Microsoft’s Xbox One Used Games Policies Are Clear as Mud

Will Xbox One allow you to trade in and resell disc-based games? Yes…sort of, says Microsoft in its fresh “How Games Licensing Works on Xbox One“ explainer, before winding up like some star NFL kicker and punting the ball downfield.

[theBAWSE]

Via now gamer trying to add clarification to the shady clarification from Microsoft yesterday...

You don't own the game you buy, only the license them

Physical discs are used to install games on your machine, at which point they will fall under the same restrictions and DRM measures as games bought

Publishers decide whether games can be traded in or not and even then, it will only be possible with "participating retailers"

You can't loan or rent games at launch, though Microsoft is working on this
You have to connect online every 24 hours - fail to do so and you can't play your games at all

This is reduced to one hour if you're accessing your content from another console
You can sell games to those on your Friends List but only if you've been friends with them for 30 days
Up to 10 people in your Xbox One 'family' can use your licensed content, regardless of what console they access it from

Basically Microsoft need to get out of gaming

[Sandmano]

agreed

[xHeavYx]

It's the beginning of the end for M$, they keep upsetting loyal fans, they don't want military people to use their console, but hey, at least you have all those awesome exclusives... right?

[abzdine]

and all this 3days before their E3 conference and they cancelled 1to1 with the media... doesn't matter what they show at E3 their console seems dead on arrival

[Wizziokid]

"Basically Microsoft need to get out of gaming"

While I agree, the system will still sell to those uninformed people who think the Xbox is the best console brand on the planet.

[lomion5]

Sad but true. The average consumer is unlikely to know any better.

[abzdine]

until they realize how much it sucks and they will trade it for a PS4.
imagine being one of the uninformed people and you buy X1 and you borrow a game from your buddy, how would you feel when you read a nice message: "give me money and i unlock"?? I will go crazy and i will go trade that piece of junk to a Gameboy.

360 is a complete gaming machine that got lot of praise from publishers and developers from day one, and cheaper price against PS3 that struggled in the begginning played a big role in the leadership they got in the beggining. But despite that praise PS3 still outsold it worldwide.

[kreate]

'There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once'

lol

[Mr_Nuts]

I feel like they are changing the industry for their own greed. It's like they don't want to be in this industry anymore, hey Halo the TV series is just the start, if that takes off you could see less Halo games and more TV/Films about it instead

[-Mika-]

We never owned our games. They were always licensed to us.

[BlackTar187]

well maybe technically correct the way you saying it as some sort of point is 100% completely wrong.

[kneon]

That is correct. But the license was much more permissive and didn't lock everything down. On the Xb1 even giving away a game is more complicated.

They have added all kinds of complications with little benefit for the consumer.

[Dannehkins]

You can say that again. Every time Microsoft try to clarify something, they manage to just make it even more confusing!

I've read their official statement and although it does clear some things up such as the 24 hour online thing, the used game part is still as confusing, if not more, than before. Maybe it is just me having a slow moment, but I just can't make sense of it all. I can't wait for E3 where hopefully, all this mess can be clarified.

[UNGR]

And that's why I'm hoping they say something at E3, that at the least clarifies this poo storm. Microsoft PR, no doubt, is horrid at their jobs.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

I'm sorry. But this is too much for a consumer to absorb. Someone needs to insight a riot in Redmond(MS HQ) for this to change. I cannot defend this in no way shape or forum. I'm watching a company's slow death like a Saw movie.

[Brazz]

I will be realy pissed whit MS if Xbox one box don't come whit something like "Need internet conection to work"!
Peplo of N4G, Neogaf, Gamespot, etc. know about this restriction, but hell! majority of Parents need this information on the box! that this machine need internet conection!
More than this! they will need a very good explained instruction book for user! Hell, I can already see kids pissed because they don't undrestand Xbox one restrictions! This shit was made for casuals?? whit such omplicate rules?! WTF are they thinking!

[SOULJER]

WOW. It's mind bogging. That gamer's can't see Microsoft waving the middle finger in front of their face. The dummy's are like wait to E3. Why so they can stick that finger in gamer's @sses. Sorry I will pass on that.

[kma2k]

For me xbox one comes down to one simple thing, no gamefly renting games means i wont be buying the system. Since Xbox said "no rent at launch" my plan is to wait about 1 year after both system launches to see how things pan out.

[Seraphemz]

Im a gamefly member as well. And this has me worried too.. hopefully SONY allows rentals.

[kma2k]

I emailed them this morning asking any word on rentals for xbox one or ps4 this was there response:

"Thank you for your inquiry. We plan to stock all of the newest releases for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii as they become available. As always, GameFly is committed to providing you with the hottest titles on the newest platforms.

If we can be of further assistance, please let us know."

[brianunfried]

I like to keep all of my old systems and pull them out once in while for some retro gaming. Appears you won't be able to do that with Xbox One. In twenty years when the servers are shut down you will be left with a giant blu-ray player.

[kma2k]

After explaning this to my wife she said "who the hell would be stupid enough to buy it" To which i reminded her that the average consumer is pretty stupid & will regret it after buying it.

[CyrusLemont]

I wish they just stuck with installing the disc and requiring the disc in the console to play. None of these extra fees and DRM horsesh*t. It's so complicated, I feel like I don't even know if I'll be able to play a game after lending it to friend. It's so cluttered. Imagine someone who doesn't understand all this sh*t (me) and keeps getting themselves into a loop of having to pay a fee each time they want to play their games.

Does this mean if I buy a $40 preowned game with an original RRP of $50, I'll have to pay an extra $10 to play it anyway? How are these fees going to be handled with the market fluctuation of prices. What if I get a preowned game that's $10 and is originally $15 new, and I get charged a $10 fee? I don't know, I think I'm just looking into it too much. Probably won't be that bad, I hope. I'll probably end up getting a PS4 anyway.

[mikeyphi]

No actually they're pretty clear. MS is indirectly buying devs and publishers by providing them with a possibility for a greater financial reward for using their platform while Sony is attempting to woo them with a more streamlined (and less costly) development process. Sony can go 2 ways with this, they can go lock-step with MS and spin it differently OR say screw DRM and attempt to kill the XBone before it even reaches stores. This could get very interesting...very soon...

[Rivitur]

I swear I saw that exact headline as a comment here on N4G and people were like what?