses were not unfriendly or unhelpful so much as uncomprehending." Just imagine that.

Sounds like the Army's changed its mind anyway. "Our initial enthusiasm when Xbox and XNA were new products has cooled," said Smith. "At this time we have no active or anticipated projects or R&D that are looking at using either of those products for military simulations. I would be happy to reopen these discussions if Microsoft is interested in selling these products to our community."

Another Army expert, chief engineer Mike Enloe, reckons the march of progress is inevitable. He predicted the Army will be using consoles as training tools within five years. "It wil be your choice. Do you want to use a console or a PC?" said Enloe. Well?

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • FortysixterUK #1 2 years ago

    Sweet.
    MS turn down the American Army ( who defend American soil ).
    Oh well, when the unknown foreign enemy frog marches Bill to the firing squad he'll know why they got through.
    The American army didn't play enough BF1943!

  • mcmonkeyplc #2 2 years ago

    I believe Sony would've run around screaming like mad men telling the world the army uses it's consoles.

    MS being restrained is frankly slightly disturbing.

  • Quak #3 2 years ago

    "It wil be your choice. Do you want to use a console or a PC?" said Enloe.

    Since FPS games are the most likely candidates for army training, a PC please.

  • Fletche #4 2 years ago

    "Do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon? Do we want Mom and Dad knowing that their kid is buying the same game console as the military trains the SEALs and Rangers on?"

    Ermm? But you are ok with their kids going around shooting and chopping people up on the console?

    Anyway, I thought I read a story where the army were using PS3's already, or was that goverment or something?

  • JohnnyWashnGo #5 2 years ago

    @mcmonkeyplc

    The US Army did buy a few thousand PS3 very recently, but instead of using them to play games, they used them to build a large computing array, probably with Linux installed on them.

    http://ne ws.softpedia.com/news/The-US-Ai...

  • matrim83 #6 2 years ago

    Hitman 1 this is Hitman actual, interogative, Who took our xbox?

  • BritishBlue1 #7 2 years ago

    Fletche, apparently US Intelligence bought a bunch of PS3s, installed Linux, rammed some more, ur, RAM inside them and used the Cell to break encryptions or something. I can't remember the particular details.

  • reelbigkris #8 2 years ago

    I am glad Microsoft refused to deal with the US army... The media and newspapers would blow this out of proportion and return back to the "games teach and force you to kill" argument...

    Everytime I hear the notion of the army using games to train thier soldiers I allways imagine that they are looking for pasty skinned teenagers on the battlefield armed to the teeth with a variety of snack food and an assortment of diferent coloured astmha inhalers...

  • gav_and_the_gavster #9 2 years ago

    Maybe one day guns will be manufactured with a big blue "X" button on them that releases empty magazine clips and starts the reloading process? Also if my wife were a soldier, I wonder if she'd be able to turn and strafe at the same time? She can't on FPS's, it's hilarious.

  • cyacomini #10 2 years ago

    No you can't buy our consoles.

    But here, you can fly unmanned drones and control bomb disposal robots with our controllers though.

  • Murton #11 2 years ago

    MS turn down the American Army ( who defend American soil ).

    I think someone needs to brush up on their history. America to my knowledge hasn't been the victim of a major land offensive since the British tried to restore order to the colonies and hasn't been directly attacked by a foreign power since Pearl Harbour. The American Army has however been involved in just about every armed conflict of the last 100 years whether directly involved or via aid work/peacekeeping.

    Also, I believe the US military will likely already own a few thousand 360s for its rec rooms and whatnot and there's the PS3 server farm that Johnny just mentioned that they use for running simulations and whatnot.

  • Redeye #12 2 years ago

    Why don't the cheap buggers just go down to the nearest Target or whatever, and just buy some from there? :p

    The concept of the US Army having to recruit its own game dev team is somewhat amusing, though.

  • MaliceMajorE15 #13 2 years ago

    i hate to say it but that was a fantastic call by microsoft, they really are business savvy,

    the government were only using the ps3s as codebreaking equipment just for the processing.

  • kinky_mong #14 2 years ago

    "Since FPS games are the most likely candidates for army training, a PC please."

    An important part of army training is that you only have two movement speeds, walking and running, the latter performed by holding another key at the same time.

  • cyacomini #15 2 years ago

    @kinky_mong

    Yeah, maybe that was true 10 years ago - ie pre-analog controllers!

  • IonOnion #16 2 years ago

    Im sure the fact that it is considered a crime of treason to sell faulty items to the US Military had nothing to do with it.

  • Denny #17 2 years ago

    On the British Army tv adverts, don't they show someone flying a real life UAV with 360 controller?
    It's not using the console, but using the peripherals is still a link from the military to MS.
    Or is this a case of the TV people embellishing the truth to make the job look cooler to "the kidz". Nah they'd never do something like that.

  • Johnhost #18 2 years ago

    If Mickey Mouse can be used to sell War Bonds and fund Americas tanks and bombs in WWII, surely Xbox which is mainly a digital killing machine can be used to save lives.
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/10 @ 11:44

  • Murton #19 2 years ago

    @ Denny: the UAVs are controlled via laptops, so you've either got the laptop keyboard, which lacks accuracy and finess or using some sort of analogue controller, the 360 pad is not only very portable but likely much cheaper than getting something specifically designed for the task. Also it's not like they're needed by the thousand so there's no need to get a link in with MS, they can just buy them at retail as and when required.

    IonOnion: good point on possible treason. +1 for you.

  • mcwildcard #20 2 years ago

    "Do we want the Xbox 360 to be seen as having the flavor of a weapon?"

    That is possibly the gayest quote I've ever read.
    Edited by 1 at 10/02/10 @ 12:05

  • Wolverfrog #21 2 years ago

    Just order from GAME?

    ;)

  • 00.00.01 #22 2 years ago

    @ SHARXTREME
    O.T.
    Think they're up for a co-op mission with Israel to 'do' Iran this time. I also think they (and therefore we all) are going to regret this.

  • glaeken #23 2 years ago

    This all sounds a bit unsubstantiated to me. We have one guy saying this happened and everyone else saying they don't know what he is talking about.

  • Darren #24 2 years ago

    I understand that the US Army pride themselves on using high-quality military-grade equipment so I'm surprised they even considered the Xbox 360 because 'high-quality' it certainly is not in terms of build quality!!! Maybe Microsoft were more worried about the law-suit they'd be landed with when those 360s started breaking down en mass... ;)

  • jambo74 #25 2 years ago

    More worried about failing units and the potential & resulting hot water more like.....

  • Shikasama #26 2 years ago

    I guarantee that the majority of the 'double standards' replies would be spitting outrage if the article was titled 'MS sells 360 to Army for training;.

  • Murton #27 2 years ago

    This all sounds a bit unsubstantiated to me. We have one guy saying this happened and everyone else saying they don't know what he is talking about.

    Likely because of all the people shifting about at MS over the years, the guys that the US military would have dealt with have likely moved on to other parts of the company or left it altogether. Or maybe MS don't want the negative PR from admitting to refusing an order to the US military, could be any number of reasons.

    Just order from GAME?

    Depending on the number of units that may or may not be an option. I suspect they wanted thousands or possible tens of thousands of units to supply as many training bases as possible, no procurement officer in his right mind is going to sign off on that, hence trying to come to an arrangement (read: discount) with MS. Possibly another reason for refusal, in 2006 MS were still making a huge loss on the console, discounting it would have been out of the question for them.

  • gjgjg #28 2 years ago

    didnt sony pick this up after?
    kudos to MS

  • Shikasama #29 2 years ago

    Awesome point there Murton

  • TitusCrow #30 2 years ago

    "If Mickey Mouse can be used to sell War Bonds and fund Americas tanks and bombs in WWII, surely Xbox which is mainly a digital killing machine can be used to save lives."

    There is no such thing as killing people to save lives. To secure peace you must prepare for war is one of the most perpetrated lies of this modern era.

    If you have a war to avoid a war, you still have a war. Moral compasses need reset and fast!

  • superdelphinus #31 2 years ago

    i don't get why you'd buy a load of ps3s if you wanted to break codes or whatever? why wouldn't you just buy a pc that is about 150 times more powerful?

  • TheJuriel #32 2 years ago

    What kind of a weird MS 'look at how considerate to regular familiy values' hype attempt is this?

  • Bravestinsane #33 2 years ago

    Well then this explains a lot about the US Army

    Perhaps they should turn off friendly fire and maybe they will do a better job...

  • wi11ypig #34 2 years ago

    They didn't seem to have any problems using it as a tool for similar purposes when Full Spectrum Warrior came out...

  • Macdory #35 2 years ago

    They probably required a warranty against red ring, therefore Microsoft couldn't oblige :p

  • GitSomE_UK #36 2 years ago

    /Bows head in sadness at the idiocy on display in the KingAntoine video

    ... sigh

  • davisorle #37 2 years ago

    How freaking funny.. MS declining and if it was Sony consoles sold you would see all the bannerboys running around hooraying about it.

    Weird news whatsoever.

  • mizcicz #38 2 years ago

    good choice ms. if there would have been a deal with any military organization iŽd be no longer a supporter/customer of the 360. if they put to the contract that they will trade in all their weapons and from then on will only fight virtual wars then iŽd say thats a good deal...

  • BonzoBanana #39 2 years ago

    If this is true I'm sure the reason is simply the 360 is not a robust or reliable console and the army would be using these consoles extensively. Its just not practical. What Microsoft should have done is quote them for a heavy duty military grade 360 model with enhanced cooling and build quality for like $1000 each.