Microsoft taking a cut of used games sold

This week the Xbox One was finally shown and now an array of questions have been circulating the internet about the next-generation console’s undisclosed functions. While Kinect remains the largest highlight of the Xbox One the biggest concern has been Microsoft’s game policy towards used games. According MCV retailers will have to give a portion of pre-owned game sales to publishers of the title and Microsoft.

According to MCV retailers have conveyed that stores will have to agree to Microsoft’s terms and conditions. This means using Microsoft’s cloud based system called Azure, that will track used games when traded. When entered into the system the game will be marked by Azure and deactivated from the customer’s Xbox Live account.

Earlier in the week, Microsoft’s Phil Harrison explained that the console will need to be online 24 hours for updates and patches. However the Xbox One can function without an online connection and allow the user to certain content such as single-player titles.

So what does this mean when if you decide to buy a used game? It means that you can only buy used titles from specific locations that cover the activation fee or will have to purchase it themselves, similar to online passes. This could mean that selling your game privately outside those who use Azure will be unable to do so unless the buyer is willing to pay extra to the fee, which means they might as well purchase it new. However it’s undetermined how much the fee will cost.

According to a Microsoft representative “While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios. Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house - should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you signed in to your profile.â€

For now we ‘ll have to wait for a confirmation from Microsoft regarding used games on the Xbox One.

Source: MCV UK

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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