Next Xbox to eliminate used game market with always connected system, claims source
Games to ship with an activation code and will have no value beyond the first user.
The next generation Xbox console will require an always on internet connection and won't support second hand games, sources with first-hand experience of the console have told Edge.
Next-gen Xbox games will continue to ship to retail – now on 50GB Blu-ray discs – but will include a one-time use activation code, essentially wiping out the second hand games market for the platform.
Regarding the system's specifications, Edge's source goes along with information already reported: an AMD eight-core x64 1.6GHz CPU, a D3D11.x 800MHz graphics solution and 8GB of DDR3 RAM. In addition, Microsoft is expected to ship the console with the largest storage hard drive capacity featured in an Xbox to date.
The source also indicates that Sony's PlayStation 4 will be the most powerful of the next generation platforms, not only in raw terms, but also because Xbox developers are required to utilise approved development libraries and must contend with greater OS overheads.
Kinect will also feature, with a new version of the motion-control hardware said to ship alongside the new Xbox. Sony too will update its PlayStation camera tech to offer similar features, says Edge.
Sony is expected to announce the next generation PlayStation at an event on February 20, whilst an analyst has pointed to an April reveal for the next Xbox.
VideoGamer.com Analysis
The growth of Steam indicates irradiating the second-hand market may not be such a bad move for Microsoft, although gamers will want to see game prices fall in-line with what publisher's charge on Steam's digital store.
Source: Edge
User Comments
rbevanx
Their game department’s profits were down 84% from what they have announced!
Konami were down quite a lot as well.
I really hope they don't go through with, always on or killing off the 2nd hand market.
I honestly think it would be such a huge own goal, no one will like it and more jobs will be hurt if anything.
Batmamerc
Woffls
*It doesn't
DancingRhino@ rbevanx
rbevanx@ pblive
But I will be amazed if they both decide to go that route.
pblive
CheekyLee
munkee@ dav2612
MJTH@ EverTheOptimist
A better comparison is the used car market, which has a similar system to games. However the reason why car manufacturers don't complain about this market is that the majority of consumers use their car for 3-6 years (in a lot of cases even longer) before selling it. At which point the car manufacturer has either already started selling a newer model, or has a newer model on the way. With games, after a single month a developer is nowhere near finished with it's next product. Depreciation on the cost of new games is already at an astronomical level, and part of the reason that is used game market drives down prices quickly as retailers undercut new copy prices with used copy prices.
I understand the idea of trying to work and understand the used game market instead of forcefully exterminating it. However I think a better idea is to try to just decrease the price of a new game in general from the off. Say if new games were £25 from now. More people would buy more games because they're cheaper and people would be more willing to take chances with games. More copies sold of any game means more profit for retailers, console manufacturers and developers. And the second hand market becomes pointless as games are now cheap to buy from the off anyway. Three birds, one stone, everyone wins and everybody is happy.
dav2612@ munkee
EverTheOptimist@ munkee
If this was the case though, a pass that works in the same way multiplayer passes work now, it'd be interesting to see how it might be priced if it was true.
rbevanx@ munkee
I just think the story along with all the other rumours are just BS right now, I will comment on something when I hear something offical.
munkee
EverTheOptimist
I know what you're saying about only buying new games MJTH, but not everyone can drop £40 on a game or wait a couple of years until it's dirt cheap. I'd like to think I'm as ethical and as supportive as the next man, but I think, as dav says, companies need to work with the second hand market and not against it. Imagine if you couldn't buy a bike or a t-shirt on eBay because the original creator wouldn't profit, it's daft. As important as it is to try to pay full price where you can afford to, many people don't think about struggling devs - they look at the money a lot of companies rake in and find it difficult to justify that full price purchase.
I can't see it happening though, it'd be a really dumb move and if Sony went the other way MS would surely lose a ton of potential customers.
Endless
Always on internet connection i'm fine with. But then WE would be. What I'm not ok with is single use activation keys and online authentication. What that means is that if I buy a game, my wife can't play it on our console without having her own key.
Had this exact scenario recently: Wife bought Viva Pinata to entertain our son, I installed it and was forced to enter the software key to play it and authenticate with GFWL. She has her own user on our home PC, but cant play it because the game is authenticated to my GFWL account.
It's bull*****.
Restrict to user and hardware the same as it is now. But dont force me to buy multiple keys to play a game on the same console.
They should be embracing and controlling second hand sales, not removing them. if the service allows trading licence keys at a fixed lower prize where the platform takes a cut of the sale. Then I dont see the problem.