If you’ve been following the latest rumor surrounding the Next Xbox/Xbox 720, you were more than likely fairly shocked. The latest rumor, being reported by Kotaku, states that the next system from Microsoft will come equipped with an anti-used game function.
To say this is ridiculous is a rather large understatement. While developers and publishers may not like used games because they don’t receive any profit from them, there’s zero chance of a system blocking used games. Why? We’ve included three reasons below.
Retailers Would Drop Support
Regardless of your opinion of them, retailers such as Best Buy and Gamestop are absolute juggernauts in the industry. Used games are the sole reason why Gamestop stays alive, and are becoming a staple of Best Buy’s income as well.
To deny retailers the ability to push the used game market, these companies would have little to no reason to sell their individual consoles. Retailers typically make pennies, possibly a few dollars if bought it bulk, off of an actual sale of a console. If retailers were outraged enough, they could pull any stock of that individual console’s new stock of video games as well.
Companies like GameFly would be completely out of the market for that individual console, as there entire premise revolves around sharing discs. To have a company like GameFly pull endorsement of the console and not offer Microsoft’s products could translate to fewer titles being purchased new at a later date.
Competitors Won’t Do It
While there’s very little we know about the Wii U, we’re sure that Nintendo would not go the route of denying used games to be used with their system. Microsoft’s biggest worry would be the “assumed” development of the Playstation 4, however.
While Sony has launched their own “Online Pass” to be used with their published titles, they wouldn’t go the route of denying used games either. While companies don’t appreciate not profiting from the used game market, they do understand that’s its a necessary evil to have.
Consumers Won’t Buy It
While the other reasons are let alone enough, the most important is that consumers would not buy a system they can’t play a used game on. A game comes out and you want to rent at a store or GameFly it first to try it? Oops, that won’t work. Have a friend who has a game you want to try first on your console? That won’t work either.
We’ve said it already in this article, but companies need used games for their consoles to thrive in the market. Less used games leads to less Xbox Live subscriptions and downloadable content purchased from the marketplace. Online passes will always work in theory, because you can regulate someone buying a new or a used game if they want online features. Even if they buy the used title, however, they’re still able to purchase the online pass to actually play the game.
Limiting someone to only playing new games on a console would leave the majority of Microsoft’s large userbase angry. A boycott of a next-generation console that Microsoft would want to promote for the next 5-10 years isn’t a smart move on their part.
What do you think about the latest rumor for Microsoft only allowing new games to be played on their next console? Would you support a console that only allowed new games to be played? Be sure to let us know what you think by leaving us a comment below, or discuss Microsoft’s upcoming console in our forums!