So if a parent wants to give their kid a gaming console without internet connection(for obvious reasons) than the XBox One is a no buy. Microsoft basically wrote off 50 million sales just like that.
Hard core or even mid line gamers who are adults or have a good job seem to forget about this. As someone who did custom home theater installs for years in homes, I saw this a lot more than you think. Xbox 360s and PS3s with no internet connections in kids rooms is very common. The parents dont want the kids to have internet access in their rooms, only a computer in a kitchen or main room so they can be montored. A lot of parents feel that way with all the bad press of things happening on the internet these days, I can fully understand. A lot of parents still feel a video game console is a toy to entertain their kids (a modern babysitter).
This is a big point in sales for these consoles, kids under 15 who have systems in their rooms with no internet connections. It's more common than you think.
Microsoft just blacklisted these people. Yea, the Xbox One pre-orders are selling out to the hard core gamers or people well off but, the main sales come later, when everyone picks up the system. With these systems blacklisted and parents who buy a big junk of these systems will have to think about it, or it will end up with a very high return rate because of this factor.
This is a lot bigger amount of sales than you think. This will make a large impact on sales in the long run. I am not talking about when it's released but, over the next year or 2 after release, yea it will be a big deal and sales will show it.
As I sit here and complain about this, because it could effect me at 1 or 2 times a year (that time when Internet is down and I WANT to play a game at that time), I still think it's an issue. Microsoft needs to be 100% clear and honest about the details on this. They have not been, this is what is causing an outrage on the internet.
All they would have to change is when a Physical disk is inside the machine, no internet is needed to use that game (as long as cloud is not needed for a single player game), it would solve this issue, it would make most people happy here and would not blacklist these possable sales.