Microsoft: Restricting Used Games Will Drive Prices Down

yea maybe ms is just ahead of the times... people still want to share things old-fashion-like, without hassle, and not have to pay 100 bucks more for LOSING that capability. it's pretty simple stuff here, MS, you can educate all you want, the people will educate you with their wallets soon enough
 
DPI said:
Why exactly would the same happen on a "closed console environment" where Microsoft's built-in game store is the only option? Those games are going to stay $60.

The difference with Steam is OPEN PLATFORM, meaning you don't have to buy the game from Steam. There's Origin, Ubisoft, GOG, standalone, whatever.
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Because all the mobile platforms have limited competition ... the majority of sales are occurring on the Google or Amazon store for Android, App Store for Apple, and Microsoft for Windows RTS ... the Apple and Microsoft stores are extremely closed ...

personally I think MS jumped the gun on the whole ownership thing ... people still associate physical media with the ability to sell or do what they wish with it ... the indoctrination of people with digital media is totally different ... the lower prices allow us to be more flexible with the ownership question and companies are making billions of dollars in that market ... MS should have waited one more generation and eliminated physical media in favor of digital media and an app store and then got rid of the whole used market (since it doesn't exist in the other digital stores) :cool:
 
kbrickley said:
personally I think MS jumped the gun on the whole ownership thing ... people still associate physical media with the ability to sell or do what they wish with it ... the indoctrination of people with digital media is totally different ... the lower prices allow us to be more flexible with the ownership question and companies are making billions of dollars in that market ... MS should have waited one more generation and eliminated physical media in favor of digital media and an app store and then got rid of the whole used market (since it doesn't exist in the other digital stores) :cool:
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What makes you think that system will last? As it is there's talk of trying to resale digital goods. Just cause I can't hold it in my hand doesn't mean I don't own it, Lock stock and barrel.

Steam, MS, and Sony will have to come up with a system to allow the resale of used digital property. There's also the issue with alienating people from less then wealthy countries, who would likely never be able to afford the games, let alone the internet connection needed to download them. Forget about the idea if they even have access to an internet connection.
 
Hahahahahaha microsoft, wooowwww... Ok, so let me get this straight; By limited supply and increasing demand, prices will go... down? DOWN?

By introducing a convoluted trading scheme that involves multiple parties, each of whom wants their share of the pie, prices will go.... down? DOWN?

I'm a PC game and my last console was the N64, but I'm thinking about buying a PS4 for the hell of it just to spite microsoft. Trying to make a profit is one thing, but treating the entire world like we're all a bunch of fucking idiots deserves a spanking.
 
Steam on PC is a service that you can substitute for any other, or you can forgo using it altogether for many titles. You got half a dozen other services to choose from, and you can often download games directly from the dev, opting out of these services altogether.

On consoles you have one gatekeeper, nuff said.
 
Yeah, sure. Trust the big corporation to pass hypothetical cost savings on to consumers. Right...

Here's the only way I can see this working: The current used games model (sell to anyone) means that publishers lose out on non-first sales. Close the system, publishers are guaranteed a cut from all used sales. This additional profit is returned to the customer in the form of lower prices.

...as if that would ever happen outside of theoretical economics land.
 
I'll defend Steam as I've basically gotten games for cheap like no other.
Last summer I blew over $100 and ended up with probably over 30 games. I couldn't do that on Xbox 360 nor a PS3.
 
Rauelius said:
So PC gamers had piles of game discs, and codes. But obviously the codes didn’t work an infinite number of times.
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Aah, youth...

(Yes, they did. No internet connection was required to play PC games until recently.)
 
nilepez said:
I'm confused. All the gamers on here swear by Steam, which, AFAIK, doesn't allow you to sell a game to someone else after you've played it. How is this different?
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Yeah, not all the gamers buy new titles on Steam either. Many of us wait for the super 75% off sales and what not to get older games (or indie games) at prices so low that if we did sell them on the secondary market they'd be next to worthless.

Also there's something fundamentally wrong with having a physical copy of a game, and not being able to resell that or hell give that away. This is why I'm on an eternal boycott from Blizzard as well.
 
MS could get away with it -- had they tailored the system to mimic how steam handles their DRM and their pricing structure.

It's well established that most people do in fact love steam - the deals, the ease of use, besides not being able to resell it, it's pretty damn flexible. There are a few nitpicks but they would tie back into a specific publisher that might limit how many times you activate (not steam's fault at all)

I'd be willing to accept a lot of mircorsoft terms of the Xbox One if I knew I was going to get something out of it. Say: AAA titles that only cost $40 - not having to pay for the privilege of using hardware that I own to view a service I already pay for (Netflix)

MS had the opportunity to really knock it out of the park had they just not been so god damn greedy. I don't know about you guys - but I'd have bought one if they had built in the ability to stream and play *ALL* media that I have stored on my 10TB array at home. The new xbox is basically a specialized PC -- if a codec exists for me to play it in Win7/8 - then there should be something to let me stream all my badass 1080p Usenet blu-ray rips.

If there is a feature like this -- odds are they want you to pay for it above and beyond the price tag. They can't have it both ways -- sky high price AND super restrictive use. Pick one.

The rumors of terrible yields and performance issues don't look good either. The only thing I'm going to miss from the xbox universe is the Forza series.
 
Honestly, the required Internet connection is a bigger issue for me than the used games. I'm not sure about most people, but I would buy the system for its gaming capabilities, and any media stuff is fluff on that. Want to require Internet for the extra media capabilities? Sure. No problem. Understandable. At least I can still play games (my original intent).
 
I don't really understand why this Yusuf Mehdi guy is spouting so much drivel.

First off, game publishers aren't concerned about "value" to consumers, they are concerned with their bottom line. "Gee, I can sell this game for PS4 for $60.00, or I can sell it on Xbox One for $50.00 due to restrictive use policies."

"Hmmmm.... I really hope all my crying and whining to console makers purporting that re-selling costs me units of sales is really true and I'll sell 20% more Xbox One versions of my super-duper video game to make up for the price difference."

Yeah good luck with that.

I was dying to get an Xbox 360. Xbox One? Not even interested. I'll be going Sony this time around.

In fact, I just cancelled the renewal on Xbox Live.

Microsoft wants their developers to create more value, but they themselves have forgotten how to create value with their eco-system. How lazy.
 
Restricting used games on XBOne will not drive prices down by itself. People wrongfully point to Steam saying it single-handedly drove prices down; this is not the case at all. What drove the price of games down on PC was competition! Steam has to compete with GOG, GMG, Amazon, Origin, Game Fly, and many other digital distributors. The only way this will apply to the XBOne is if MS allows third-party digital distributors to work on the XBOne, and I highly doubt that will happen.
 
Microsoft isn't run like Valve. One might say it is an entirely different company.
 
Ashbringer said:
What makes you think that system will last? As it is there's talk of trying to resale digital goods. Just cause I can't hold it in my hand doesn't mean I don't own it, Lock stock and barrel.
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No, you don't own a damn thing. When you buy this digital media you are basically buying their permission to access the game.
 
diesavagenation said:
I feel like a broken record.... Steam had the same backlash against it.... now look at how awesome it is.
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Except Valve via Steam is a single distributor on an open platform.

Also, didn't PC games have fast depreciation even before Steam was all that popular? I don't associate low prices with Steam specifically, I just associate low prices with PC games in general.
 
Tudz said:
Except Valve via Steam is a single distributor on an open platform.

Also, didn't PC games have fast depreciation even before Steam was all that popular? I don't associate low prices with Steam specifically, I just associate low prices with PC games in general.
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Yes, some games would hit $30 or less a couple months after launch, even back when I bought games retail. Not all of them (especially Blizzard titles), but I was able to get pretty good deals in those dark ages.
 
Please forgive as this won't be a very constructive reply

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA *take a breath* HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAH ooh my HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH
 
While cool, I don't see how publishers would agree to this. This is much worse off for publishers then used game sells because what is to stop people from forming their own "families" and sharing their collections between them. Considering I only play sp games on the console this would save me so much money if they did things this way.

Microsoft seems so bi-polar at times. I'm not sure they even think some of these things through at times.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Yes, some games would hit $30 or less a couple months after launch, even back when I bought games retail. Not all of them (especially Blizzard titles), but I was able to get pretty good deals in those dark ages.
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This is definitely true. Even some of the $100+ collector's edition would simmer down pretty quickly months after a game launched. As a PC gamer, I could care less about the used games market. Steam and Origin sales keep adding to my back catalog. What kills me about the Xbox One is the 24 hour check in. Both Steam and Origin have offline modes for the rare occasion that my broadband goes down.
 
Lowering prices to $40 at launch would be the one killer announcement that they could make. Not just "games will be cheaper... y'know, maybe?" but "games WILL be cheaper".

This sounds like they're predicting that games for their system will be cheaper, but doesn't sound like they're started predicting lowering their prices for their games for their system.
 
In northern Colorado it isn't uncommon to lose internet in inclement weather or have spotty coverage in some of the mountainous areas. Comcast and most internet companies struggle in areas outside of major metro hubs. US internet sucks so bad.
 
Climber said:
Read the article. They confirmed it is 10 people not 10 family members.
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that's 10 people who are on you friends list for more than 30 days with access to your account... What they don't mention is that, I'm assuming here because it only makes sense that way, while they access your account you can't play these games at that time on you console
 
Steve said:
At this point, Microsoft needs to quit with the crazy talk and hold a mid-summer press event to reverse its stance on used games, game sharing and DRM. Heck, they can even play it off as a "we have listened to our customers" move. Seriously.
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So what's the issue here? This is a no brainer. Games without resell options will be cheaper.
 
bazylik said:
that's 10 people who are on you friends list for more than 30 days with access to your account... What they don't mention is that, I'm assuming here because it only makes sense that way, while they access your account you can't play these games at that time on you console
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They can.

What is not confirmed is how many can play simultaneously?
 
What is it with large companies that after they are successful they inevitably feel the irresistible urge to self destruct? First there was the Windows 8 debacle,now this. It should have been clear to MS that their position on used games was going to be a disaster,but instead of backtracking on it,they come up with a line of reasoning that is so ridiculous it insults gamers intelligence. They may be able to get away with such blunders in their OS business since there really aren't any major competitors to take advantage of them,but that isn't the case in the console market.
 
Disposed said:
No, you don't own a damn thing. When you buy this digital media you are basically buying their permission to access the game.
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Well that's the debate going on right now. Do you own digital music or movies? You own permission to access them, and should therefore have the right to resale that access.

westrock2000 said:
I don't see that steam has really driven down the cost of games. I do see a lot of indie titles that are a reasonable price, but I don't see much difference from Xbox Arcade. The few AAA titles I have bought from Steam and Origin on launch day were still very much $60.
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Steam is not responsible for the low prices on PC. Rather, it's the competition. You can get games from multiple sources. For example, I buy a game from a certain website, and enter the code into Steam to download it. Multiple websites can do this. Then there's physical media, and other services like Origin. Blizzard has their own method of distributing games.

Point is there's no 1 method to get your game. Xbox One and PS4 have no competition. Used games were how new games dropped in price. All games start off at $60, but how quickly they drop in price is determined by competition. For consoles it's really used games that helped lower prices.

On PC if you wait a while the price will drop fairly quickly from $60. On console though, they will still make more money keeping the game at $60. Keep in mind that when a sale is made from a PC game, the creators get to keep more of the money then they would on console. So that's another reason why prices may drop quicker.
 
ol1bit said:
If they drop the game price to 1/2 say $29.99 I could see it, maybe.
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yep. I think this would be VERY successful.
Gamers who are concerned about not being able to share games shouldn't have a problem with this. Neither would publishers. It would instantly create a whole new revenue stream from gamers who only buy used. $30 new price, no used games.

It would create a ton of excitement for Xbox one and Ps4 would have a very hard time competing with $60 games that can be shared.
 
games are cheap.

Remember when nintendo cartridge games were $50-60 in 1990's dollars? That's $90 today.
 
LOL

Publishers adding value.. Yeah in what way ? Releasing DLC that will nickle and dime you to death?
Are they going to release SDK's so we can have user generated content? I don't fucking think so.
Publishers only goal is to make money and so is Microsofts. MS needs to pull their heads out of their asses, or more particularly the fuckwad CEO that's a bean counter.
 
I'm not buying either one so it really doesn't matter to me but it seems that the people that are the most upset about the new Xbox111!!! are the people who don't realize that they are not the primary market anymore.

Businesses are in not in the customer satisfaction business they are in the money making business. I'm sure somebody at MS took a look at the numbers and found that AS ALWAYS the most profitable market segment is the one with the most amount of disposable income and the least amount of judgement: 16-22 year old (males). It will sell like crazy in that segment regardless of the quality.
 
bazylik said:
that's 10 people who are on you friends list for more than 30 days with access to your account... What they don't mention is that, I'm assuming here because it only makes sense that way, while they access your account you can't play these games at that time on you console
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This is stated in the article. Only 1 person can access the game at a time.
 
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