Microsoft has been deliberately silent when it comes to answering questions on how it will handle used games for its upcoming Xbox One console. Officially, the company has said it has made the Xbox One so that it can "enable customers to trade in and resell games" but details about how that will work have not yet been revealed.
Today, the UK-based MCV website reports, via unnamed sources, that game retailers have now been informed on how used Xbox One disc games can be sold. Basically, a customer can bring a used disc copy of an Xbox One game to his or her favorite retailer that has been previously approved by Microsoft to handle used Xbox One game transactions.
The story claims that the game disc is registered on Microsoft's database as having been traded into the retailer and the game itself is taken off the Xbox Live account of its old owner. After that, the game retailer can sell the used game disc for as much or as little money as they would like. However, the article adds that whatever the price might be, Microsoft and the game's publisher will get a percentage once the used Xbox One disc is sold to someone else.
The article claims Microsoft will charge an activation fee of £35 in the UK for a used Xbox One disc. If true, this would be a direct contradiction to what Microsoft stated earlier this week when they said there would be no such activation fee for used Xbox One games.
However, if what MCV is reporting is true, it means that gamers who buy Xbox One discs at full price might not be able to give those games to friends to play on their own consoles, at least not without having those friends pay an activation fee. It also means that retailers such as GameStop, which have previously received tons of revenues from used game sales, will have that flow of money cut considerably when it comes to Xbox One games.
Update: Eurogamer now reports, again via unnamed sources, that the activation fee for a used Xbox One game won't technically be paid for directly by the gamer but rather it will included in the price of a used game from the retailer.
Source: MCV | Image via Microsoft
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