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

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

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CuhPosted:

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

CabooseSayzWTFPosted:

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

zredstarv2Posted:

IgnorantChildren
zredstarv2
platyui
Yin As technologically advanced as we are, I really don't think leaning towards a digital-only model is smart at the moment. It's still too early for that. They should have waited to do this in the next generation of consoles (if there is another one.) I just don't think it's time.


But these generation of consoles are going to last 6+ years until they come out with another one. Like Microsoft has been saying, it's going to be better in the long run and PS4 is going to be way behind
PS4 Is not going to behind, it's going to own the console market. Microsoft is basically turning the Xbox One into a Low end gaming computer. The world already has a defined and digital video game distribution service. There fans are loyal. If you do not know who the company is, your a noob.


Lmao, and the PS4 is a high end gaming computer? Please top.

Microsoft is right, they're aware that Sony will win the battle, but they'll win the war.


Did I say PS4 was a high end gaming computer? LMAO. Neither one is high end gaming computer. Their most likely going to support a low to mid end GPU by amd.

hudd123Posted:

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

zredstarv2Posted:

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.


I do know what I'm talking about. Their trying to go into a Market were their is a define leader in digital distribution. It's not going to work. A console is a console, ps4 and the xbox one will have nearly the same hardware. It's about greed and they do want cut the middle man out gamestop, walmart, target, amazon, bestbuy etc... I was saying piracy will always exist and Microsoft cannot stop it. People who want to pirate games can and will find away around the xbox one. No crap that does not apply to the General Xbox Community. Burning a Blue ray/iso is alot harder. Than modifying a digital copy of a game. You will actually have to physically buy the blue ray disc and have a blue ray burner. Last time I checked the Xbox 360 was the one with quality issues " RROD".

IgnorantChildrenPosted:

zredstarv2
platyui
Yin As technologically advanced as we are, I really don't think leaning towards a digital-only model is smart at the moment. It's still too early for that. They should have waited to do this in the next generation of consoles (if there is another one.) I just don't think it's time.


But these generation of consoles are going to last 6+ years until they come out with another one. Like Microsoft has been saying, it's going to be better in the long run and PS4 is going to be way behind
PS4 Is not going to behind, it's going to own the console market. Microsoft is basically turning the Xbox One into a Low end gaming computer. The world already has a defined and digital video game distribution service. There fans are loyal. If you do not know who the company is, your a noob.


Lmao, and the PS4 is a high end gaming computer? Please top.

Microsoft is right, they're aware that Sony will win the battle, but they'll win the war.

generalhunterPosted:

I don't blame Microsoft Cloud gaming is the way forward Blu-ray will be like a floppy disk in 5+ years

zredstarv2Posted:

platyui
Yin As technologically advanced as we are, I really don't think leaning towards a digital-only model is smart at the moment. It's still too early for that. They should have waited to do this in the next generation of consoles (if there is another one.) I just don't think it's time.


But these generation of consoles are going to last 6+ years until they come out with another one. Like Microsoft has been saying, it's going to be better in the long run and PS4 is going to be way behind
PS4 Is not going to behind, it's going to own the console market. Microsoft is basically turning the Xbox One into a Low end gaming computer. The world already has a defined and digital video game distribution service. There fans are loyal. If you do not know who the company is, your a noob.

TopNotchKiNGPosted:

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.

County_CavanPosted:

platyui
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..


Thank you, I have been trying to get this through peoples heads ever since they announced the consoles. It seems like all of the well educated population knows that the xbox one is going to be just like the PS4 but everyone else is just going with the bandwagon and saying that it sucks and going to buy a PS4.

I'm always going to stick with Microsoft when it comes to consoles. They have better security and better ideas for changing the future of gaming.

I'm not calling everyone who wants to get a PS4 stupid, but at least think first instead of saying 'XBOX SUCKS!! PS4 ALL THE WAY HAHA LOL MICROSOFT YOU FAIL!!' They're the people who are stupid... people are jumping on the bandwagon by saying things like 'I can't share games, so I'm buying a PS4!' First of all who shares games? & secondly ff you looked into it you would find you can actually share games with up to 10 friends if you link the other persons account to your Xbox. And other silly reasons like the Xbox One is too big and oh no I can't bring my Xbox to my granny's house and play anymore because she doesn't have internet and the Xbox One requires only connection.
I just would prefer if people gave genuine problems to why they don't want an Xbox One.


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