Publishers can block you selling your Xbox One games

Cementing the idea of the future that we won't own any console games, merely rent licenses to play them, Microsoft has announced that while it personally won't stop you selling Xbox One games, game publishers will have the right and the ability, to opt out from resales as a feature of their title. Essentially, good luck reselling any EA game in the future without paying a fee.

On top of this, used games will only be sellable at participating retailers, which suggests that companies will need to apply to Microsoft to be considered. It seems likely that big names like Gamestop in the US and GAME here in the UK will make the cut, but what about the little stores? There's going to be a license fee or some hoops to jump through – otherwise it would just be a register of stores – and what are the chances that if you aren't a mega chain that you won't be eligible?

I suddenly want to listen to Huey Lewis and the News…

However take this a step further and it means no ebay and no Gumtree. No selling a game to your friend. You can however “give” games to people, but only if they've been on your friends list for at least 30 days. What, your pal just bought an Xbox One and you want to lend him some of your games to get him started? Nope. Not allowed. Microsoft says so.

It did add the caveat that sometime in the future, it might allow you to loan the games out, but that “feature” wouldn't be available at launch.

Even if you take the games round and log in to your account on his system, you'll need to connect to the internet every hour or the games won't play. Have fun with that when the Microsoft server crashes for some reason.

But of course, it's not all gravy even if you're playing your games on your system. You'll need to connect to Microsoft's servers once a day in order to keep playing your games. Again, if Microsoft's servers go down, or in the future when they stop supporting the One, you will not be able to play any of the games you paid for.

KitGuru Says: You'll still be able to watch TV though. That's a relief, right guys?

Source: Microsoft blog (via Wired)

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