Gamers around the world reacted with confusion following reports that Microsoft's Xbox One, which was unveiled on Tuesday, might have a game-sharing fee.
According to the reports, Microsoft might charge a fee to play pre-owned games on its new Xbox One console, which could also result in paying a fee to play a game borrowed from another gamer.
Microsoft has been vague about this policy, only saying that gamers would be able to trade used games online, and giving no further information on the matter.
Microsoft's director of programming, Larry Hryb, later addressed the reports on his Major Nelson blog, saying the company is aware there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and he wanted to provide a bit of clarification.
"While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios," Hryb said.
It does, however, seem the Xbox One will require some sort of fee. Hryb says while there would be no fee to play at another gamer's house, the player would have to be signed into the Xbox profile connected to the specific game. "Should you choose to play your game at your friend's house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile."
Ill-informed
Owner and senior editor of Vamers, Hans Haupt, says the rumours of a possible sharing fee are based on misinformation. "The sharing fee in question would be for allowing friends to purchase the games for themselves. For example, I buy the game and I register it to my Xbox One and my Xbox Live account. I then take my Xbox One game to a friend's house. I do not sign in with my Xbox Live account, but instead my friend signs in with his account.
"Xbox Live notifies my friend that the game has already been registered, but to play and install the game, he will need to pay for it. If he chooses to do so, he will then own the game. However, if I had signed into my friend's console, the game would work perfectly, because it is already registered to my Xbox Live account."
He adds that if the reports prove to be true and that a fee would be used for simply sharing the game and not the transferring of rights, it would have a negative impact on Microsoft and the Xbox brand. "It would drive many consumers to the PlayStation 4 purely from a cost and value perspective."
Compatibility hurdle
Another issue raised by gamers is the fact that the Xbox One would not have backward capability to support Xbox 360 games. But president of interactive entertainment business at Microsoft, Don Mattrick, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that he doesn't think capability is a problem.
He told the publication that only 5% of customers play older games on new consoles, so it would not be justified to spend time and money developing technology to allow backward capability.
"If you're backward compatible, you're really backwards," he said.
The Xbox 360 enabled backward compatibility with the first-generation Xbox when it was released in 2005. Software emulation made it possible for Xbox games to be played on the Xbox 360. Microsoft has not indicated whether similar software would be made available to allow gamers to play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One.
Haupt agrees with Mattrick's point of view and also believes there's no need for the Xbox One to be backward compatible. "No one I know still plays Xbox or PlayStation 2 games on their Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. In fact, Sony removed disc-based backward compatibility from the PlayStation 3 Slim, because research showed PlayStation 3 users were no longer playing PlayStation 2 games."
"Having said that, original Xbox and PlayStation 2 games can be bought through Xbox Live and the PlayStation network for those who wish to play the 'classics'," he notes.
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