Four years later, Microsoft acknowledged the mistake of banning the resale of Xbox One games.

The gaming console of the new generation of Xbox One from Microsoft appeared four years ago. Together with the announcement of the console, it was then announced that the games for this console will be released simultaneously in retail and digital store Xbox LIVE. Initially, it was stated that it is necessary to install games, after which digital copies are assigned to the user account. All this is explained by the fact that if a disk is lost or a user logs in on someone else's console, then this is not a problem - the user receives a copy of the game from the “cloud” server.

Particularly detailed the company has painted what you can do with your games. So, the user's gaming library can be open to friends and family members. Access to it can be granted to a maximum of 10 people. The completed game can be presented to someone, but with a number of conditions.

So, to transfer a disc with a game to another user, it was necessary that this user be added to the Xbox Live friends list at least 30 days ago. Only in this case it is possible to transfer both the disc and the digital copy of the game. But the third owner of the same game can no longer be: after reinstalling the media, no one can transfer it. Interestingly, the publisher of the game could make an independent decision on the possibility of re-donating a disc with a previously released game.
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To verify the authenticity of games, the Xbox automatically connected to the Microsoft server at regular intervals.

The decision taken by the corporation has negatively affected the business of some online stores, which consisted in the purchase and resale of used games. Previously, the user could simply bring to the store (or send) the completed game, having received for some money or a discount for a new game. Developers and publishers didn’t like it all, because they didn’t get anything from such deals. And as soon as the term "lost profits" appeared in the publisher, the publishers decided to influence Microsoft in order to close the possibility of reselling games for the new console.

To track the purchase and sale of games used DRM-protection. Yes, the user could still return the game to the store. But only in the retail network, which has an agreement with the publishers, who receive a percentage of each resale / return. Microsoft does not receive anything.

After the first news of such global changes, Microsoft received so much negativity from the players that it had to change many things, going to meet the players. A 180-degree turn from publishers to users was announced just a week after the new rules of the game for the Xbox One were announced.

Change of priorities

And now, four years later, the corporation has changed its point of view on the “aftermarket” process of Xbox One games. Yusuf Mehdi, vice president of Windows and Devices, acknowledged that the original plan was a mistake. He also said that the company needed to change the strategy of work with the exchange of games.

Mehdi writes the following: “After the first Xbox One announcement, our team made several key decisions regarding connecting the console to the network and sharing games that went against the interests of gamers. Initially, the intentions were quite positive - we presented new opportunities, for example, providing access to games for family members, new ways of testing and buying games, but still, we didn’t do what our fans wanted. We heard their opinion, and although a lot of work was done, we changed the way Xbox One works, making it the same as the Xbox 360. So, we changed the principle of the game, sharing, distribution and resale of games. This experience was a good reminder, we realized that we should always do the right thing with customers, and since then we have done so without looking back. ”

Interestingly, Mehdi, when giving interviews to the online media ArsTechnica in 2013, expressed a different point of view. Then he, as one of the Xbox One executives, emphasized the following: “These are large-scale changes, customers do not always like changes, but we need to show people what we are doing to make them understand ... We are trying to do something very big in the scale of the changing principles of the whole digital gaming industry. We believe that the digital world is the future, and we believe that the “figure” is better than anything else. ”



If you go back to the 2013 interview , in which Mehdi described what, in his view, is the Xbox One, you can see that now the console and its services are a slightly different concept.

The corporation is still experimenting with digital content. For example, in 2013, the company announced its intention to introduce a new game licensing system, just like Netflix provides access to its content. Last month, Microsoft announced a new subscription system. So, for only $ 10, a user can download more than 100 games. But it is still unclear why for experiments with digital content it was necessary to introduce some restrictions for games recorded on a laser disc.

Hopefully, such experiments will no longer be carried out by Microsoft, Sony, or anyone else.