How Does Renting Games on XBox One Work

[coip]

So if you buy a game in physical form, you insert the disc and then rip the game to the hard drive, essentially making the disc unnecessary except for the fact that you need it in the disc drive to play the game (for piracy prevention). So, what happens when you rent a game and you can't finish it in one night. If you re-rent it again and receive a different disc, will it still work, or will the hard drive installation notice that the disc it was installed from not match the new disc in the drive and thus not work? Likewise, what if I rent the game, install it on my hard drive, and then buy the game digitally later? Will there be problems there? Since most of the games in the store don't have free demos, I would like to rent a few and try them out before buying, or I'd like to just rent them at my leisure (say, rent Ryse every Friday for 4 weeks).

 

[xboxonthego3]

It will still work. I installed Dead Rising 3 from friend's disc. Then went and bought it myself and just played it off my disc. Works perfect. My guess is the game just installs and it just needs a verified product license to use. Doesn't matter which license as long as it is a good product license.

Digitally buying a game after you installed it with a disc would be interesting. Makes me wonder if it is smart enough to just give the install a permanent product license or if it treats it as two games. Hmmm interesting.

 

[MicroBrain]

You can install from disc then buy digital without reinstalling.

 

[coip]

You can install from disc then buy digital without reinstalling.

And from then on out it won't prompt me to 'insert disc' if I try to play the game digitally, right?

 

[JPDVM2014]

And from then on out it won't prompt me to 'insert disc' if I try to play the game digitally, right?

If true, this would be a semi-convenient way to get around dowloading huge files when buying digitally. Assuming the Xbox wouldn't make you download the whole game anyway before playing. I wonder if it would recognize that the game is already installed, and just download the license.

 

[Keith Wallace]

It would be funny to go buy a game used, install it, take it back, then purchase the digital copy to save on install time, haha.

 

[tk-093]

I guess if you have an uber slow connection or a crappy ISP that capped your bandwidth, it might make sense to rent a game for $5-$6 just to install it and then buy it digitally for $60

 

[Keith Wallace]

Well, if you have DSL or satellite or any cable service under 25 Mbps, it might be worth it. Plus, a one-night rental here is $3, I think. I was more speaking to the scam of buying a used game and returning it to save time, though. That would cost gas money and nothing more.

 

[Polychrome]

Well, if you have DSL or satellite or any cable service under 25 Mbps, it might be worth it. Plus, a one-night rental here is $3, I think. I was more speaking to the scam of buying a used game and returning it to save time, though. That would cost gas money and nothing more.

An interesting thought. I'd test it before driving back though.

Going back to the original post, considering how Microsoft originally wanted to pull off the Xbox One, I'm wondering exactly how much of the original "all digital" system is in there.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I'm guessing very little right now. I think they wanted something comparable to Steam, where sales could occur semi-frequently, and DLC would get permanent discounts. I don't expect that now. I expect the wretched Xbox 360 digital system, where DLC costs the same as it did years ago, for whatever stupid reason.

 

[Oilfieldgaming 1]

I guess if you have an uber slow connection or a crappy ISP that capped your bandwidth, it might make sense to rent a game for $5-$6 just to install it and then buy it digitally for $60

That would be a waste of time why buy digital and rent just buy the dam physical disc game and install on HDD for backup purposes if you wish.

 

[Keith Wallace]

That would be a waste of time why buy digital and rent just buy the dam physical disc game and install on HDD for backup purposes if you wish.

I think it's pretty obvious the aim here is to avoid swapping discs for games...

 

[ncxcstud]

I've done that. Because I have one of those crappy ISPs that cap your bandwidth. I'm fortunate that I have a friend who receives and gives game codes like candy. So, i use the rent method then use the game code to 'buy' the game so I have it and like Keith said - I don't have to swap discs out.

Also - whenever I rent games I just keep them on my hard drive (i have a 4tb drive connected to my xbox). That way whenever a game becomes free digitally - I already have it.

And, I have a local video store here that doesn't charge 5-6 dollars for a rental. I can rent for a night for .99 cents. Works out pretty well.

That would be a waste of time why buy digital and rent just buy the dam physical disc game and install on HDD for backup purposes if you wish.

 

[kwajr]

It would be funny to go buy a game used, install it, take it back, then purchase the digital copy to save on install time, haha.

Just rent it from redbox

 

[Keith Wallace]

Just rent it from redbox

Renting costs money. Buying a used game and returning it gets you a full refund.

Also, not everyone has a Redbox with a desired game, but almost every user in the U.S. is near a GameStop or Best Buy, I'd imagine.

 

[Duvi]

Renting costs money. Buying a used game and returning it gets you a full refund.

Also, not everyone has a Redbox with a desired game, but almost every user in the U.S. is near a GameStop or Best Buy, I'd imagine.

Only issue with that is if you like getting the game early and it's a popular game.... it won't be available right away, used. I actually buy both digital and physical... and usually pre-install anyways for pre-orders. It's rare I get a game after more than a week. Siege is the only one I did this for.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Only issue with that is if you like getting the game early and it's a popular game.... it won't be available right away, used. I actually buy both digital and physical... and usually pre-install anyways for pre-orders. It's rare I get a game after more than a week. Siege is the only one I did this for.

That's not really relevant to the discussion, though. The discussion is renting of games, physical ones. Rental places usually get games by the Friday after release anyway, though they might have limited copies available. I'm not sure what your comment's trying to say, though.

 

[halflifecrysis]

I want to add a PSA on the topic. Not every game rented or bought physical will convert to digital without a complete new install of the game and none of your game saves carry over. You will even have new shortcuts and double the install space taken for the same titles.

Though I've had much success doing this disc to digital swap I hit a snag with Metro Redux. There was a publisher change which affected game rights leading to the issue in paragraph one. However MS was cool about it, agreed it would work most of the time and they refunded my digital purchases. They may not do this always and I suspect the more the game "ages" the chance that this could happen increases.

So Redux is my only physical copy left in my collection for this reason.

 

[Keith Wallace]

I'd say the opposite, that longevity would LESSEN the likelihood of this. When did Metro chance publishers though? I thought it was always Deep Silver. IDK how that happened, having the digital and physical versions treated as separate games. That almost sounds unintentional, and potentially fixed in the Store going forward. I'm also surprised we haven't seen articles on that, or a list of games where it's possible.

 

[halflifecrysis]

I'd say the opposite, that longevity would LESSEN the likelihood of this. When did Metro chance publishers though? I thought it was always Deep Silver. IDK how that happened, having the digital and physical versions treated as separate games. That almost sounds unintentional, and potentially fixed in the Store going forward. I'm also surprised we haven't seen articles on that, or a list of games where it's possible.

The more time that passes IMO the greater chance of publisher or rights being sold or changed is possible. By all means it is not impossible that a game could come out in January and something change or be sold by March, but you get my point.

Either way it did happen and if you go pick up a disc of Redux and install it you will get one launch shortcut to both games. All new digital purchases will install 2 separate files separate/games and will not have anything to do with the disc installed files. No way to move saves either, because X1 does not grant access to those saves. I asked if MS could do this on the back end and that was also a no.

The first person I spoke to at Xbox wouldn't help me so I waited and called back during normal hours and got someone in America. That dude was cool, verified I was right and refunded my digital purchase promptly.

I don't think this is going to happen often, but felt it was worth sharing. I have no idea what other titles are floating around that this could even happen on. I successfuly have converted at least 8 disc games to digital before this happened.