A new report claims that used games on Xbox One will cost nearly as much as new titles

By Michael Rougeau May 24, 2013

Speculation and confusion over how the Xbox One will handle used games has run rampant since the new console’s reveal, but a report today on MCV may shed some light on the question. According to unnamed “retail sources” that the British site spoke with, retailers selling used Xbox One games will only get to keep a small portion of the sale. The buyer would then have to pay an activation fee that would offer the purchaser only a slight discount of around 10-percent off the original, new price.

Xbox One games you purchase and play will lock to your account after downloading to the hard drive. When you trade them in, that transaction is then registered with Microsoft’s Azure cloud service and “wiped” from your account. The cost a consumer pays for the used game at the retail store will include the activation fee, and according to consoledeals.co.uk which cites another unnamed source, will cost £35 (about $53). The pricing will be set by Microsoft and the publisher, with the retailer receiving only a very small portion, possibly no more than 10-percent.

“We know there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and wanted to provide a bit of clarification on exactly what we’ve confirmed,” Microsoft said in a statement provided to MCV.

“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. Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house—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.”

At the moment, this is must all still be seen as a rumor, as it is based on unconfirmed reports. It does, however, fit with what we’ve been hearing regarding used games.

Hopefully we’ll learn more about exactly how the Xbox One handles used games at E3.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Michael Rougeau

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Mike Rougeau is a journalist and writer who lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and two dogs. He specializes in video…

Gaming

Xbox Game Pass has its own Super Mario Odyssey, and it’s a delight

A giant ghost is wrapped in chains in Hauntii.

PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have a lot of advantages over the Switch, but there's one advantage Nintendo never loses: games. While Sony and Microsoft struggle to put out consistent exclusives, Nintendo always manages to put out fairly high-quality games on a monthly bases (even if some recent releases have felt like filler). The fact that you can only play Super Mario Odyssey on a Nintendo console will always be the company's ace in the hole.

Thankfully, enough developers have been influenced by Nintendo's design that it's not hard to find a great title that scratches the same itch as a Nintendo classic on competing platforms. Just look at games like the Pikmin-inspired Tinykin. Xbox has been especially smart about seeking out games like that over the years and adding them to Xbox Game Pass. It's done that once again with one of its newest additions, the delightful Hauntii.

Gaming

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch

A soldier squats in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 key art.

After days of speculation, Xbox confirmed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will come to Xbox Game Pass at launch. Xbox has not specified which platforms it will come to, though.

When Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 was officially announced last week, fans immediately began speculating about its Game Pass status. It's the first Call of Duty title released since Microsoft successfully acquired Activision Blizzard, so a Game Pass launch seemed likely. While the announcement was initially leaked by a Game Pass notification, Xbox has now officially confirmed that the game is bound for the service.

Gaming

Best Buy Memorial Day sale: Save $50 on the Xbox Series X

A black Xbox Series X and controller against a black background.

We don’t see many Xbox Series X deals, so it’s great to see $50 off the Microsoft Xbox Series X at Best Buy at the moment. It normally costs $500, but right now you can buy it for $450, a small but useful price cut for anyone considering buying a new console. Pair it up with one of the best Xbox Game Pass deals and you can’t go wrong. If you’re keen to find out more about the console, keep reading and we’ll explain all.

Why you should buy the Microsoft Xbox Series X
Considered to be one of the best gaming consoles for Microsoft fans, the Microsoft Xbox Series X may have divisive looks but it’s supremely powerful with a wealth of games. The console provides 12 teraflops of power with support for DirectX ray tracing, 4K gaming, and even has a custom 1TB SSD for storage so it doesn’t skip a beat anywhere. It has lightning-fast load times with gameplay of up to 120 FPS ensuring everything looks fantastic. Arguably its best feature though is Quick Resume. That means you can easily leave where you left things even after turning the console off. It’s hugely useful and it’s quick too so your console is always ready for you to return.