Following on from an evening of rather messy back-and-forth website updates and quotes, Microsoft’s Phil Harrison has attempted to clarify the whole situation around whether or not you’ll be able to trade in Xbox One games.
Well, it appears you can. However, there’s a fee to the buyer. And it’s not a small fee, either.
“The bits that are on that disc, you can give it to your friend and they can install it on an Xbox One,” said Harrison, speaking to Kotaku. “They would then have to purchase the right to play that game through Xbox Live.”
Kotaku then asked, “They would be paying the same price we paid, or less?”
“Let’s assume it’s a new game, so the answer is yes, it will be the same price,” replied Harrison.
Games on Xbox One are shared among users of a console, rather than individual user accounts. So you can share the game with others as long as they’re using the same console.
Sell it on, and the end user needs to connect to Xbox Live and pay the full price to play it.
That pretty much rules out pre-owned games on the platform. It also massively affects rentals, although we can imagine certain publishers are delighted with the news. That’s assuming all this is true, but Phil Harrison is Microsoft’s corporate vice president.
He’d know, right?
TSBonyman
Well at least they cleared up the bit about multiple users being able to share on one console – although now that i think about it most Kinect games will need to be able to work with multiple accounts anyway..
The thing that bothers me though is, is it Microsoft’s custom technology that allows for this pay-to-play used games scenario, or is it something EA are pushing. Hopefully not the latter.
SH Number 7/Mini-Lipscombe
AH MY GOD MICROSOFT STAHP!!!
I was all up for this console even if it didn’t stand above PS4 I wanted to carry on my profile and friends etc. But this shit? What the fuck!!!
Shadow_lawless
just wow
ron_mcphatty
So, if you have to activate the game somehow and the disc can potentially be thrown away after the install, has no value second hand AND you need a daily Internet connection, then why are they bothering with discs at all? Why not make the games download only? XBoxGo! It would need a crippling analog nub of course.
Dlaf42
this is the thing I have been thinking about, Is Microsoft hoping that the drm on used game play a ploy to have people buy more full games of the store, as who in the right mind is going to buy a used game then pay full price to play when the game will probably be on the store and will have none of the restrictions put on it as it would be installed all ready to your hard drive and no need of a disc..
Jim Hargreaves
Even though the majority of games I play are first-hand purchases, this is the nail in the coffin as regards to me buying a One. Borrowing/sharing games among friends is something I’m sure most of us do regularly and is part of gaming culture itself. Stripping it away is shameless and I really do hope that SONY won’t follow suit.
quinkill
I can hardly believe they’re doing this. It makes which console to buy really easy to choose as long as Sony don’t have the same system.
cam the man
I hope Sony has taken notice of all the negativity this has caused and think of all the potential PS4 sales that may come their way if they allow pre-owned games.
Feri
When will these corporate monsters finally get it, that
1) more people would buy games at full price if the games were GOOD
2) there are people who can’t afford to buy everything at full price, but second hand means it has already been bought at full price once, so it is not missing profit?
When will it be again about good games, instead of empty marketing bullshit like “more immersive”, “more connected” and, my personal favourite from this xbox reveal: “cinematic realism”?
Make good games and people will buy them. Simple as that.