The Xbox One Restricts Pre-Owned Sales Through Disc Installs

Although they didn’t mention anything from their show stage, several reports are emerging that the old used game blockage story about Microsoft’s next gen console might be true enough, after all.

Wired was the first place we spotted it, then CVG and MCV (that one’s a “more to follow” at time of writing) have backed it up.

The Xbox One requires all games to be installed onto the system’s hard disc before playing. After which, you can seemingly remove the disc (so that 500GB hdd might need fattening up a bit fairly soon, too). The game is tied to the Xbox Live account that installed it and if it’s put into someone else’s machine and installed, it will require an additional fee before it can be played.

While this isn’t the worst-nightmare “Always on” scenario many feared, it isn’t far from it. This would severely restrict pre-owned sales and goes some way to explaining why EA might have dropped their online pass system a few days ago.

49 Comments

  1. The big question I have is what happens to the thousands of people who never connect there console to the internet. if we are to believe what has been wrote about the games being linked to your game tag and the disc id, and with Microsoft saying the console does not need to be always connected to the internet but online when you first put the disc in the drive to validate the game. i guess those people who don’t want or cant connect to the internet will be shit out of luck. And believe me there will be parents who buy the xbox one and have no idea about online activations.

    • a lot of returns the first day the shops open after christmas then i guess.

  2. Well, i was saying i may get one of these, there goes my sale, If Sony doesn’t do anything like this, i think they will win this generation

    • Sony will do the same but leave it up to each publisher to enable…which means they all will.imagine if sony said it was using the same method of blocking used games but rather than having a fee per disc it just said that playing of used games was a perk of being a plus member. Every game checks to see if you have plus and been used before and authorises the game…100% uptake in plus memberships. They then could cut in the publishers to keep them happy.

  3. Congrulations MS, you have just put me off the Xbox with this announcement. I can see a lot of problems occuring if you are unlucky enough to have a corrputed hard drive or your net cuts out when it is in the proccess of linking it to your account. All Sony needs to do is confirm that the PS4 won’t do anything like this and they will have an easy time selling their console whereas MS may struggle to sell it due to how popular the preowned market is. Does explain why EA is favouring them though. I’m guessing you are fucked if you can’t connect to the net and have just bought a new game.

  4. Based on all this, I can’t see there being an Xbox Two.

  5. Update: On second hand games: you buy disc, it installs, you play from HD. Sell disc, it installs to new console and deactivates your install

    You still have to pay though.

    • Hang on, how would that work if you had two consoles in the same house??? My son has his own PS3 and we share games, obviously that will not be possible on xbox 1. MS are really setting themselves up for a massive fail with this console.

    • What? If the second person installs the game and wants to play it he has to buy a full priced license to do so. Why would it deactivate the first person’s install? Are you sure about that?

  6. No Xbox for me. I don’t even care. I just hope Sony doesn’t do the same.

  7. Sony have the upper hand now, as long as they don’t announce the same thing. Online passes I could tolerate, at least that was just for online, you could still simply PLAY THE GAME if you wanted.

    Not with the Xbox One. Might as well call it the Xbox ‘None’.

  8. Well all I can say is, Microsoft have killed the second hand market, and why? Because the billions they make isn’t enough, I won’t be buying one nor will I ever buy one, I’m going to just upgrade my Pc and play there.

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