The once-a-day check-in has really bothered a lot of people, the used game debate as well. I believe this stems from the fact that $59.99 is a pretty steep price, especially when multiple games come out in a relatively short amount of time.
The policies Microsoft have introduced is all about getting revenue back to the publishers. I support publishers: it takes a ton of time and money to make an AAA game. Used sales prevents this; lending games to friends prevents this. Because of this, games are $59.99. We can look to Steam as an example: they often have massive sales on games. If you are patient, then you can get amazing deals.
So, the theory is that $59.99 comes from piracy, used games, and lending games. Now that these are severely reduced with XBO's DRM measures, the publishers will be getting the deserved profit from their games.
A great step of good-will toward gamers would be to drop the price of all new games to $44.99. I think this is a much more reasonable price, and I think much of the always-on furor would be reduced with this type of cut. Also, random Steam-style sales could be done.
So what do you think? I hope Microsoft does something like this. I truly think this is their best move (but I'm just an arm-chair economist).
The policies Microsoft have introduced is all about getting revenue back to the publishers. I support publishers: it takes a ton of time and money to make an AAA game. Used sales prevents this; lending games to friends prevents this. Because of this, games are $59.99. We can look to Steam as an example: they often have massive sales on games. If you are patient, then you can get amazing deals.
So, the theory is that $59.99 comes from piracy, used games, and lending games. Now that these are severely reduced with XBO's DRM measures, the publishers will be getting the deserved profit from their games.
A great step of good-will toward gamers would be to drop the price of all new games to $44.99. I think this is a much more reasonable price, and I think much of the always-on furor would be reduced with this type of cut. Also, random Steam-style sales could be done.
So what do you think? I hope Microsoft does something like this. I truly think this is their best move (but I'm just an arm-chair economist).