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Xbox Survey: would you sell back your digital games at 10% of purchase price?

SOR5

Member
You're basically saying folk could either chose nothing or a slap in a face, both are still shitty option.

The more appropriate comparison would be nothing or in-store credit.
You're looking at a hypothetical proposition from a survey, not an offer.
 

airborn

Member
A stronger question to ask MS is why they are so adamant about switching people that buy physical over to digital. Once we get to the motive, all will be crystal clear.
They want to get people invested into their (unified) Windows ecosystem.
 
I don't care in anyway to which you care to keep your library, again I own both. However, I understand what digital means. As for the "CREDIT" portion, you're right it's credit. Microsoft isn't magically draining a bank account to give you the credit, it's simply a number on their marketplace with virtually no value to a company as large.

I'm trying to find a way to explain this better from my perspective, alas I'm not a smart man.

Hmm.. So, let me try it this way. Consumer A is impulsive, grabbing things on a whim digitally due to convenience of the way to shop. So, let's say Consumer A buys on average 5 digital AAA games a year at 60 dollars a pop. Now, this program suddenly kicks in. Consumer A sees this is a benefit to him, increasing his purchasing power. In the back of his mind, he's winning. This mentality enables his impulsiveness even more, now with the precendent he gets something for nothing, he'll buy more and therefore ends up buying 7-8 titles a year. Microsoft has now gained not only the same, but more profit from Consumer A.

What I'm trying to get at here is that we're exchanging nothing, for something to get more nothing. I would rather buy my digital game and know that, hey, this is mine and will always be mine. This was my choice, regardless of if it was available otherwise or not. I own more digital AAA, AA, etc.. games that were 60 bucks than physical at this point. However, I would never sell them back for a fraction, I'm not going to allow myself to be undersold at the grip of a company, regardless if I use it or not. I know it'll enable me to have more "buying power," when in reality I don't.

I also don't sell my physical games either, with few exceptions. This probably doesn't help explain my point any better, but what I'm trying to say is, it's making Microsoft more evil, not more generous.
And I'm looking into as a market where I already have games that are sitting there, unused and unplayed. That are providing me with nothing. That sit there. Whether I bought it on impulse, was disappointed, or am just done with the game. It sits there. If I can use this game to make it less on me to buy a future title that I want than more power to me. Especially if MS is offering it to me.

And then, with an ever expanding online focused multiplayer titles for $60. If I can revoke my Destiny, or Titanfall, or the Division down the line when those games populations have all moved onto the next title and have even less use than the Dragonball XV license I will never use, but could use! But probably won't. Then I will take that option. It would benefit digital purchases of iterative games where the previous own drops off. If I could get $6 off of my Advanced Warfare then goddamn that would be great. And if I took that $6 I get, plus whatever percentage I get in credit for being an XBL reward member, it's all little things that add up.

If it feasts upon impulsive purchasers, well so what. So does everything else in the world. A year ago and prior to that I was a huge impulse buyer. And since then I've gotten my shit together. If a little bit of extra buyback credit can be the defining decision in a impulse decision then they need to work on that because I know firsthand compulsive impulse can be destructive.
 

Noobcraft

Member
Ayyyy lmao, worse than Gamestop.
GameStop gives you 0 credit for digital titles.

Edit:
Just looking at my Ready to Install list on my XB1. I'd take 10% for Forza 5, Ryse, Titanfall, and Zoo Tycoon. I had fun with them but I'm never going to download them again. I'm amazed people are so opposed to this lol. If Sony would give me back $6 for the PS4 version of COD Ghosts I'd be ecstatic.
 

Rellik

Member
so you want MS to give you free games basically? lol

10% is low, 25-30% would be good territory imo

30% is what MS is earning from your purchase of the game. You want them to give back 100% of their earnings on your purchase?
 
I feel like a lot of the people in this thread were the kids in grade school who wouldn't eat their lunch and would throw it away instead of giving it to someone
 

xabbott

Member
Here is a thought...don't buy digital on console. It is usually the worst option. Only reason to buy digital on console is if you are too lazy to change discs. Generally no other benefits.

Except you can't misplace the game, physically break it (useful when you have kids), you can play it on release without waiting. You don't have to physically store them or bring them with you when you move/visit a friend.

One of the coolest features I've discovered this gen is taking my external xb1 drive, plugging it into a friend's console and signing in to play all my games there.
 

notaskwid

Member
30% is what MS is earning from your purchase of the game. You want them to give back 100% of their earnings on your purchase?
How is it giving back when you buy with real money and they pay in digital credit than can only be used in their own store?
 
I guess I don't understand the point of all this? Why would Microsoft want to buy back the rights to a digital game? They seemingly gain nothing from it. Unless I'm severely misunderstanding some licensing law, I don't think they "gain" a license back to sell.

EDIT: By gain I mean gain anymore. They may gain a single license, but they already have, for all intents and purposes, unlimited licenses to sell for their digital games.
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The thought would be they give back 10% of every sale but increase overall purchasing more than that to make up for the dollars they would give back.

Hypothetical numbers/example...

Maybe under normal circumstances with no discounting they would achieve $500 million in annual digital sales.

Maybe under circumstances with discounting they would have to "buy back" $50 million in licenses but overall annual digital sales would be $700 million.

In the above example they've netted an additional $150 million in sales by allowing discounting. ($700mm - $500mm - $50mm)


Again, all theoretical, but conceptually that's what they would be trying to accomplish by instituting a policy like this.
 
Some I would. But they really need an open market where we can sell the licenses to our digital content on our own. Hopefully this will eventually come to steam.
 

Alienfan

Member
Some I would. But they really need an open market where we can sell the licenses to our digital content on our own. Hopefully this will eventually come to steam.

How would this even work? A used digital copy and a brand new version would be identical - so why would anyone buy a brand new copy?
 
Cool, go ahead and do it. It's a start.

I personally would never do it for that amount. It's not enough. For that amount Id keep my game on the off hand I decided to go back to it or a friends wants to play it. I have a few games I don't give a f about but wouldn't even consider giving them up for 10%.
 

Kyry

Member
I think this should be magnified for all the people who swore the orginal DRM would have ended up giving us something like steam but with trade ins
 

Jedi2016

Member
I actually can't believe people are saying no to this... Isn't 10% better than nothing?
Yeah, but with nothing you get to keep the game.

To the OP, no.. way too low a number. But this is something they're going to have to think about if they really want to go to an all-digital future.
 

gus-gus

Banned
I am not assuming, I've engaged in such practice and continue to engage in such - on occasion. So I know first hand and there are many others like me. And this practice becomes even more essential for cash strapped gamers in their teens years. If you're cash strapped and you struggle to buy games because your allowance doesn't allow for full $60 purchases of the latest, hottest games, eventually, without a resale market you're endangering losing a potential customer in the hobby due to disengagement aka said customer placing that disposable income elsewhere ($40, $20 or whatever) to get entertainment value or whatever - could be movies etc....

Now publishers would naturally say they're not interested in that consumer (they didn't have him in the first place they'll say) but they're gravely mistaken if they believe in industry growth and not their short term bottomline in the same breath. What's taking their lunch is another industry that burst into the scene in the last 10-15 years: smartphones for young teens, young adults. Whereas before phones were limited to a house, and household, these days everyone in the family has one (that's a big strain on disposable income believe it or not). Tablets (and smartphones to a lesser extent) are doing the same thing to desktops. Add stagnant wages for this very same consumer base, along with mild unemployment for this very same segment and the "cool factor", "essential need" trend of smartphones......it all adds up.

Good chat.

pm me if you want to continue this chat, I don't want to fill this thread with talk of economics. I think people seem to miss the big picture when discussing this stuff. This is a good talk though.
 
I don't see how this makes sense from a publisher point of view. I mean, what can they win by paying you a couple dollars so you can't play the game anymore? Makes more sense allowing you to transfer your license to a friend as a gift/selling it directly to another person, not the digital store itself.
 

DirtyLarry

Member
I actually can't believe people are saying no to this... Isn't 10% better than nothing?
Not really. At this price I would much rather keep it on the off chance I may play it again.
Would have to be at least 25% for me to consider it.

Traditionally speaking when I trade in games, which is actually quite often, I usually do it with Amazon or Best Buy, and get no less than $30

I also tend to trade in games ASAP as well. I have a bit of a system in which I have not purchased a game at full retail price thanks to credit and discounts from various services (GCU and Prime), and usually I am paying no more than $20 out of credit thanks to my system.

I actually have screwed my system up big time as the next 3 big releases I am picking up, Quantum Break, Uncharted 4, and Doom, I went Digital on all 3. Only one I did not get some kind of "deal" was Uncharted 4, and that is simply because I know it is a game I will want to own forever.
 
I don't see how this makes sense from a publisher point of view. I mean, what can they win by paying you a couple dollars so you can't play the game anymore? Makes more sense allowing you to transfer your license to a friend as a gift/selling it directly to another person, not the digital store itself.
The publisher is irrelevant in this scenario. Microsoft is paying you so that you will come to their marketplace and buy more stuff.

Are they high? 10% is crazy low. 75% at least.
75% is an absolutely ridiculous number. They lose a lot of money (relatively speaking) in that transaction.
 

Aske

Member
Why not just give people 10% store credit every time they buy a game from your digital store? That incentivizes further purchases of digital games, encourages people to buy at full price rather than wait for sales, and doesn't create massive consumer ill will like proposing you back your customers' licenses to play games for an insultingly low price.
 

gus-gus

Banned
How is it giving back when you buy with real money and they pay in digital credit than can only be used in their own store?

lmao, this is why I can't with people on neogaf. Ok so when your take your 30% cut to buy a game where is this money coming from when a game sells for 60? The developer hasn't agreed to anything here. When they're title sells it sells for $60. Microsoft gets a 30% cut except they owe you that for reselling your game. Money never actually transfers to them because essentially you take back a credit. So they never receive the original money. This assumes you sell your game back. So they make $0. If you continue doing this forever it's the same 30% you keep trading with microsoft back and forth. Which means they have nothing.
 
It's better than nothing. I almost always buy discs when possible, but I do have a handful of smaller digital games I'd offload if I could do this on PS4. Even getting a buck or two back would be worth it in some cases. I hope MS actually does this and Sony feels the pressure.
 
At 10 percent I'd rather just keep my digital license, even if I won't play the game again. Options are always nice though, even if they're not for me.
 

Noobcraft

Member
I don't see how this makes sense from a publisher point of view. I mean, what can they win by paying you a couple dollars so you can't play the game anymore? Makes more sense allowing you to transfer your license to a friend as a gift/selling it directly to another person, not the digital store itself.
I think the idea is that it doesn't cost publishers anything and that it comes out of Microsoft's cut (they get like 30% (citation needed) of the money at the sale, rest goes to the pub)
 

blakep267

Member
Yes, but they could do better. Why accept the lowest offer?
Because Xbox users don't have any actual leverage. They (MS)don't actually have to offer anything at all, and we're back to square one with me sitting with Child of light and titanfall in my library never to be played again. The poll said 10%. I say that's fair. I'm not using them why not. Others ITT are saying no give me 30+% just because I said so.
 
Why not just give people 10% store credit every time they buy a game from your digital store? That incentivizes further purchases of digital games, encourages people to buy at full price rather than wait for sales, and doesn't create massive consumer ill will like proposing you back your customers' licenses to play games for an insultingly low price.
But they already do this with XBL Rewards. At my level I get 4% back with every digital purchase.
 

timlot

Banned
That's ridiculous. 10%? They outta be paying me to play some of these wack games. I've got more game on my XB1 harddrive than all of the past 7 console generations combined. Yet I only play BF4 and FH2 90% of the time.
 

farisr

Member
Are they high? 10% is crazy low. 75% at least.
While expecting a 75% flate rate isn't realistic. I do think a system (if they're not going to alllow us to sell our licenses ourselves) where it's a given percentage based on the amount of time you've owned the game would be interesting.

(this is assuming they don't implement a steam-like refund policy)
90-100% within the first hour
60% for the rest of the first day.
50% for the rest of the first week.
30% for the rest of the first month.
and 25% flat rate after that.

Something along those lines.
 

Head.spawn

Junior Member
I think this should be magnified for all the people who swore the orginal DRM would have ended up giving us something like steam but with trade ins

Go on? What is the correlation? Steam has absolutely nothing like this at all. Unless you are referring to game sharing, in which case you might've missed a thread a few days ago on the topic.
 

10k

Banned
OMG yes I would!!!! This is the only thing that stops be from going 100% digital. My digital purchases usually fall into these categories:

a) Played it, gave up on it after awhile because I didn't like it
b) Beat it, but will likely not play it again
c) Love it, and want to own it forever
d) a game I'll play on and off for years and want to constantly have it

Games that fall under A and B just clog my library list and I'll never earn anything for them.
 

Trup1aya

Member
How would this even work? A used digital copy and a brand new version would be identical - so why would anyone buy a brand new copy?

I guess it would kinda work by supply and demand...

If a game is popular, there won't be many 'used' digital licenses in the free market, most people would have to buy new. As the games popularity decreases, you'd start seeing used licenses pop up. Supply in this case is limited to the number of new digital copies actually sold.
 

yyr

Member
Yes, but they could do better. Why accept the lowest offer?

No, they can't do better. You can't sell those digital games anywhere else.

Why are folks so opposed to this? Why are people dumping on MS for suggesting this? Currently, Xbox digital games have NO resale value. MS is giving you a "resale" option, where essentially you are getting free store credit for nothing, because that is what your license is worth to them: nothing. How is free store credit for nothing a bad deal? If the digital license is truly worth nothing to you, and you have the option to get something for it, why would you turn it down?

People are so jaded and negative these days...
 
I actually can't believe people are saying no to this... Isn't 10% better than nothing?

I think it depends on the context we view this in. If it was activated right now on XB1, it would be a decent deal. Personally, I prefer the deal Nintendo had for the first few years of the Wii U, where buying a digital game got you 10% store credit and you kept all the games, but 10% back for giving up the license is certainly better than nothing.

In the context of an all digital console, however, which people are still wary of, it is nowhere near good enough to make up for the loss of options that exist in the physical market.
 
I guess it would kinda work by supply and demand...

If a game is popular, there won't be many 'used' digital licenses in the free market, most people would have to buy new. As the games popularity decreases, you'd start seeing used licenses pop up. Supply in this case is limited to the number of new digital copies actually sold.
The only way I could see this implemented is if physical sales didn't exist anymore.
 

gus-gus

Banned
While expecting a 75% flate rate isn't realistic. I do think a system (if they're not going to alllow us to sell our licenses ourselves) where it's a given percentage based on the amount of time you've owned the game would be interesting.

(this is assuming they don't implement a steam-like refund policy)
90-100% within the first hour
60% for the rest of the first day.
50% for the rest of the first week.
30% for the rest of the first month.
and 25% flat rate after that.

Something along those lines.

I don't think that could work especially if you buy a game, beat it one day then return it for 60% value. so that means Microsoft and someone else isn't getting paid.

A refund for games that have issue with the way it runs or your not satisfied is reasonable. the way steam has it anything outside of that is not fair if you are given access to the whole game.
 
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