It's interesting how Microsoft's Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Yusuf Mehdi tried to defend the licensing policy for XBox one... "This is a big change, consumers don't always love change, and there's a lot of education we have to provide to make sure that people understand." He even went on to say that the reaction from consumers was "kind of as we expected."
The pitch the Mehdi is trying to make is that the need for physical disc isn't something that will be moving forward. Much like the industry believes that optical disc for movies will become obsolete. Of course, members of this forum don't believe that, but we are kind of fighting a losing battle with the broader consumer base. Mehdi states "We're trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world. We believe the digital world is the future, and we believe digital is better."
If I think about it, I don't know of many people that collect game discs, like we collect movie optical discs. Also, there isn't going to be a difference in quality of the game if it is being streamed from the Internet or played via a disc. While there is a difference in online movies vs. physical disc, it isn't the same for game titles. So, in some regards, I actually think that it is an interesting value proposition. I have never sold any of my game discs, so I can't say that I am in the camp that would be all up in arms about not being able to sell my game discs or buy a used disc. Of course, when I can get most XBox titles at the company store for a good discount, that doesn't really come in as a factor...
What do you think?
The pitch the Mehdi is trying to make is that the need for physical disc isn't something that will be moving forward. Much like the industry believes that optical disc for movies will become obsolete. Of course, members of this forum don't believe that, but we are kind of fighting a losing battle with the broader consumer base. Mehdi states "We're trying to do something pretty big in terms of moving the industry forward for console gaming into the digital world. We believe the digital world is the future, and we believe digital is better."
If I think about it, I don't know of many people that collect game discs, like we collect movie optical discs. Also, there isn't going to be a difference in quality of the game if it is being streamed from the Internet or played via a disc. While there is a difference in online movies vs. physical disc, it isn't the same for game titles. So, in some regards, I actually think that it is an interesting value proposition. I have never sold any of my game discs, so I can't say that I am in the camp that would be all up in arms about not being able to sell my game discs or buy a used disc. Of course, when I can get most XBox titles at the company store for a good discount, that doesn't really come in as a factor...
What do you think?