First of all.

What happened? Why are we here?

Remember the low 90s and the Nes and SNES era? Well, if you are old enough, you will remember it. At that time, there was people gaming, like there is today. Used market was not big at that time, because the vast majority of people bought new games, and traded them with family and friends. Gaming industry was in its infancy stages. There was no Internet reviewers either. You had Nintendo Power biased of course and the words of people you know. Thats why people vastly bought new games. At least they had rental to try those games before purchasing.

Society is evolving, as technology is either. More individualism is present out there, and people are never satisfied. People started to buy a lot more games, while the old medias converged to Cds and DVDs. Piracy came in, and large amount of people started to play games while cracking them or stealing them from developers. This affected the music industry too. Piracy was really bad for the industry because, Im sure you understand that concept, stealing something is not going to give a lot of bucks to those who create those things. While this is an obvious issue, that they must condemn and fight; its not the sole issue. Soon, the developers and publishers had to face another major threat : the one related to used games.

Problem is not that there is used games. Of course, you should be able to do what you want with your properly. (In a philosophic way, I assume) Problem is that people started to buy way more used copies than new. People wanted more games, more more and more! But wanted to pay less they could at the same time. Of course a crash is going to occur since on one side you have people that wants each and every day quality games; and on the other side, developers not getting a single penny out of that used market.

Furthermore, People dont seems to realize that stores like GameStop are really not really helping them. Try to think clearly. When was the last time you went to GameStop to buy a used quality AAA game for less than 5, or 10 bucks than the regular new price? Ever heard of GameStop investing money to help indies? Of course, not. Because they are greedy like any other company out there. With one exception. GameStop do money by reselling other peoples work. And there is no competition.

Thats what we call a TRUST.

Microsoft came to the conclusion that the only way to help the industry was to cut out the used market. Of course, they certainly thought about getting a few bucks (more than that, I agree) in the process. Fair and square. Why not? If the system is made in a such a way that people do not pay a lot more than before; and that an important cut is going right to the developers well, I certainly do agree with that. I prefer a business model in which we are more inclined to get quality games than a model where game makers struggle to sell their works, while GameStop is laughing and giving cash prizes to their own PDGs.

Of course, there is the issue about property. Well its not really an issue, since games are not your own property anymore, thanks to hackers and crackers. And such a system have yet to be crafted in such a way that you wont have to pay to let a friend try the game. Or, of course, if you dont have an always online Internet connection.

But one thing is for sure, the industry wont go back. Whine and cry, this wont change anything at all. Instead, if you really dont like this, use your power as a consumer to voice your concerns by purchasing, or not, a system that you cant tolerate. But notice that this may very well have no impact at all, since the Xbox One will sell millions as soon as there is good games for it. A situation that will likely occur even more now that the developers are going to make more money out of their work.

Finally, notice that every gamer have options to help the industry.

1- Always chose the lesser evil. Prefer Wal-Mart to GameStop to buy games.

2- Buy less games, buy the one you really love, buy them new.

3- Buy at independent stores. (they have better smiles too)

4- Dont hack or steal games.

One last thing. Wonder why there is more and more Season DLC; add-ons and micro transactions these days? Yes, its the same reason.