Xbox One has taken a lot of heat in the last few weeks over their DRM/Always On (well not always on but frequently connected)/Lend the disc once/etc policy. I'm not a real big fan of that but I want to be clear on the reason that I'm not going to get this console in the near future. And they aren't handling the messaging very well:
As a collector, I tend to take a long term view of a game/console. When investing, I want to know that I will have access to a particular game and the content long term.
For example, with games like Borderlands, Fallout 3, Batman Arkham City, Skyrim and many others, I always get the GOTY editions that have all the DLC on the disc. In 5 or 10 or 20 years when I am on my 4 console for that generation, I will still be able to play those games with all the additional content. When PSN/XBL have gone away (or if they just don't have the content online anymore) I will still be able to play those games.
And that is my biggest issue with Xbox One. What happens in 20-30 years? Will all the games I've purchased be available? There's no way to guarantee that service will still be available for me to authenticate my game with. I would have a $500 dollar paperweight with discs on the self that I can't play because there is no way to authenticate to a server because it no longer exists.
For that reason and that reason alone, the XBox One will need to be steeply discounted before I buy the console (or they need a policy change) and I would never pay full retail value for an Xbox One game.
As of right now, the only home consoles I will be looking to get are the PS4 and the WiiU.
As a fellow physical collector I'm with you 100% on this one. If I have a disc I should be able to play it whenever and wherever I want to, regardless of whether or not I'm online or on another console.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really considered the future as far as you have. Microsoft and their servers will likely still be around, but as technology marches relentlessly forward, whose to say those servers will even authenticate these ancient discs or if they'll even still be in the game industry.
I still want to know if 3rd parties are going to go the DRM route on the PS4, since Sony has left it up to them, before I'd be willing to buy one at/near launch.
Well, Sony has said that essentially PS4 will be the same as PS3. If publisher wants to do something like online passes, Sony won't stop them. But you are also free to choose whether to buy from that publisher or not. Given the backlash from the gaming community over the strict DRM policies by MS, I would think that there will be relatively few pubs that would try to implement harsh DRM on the PS4 for fear of lost sales.
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