Dunc2403 said:
I, however, think it was a brilliant decision business-wise (effectively eliminating buying used games without them getting revenue)
This is why you aren't a businessman, and why everyone thinks you, and anyone who thinks like you (microsoft included), is retarded.
Microsoft is making money, sure, but nobody the fuck else is.
You know that store that sells the game to you? Walmart, or Gamestop, or whatever else?
They don't make money. The Xbone will only make Microsoft money. If every single used transaction is sent directly to Microsoft, it means that stores are losing several HUNDRED percent of the profit in selling the game to you in the first place.
BASIC MATH FOR YOU MISTER BUSINESS.
Walmart, we'll say, buys the game. Usually they'd buy something like this for, say, $20 in bulk, and sell it at $30-$40 for profit. Because Walmart needs to make money to continue existing, you see.
On what grounds does Microsoft determine what 'full retail price' is? If we're to assume it's $40, we could possibly assume that Walmart would have to also buy the game at $40, to resell at $50-$60 to make the same profit. Which means you're paying up to 150% more to buy the game from Walmart as opposed to getting it used from a friend.
If you're getting it used from a friend instead, Walmart makes $0 instead of $20 from this. It's basic logic: why would you buy it from Walmart when you get it cheaper from no retailer at all?
Now, on the flipside, we'll say Walmart notices this after an extended period of time of not profiting off of games because everyone's passing a used game around anyway.
Microsoft Profits: $400. Walmart Profits: $80.
This might not seem like a problem to
YOU (yet), because you're a selfish little twat, but as soon as Walmart stops selling the game, or if some other store goes bankrupt entirely, you won't be able to buy the games at all from anywhere other than China.
"BUT WAIT CAN'T PEOPLE ALREADY PASS A GAME AROUND AND GIVE BOTH COMPANIES LESS MONEY?!?!?!?!?!11!!?!?"
No, because in the case of owning games as a physical disk or cartridge, you either need to own it to play the game at all, or want to hang onto it in case your console breaks and you need a new one. You don't give away the cartridge or disk, because you want to hang onto it, because you own it.
This is the opposite. You might posses the disk, but you don't own the contents of the disk, but rather a singular copy of those contents. After you use that singular copy, you literally have no need to own the disk, because it installs the copy on the machine anyway. Moreover, chances are good that you can redownload the game online with your same profile if you did it once before (and if not it just lengthens the list of problems here). Since you no longer need the disk, you are pretty much obligated to getting the fuck rid of it - and since no retailer will buy it from you since nobody in their right mind will pay for it used when they have to pay the Microsoft fee afterward anyway, you're going to give it to other consumers directly.
Also,
Mainly because I am not going to ever buy a game for a current or next-gen console
The Xbox One is not backwards compatible. At all.
They call it "Backwards thinking".
Have fun with your $500 cable box that requires another cable box, though.
Dipshit.
