Microsoft defends the Xbox One's used game policy

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In an interview with Ars Technica, Microsoft's marketing chief for Xbox, Yusuf Mehdi, has defended the licensing and used game policies of the Xbox One, stating that the reaction from gamers was "kind of as we expected". In the long run, he expects that gamers will see the benefits of the policies on the console, as the gaming market shifts to digital-only in favor of physical discs.

He said that Microsoft is "trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world", adding that "we believe digital is better". In the future, Mehdi believes that the move to all-digital will provide the capabilities for different licensing models, although for the time being it's a "big change" that Microsoft needs to educate users about to "make sure that people understand".

Speaking directly about the situation surrounding Microsoft's controversial Xbox One used game policy, Mehdi stated that they weren't simply "giving in" to publishers with the policy, instead they were trying to balance the needs of consumers ("first and foremost") as well as publishers, retailers, and Microsoft themselves.

"Within that, we've tried to optimize, and I think we've found a great balance across all of those dimensions. But there are tradeoffs. We do want to support everyone in that system, beginning with the consumer. But we want publishers to get paid for the great IP they work on. We want retailers to be able to drive and sell our products and make a profit. So we are trying to balance across all those."

Medhi also clarified the situation regarding the sharing of your Xbox One game library with up to ten "family members", despite not being able to give all the details at this stage. According to him, a "family member" doesn't actually have to live in your house - they could be 3,000 miles away - and you'll be able to link/add Xbox Live accounts to access your shared game library, although only one person can play a copy of a shared game at the same time.

Finally, Mehdi also said it was "hard to say" what the reaction from the greater community will be over the Xbox One's various restrictions and policies.

"I think it's fair to say there's a segment of consumers at this show in particular who really pay attention, who are very passionate about all aspects of gaming, and that we listen to closely. In a broader set of community, people don't pay attention to a lot of the details. We've seen it in the research, we've seen it in a lot of the data points."

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Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-defends-the-xbox-ones-used-game-policy

Comments

"Microsoft defends the Xbox One's used game policy" :: Login/Create an Account :: 124 comments

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mysticalrainbowPosted:

StVincent Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Not buying the Xbox Done.


Not sure why you felt the need to announce that to everyone but good for you. XBL doent need immatures like you.

tportPosted:

I don't understand how people are getting butt hurt about this PC shit has been doing this for nearly a decade and it has worked out pretty well I mean shit the FBI isn't going to really "crackdown" on console people for piracy just because this has made it "harder" for people to transfer content for free, obviously just about everyone at TTG should know that. Soooooooo yeah all the people complaining about this must be ignorant to some degree about what this truly means.

StVincentPosted:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Not buying the Xbox Done.

InstallousPosted:

ps4*

kal45Posted:

xXopticsXx
hudd123
TopNotchKiNG
zredstarv2
County_Cavan I really think people are being extremely narrow minded when they think about the Xbox One.
It annoys me when people say they've failed and PS4 is going to be so much better. Ok there's about a $100 price difference, sure, it is a decent amount of money, but if you already spending at least $400 surely another $100 won't kill you, for a console that's going to last you for years to come.
People saying it's a 'tv system' are wrong. It's still going to be a great gaming system, it will still be at least on par with all gaming features of the PS4. Why don't people see the tv/entertainment element as a bonus for the Xbox?
No second hand games has been explained above and the 'always online' feature is similar. They need to change things to stop piracy and companies losing out on money they deserve.
The Xbox One will have many exclusives and features the PS4 won't have, aswel as the PS4 having some the Xbox One won't. There are positives and negatives to both.

I'm not an Xbox fanboy, I kmow the PS4 will be a great consle. It just annoys me how people say the Xbox One won't be..


piracy will never be stopped! people will always create mods and cracks to make the console work offline. Microsoft is doing this because they wan't to make more money by cutting out the middle man and preventing you from selling their property. It's all about the greed.


Piracy will not stop, but you should. You clearly have no clue what your talking about, mods and hacks have nothing to do with any of this. A Xbox One game will most likely be modified on a modified console to run custom code but that does not mean anything for the general Xbox community. With gems that are downloaded and installed onto a Xbox 360 JTAG or RGH, 99% Of them cannot be played online. Microsoft is not trying to cut anyone out, they are simply trying to get more profit for everyone and stop the use of burned games such as ISO's.

"I like men"The Xbox One will last longer and be a I like men" stronger, more well built console than the PS4. The only main difference between the consoles is that PS4 has 8GB DDR5 and Xbox One "I like men" has 8GB DDR3. Xbox One comes with a Kinect 2.0, PS4 does not come with the PS Move "I like men" and that is why there is a $100 difference. Xbox One's cloud has more power than the entire PS4 console therefore making the Xbox One twice as powerfully than the PS4 "I like men :)" thanks to the Cloud.


Ok, before you make a comment about something get your facts right, first off have you ever heard of an rgh demon. Well since you probably haven't it allows rgh's to go online so about 60% of rgh's can go online. Second off have you ever heard of flashed firmware that most people can still play online with which allows you to play burnt games "ONLINE". So probably 75% of all modded consoles are online so online doesn't make it much harder. Sorry just stating the facts

VoyboyPosted:

hudd123
TopNotchKiNG
zredstarv2
County_Cavan I really think people are being extremely narrow minded when they think about the Xbox One.
It annoys me when people say they've failed and PS4 is going to be so much better. Ok there's about a $100 price difference, sure, it is a decent amount of money, but if you already spending at least $400 surely another $100 won't kill you, for a console that's going to last you for years to come.
People saying it's a 'tv system' are wrong. It's still going to be a great gaming system, it will still be at least on par with all gaming features of the PS4. Why don't people see the tv/entertainment element as a bonus for the Xbox?
No second hand games has been explained above and the 'always online' feature is similar. They need to change things to stop piracy and companies losing out on money they deserve.
The Xbox One will have many exclusives and features the PS4 won't have, aswel as the PS4 having some the Xbox One won't. There are positives and negatives to both.

I'm not an Xbox fanboy, I kmow the PS4 will be a great consle. It just annoys me how people say the Xbox One won't be..


piracy will never be stopped! people will always create mods and cracks to make the console work offline. Microsoft is doing this because they wan't to make more money by cutting out the middle man and preventing you from selling their property. It's all about the greed.


Piracy will not stop, but you should. You clearly have no clue what your talking about, mods and hacks have nothing to do with any of this. A Xbox One game will most likely be modified on a modified console to run custom code but that does not mean anything for the general Xbox community. With gems that are downloaded and installed onto a Xbox 360 JTAG or RGH, 99% Of them cannot be played online. Microsoft is not trying to cut anyone out, they are simply trying to get more profit for everyone and stop the use of burned games such as ISO's.

The Xbox One will last longer and be a stronger, more well built console than the PS4. The only main difference between the consoles is that PS4 has 8GB DDR5 and Xbox One has 8GB DDR3. Xbox One comes with a Kinect 2.0, PS4 does not come with the PS Move and that is why there is a $100 difference. Xbox One's cloud has more power than the entire PS4 console therefore making the Xbox One twice as powerfully than the PS4 thanks to the Cloud.


ps4 has cloud capabilities too though


Yeah..capabilites..

MrShyCityPosted:

i kinda get why Microsoft choose the policy of "always online/DRM/used games etc." 'cause when Xbox One Console get HACK, that console wont be able to get online or to make backup of games to share it online.

"i think i'm thinking way to hard lol"
just my thought

invPosted:

SkyDoesMods they only want digital to stop modding, end of story, lol xbox one will prob be modded 1st day,


Dumbest post all day award goes to......

SkyDoesMods! Congratulations! You can pick up your award after the ceremony.

vokalPosted:

well seeing as the ps4 doesnt have to talk to live servers to play games nor am i restricted on who or why i share my games with i will just go ahead i get a ps4 and wait for the burning ship that is the xbox 1 to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic. at least until it can run linux.

zredstarv2Posted:

-Trippyy what if we don't want a completely digital world? some of us (me) like driving or walking down to gamestop and buying my disks and letting friends borrow my games that i have completed? and if we have to get everything digital wise then wouldn't that fill up memory and make it so we can only have a number of games... i don't like that idea


Theirs know point in a digital world for gaming. Hell quadrupled layer blue ray disc have 128gb of memory.