What if Microsoft is right ?

QFT

I think once people get used to digital, XB1 will be in a much better situation as their digital sharing is actually pretty great, and really the only thing they have going for them at this point as far as I'm concerned.

PSN used to have digital sharing on the PS3 and they canned it, I can't help but think MIcrosoft will do the same before they have a chance to realize any benefit from it.

What if Doritos grew legs and walked among us like men? Nay. Equals!

@pandorasbox: Yes the used game market is such a blight that companies such as EA go to Gamestop\GAME\HMV to GIVE them exclusive content deals.

So obviously you buy all of your games day one for full price, and never wait for a price drop ever right? Because don't act like if you're not that kind of consumer, you have any more value to game companies. That's especially true at retail, since disc-based games getting a price drop usually means that the stock in these stores isn't moving and they want to get rid of it so they can replace it with something else. If enough people bought it when it was current the store could have sold out and had to order more stock from the company which would've gotten them even more sales, but you had to be selfish and not pay $60 for it and look what happened. They don't like you buying their games on sale, and if they had it their way they would never go on sale; you're taking hard-earned money away from the developer because you had to go and be cheap.

It's the exact same logic as the anti-used games/anti-rental argument.

Too many people really believe what companies such as EA, Ubisoft and Activision are saying at face value without thinking... Hmmm is there an alternate motive behind this statement?

Used games have been common place in the game industry since the cartridge days and they've only just discovered that they are hurting the industry during this generation? Do you not possibly think that since this is the first widely online generation, the first generation where it has been possible to lock out content depending on whether you enter a code. Do you think companies might not be burning the straw man of used gaming, not because it's a legitimate threat, but because they can?

Publishers have spied a way of squeezing extra pennies out of players (or so they think) by blocking and they have to make reasonable excuses as to why they are taking away a consumer right. The right to sell your own property. Yes, the publisher may own the IP and thats not what I'm selling, I'm selling access to it, which, at this time, is physical.

If the used game industry was such a blight on the entire thing, companies such as EA, wouldn't be going to store such as Gamestop, and making deals for content which can only be bought from Gamestop. Also when I do delve into the used game market at certain points, the cashier will try and sell me on an upcoming product.

"Hey here's a list of games coming out in the next few months. Any of them interest you?"

And I ended up pre-ordering a copy of Deadpool.

Also destroying the used game market will not improve anything. If a person can't afford to buy a game new, then they still can't when the cheaper alternative is gone. They will wait for sales, and as far as I know when games go on sale, most major retailers have money back clauses in the event they have to drop the price to shift some units.

I don't quite understand how people think people passing on games is a continuous process either. It's not like there is going to be this endless chain of people waiting to get this one single copy. Besides if after ten people have completed the game, ten people pass it on, it's probably not worth the money is it?

Which brings me to my final point for the time being. Worth my money. In the end game companies are out to make money. This is not a free pass to getting my money. They have to earn it from me. If they haven't done enough to make me part from my hard earned cash then that is their failing, not mine.

It's becoming harder and harder to decipher what games are worth it anymore. The lack of demos, misleading footage and overall poor PR from these companies don't fill me with the confidence and optimism I used to have when buying new games.

Right I'm getting off my soapbox..... now.

Agreed.

Doesn't matter if they're right or not, the lesser of two evils almost always leads to more evil. Gamestop very well might be the pinnacle of evil in the business that is vidya gaymes, but what Microsoft is doing has the potential to be unbelievably more horrific as a whole on the greater scope of things. Because once Pandora's Box is opened it is impossible to close and it will infest everything from movies to music to who knows what else. Make no mistake that other avenues are watching this and salivating profusely at the possibilities.

Like jabbawocky said, companies are out to make money but that isn't a free pass to get (fuck me over out of) my money.

For the people who still believe that they can play one game while your friend or family member can play the same game at the same time.

You'll be able to link other Xbox Live accounts as having shared access to your library when you first set up a system, and will also be able to add them later on (though specific details of how you manage these relationships is still not being discussed). The only limitation, it seems, is that only one person can be playing the shared copy of a single game at any given time

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/microsoft-defends-the-xbox-ones-licensing-used-game-policies/

You guys really need to read it more carefully.

I am indifferent to disks. I buy digital versions of all but a handful of PC games where if anything the platforms need robust online store. However I am not presumptuous to suggest that this is the only or even the best way to do it.

Microsoft would have gotten into less trouble if there was no drive on the thing. They lose out on the "play blu-ray movies" and "disk games" but there is a store to sell those. This is less of a cognitive dissonance than telling everyone to "buy disks" at the same time "those disks are worthless".

You mention "Steam-like sales" in the original post; if either of the big two follow Steam's lead I think it will be Sony. The Sony guy Patrick interviewed for the Dumptruck basically said they are letting indies determine their own price point. There were no details given and of course we'll have to wait and see, but I see Microsoft sticking to it's more strict pricing structure with Sony being the more flexible partner to work with when it comes to how much downloadable games cost.

Everyone has their own priorities and tastes. Everyone is making this huge deal about self publishing for indies etc. I personally couldn't care less about indie games. None of the indie titles I played on console really spoke to me much. That is just me though. Sometimes I buy games used, mostly I buy games new on the week they come out if not the very same day.

Despite what people may think on gaming forums where a lot of game enthusiasts gather - there will be millions of people who will not care about Microsoft's DRM in the slightest.

In my opinion:

If Microsoft moves to a Steam-like software pricing structure then they are right.

If Sony moves to a Steam-like software pricing structure then they are right.

As of right now Steam has it right, and as long as it continues doing what it's doing I'm not going back to the old "60 dollars for the first year, 40 dollars after that" model.

Step 2 - Retrieval

Adam Boyes hands the game back to Shuhei Yoshida.

Shuhei Yoshida breaks Adam Boyes kneecaps for scratching his PS4 game disc.

The Steam model works because Steam is way way looser with its pricing. It will regularly and consistently downshift price to match consumer demand, rather than insist that demand match its price. They also reliably have big sales for patient gamers. While I can't share my games, I also nearly never pay full price for a game. Add in several other features and functions of Steam, and you have a value package. Yes, you have a type of DRM, but Valve has made it a value proposition.

Microsoft's problem is that they have failed to make it a value proposition. In exchange for DRM, they're offering the 'infinite power of the cloud'. I know bullshit when I hear it, thank you very much. And the day that changing the disc represents an onerous task is the day I put down the controller and get some more damn exercise. What Microsoft needs to do, and I don't think they will because they have a captive audience, is an aggressive pricing approach for their digital media.

Didn't Sony also say that all their games would be available for download on the day of release? So if that's the case, why are people talking about Microsoft looking toward the future when Sony is doing exactly the same thing, while giving people more options.

Put simply: Microsoft's system won't be as bad as people are making out and Sony's won't be as good as people are making out. Both consoles will sell just fine and this will all be forgotten about.

Wait...I realized something.

Isnt this the same thing that happened to PS3? Even down to the stupid Rep saying all the wrong stuff?

@binman88 said:

Microsoft needs to keep selling units in order to keep selling systems to keep selling more games. If someone else brings a better product, then the new consumer (and some of the existing ones) will gravitate to the other product and Microsoft will lose both hardware and software sales. Also bear in mind that many Steam users will refuse to buy PC games on any other service, and any competing service has to prove that it's service is good enough to abandon your games, friend list, and setup that your used to; one of the major factors preventing people from changing from 360 to PS3 currently.

@binman88 said:

Microsoft needs to keep selling units in order to keep selling systems to keep selling more games. If someone else brings a better product, then the new consumer (and some of the existing ones) will gravitate to the other product and Microsoft will lose both hardware and software sales. Also bear in mind that many Steam users will refuse to buy PC games on any other service, and any competing service has to prove that it's service is good enough to abandon your games, friend list, and setup that your used to; one of the major factors preventing people from changing from 360 to PS3 currently.

@binman88 said:

Microsoft needs to keep selling units in order to keep selling systems to keep selling more games. If someone else brings a better product, then the new consumer (and some of the existing ones) will gravitate to the other product and Microsoft will lose both hardware and software sales. Also bear in mind that many Steam users will refuse to buy PC games on any other service, and any competing service has to prove that it's service is good enough to abandon your games, friend list, and setup that your used to; one of the major factors preventing people from changing from 360 to PS3 currently.