If you're following the current flip-flop in Microsoft's policies today for the Xbox One, you'll notice that the tone of tech sites are opposite of that of the gaming enthusiast press(those two being the extremes of the spectrum). As someone who has taken advantage of the used game stores like Gamestop aggressively, I fully understand their value to consumers. That said, I think unless you've used a platform like Steam you don't fully recognize how much of a greater value that is than the potential of used market. As my friend @rolyatkcinmai said it on twitter:

You guys do realise NBA 2k is $13 on PC and $55 on consoles a month after it comes out precisely because there are no used sales right?

Publishers & Developers are not going to in good faith be aggressive like they are on Steam unless they have the closed system. It doesn't make sense for a business to be aggressive when your system is open, frankly. Since 2003, Steam has created an completely closed system, which lead to the creation of a marketplace where I would never think of selling in my games. Steam currently controls 70% of the PC gaming market, and they did so by creating a market with reliable metrics for publishers & developers which lead to the benefit from it in aggressive sales. Microsoft was going to have exactly that and then expand upon it with their family sharing & trading hub for digital licenses(where publishers got a portion of the sale). They were expanding the idea of digital rights in a really forward thinking way, but it seems gamers got hung up on the no physical trade ins & online check.

I can't help but be bummed out, even if a lot of the benefits were potential & not yet concrete. Potentially the Xbox One was doing what Steam did great, and expanding upon it. Now it won't be and that makes me sad. I'll be looking forward to see what our old friend and compatriot Will Smith has to say about it on the Tested Podcast. Namaste, duders.

@granderojo