back to article Oh please, PLEASE bring back Xbox One's hated DRM - say Xbox loyalists

Xbox One loyalists want Microsoft to reinstate the new console's tough copy protection controls and mandatory online connection requirement that were axed following a backlash. Thousands of gamers have put their names to a petition piling pressure on Redmond to give them the Xbox One console it promised at gaming conference E3 …

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  1. Ben Holmes
    Facepalm

    Icon says it all. There are no words.

    1. LarsG
      Mushroom

      If they give these people what they want it will see the demise of the Xbox quicker than an ice cream on Brighton beach in a heat wave.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Windows

        Spot on, but whats betting the *ability* to either activate / de-activate this feature (or something similar, remote kill for example) is already buried deep somewhere in the architecture?

        Icon because i am a MS loyalist but what the eff is going on there at the moment beggars belief...

      2. RoboJ1M

        It's true that it would kill Xbox dead.

        However I agree that due to the fact that Steam has not killed the PC outright, it's clear that it wasn't some kind of terrible idea.

        No surprises though that Valve managed to do it better than Microsoft.

        Hey what happened to my evil balmer icon?

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Already doomed

        Whatever they do.

        The pissed off the hardcore and the casual.

    2. Prowler
      Alien

      There are no words.

      Somehow this does not surprise me, I mean we know there is a large cache of humans that are forever chasing the Bell curve, they exist by definition as sure as those others riding atop and leading it..

      It's possible, perhaps even likely that Redmond is secretly administering a large scale IQ test to the citizens of the world, maybe as a hyper-advanced marketing technique where they will ultimately sell the user information of those 8,000 DRM demanders to the highest bidder, because they would certainly be among the most desirable demographic imaginable.

      I looked for a good Icon avatar to express my opinion but sadly there is none that suffice. Even the facepalm cannot do this story appropriate justice.

      Here is my suggestion for a new avatar for these numerous Microsoft stories ...

      http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/9229/rwj.gif

      ... Head banging against wall.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sony?

      Petitioners? Sony employees pulling a fast one perhaps?

    4. Daniel B.
      Devil

      hahaha

      I'm split. One part of me wants this to be heard, because a DRM-riddled XBoxOne will sink faster than the HMS Victoria. On the other side, it sets a bad precedent in the gaming industry, something for which the consumer should have zero tolerance. The fact that 8000 people are asking to get reamed with this awful scheme proves that at least someone will buy into such an awful scheme.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: hahaha

        Steam seems to do just fine with far more restrictive DRM.

        I want the changes back It would have been great to be able to lend games to up to 10 friends at once without having to give them the disk, and to be able to play my games anywhere...

        1. MJI Silver badge

          Re: hahaha

          But they were only hour long demos

    5. Steven Roper
      Flame

      These people must be the same astroturfing fuckwads that skewed the survey indicating most Americans turned against Snowden for revealing PRISM. I'm normally against the death penalty, but there are those who sometimes convince me that the human gene pool might occasionally need chlorinating.

      The other thing that shits me is this: It'll only take 8,000 signatures to get Microsoft to put back the DRM, while it took 8,000,000 signatures to get them to stop it. This is why I feel such hatred for these arseholes that support reduction of freedom - because of this social mechanism whereby it only takes one screaming fool to cause a company (or a government) to ratchet the wheel of oppression one more notch.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But never fear

      Sony are offering it all for you. Best of both worlds, the digital game sharing nirvana and no restrictive DRM.

      http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/07/10/ps4-will-let-you-log-into-your-account-at-a-mates-house-and-play-your-games/

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: But never fear

        That's only for PSN games. The Xbox will allow that for XBLA games too...

    7. Homer 1
      Paris Hilton

      Template Letter of Support

      Dear Mr. Sweaty Ballmer,

      As loyal (albeit entirely fictional) supporter of Microsoft, I hereby petition you to reinstate me as a slave immediately, contrary to the heinous wishes of that nasty majority who refuse to prostitute themselves as Microsoft shills.

      Yours with love, affection and an invoice for payment,

      [INSERT NAME]

      --

      NB: See also Microsoft's Letters From The Dead.

  2. hplasm
    Meh

    "...consumers were uninformed..."

    Weasel Words.

    fuck right off you shill.

    1. Tom 260

      Re: "...consumers were uninformed..."

      Yup, I think people were pretty well informed regarding the limit of trading a game once, ever, and only to selected stores.

      The demand for the family sharing bit is understandable, but I would think there'd be some limitations, such as only 1 or 2 can play the game at any one time - throw in the download time for the game and it'd be quicker to borrow someone's disc.

      1. Si 1

        Re: "...consumers were uninformed..."

        It wasn't confirmed by Microsoft but it is generally thought that the family share feature would only allow friends or family to play an hour or so of a shared game before being asked to pay full price for their own copy.

        Quite why these people want that feature back I don't know.

        1. Test Man
          FAIL

          Re: "...consumers were uninformed..."

          No, it wasn't confirmed by Microsoft. It was completely rubbished by Microsoft (http://winsupersite.com/xbox/xbox-one-preview-what-really-happened-family-sharing). The "generally thought" bit was a load of crappy tech sites regurgitating the rubbish that was pasted on Pastebin - hardly a bastion of truth.

    2. channel extended

      Re: "...consumers were uninformed..."

      I believe 'll' is pronounced 't'

    3. MacGyver
      Trollface

      Re: "...consumers were uninformed..."

      I'm not surprised, they sell those 2 foot long dildos in the sex shops to someone out there, my guess is that both those lists would share a lot of the same names.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As the old saying goes: You can't please all the people all the time.

  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    This was to be the future of entertainment.

    No, wait. What? Microsoft-issued stuff the future of anything??

  5. Herer

    check out the signees

    some simply hilarious comments on the petition - well worth a look!

  6. M Gale

    And of the 5 last comments on the petition...

    ...0 out of 5 of them were serious, at of the time of writing.

    Methinks this chap is going to have fun reading through thousands of sarcastic comments calling him a twat. My pick of the front page has to be a paragraph by "Fuckfaic McGee", Australia:

    I love restrictions. I want always online DRM. I want the game rental business to become obsolete. I don't want to let my friends borrow games, because fuck them. All I care about is my god damn new age console that'll blow everything else out of the water! Fuck the PS4 and fuck those Sony guys for catering to fans who care about their gaming experience. Fuck PC, that shit is stupid. Steam? Fuck that shit. They never have sales or anything. It's not as affordable as buying my games from the XBL marketplace. I love Microsoft and their business practices will be the best forever. Fuck yes. <3 Xbox.

  7. wowfood

    I agree wholeheartedly

    DRM can only be a good thing. Look at Ubisoft, look at EA, look how amazingly their DRM turned out. We need that kind of high quality DRM on the xbox also.

    Lets face it, game companies are implementing their own DRM anyway, whether it be in a form of actual DRM (EA and origin) or DRM as in "buy our game and get this free DLC whcih is basically half the game.... FUCK YOU SECOND HAND MARKET!!!"

    I'd actually like to point out, I agree with the 'fuck the second hand market' stateent. Especiall here in the UK.

    Buy a game for £40, next day trade it in because it was so damn short. Get £10 back, go in the next day, my game is on sale for £38. £2 less than retail.

    You don't see a used car going on sale for 5% less than the new model, so why is it that way with games? Especially when a lot of games these days you're losing out on the 'free' DLC.

    I also kind of think Microsoft was a little childish about the whole matter. "Okay we'll remove the DRM you hate... But we're also removing all the good bits you wanted like sharing stuff over the webz because we didn't get what we want, you don't get what you want."

    Which has kind've shot them in the foot since now Sony are delivering the content Microsoft removed (pretty much) without the DRM restriction Microsoft said they needed to make it happen.

    http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/consoles/ps4-users-will-be-able-to-access-game-library-from-any-console-1165098

    1. SteveK

      Re: I agree wholeheartedly

      "You don't see a used car going on sale for 5% less than the new model, so why is it that way with games? Especially when a lot of games these days you're losing out on the 'free' DLC."

      Agree. Plus the annoyance that you often also lose the DLC if you buy it once it's 6 months old or so. Had that the other month with Assassins Creed .. err .. 57? DLC code expires on this date regardless of whether you bought new, but are we putting the price down to compensate? I think not.

      Same with DVDs/BR disks with double/triple-play 'download' options. Again, this usually vanishes a few months after release but is still touted on the box as being provided.

      1. Matt_payne666

        Re: I agree wholeheartedly - used cars

        Have you seen the second hand price for a genuine, low mileage release date car? after a month or two it will still be sold for close to retail...

        When I was after a demo Evoque just after release I was still looking at full price....

        DRM is a necessary evil, but there are some of us that are casual gamers... ive a nice collection of used PS3 games - with a job, wife and kids I get exactly 2 evenings a month to play games - which is when a bunch of mates in a similar position rotate round hosting a boys night... its just not worth paying £50 for a game with such limited use!

        1. Tom 38

          Re: I agree wholeheartedly - used cars

          Have you seen the second hand price for a genuine, low mileage release date car?

          Please get a clue, when the new cars can't be sold as new, they get 10 miles put on the clock for 'delivery' and are sold as second hand through partner garages for ~60% of price. This is for actual new cars, not really 2nd hand games.

    2. dogged
      Meh

      Re: I agree wholeheartedly

      Look at Ubisoft, look at EA, look how amazingly their DRM turned out.

      Alternatively, look at Steam.

    3. GregC
      Stop

      Re: I agree wholeheartedly

      I'd actually like to point out, I agree with the 'fuck the second hand market' stateent. Especiall here in the UK.

      No, I don't agree with "fuck the second hand market". "Fuck the rip off retailer second hand market", on the other hand, absolutely - this :

      Buy a game for £40, next day trade it in because it was so damn short. Get £10 back, go in the next day, my game is on sale for £38. £2 less than retail.

      This, I agree, is ridiculous. But we, the consumers, are partially to blame for allowing, indeed encouraging, it. If you want to sell a game then do it direct - on ebay, in a shop window (remember those days....) whatever. That way you might get £25 instead of a tenner, and the second hand buyer doesn't get ripped off either.

      And if the game studios and publishers want to discourage the second hand market, they could try making the games worth keeping hold of. Make it good enough that I don't want to sell it, and guess what - I won't sell it. There's a fair few games that I haven't sold, because I still go back to them. There's a lot more that got sold because they had no replay value.

    4. RAMChYLD
      FAIL

      Re: I agree wholeheartedly

      So you're saying that we in Malaysia don't deserve to own an Xbox One?

      Malaysia is not one of the 21 countries that will receive the Xbox One, and thus the console will not operate after it does an IP check and determines that I'm not using an ISP from one of the 21 countries on launch. Even after the console launches after the planned Asia launch date of sometime in 2014 (apparently MS anticipates high demand of the console in the UK, Europe, US, Aussieland and Kiwiland on launch that Asia can wait until 2014 as to allow everyone in those regions to get their consoles and gloat at friends stuck in Asia first, and even after the fact Malaysia will get a pared down launch with many services disabled two whole years after Singapore (seriously, we just got Xbox Live a few months ago. Singapore has had it for years, and even then we still can't play online because a gold subscription isn't available in Malaysia).

      Tell you what MS, you put the stupid DRM back, and I assure you I will only get a PS4 and overlook your Xbox One. Since We have had PSN long before you launched XBL, and we already have PS+ while you're still not launching XBL Gold. You do want my money, do you? My shiny Malaysian Ringgits? Sure, it's crap since Singaporean dollars are shinier and bigger, but think about it! Extra moolah! You want it? THEN DON'T PUT THE STUPID DRM BACK. OR AT VERY LEAST OMIT THE REGION LOCKING $H!*

      My original plan is to buy both. But if the DRM comes back, Xbox One can kiss my ass again.

      Region locking. I'm sick of this shit. Between not being able to watch Hulu or Netflix, having a more limited iTunes store catalog, not being able to buy downloadable games for my 3DS (and needing to carry around a large pouch of cartridges which costs three times as much as they do in the US), and being blocked from buying many apps and videos EVEN FROM THE LEAPFROG APP CENTER- YES, EVEN A KIDDIE APP STORE HAS STUPID REGION LOCKING (it wasn't there before, but was put in recently. Overnight my method of watching shows I could no longer get in Malaysia because of the anal censorship board and religious bodies (this is why religion and politics mixing is a bad idea people!) became an expensive paperweight.

      I'm sick of this.

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon

        @RAM

        You could always try setting up a VPN from your router to a European provider. It will be slower, but it would work.

      2. Chairo

        Re: I agree wholeheartedly

        Region locking. I'm sick of this shit.

        Yessir, I agree. It's evil and should be forbidden.

      3. MJI Silver badge

        Re: I agree wholeheartedly

        So what have you done to deserve an XBone?

        Have you been naughty?

        Have you been evil?

        If not, you don't deserve one.

        You deserve a PS4

  8. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    MS' XBOX One plans would have worked and worked quite well and been reasonably fair... but only if the games were released at a reasonable prince taking into account the restrictions. In my mind that would have been 20% or so of the current sales prices of console games.

    However we all know that this would never happen, particularly with the studios carefully telling us how many 10's of millions of $ it takes to make a current hit clone / sequel / cut-scene-delivery-mechanism. There is also the problem that the console hardware is usually loss-leading and the recovery is made in the sales price of the games.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Agree completely Nick Ryan.

      A solid percentage of the moans would have evaporated if the announcement of the XBO was identical in every way but with "..games will now only be £24.99 as a result of these changes"

      £token admin fee for second hand users to "unlock" the disc and you're away.

      1. Greg J Preece

        A solid percentage of the moans would have evaporated if the announcement of the XBO was identical in every way but with "..games will now only be £24.99 as a result of these changes"

        Ahahahahahahahaha, no. Which Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft are you thinking of? Last I checked, games on the online console stores were usually way more expensive at launch, not cheaper. Far Cry and FIFA were 60 quid at launch, and 35-45 in the stores.

        If you honestly think they would have reduced prices like that, when you would have no other way of sourcing the games, you're naive.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Stop

          Well I cleary don't expect it.Just said it's what they should have done.

          If we're to accept games will be either worth less second hard, untradeable or needing some sort of extra payment (ie devs,MS get a cut with each sale) then almost every argument people have/had against it would have gone if they initial purchase price was dropped.

          Not Naive, simply suggesting a simple, and fairly obvious way MS could have won this particular battle.

          I've no dog in this race. I own both current offerings and will probably end up with both of the new ones too. Just a matter of which first. Like last time.

  9. MJI Silver badge
    Trollface

    Cannot see replies to petition

    Is it knobbled for FF?

    What is the betting they all work for Sony.

    <-------They are being trolled!

    1. silent_count

      Re: Cannot see replies to petition

      My inner cynic thinks they were working for Sony but they were not trolling. Sony would love too see MS bring back the hated DRM measures which would result in single digit sales for the next xbox.

      1. Steve Knox
        Black Helicopters

        Re: Cannot see replies to petition

        My inner cynic thinks they were working for Microsoft.

        No, seriously. I find it hard to believe Microsoft have the capability to make all of the changes involved in turning off their DRM system in a reasonable timeframe.

        I wouldn't put it past them to engineer this petition as a way of weaseling out of a promise they couldn't keep.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Missing the point for the sake of a story...

    The point is people complained about enforcing DRM on bought and paid-for disks, preventing them being traded second-hand without Microsoft taking a cut.

    The idea of being able to trade DRM-controlled downloads was fairly novel (for the industry) and fairly welcome.

    Microsoft, presumably having tied both so tightly together in their implementation they became inseparable, withdrew both features, thus screwing customers on one hand whilst captiulating on the other. The thought of which makes me want to wash my hands of the whole affair.

    But fuck common sense, this is the console industry...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Gimp

    THANK YOU MISTRESS! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?

    I say we all chip in and buy these people the, ahem, gaming attire they seem to be in need of (see icon) - after all, they won't have any money after buying all those high-priced games they won't be able to resell.

    (unless, of course, they choose to spend the checks they are getting from Microsoft's Bribery and ExtortionMarketing and Sales group - but that's just being unreasonable now, isn't it.)

  12. auburnman
    Joke

    Typo in the Article...

    Oh please, PLEASE bring back Xbox One's hated DRM - say Xbox Playstation loyalists

    Fixed it for you.

  13. jai

    this is so funny. it has to be someone trolling M$ to see if they'll flipflop again, surely?

  14. WonkoTheSane
    Alert

    What's that I smell?

    Something a lot like astroturf

  15. King Jack
    Gimp

    Fools and their liberty...

    Some people genuinely want the DRM. I read some guy praising paying for XBL as it keeps the riff-raff out. The same person seemed to think that going round a mates house with a disk is too much effort and would prefer to fill up the tiny (500mb) disk with a download of his game. As if downloads are instant?

    1. RAMChYLD
      Boffin

      Re: Fools and their liberty...

      Since when are second and third world country players riff-raffs?

      I take offend in this!

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Headmaster

        Re: Fools and their liberty...

        I realise English isn't your first language, and this correction is in the spirit of helping you express yourself clearly..

        "I take offence at this!"

        :)

        1. Don Jefe
          Thumb Up

          Re: Fools and their liberty... @ Sir Spoon

          Wow. That is one of the nicer things I think I've ever seen anyone say on the Internet. How very refined of you.

          1. Sir Runcible Spoon
            Happy

            Re: Fools and their liberty... @ Sir Spoon

            I'm just old fashioned, but it's kind of you to mention it :)

            1. wowfood
              Trollface

              @RAMCHYLD

              Dammit, who let this riff-raff access The Register. We need DRM to keep these undesirable countries from accessing the site.

              I'm gonna go start a peition, who's with me!

  16. Greg J Preece

    Is there really any reason at all that they couldn't have simply done both? Other than spite for being forced to remove their anti-consumer bullshit?

    You want a Steam-like online market, you can have that without restricting disc usage. That's what PC does...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disks

    They are probably going to phase out disks anyway or make them more expensive than downloads

    By giving back ability to share disks they took away ability to trade/sell downloaded games

    DRM sucks but if this is the outcome would you not want at least some ability to trade/sell your games?

  18. Maharg

    As my old boss used to say to newbies,

    ‘remember, the customer is always right, except when they are wrong, and sometimes even when they are right, they are wrong, but if they are wrong, they are never right, understand?’

  19. ukgnome
    Trollface

    What's wrong with a dual system?

    An online entertainment system with freebies and goodies for always on users that has full DRM and an occasional user version for normal people.

  20. Jon Green
    Coffee/keyboard

    "Loyalists?"

    I think you mis-spelled "Sock puppets".

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    DRM

    Since the vast majority of gamers never really bothered to stand against it, all I can say is Jedem das Seine!

  22. Annihilator

    Already exists

    I can see MS's direction, it just went massively far.

    Sony are being a bit disingenuous in that they already operate the Playstation Store which gives you a single locked down version of a game, without any rights to trade or even give away to a friend. How about MS launched a version of this that allowed trading and gifting, but allowed the DRM token to remain the disc where applicable? Best of both worlds!

    1. Daniel B.
      Facepalm

      Re: Already exists

      Both companies already sell digital copy games on the current gen consoles: PS3 and XB360. Both have the non-transferable licenses, but at least you know what you're getting when you buy the online games.

      XBone was forcing gamers to only have the stupid digital scheme. We already have the best of both worlds!

      1. Annihilator
        Boffin

        Re: Already exists

        Erm, no, the best of both worlds is transferable digital copies while retaining physical copies to give the user the *choice*. Right now I wouldn't buy a digital download as I can't sell it on.

        There was nothing to stop MS just re-introducing disc-only versions on top of the digital market place that they were suggesting. Instead they've thrown their toys out of the pram!

        In short, this petition would be better approached by asking "can we get digital trading on the existing solution please"

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stop the sketch! It's too shilly!

  24. RTNavy

    I will worry about this when X-Box One has a game I want to play in the first place! Right now, I don't need another $500 device plugged into my house!

    1. MJI Silver badge

      No problem here - no really exciting XB exclusives

      Not many XB exclusives I actually want, but this generation ME came, Bioshock came, and latest Bioshock Infinite PS3 is great (Move support).

      Now the one XB series I have wanted to try, the publishers have gone multiplatform, so I will get Destiny, on PS4.

      First games will be Watch Dogs, Destiny, KZ Shadow Fall, Order 1886. Now how can that go wrong?

      And we only went PS3 since we had a PS2

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    MS false-flag operation?

    Hey, we'd love to remove the DRM and always-on requirements, but we have to keep them due to popular demand!!

  26. Electric Panda

    The DRM is probably just a switch that Redmond can flick at any time. It'll likely be back.

  27. Paul 87

    I agree with part of the petition's sentiment, allow console owners the same market that Steam provides, with both the direct delivery and deep discounts that digital distribution allow, at the expense of not having a physical disc to trade or sell on.

    The major flaw was that this was seen as mutually exclusive, so they could only support one or the other and not both. I suspect that many publishers would be happy to keep the funds flowing long after it becomes viable to produce more discs, and if you set it up so that the physical disc represented "first dibs", you can keep the bricks and mortar retails somewhere content to allow speedy gamers the ability to trade in when needed.

  28. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fontenot? .... "Even your name is a dime store joke!"-- Angel Heart (1987)

    Sounds like classic 'Reputation Management'....Down the road we'll probably learn that MS created this alias to mask the inner workings of their reputation management team railing against Sony et al....

  29. Demitrios

    Good old Reg, giving us fun April fools day news.

    *looks at the calendar and sprays his laptop with water in shock*

  30. L05ER
    Thumb Up

    uninformed is right...

    this wasn't even really a microsoft centric move... they were giving devs and publishers control of their content. giving them the ability to choose whether to allow trade-ins, rentals, etc...

    i loved the announcement. i hate gamestop and their ilk... middlemen with no interest in the sector other than money. they have driven local shops out of business, and now abuse their power to the the detriment of the producers and consumers.

    since the industry relies on these parasites at this point... the producers were forced into anti-consumer tactics like online passes and restricting content ("DLC" unlocks) to help fight against that clerk pushing the used version over the 10 brand new copies they have in stock. it would also be nice to not have to hear the clerk complain about the very anti-consumer tactics the industry instituted to fight them.

    ultimately consumers are to blame for ruining gaming for gamers... if gamers purchased ethically, and ponied up that extra $2-$5, knowing they were actually supporting EVERYONE that made it possible and not just the parasites.... we'd see no DRM (involving physical media) and no season passes...

    i'll admit it made no difference to me... i buy new, i don't buy every game that comes out, and i don't sell my games. i was more glad to see someone trying to make a stand, and it's a shame more don't see it this way...

  31. Danny 5

    Insane

    We already have a system that's ready for both, it's on the 360 right now. You can buy most games digitally from the marketplace, all they need to do is implement a trading/reselling system in there and they're done.

    Are these people insane? Nobody in their right mind is in favor of DRM and i am truely amazed to see people happily throwing away their right of ownership.

    You know what, fuck this, If DRM is back, then i'm out. I'm already going to wait and see what happens and not get a new console early on.

    I also can't stand their high and mighty attitude about people being misinformed. Just because they think it's the next best thing since sliced toast doesn't mean it's the best thing for everyone. These closed systems are only good for one thing, hiking prices for big gaming companies. The only games that might become cheaper are the indie games and those DEV's aren't making much money as it is.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    He's not wrong - it should be bought back...

    ...and we could all enjoy DRM in the physical sense too.

    Can we not have a pair of electrodes for our nipples? They could plug into the controller, and issue shocks when using the dashboard in any way that is not compliant with the intended 'experience'.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh boy

    The real fun here is that this is all moot. Microsoft was laying the foundations of a system that controlled how and when a user played and traded their games. The people that would decide what you could do would be the publishers. M$ has said this. It doesn't matter if the system allowed for trades, family share, second hand sales, the publishers could turn it all off on a title by title basis!

    Remember the guy that got banned from his EA master account? He posted a slightly derogatory comment about EA on a forum and got his ability to play all his EA games banned. Do you really want to give someone the power to strip you of all your console games? Steam accounts have been hacked and entire libraries lost!

    It doesn't matter what they say, you have far more flexibility with a disk based copy protection system than you ever do with a DRM solution. DRM is about control and limiting what the players can do with their own software. Steam became beloved by gamers as it changed the DRM model already present in PC games from locking the game to a PC to locking the games to a player. Gamers would stick a new graphics card on and find none of their games worked. Steam was an improvement but to an already broken system.

    Publishers want money, no matter if they earn it by producing good games or not.The DRM model would mean that anyone wanting to play the latest film licence game with 4 hours gameplay would have to buy it at retail prices. Short games that have little innovation, mass appeal and quick development cycles are the most profitable. Do you really think destroying the second hand market and game rentals will improve games? How many times have you watched/read a games review only to hear "It's not bad, worth a rental"?

    1. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Oh boy

      On consoles - we have erm 14 different ones. None of them will stop playing games due to external reasons. Except of course multiplayers.

      The console we have preordered is the same.

      Why would I want a console which could lose games?

  34. KroSha

    Gouging

    The publishers are having a larf! MS and Sony both want total control of the games market and to move us all to tied licenses. But they also want to keep gouging us for £30+ per game, which just isn't realistic.

    I saw a talk by one of the founders of Oddworld Inhabitants, inventors of the extremely lovable Abe. It’s very illuminating; both in the way that this small developer chooses to work, and for a telling fact. When they shipped boxed product, a game that retailed at $60 would pay a royalty of $7. The rest went on manufacturing costs and licensing and other sundries. Now, distributing their titles via PSN, Steam and XBLA, a sale of $10 nets the same $7 royalty. And this is for games that cost $4m to produce!

    The full talk is here: http://www.oddworld.com/2012/10/oddworld-does-eurogamer-expo/

  35. CmdrX3

    A quick open letter

    Dear David Fontenot,

    You are an idiot

    Kind regards,

    Me

  36. Tony Paulazzo

    Steam Vs Xbone (as was)

    Steam allows you to burn all your bought games to disk, Steam allows offline play, Steam has sales of up to 95%, Steam has promised [citation needed] that if their servers go dark to rid the DRM off all purchased games.

    Microsoft: No backups, no offline play, paltry sales, when their servers go dark so does your console - oh, but 10 'family' [I'm assuming 'live'] members can play demoes of any game in your library.

    Doh! Please sir, may I have another. In other news - Fire sale of the Surface RT.

  37. MJI Silver badge

    Being gamer friendly is good business sense

    Make it easy to play a game, make it easy to buy and sell, and people will buy you console. Make it diffcult and people will check the competition.

    Sony showed really good sense with the PS4, They interviewed the developers, they investigated architectures, they have gone into the next generation with thoughts of the PS1 and PS2 eras.

    One final thing, console dominance does not matter as much as you think, because there will be a huge number of games to play - remember PS2 era?

  38. You Are Not Free

    "Thousands of gamers have put their names to a petition"

    Or a few Sony zelots....

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