Major Nelson: Policies are still being finalized

Xbox Live director of programming responds about policy decisions.

[NeverEnding1989]

a.k.a. we got so much flak that we're going back to the drawing board.

Great!

[FAT MAN GO BOOM]

Yeah you are right, That feed back was to over whelming and they are just back peddling...

When they had all the messages so confused. PR would say one thing, one executive would say one thing than another would say something different...

I think they were testing the waters... make things worst than they seem and see what is the worst thing they could get away with....

Fee for games on the same box but a different user account... Crazy right... Bit when E3 comes and they say well a small fee for used games... game is tied to just the system now matter which account on the system is being used... game will still play....

Than people will say oh well thats not so bad.... lol....

[MikeMyers]

Sony was also vague. What we have here are publishers like EA trying to change those policies. Things are likely to be worse for Microsoft because some of those policies will have to deal with cable providers. They are worse to deal with than game publishers.

Sony made these same exact comments, they too are waiting before finalizing used games and how they will be utilized. This is one big cluster**** but we will know the full details well before these systems get released. In typical Internet forum fashion the world is ending yet again.

[gaffyh]

@mike- Sony will not block used games, trust me. Not blocking it will mean that consumers will be way happier, and importantly retailers will be way happier, meaning more promotion for the PS4 over the Xbox in stores. Microsoft have basically handed the generation to Sony on a silver platter if they play their cards right.

[MikeMyers]

gaffyh, why should I trust you? They were also very vague on the exact details. They too are trying to finalize everything. Something is going on behind the scenes we don't know about yet. Sony also adopted online passes so it's not something out of reach for them to do something that locks the content to your account.

[Ashlen]

No they won't. This is a stalling tactic.

"0box' will block used game sales.

The money and agreements made with publishers will not allow them to deviate from the course they have already agreed to in backroom deals.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Because they totally went back to the drawing board after the Adam Orth #dealwithit debacle...

...oh wait.

[stuna1]

We all saw how fast they got rid of his azz! Then look at the incident with the guy who had the dev. kit! The FBI became involved.

The imformation from those 2 sources was pretty accurate, and they were silenced.

Microsoft is known for underhanded tactics, that why I never take anything they say for face value.

Seeing is believing.

[Sky_Walker]

This is good news and this is why people should not be defensive about negative XB1 articles.

Social media reception and gaming websites input on the XB1 has a huge impact on what MS showed and trust me they are listing and reading.

Hopefully this current used game thing can get more attention and reach big names like CNN and BBC so MS can change it at E3.

[stuna1]

How are they going to change it if it's built into the console? This is not something that happened overnight! This is something that they have been planning potentially this whole generation.

For all we know it could of been them that actually came up with season passes and used games multiplayer codes! They have been bedfellows with EA for quite some time.

[Sky_Walker]

@Stunna - You are correct...well in any case I think MS just loss at least 40% of its fanbase with this no use games policy.

The scary thing is that what if MS had discussed this with all of the major gaming publishers before hand...if names like Konami, Capcom, Ubi Soft, Bethesda, Take-Two, EPIC and many more all ok'd MS to do this then this could mean that Sony might not have an option but to do the same as publishers will want to show the XB1 more love because thats where the revenue is at.

Remember Sony said it was up to the developers to block used games so we might be looking at the death of used games next gem :(

[maniacmayhem]

@Skywalker

About your third party comment, I also believe this is true. Sony may have no choice but to go the same route since 99% of the big publishers and devs want to kill used games anyways.

It really is a shame if this turns out to be true.

The policies that maybe Nelson is referring too might be the other story of Indies not being able to publish their own game which makes absolutely no sense when Nintendo and Sony are allowing it. Hopefully, maybe, they can at least change that and save some face.

[IIZANGETSUII]

lawl indeed

[wantonGamer]

Not really.

They're just saying this to calm people down so that the negative responses don't bury the new XBox before it hits the stores even.

[Eldyraen]

Unfortunately that is partly true--on the actual gaming side of things there isn't much to write about other than the negatives. Remedy news was great but that trailer can't carry the rest of the show (and inevitable third party corporate partners are nothing special).

[majiebeast]

If they have a deal in place with EA they cant backpedal.

[Cueil]

no... I think it's really in flux... to many people have said to many things

[3-4-5]

They are playing games with us and using us as a test. It's pathetic really. I expected more from Microsoft and the Xbox One.

These 8 unknown games better be awesome for me to even consider now.

I love the controller, but if focus isn't on gaming then I'm out.

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

a.k.a we have no idea what we're doing.

[Prcko]

I thought they are 6 months behind schedule,after yesterday,they are a whole generation behind.

[Conan-O-Brady]

Funny stuff and so true, Have a bubble.

[cheetorb]

Good luck

[cleft5]

If I have to pay to play a used game on the Xbox One, then that is One less console for me to buy.

[Riderz1337]

Then why are these top tiered executives coming out and saying that Xbox One will have fees when you play used games, it needs to be connected to the internet at least once every 24 hrs etc etc. If the policies were still being "finalized" then maybe you should have told people like Phil Harrison.

Seriously I don't even understand what Microsoft is doing anymore. They have seriously lost it.

[Ashunderfire86]

Read this people:

http://www.gameranx.com/upd...

[adorie]

You're behind the curve. Nothing has been concrete yet.
Conflicting reports and confusion surrounds Xbox One atm.

[crazysammy]

I'm not sure what is worse, the fact that MS might have a fee on used games, or that they have no idea who to let speak about what anymore. Xbox support says no fees, but PHIL HARRISON (He is kinda a big deal in Xbox Land) said it would! What a huge bungle this reveal was.

[oof46]

Last generation, Sony was painted as the dysfunctional company that did not communicate with each other. Seems the roles have switched.

[Corpser]

They just dont want to officially confirm until Sony announce they're doing the same thing

[Terror2k9]

A bunch of criminals trying to make it sound like its alright to buy a used game if you pay them a fee. So you can make us pay 65 dollars for a new game beat it and if you want to sell it,o.k but whoever buys it needs to pay a fee on top of whatever you pay me. yeah that sounds fair ......NOT. I have been a gamer since the games first started and this feels like you truly never own it even though you have it on disk and spend 65+ on it. Crooked stuff going on here,only the 3rd parties and microsoft will benefit from some corrupt crap like this the consumers always will lose,when will they learn if you try to corner a mouse,that mouse will bite you. I am done following the videogame scene after seeing where gaming is heading.It was fun all these years but if i purchase something I want to sell it at whatever price I feel is fair.Not for some company to tell me what to do with something that I legally purchased!

[Sephiroushin]

Agree, and i dont see how people expect a small fee...That fee must be very high, maybe the cost of the game itself or pretty close, why? because there's a big problem if they don't ... (In My family, me and my girlfriend, my sister and her husband, an uncle, 3 male cousins and 2 female cousins are gamers) (10 play on consoles/pc w/o counting close friends)! ...
What would happen if the fee is not high and it's $10-$15? Well I can get the game at full price, they borough the game from me and for a small fee $10-$15 they get the game activated, how much money the company is losing?!
So yeah what I mean is low fee is not gonna happen, i dont see how people expect that, the only option would be gamestop or retail stores can sell a code for less but only at the time you buy thae game of the code, online activation would have to be the cost of the game or pretty close!

But ebay sellers and people that want to sell their games won't be able to at all, because of what I mentioned; no one in their right mind will buy a game off of ebay/a seller if a friend has the game and it has a "small fee" ( which won't happen ) ...

[Cueil]

God forbid you actually support the guys who actually make the game... I'm not 100 percent behind this, but if this money goes to devs for the most part I'd be fine with it

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

I hope Sony is still doing some finalizing as well then. Sony still has used game blocking but it's up to publishers to use it (and what publisher WOULDN'T want to use it?). Sony already said they wouldn't use it for 1st party titles but they should still take that out completely.

I'm also hoping at least for an option to use a PS3 controller with the PS4 or maybe even a PS4 controller that is designed to be used with the PS4 but is more like the PS3 controller. I just hope the PS4 controller ends up being like the early PS3 controller that didn't actually make it through to the finished product.

[Darrius Cole]

A publisher who is afraid that if he uses it a large portion of his customers will move to a competing platform.

[Jek_Porkins]

I think there was internal confusion, the backlash in the day and age of the internet is very strong, and rightly so on some of these things. I believe they intended to dodge these questions until they found out what Sony's stance was.

In the end though, these functions are probably something that is easy enough to remove last minute if need be. Although I will say, even though I don't think you need to constantly be connected to the internet to play games, I do fully believe that you'll need that initial "handshake" to verify your game, which a lot of people will not like.

I heard one person who was at the reveal describe it like this.
If I install a game on my console, then give that disc to my brother to play, once he installs and verifies it, I can no longer play that from my console, but that discs are able to be shared, and can be traded in ect..

[oof46]

What's even more amazing is the fact that they saw Sony's reveal, pushed theirs back, had time to polish their presentation and message, and it still came out muddled and disjointed.

[Jek_Porkins]

To be fair, it was all a rumor to begin with that they had something planned for May. The guy who started that rumor is the guy who said Ilumiroom would be at their reveal.

I think it's quite possible Microsoft knew fans wouldn't want to wait almost 2 months for what they consider to be part 2 of their reveal, which is E3. So they had it a few weeks beforehand, there is obviously a lot of mis- communication, hopefully they get everything worked out, and I'm kind of happy that people have been so vocal, maybe it'll help the end product.

[wishingW3L]

they keep spinning and making last minute changes and it's getting boring. This reveal was a total mess.

[MJ23007]

I have both now and a high end pc, looks like ps4 or a new graphics card for me, not supporting no bc, and this used game crap, if there was ever a time to give a company the finger it would be now.

[Jek_Porkins]

The PS4 isn't backwards compatible either, and they haven't exactly said 100% that used games are going to be allowed, saying it's up to developers.

I honestly think used games will end up being allowed on the Xbox One and PS4.

[Terror2k9]

They need to understand in these rough times, if we don't have money to buy games,then the third parties will not make any money,you are killing the market by charging for dlc we were o.k with that,charging for internet we already pay for monthly.We let that slide and say o.k we can deal with paying 60 bucks for 12 months.Now as if they don't make enough money they say o.k how about attacking the used games market its a untapped resource we have not made cash on.
So are we the people supposed to say o.k again...no sooner or later you have to say this well has run dry and say enough is enough these people are billionaires looking to exhause every resource just for the money and I believe sony and microsoft will both pull this same move because as a developer will not do it for one console and not the other. It would not make sense to charge a fee for xbox one and not charge a fee for ps4.Of course they would not lose money that way after all this is all about the money ebay,gamefly,amazon,ebay and of course gamestop are pocketing.But to be realistic that is our money,they are trying to force you to pay again.game devolopers have always made their money off of their 60$ price tag.To say you have the right to make more money off a used game sale is just pure greed! If you sold 5 million copys of a game in 1 month think about how much revenue the game company has made. Now if they tap into the used game market that will make that number astronomical,because they will continue to make money off the same game at least 10-20 times in the life of a console. Used games go in and out of the stores so much its scary to think how much more money we will be spending on just one game in the future.

[Gamer Muzz]

I tweeted:
"I'm a Collector, Video game retailer, and fan of the xbox franchise since 2001.
If rumors are true you've lost my support."

[jimbobbeers]

The Xbox One and PS4 will have almost if not identical policies on used games. If you think Sony will do anything completely different you're deluded. EA/Activison have both MS & Sony by the balls. End of.

[InSpectre]

This reminds me of one of an Ambassador on the news a few years back. I think he was Syrian and he was unintentionally funny.

He said over and over that "We have policies in place." "We are working on our policies." "We are discussing policy." Etc.