Restrictive Xbox One Policies Were Not All Bad

Microsoft has binned the controversial policies surrounding used games and DRM on the Xbox One; video games reporter Edward Smith of IBTimes UK asks if this is a good move

[DxTrixterz]

Oh there were,they were.

[from the beach]

They weren't. Bad if you live in a nuclear sub, or like, a cave, and buy all your games used.

[TheHybrid]

It's like all these corporations man...it's like they don't even care about the family of goat herders in Afghanistan mountains that have electricity and for some reason can afford an Xbox one but not an Internet connection. Corporations man

[Pittoo]

Shut up and stop accepting this kind of bullshit.

[Kanzes]

not all person have a same opinion

[cyguration]

Except when those opinions are oppressive, regressive and detrimental to the entire industry.

[PositiveEmotions]

Idc ps4 all the way ms can go suck it

[Kanzes]

grow up

[InTheLab]

Amazing how people line up to give away their rights. It was all bad. There was no good or silver lining. MS jumped out the window with those policies and Amazon proves it.

[HammadTheBeast]

It's weird. 3rd article from IBTimes defending Microsoft.

[cyguration]

Wow, the trolls are out in full force to disagree with people about the DRM.

What is this? Revenge of the Shills? Attack of the Viral Marketers? Rise of the Astroturfers? Mad Marketers: The Web Warriors?

[thatsthespirit]

If you think I've written these articles because I get paid to defend Microsoft I literally cannot begin to explain how stupid you are, and how fundamental your misunderstanding of writing is. Am happy to explain more fully via email. I will not have myself slandered like that in public comment sections.

[UNGR]

It was bad for the other half of the world living in something we would consider the dark ages. It was fine for people who have the best internet without downtime, it was bad for everyone else.

[DigitalRaptor]

Give me a break. MS declared war on your ownership and tried to force the industry's hand, to have it their way, rather than give the consumer a choice.

[Hicken]

It was bad for everybody. Allowing it would have been more like the dark ages than people living with no internet.

Are you for real? There are folks in first world countries who don't have good enough internet, often because of where they live. Judging by your response, though, you'd tell them they should just move.

I'm SO glad people like you- people with attitudes like yours- don't exist in large enough quantities to have allowed the XBOne to reach market as intended.

[from the beach]

If you don't have good enough internet to connect once in 24 hours then you might as well not have internet at all.

Seriously, if my internet was down that often I'd be freaking out about no internet rather than not being able to play Xbox One.

[ltachiUchiha]

Everyone has their right to an opinion but one thing that is FACT is all those restrictions microsoft was trying to enforce on the consumer would have changed the future of gaming down the line & when I say change, I mean they are giving publishers more power over gamers & trying to limit the way we handle the games we buy. To me that is something u cant spin. They say they want to be the next steam. Well prove yourself 1st before u yap because its easy to say something but not being able to back it up is another thing.

[shadyiswin]

People are to stubborn and stupid to understand a good thing when they see it,but will gladly continue to let gamestop dictate prices and screw over everyone but themselves,i cant wait to go all digital,lower prices no more middle man,more games.

[strigoi814]

Its not all bad..its just plain terrible and misunderstood right???

[crazysammy]

I wouldn't say they were good things, they were conveniences. You had to sacrifice other rights for these conveniences. Some people don't care but if the PR was any indication a lot of people did.

[Benchm4rk]

People are just scared of change. I was really looking forward to it. Online access and sharing of all my games would of been great. I've got friends who have moved due to work and stuff and to be able to share my games with them or when I visit them to be able to access my whole library from there house would of been great. No more lending discs and having them come back scratched. That's a big reason I have stopped lending out games. I'm really fussy when it comes to my discs. I've got games over 10 yrs old that look like they came off a shelf yesterday. Most people I know don't care for there discs like I do and I just refuse to lend out my games. All that could of changed.

[DigitalRaptor]

People were not scared of change. They knew what the change was, and saw it didn't align with a positive future for our rights as consumers.

They didn't want to be restricted to digital. They didn't want always-on DRM. They wanted the choice to OWN the games they bought, just like with any other physical product in any other industry. They wanted to be able to sell their purchased physical goods on their own terms.

"No more lending discs and having them come back scratched. That's a big reason I have stopped lending out games. I'm really fussy when it comes to my discs. I've got games over 10 yrs old that look like they came off a shelf yesterday. Most people I know don't care for there discs like I do and I just refuse to lend out my games."

Your entire point is moot, since Xbox One was and still is using Blu-ray discs, which have scratch-resistant coating on them. I've not needed to worry about the state of my discs since I got my PS3. I've lent out my PS3 discs many times and they've come back flawless.

And the family sharing plan was never going to be what you thought it was going to be. You seriously expect that with publishers complaining about losing money, they would let every person share their full games with 10 people? Sony let people share their games across 5 devices, and publishers complained to them and so they reduced it to 2 devices. There's no way this was ever going to be more than say, a trial version or limited access.

[MasterCornholio]

You do know that the family sharing plan was just the ability to allow anyone to access your shared games list and download the full games right?

But theres a catch, there is a time limit from 15 minutes to 1 hour and when that time limit is up Microsoft will ask you to buy the game in order for you to continue playing it.

So no it isnt the ability to allow any 10 people to play any games that you bought without any limitations. You honestly believed that publishers would allow this to happen?

[Fergusonxplainsall]

I still don't want the required kinect to control every aspect of the system.

It could be cheaper without the camera device. I have yet to see a good game use the Kinect in a fun way.

The DRM issue was major, but there is still a key factor to why people don't want Xbox One.

[HurstDarkStar]

Restrictions to your ability to access your property is bad period. Sometimes I wonder if people can be talked into killed themselves.