Xbox One

    Quote from Vilham

    The point of DRM/no trading is to get the publishers more money, so why would they counter that advantage to the publishers by then lowering the price. They wouldn't. Xbox can't be compared to things like Steam, Xbox is a platform and distribution method; and therefore a monopoly, Steam isn't.

    They would if lowering the price of a game increases revenue by driving more sales? (And digital is cheaper so they actually won't loose money by cutting the price compared to how retail is now) It's what steam does, right? Or are those sales just steam being the "good guy", I think not.

    I don't think MS genuinely cares about their consumers, but it's possible cheaper games align with making more money. I don't have an inside view on financials so I've no idea if it's actually feasible, I'm not counting on having cheaper games anyway but one can dream xD

    Quote from Chimeray

    They would if lowering the price of a game increases revenue by driving more sales? (And digital is cheaper so they actually won't loose money by cutting the price compared to how retail is now) It's what steam does, right? Or are those sales just steam being the "good guy", I think not.

    I don't think MS genuinely cares about their consumers, but it's possible cheaper games align with making more money. I don't have an inside view on financials so I've no idea if it's actually feasible, I'm not counting on having cheaper games anyway but one can dream xD

    Yeah the cheaper games bringing in more money method can work (as proven by steam), but if they are running a monopoly there is less motivation to do so, as the people that will buy games for their system don't have an alternative anyway.

    Quote from FrieChamp

    Some interesting takes from one of the Microsoft engineers (allegedly):

    http://pastebin.com/uCmdh9jB

    Quote

    Honestly, if you care about anything other then pure games AT ALL. Xbox 1 > PS4. If all you do is play games, and nothing else, PS4.

    It's charming to see how much he believes in the technology, but seeing as he's completely biased and doesn't really know what Sony is doing in terms of its non-gaming stuff because they're yet to really say much about it makes it hard to take seriously.

    It's kind of fascinating to see how the Microsoft dudes are thinking, though. He's listing TV, SmartGlass, and the cloud computing like they're killer features. But he seems to be forgetting:

    • The PS3 could be a TVR for live TV using the PlayTV app years ago, the PS4 will probably do better
    • SmartGlass is only really useful IMO for using as a trackpad, the same thing the touch pad on the PS4 pad can do
    • The PS4 has cloud computing too

    The PS3 generally had great multimedia capabilities from launch, complete with a web browser and to this day the best photo/music/video players; iPlayer, Hulu, Netflix, etc soon followed. Despite Sony's game-focused marketing, I think Microsoft is going to be surprised by what they pull out of the bag in the end. They seem to be so obsessed with their own efforts that they've completely taken their eye off what their competitors are doing.

    It's interesting how much Microsoft believes in its DRM too, despite the overwhelming negative reactions from literally everyone. It's like they think they're saving us poor gamers from the horror of using discs(???).

    Quote from Vilham

    They would if lowering the price of a game increases revenue by driving more sales? (And digital is cheaper so they actually won't loose money by cutting the price compared to how retail is now) It's what steam does, right? Or are those sales just steam being the "good guy", I think not.

    I don't think MS genuinely cares about their consumers, but it's possible cheaper games align with making more money. I don't have an inside view on financials so I've no idea if it's actually feasible, I'm not counting on having cheaper games anyway but one can dream xD

    Yeah the cheaper games bringing in more money method can work (as proven by steam), but if they are running a monopoly there is less motivation to do so, as the people that will buy games for their system don't have an alternative anyway.I can't quite follow you, so please help me out. Here's Microsoft's train of thought (the way I understand it): publishers don't see a penny of revenues generated by used game sales and pirated copies. To factor this in the price tags for new copies are as high as they are. Eliminating used game sales and piracy will give publishers the leverage to sell their games at a lower price point. Whether this will actually be done/have a positive effect on their profits remains to be seen, but as you pointed out correctly, Valve & publishers on Steam made good experiences with this. Valve suggested the price points and the publishers went with that or they didn't. I see Microsoft's role to be quite similar and don't understand how XBOX One is a monopoly that is going to pull all strings on pricing. Games are still going to be published by other parties and discs are still going to be sold at retailers.

    So you think that publishers aren't looking to make more money? They want the exact same amount and are willing to offset any extra profit?

    As far as I'm aware Microsoft has control on pricing for their platform. If they weren't some of the smaller publishers probably would have already lowered their console game prices like they already do on PC.

    Just to summarise. It is incredibly naive to think prices on console are likely to go down. I would say the chances are slim to none. (and to suggest game prices are as much as they are right now on console because of used sales is also incredibly naive)

    Quote from Vilham

    So you think that publishers aren't looking to make more money? They want the exact same amount and are willing to offset any extra profit?

    As mentioned above, if selling games at a lower price point will increase the bottom line, then yes - they will. Due to the inherent inflexibility of brick-and-mortar retail they will be less prone to experiment though. So if I had to place a bet, I'd also say that prices will remain the same. Maybe this way prices won't rise at least...

    Quote from Vilham

    As far as I'm aware Microsoft has control on pricing for their platform. If they weren't some of the smaller publishers probably would have already lowered their console game prices like they already do on PC.

    Microsoft has different price tiers for XBLA, so you can't release your game at an arbitrary price on there, but are you sure about retail? Is there a rule that says "Retailers cannot sell XBOX 360 games for less than 59,99 € up to 3 months after release"? If you have a source, I'd be interested to read all about it.

    It really made me hold my horses on the Xbone hate and think twice about this whole thing. Xbone is getting a lot of shit because of their DRM, but I gotta say at least they're trying to fight this flawed system. (gamestop getting 95% profit out of used games)

    Quote

    ' timestamp='1371244187' post='335492']It really made me hold my horses on the Xbone hate and think twice about this whole thing. Xbone is getting a lot of shit because of their DRM, but I gotta say at least they're trying to fight this flawed system. (gamestop getting 95% profit out of used games)

    The GameStop point is really interesting. I don't know about anyone else, but I actually like going into a proper game shop, it's nice to see the hobby represented on the high street too.

    But in the UK the game store chains are FUCKED, literally all going bankrupt. And that's with these profits from used games — without them they're almost guaranteed to finally bite the dust. That's going to be sad because independent game stores can't replace them, MS is making that impossible with their system lol (they also need used games sales to survive).

    It sounds like things are much different in the US, I guess GameStop is successful and doing great over there? Are there any other chains? What about in other countries?

    Has it not occurred to those who say 'death to GameStop for making profit' that it's not necessarily a good thing for gaming as a whole to have no prominent store like that? I don't think I want everything to be online, I value the physical shopping experience and it's a good place to go with my gf for her to discover games, etc. And before I got my new internet connection, downloading full games was practically impossible so I needed the shops.

    Quote from Thrik

    It sounds like things are much different in the US, I guess GameStop is successful and doing great over there? Are there any other chains? What about in other countries?

    Has it not occurred to those who say 'death to GameStop for making profit' that it's not necessarily a good thing for gaming as a whole to have no prominent store like that? I don't think I want everything to be online, I value the physical shopping experience and it's a good place to go with my gf for her to discover games, etc. And before I got my new internet connection, downloading full games was practically impossible so I needed the shops.

    Oh yeah dude, gamestop is freakign huge over here. Back in Portugal and Germany (and from what I've seen in UK) you walk inside a gamestop or any game shop, and you see mostly new game shelves, and a couple shelves for used games. People over there, for some reason, buy mostly new games. Different mentality i guess, the thought about getting something brand new AND helping those who actually developed the product is very appealing to people.

    Over here, gamestop is without exaggeration 75% used games, and 25% new games. Used games shelves are HUGE and full of games. To find the new games you actually have to look around and try to find them, and they have a small text banner on top saying " New games" lol.

    And like I said on the PS4 thread, Yesterday I literally had in one hand a brand new Mario game for 3Ds being sold for 39.99$, and on another hand a used copy for 37.99$! Like, wtf! And people over here always grab the cheaper version, ask me, this shit should be illegal and should be somewhat regulated.

    My wife convinced me to take a game with me and sell it to gamestop, I grabbed Tomb Raider and they gave me 10$ for it!! I paid 59.99$ for it 3 months ago, and they're selling used copies of this game for 40$. Wont be making this mistake again, that's for sure.

    [Blocked Image: https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/4…077154644_n.jpg]

    PS. Although... even with all this shit I don't agree on, used games have HUGE advantages to them as well, and they do help the industry in their own way. They became so big, the industry needs them by now.

    Watch this, Patcher makes some really good points: http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/hhgq98/…-gamestop-hate-

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