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« on: June 11, 2013, 06:29:43 AM »
Microsoft clearly doesn't want to be in the video game business. They probably never did, but now they're really making it clear that they're trying to provide a complete home entertainment solution despite the fact that anyone who wants to be entertained at home already owns systems that provide every capability the XBOne features. The only thing I can figure is that developers (or more likely, publishers) have complained about the used games market cutting into their profits, and Microsoft was the only console manufacturer who thought it would be a good idea to cave to the pressure. They want their platform to be friendly to publishers, at the expense of being anti-consumer. They all seem to have forgotten where the money enters the system from.
Oh, there will be buyers for the XBOne - but I expect it'll be the "gramer" crowd in that video I watched ages ago and am too lazy to link, if it even still exists. The ones who actually play sports games - which I can't figure out why Gamestop even accepts, since they more than any other genre become obsolete when a new version comes out. Well, if Gamestop made good decisions, they'd be backing away from the XBOne, since as Microsoft is proud of pointing out, publishers can choose whether to allow their games on the used market or not. Now, not only is Gamestop likely to be party to lawsuits focusing on First Sale Doctrine for having a monopoly on used games and using technology to make an end run around the law, but they're going to have to update their system to keep track of which games they're allowed to take in trade. Publishers in general are probably going to move to allow more used sales of their games quickly when their initial sales drop - just look at the number of copies of new games on used shelves and consider how many people depend on trade-in value to drop the effective price of their games, and realize how the market has sustained such a high price for so long - but it will come at the cost of most gamers owning a competing system despite any former brand loyalty to Microsoft, which they'll never recover from.
My thoughts on the right way to combat the used game market - realize that Gamestop prices their used games at about five bucks less than the new copies, and price games accordingly so that they can't offer a good trade-in value and continue to undercut the price. I also actually like the pack-in DLC codes that PS3 games have been using recently. The used copy is a complete game, but features like multiplayer or other not-quite-core gameplay modes are sold separately, but included with new copies. If the cost of those features is greater than Gamestop's artificial price difference, then it's actually cheaper to buy new if the gamer wants the whole package - and even when the used price drops enough to be the better deal, if it ever does, the publisher still makes a profit on the resale of those features to gamers who care enough to buy them. It sounds anti-consumer, and perhaps it is, but at least it offers some value for the extra cost. All that remains is to make games that are worth the price to begin with - but I'm trying to be realistic here.
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