Monday, January 30, 2012

Microsoft killing used games could influence all consoles?



Taken from Kotaku last week:


"But that disc detail could be far less impactful to the next generation of game consoles than the assertion I've heard from one reliable industry source that Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720.
It's not clear if that means that the system wouldn't play used games or how such a set-up would work. Obvious approaches—I'm theorizing here—like linking a copy of a game to a specific Xbox Live account could seemingly be foiled by used-game owners who would keep their system offline. My source wasn't sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine.
A push in any way by Microsoft against used games would likely be cheered from publishers sick of seeing retailers like GameStop crow about their revenues from the sale of used games. But it could potentially anger consumers who rely on buying cheaply-sold used games or even pass games to relatives or friends."

From my point of view, this subject is a little more difficult to tackle than I thought it would be. The idea of not being able to buy a used game on a console does bother me quite a bit when I think about consumers not being able to use places like GameStop and other outlets as places to trade in games as store credit towards other new games they may not have the cast for. I also see the other side of the coin too, in that game developers will see every penny for the hard work they put in making a video game from scratch. I wonder just how much the developers loose on software sales from people only buying used games? It has to be almost the same as pirating since the game is still only purchased once. 
Is Microsoft just showing how harsh they can be in doing this to the consumer and limiting their options? Or is Microsoft actually thinking about the developers and giving them a chance to make more money releasing games on their next console? You also have to wonder if Nintendo and Sony  will follow suit if this idea does seem to have success. Remember that PC gamers haven't been able to trade in games in a very long time (maybe never when I think about it) due to each game having a key code. 
Will all gaming be comparable to playing on a PC in the next gen? 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

AS IF NINTENDO WOULD DONT EVEN GO THERE!!!!!!!!

MS ARE BUILDING A ““INDUSTRY CONSOLE”” EVERYONE LOST THIS GEN SONY/MS BILLIONS AND BILLIONS

EA GAMES/UBI/THQ/ THE WHOLE INDUSTRY MADE MASSIVE LOSSES!!!!!

NINTENDO DISRUPTED THE WHOLE INDUSTRY LIKE THEY WORNED IN 2006 YET NOONE LISTENED....

BUY A WIIU BE A GAME PLAYING CUSTOMER....

BUY A X720 BE A INDUSTRY SLAVE AKA A MORON/HARDLYCORE/FAN-TWAT....BORN FOOL...

WE THE CUSTOMERS ARE KING NOT MS AND THE NON PROFIT SHIT GAMES 3RD PARTY INDUSTRY

ITS YOUR MONEY NOT THERES!!!!!!WAKE UP

Travis Hendricks said...

No need for all caps people.

And in my opinion when I buy a game I want to actually own it, and I don't mean I deserve the right to pay $50-60 for a game and then make copies to give to thousands of people, that's just wrong. What I mean is that if I finish a game, I should be able to lend/give/sell that copy to someone else.

That's my biggest concern with digital downloads. In my mind, Amazon has it right with the Kindle. You can give a Kindle book to a friend and then you lose access to it. That should be a company standard.

Gregory Weagle said...

You know; I wouldn't mind publishers and developers complaining about used games if (a) the retailers paid them a portion of the profits as they do with new games and the publishers agreed to it instead of screaming about being artists and (b) (In my case) Stop following the movie model and actually press new units of software when the software is completely sold out. See any game developed and published by Atlus, Natsume and other small companies. I cannot tell you how long I had to wait to get Arc Rise Fantasia, Luminous Arc 2 (almost a year for both games), and I still didn't get the Phantom Brave title for Wii. All because no new copies were there when I had the money to buy them at retail and I was forced to wait until it was used. Let me repeat: I WANTED TO BUY THE GAME NEW; BUT IT SOLD OUT BECAUSE YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IS DEFECTIVE!

There; got it off my chest. Until then; I hope Nintendo doesn't listen to this and keeps things as they are right now. We have enough trouble with anti-piracy measures on 3DS as it is (although there is nothing wrong with these in this case.)

Anonymous said...

3rd partys trying to own content YOU ALRRADY PAYED FOR....this is the ios usa god darn computer industry BS trying to control and fool paying consumers.... whay next you change your ip and console freezes and a red light of death apears MS/PACHTER/INDUSTRY F☆☆K U

Anonymous said...

once sold its owned by the buyer it has nothing to do with them

ford dont part own my car levis dont part own my jeans mc donalds dont part own my shit!!!!!!!!!

this is a failed dead industry trying to f**k us all over

vote ron paul end the NWO /FED anmd buy a wiiu its called COMMONSENSE

Travis Hendricks said...

Welp, I can't argue with the "vote for Ron Paul" or "buy a Wii U" part. Consider them both done.