Following today’s reveal of the Xbox One, Microsoft had some interesting questions thrown their way about used games. Speaking to Kotaku after the Xbox Reveal event earlier today Microsoft have all but confirmed a new take on used games.
Every game purchased for the Xbox One will come with an activation code which must be authorised online to link that game to your account. This will also link that game to the console on which you activated the account meaning that any account on that console will be capable of playing that game.
But here’s where the news sours a bit, if you want to play that game at a friends house a ‘fee’ must be payed for the code to also be linked to a friends account and by ‘fee’ I mean you pay the exact retail price of that game. If however you play that game at a friends house using the original account for which you initially authorised it then you will not have to pay any fees. The only real downside to this is that a friend can play on your account but cannot earn any progression of their own without purchasing the game themselves.
Another feature Microsoft briefly touched on was the ability to trade and sell games online over Xbox Live. They didn’t elaborate too much on this point so we’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store.