UPDATE: Larry Hryb, a.k.a. Major Nelson the voice of Microsoft Games, put this vague and uninformative statement from Microsoft on his blog:
"The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games. Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future."
Thanks for nothing.
ORIGINAL STORY:
The gaming world has had a few days to process Tuesday's Xbox One reveal, with fans and publications everywhere dishing out their own excitement and downright rage surrounding the console. One of the most contentious topics regarding the Xbox One was how Microsoft would handle used games, as a few early reports suggested that players would have to pay a steep fee to play a game that wasn't originally registered to their console.
While that doesn't appear to be the case anymore, it seems that Microsoft does have a plan in place for finally making some money off of the sale of used Xbox games.
According to MCV, Microsoft will used their cloud-based Azure system to secure a cut of all used Xbox One game sales at retail. In order for all of this to work, retailers such as Gamestop and Play N Trade will have to agree to Microsoft's used game terms and integrate the Azure platform into their own sales systems. With the Azure software in place, retailers can register all pre-owned games and allow Microsoft to keep track of what used products of theirs are being bought and sold.
Whenever a retailer sells a used Xbox One game, both the publisher and Microsoft will receive a portion of the sale, which will happen automatically thanks to the cloud-based system.
Console Deals published a similar report on Friday, noting that retailers may have to sell used Xbox One games at a mere 10% discount, which significantly lessens the appeal for consumers who buy used games because of their vastly lower prices.
While it seems Xbox hasn't directly killed the used game market by making used titles unplayable on their console, it seems that they have opted to drastically decrease the value of selling used titles for gaming retailers.
How do you feel about this potential shift in the nature of buying and selling video games? Are you discouraged to head to your local GameStop for next-gen, or do you typically buy new anyway?
