Microsoft kills game ownership and expects us to smile -- Source: Eurogamer
"Almost exactly a year ago, at the end of an E3 press conference in which Microsoft heralded fitness software, Kinect, Internet Explorer, Bing and dying action games as the future of entertainment, I wrote that anyone who has paid attention to Microsoft's business over the years should not be surprised by its apparent lack of self-awareness.
"If we are entertained by what Microsoft chooses to do for its own gain," I suggested, "then that is simply a happy coincidence."
Guess what? The coincidence is over."
I have to wonder how many people who hate the Xbox One so much also think Steam is the best thing to ever happen. We can change those points ever so slightly and Steam would be guilty of the same thing.
-You do not own the games you buy. You license them.
-Discs are only used to install and then license games and do not imply ownership.
-People can play games installed on your computer whether you're logged in or not.
-Multiple people can be authorised to play these games on a different computer, but not at the same time, similar to iTunes authorised devices.
-You can't trade in your games
-You can't give games to friends
-Your account allows you to play the games you license on any computer.
-Your computer must connect to the internet a predetermined period of time to keep playing games.
-When playing on another computer with your account, you can't use your home computer.
-Live TV, Blu-ray and DVD movies are exempt from these internet requirements.
-Loaning and renting games will not be possible
-Valve may change these policies or discontinue them at any point.
I'm not saying that I LIKE the direction MS is taking; in fact, I hate it. The point remains, though. Steam is functionally identical, but people claim it's the best thing ever.
This is a decent reply to your comparisons I think, from
VideoGameandTechSteam on the PC and the XBO are different scenarios. Let's go over why:
Buying in. People owned PCs before Steam existed and don't pay Valve a penny to buy one. XBO requires you fork over $400 (or whatever the price is), the majority of which goes to MS.
Competition. Don't like Steam or how it works? Buy game from anywhere else. Don't like how MS runs their system? $400 paperweight. Competition has several secondary effects, like discounting, keeping business honest, etc. Steam has those; MS won't.
Sales. AAA, multi-million seller, Game-of-the-Year winners go on sale regularly. We know how Steam works with its pricing. Microsoft? Don't yet know. We have seen when the same game is sold digitally and brick-and-mortar that the digital version does not get comparable sales.
Trust. We trust Steam because we've seen how it works. MS has not earned our trust. And being our only XBO option, it's an easy position to abuse.
Offline usability. Your PC works perfectly fine without an internet connection. Steam will still play your installed games. XBO goes dead in 24 hours (if it won't play games, it's dead to me).
Value-added or taken away. Steam's introduction and existence does nothing to take away from our computer gaming experience. Some of us even like its features; the rest can ignore it. XBO and its online DRM are a major step backwards from the 360 in every ownership aspect.
So while they are both digital distribution platforms, Steam and XBO are very different beasts.
