Volition (THQ) designer Jameson Durall behind the recent Mars shooter Red Faction: Armageddon says that the next Xbox’s used game blocking feature would be “a fantastic change for our business,”.
He claims that gamers don’t realize how much used games are hurting the industry and is genuinely excited for a platform wide online pass system similar to what Sony, EA and others are doing. A few notable quotes from his article are below:
I could see Microsoft implementing their own rental service which would maybe give them a code that activates the game for X days and they are charged a small amount,
This could work when you borrow the disc from someone or even with digital download of the full version. It would also send a percentage of the rental to the Developer with each rental… likely improving the overall revenue we would receive from it.
In the end, I fully believe that we have to do something about these issues or our industry is going to fall apart.
People often don’t understand the cost that goes into creating these huge experiences that we put on the shelves for only $60. They also don’t seem to realize how much they are hurting us when they buy a used game and how pirating a copy is just plain stealing.
I know that some will say I’m not considering the retail games stores and the impact something like this would have on them…but remember they were doing fine well before the Used Games market became such a staple of their business.
The truth is, they aren’t concerned with how this business is affecting us so why should I care how these changes will affect them?
Definitely a good argument but in the end it all depends on the end customer – you. So tell us what do you think? Should Microsoft go for a platform wide pass system and support the developers or leave things as they are and allow gamers to buy cheaper games? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: AltDevBlog
Stay tuned to TechDeville for everything Tech! Follow us on Twitter (@TechDeville), add us to your Google+ circles and like us on Facebook.
Incoming search terms:
- xbox 720
- 720 xbox
- thq used game blocking
- xbox 720no pre owned games