The ongoing drama in regards to the Xbox One’s questionable methods of handling used game sales is one that is still going quite strong even days after Microsoft flip flopped on the issue mere moments after the console was debuted. Today, we’re hearing a new rumor from a source outside of Microsoft that may finally shed some light on how the Xbox One will handle used games.
According to a number of retail sources, Microsoft spent some time this week to brief a number of key retail partners on how the company plans to take their cut, as well as give a cut to a game’s respective publisher, when a used game is sold. When an authorized retailer has sold a used game, Microsoft’s cloud-based Azure pre-owned system will kick in to mark that title as being sold. This will result in the game’s original owner to have the title completely wiped from their hard drive.
The sources also claim a customer in the U.K. would pay a total of £35, which converts to around $52, in fees in order to activate a used game on the Xbox One. Any fee would spell disaster for the Xbox One if consumers rely on purchasing used games over new ones, but a $52 fee would guarantee a number of gamers would most likely completely disregard the console as a viable gaming machine when the PlayStation 4, at this point, has no such system in place.
Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has responded to this story by stating the following:
We know there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and wanted to provide a bit of clarification on exactly what we’ve confirmed. While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.
Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house — should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile.