The drama was delicious and meme-worthy, and Don Mattrick's PR attempts fueled it more. What kind of idiot says "don't buy our new console, buy the Xbox 360"? The always-online-DRM was then dropped but the damage had been done, and Phil Spencer stepping in mitigated it somewhat.
Yeah, Microsoft really dropped the ball on that generations introduction to the system. Sony rightfully dunked on them with their "How to share games on PlayStation", that was hilarious.
However, I feel like all that DRM stuff is going to happen one way or another anyway at some point.