The 3 Biggest Issues With the Xbox One

Xbox

Now that Microsoft has announced their upcoming console, it’s time to take a look at the future of console gaming. Any time a new console is announced, the new features are either challenged or embraced, with most being challenged by the majority of gamers. In the coming months, Microsoft will continue to brief interested parties and leave less and less to speculation.

So far, a few of Xbox One’s new additions have caused anger in some factions of Xbox players. There’s always a chance that Microsoft will try to find a middle ground with consumers, so let’s hope this helps.

3. No backwards compatibility

If you’ve owned an Xbox 360 since its release, you could own 8 years’ worth of games, possibly a hundred titles. Microsoft announced that there will be no backwards compatibility with the new console, meaning Xbox 360’s near 1,000 game collection will be worthless to the Xbox One. This could potentially lead to a drought in game sales as there will only be a few months, or even weeks, until the next generation consoles are out, depending on the game.

Grand_Theft_Auto_V_box_artOne high-profile game that releases before the Xbox One is Grand Theft Auto V, or GTA V. It is unknown if Grand Theft Auto V will be released on the Xbox One, or its gaming competitor the PlayStation 4. If announced, that could lead to fewer Xbox 360 game sales as most console gamers would likely wait the two or three months in order to buy a version with potentially better graphics. If GTA V is not released on the next generation of consoles, it faces having a limited console run as more and more gamers will potentially flock to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Games with less buzz than that of the Grand Theft Auto sequel run the risk of having even lower sales as history has shown that game sales can drop exponentially before and after the release of a next-generation console.

2. Requiring an internet connection every 24 hours

With the new Xbox comes the requirement that in order to play, it has to be connected to the internet once every 24 hours in order to gather updates and such. For most, this is simple, but there is still a niche of Xbox players that don’t have a steady internet connection and might never get one. To clarify, the requirement doesn’t appear to mean that the Xbox One needs to be used each day, as that seems preposterous.

One issue with this would be vacationing, more so bringing the Xbox One to your vacation destination. While hotel wi-fi has become more common, there are many locations that charge for internet use and some hotels don’t even offer it. It would be unfortunate for someone to bring their console with the hope of playing a game, or watching a movie with the consoles Blu-ray player, and finding out that their hotel or vacation home doesn’t provide wi-fi. The Xbox One is basically just an expensive rectangle then.

While the consequences of not logging in every 24 hours has not been completely specified, one can draw the conclusion that the console won’t work. It’s hard to defend forcing a console to update so often as computers, which serve as a gaming outlet for millions, don’t require an internet connection. While most computers are connected to the internet, a computer can run fine without receiving daily updates.

1. Charging more for used games

With the announcement of the Xbox One came the unfortunate news that Microsoft had found a way to deal with used games. Purchasers of used games will have to pay a fee in order to play their previously owned game, giving consumers a reason to opt towards a new game. This change will hurt, but not destroy, stores like GameStop, which make more used game sales than new game sales. Many argue that the targeting of used games is unjust as used CDs, DVDs and books face little to no targeting in terms of being blocked.

While this announcement hurts used games, it also hurts borrowing games and families with multiple consoles. Some families currently own more than one Xbox 360, which is made more common in households with two or more children. This would mean that a family would have to purchase the same single-player game multiple times, or pay more fees, despite having given Microsoft more money in terms of purchasing more consoles.

Another big issue with the fee is that many games are eventually discontinued or receive little production. The only viable option in this case is a used game purchase. Depending on the rarity of the game, the price can sometimes be hefty, meaning that an added fee could mean that the game gathers dust as it was not sold.

Xbox One

As time goes on, more information will be released, with the possibility that some of these issues will be addressed. Even if not addressed, the coming months will reveal more specifications that fans of gaming will either embrace or push away. No matter what, though, everyone can admit that the console wars will be fierce in the upcoming years. This is an exciting time for Xbox fans waiting for the next best thing. For others, there is still time to stay on the fence. Despite the appearance of negativity, there is still a high chance that the future of Xbox will blow people away in a positive way.

What do you think? Leave a comment.

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24 Comments

  1. Wait what? Do we have to pay to play used games on this? Stop me from going on a nerd rage here! That is just ridiculous.

    • Yeah, it’s a big annoyance. I’m perfectly fine with no backwards compatibility, but it’s the used game issue that makes me angry. Especially since I absolutely love my Xbox 360.

  2. Dominique Kollie

    Wow! Outside of a few angry tweets I had no idea the new release would be this problematic. Do you think the outcry will lead to a few slight alterations?

    • One can hope that if enough people complain, some changes will be made. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Microsoft tries to at least find some middle ground.

  3. Always online hasn’t been officially confirmed yet has it? I’ve only seen it labelled as a rumor so far. Good article by the way!

    • Thanks you. 🙂

      It doesn’t need to be connected 24 hours a day, it just needs to be logged on in the time span of 24 hours. That was confirmed at the Xbox One reveal by Phil Harrison. Other people at Xbox are trying to keep quiet about that, reportedly. They might be working to change the requirement.

  4. Joe C

    Excellent round-up of the issues facing the Xbone. I’m confident that Microsoft will find a way to compromise on the internet activity (which really is a ridiculous requirement) and the used games ‘fee’, because both seem very unfair; they’ll need to recognise that eventually.

    More often than not, companies as large as Microsoft just go about something the wrong way, with no particularly ill intentions. There’s plenty of time to work out the kinks. We hope.

    • I’ve already mentioned this, but I love my Xbox 360. I think it’s the greatest console around and I hope Microsoft makes an effort to address these issues because Xbox One has great potential.

      I keep my fingers crossed that they at least work on the used game issue. The internet issue makes no sense, it can’t be too hard for them to fix that.

  5. Jordan

    Yeah 24 hour internet connection sounds near impossible for some XD great article. I am not a huge gamer but this was very concisely written.

  6. Jamie Walsh

    Microsoft have totally lost the plot in terms of consumer satisfaction here. Rather than developing an entertainment unit for all users to enjoy, they’ve created something that excludes a lot of potential buyers. The Xbox One really only appeals to the hardest of hardcore gamers, whilst more casual players and those who maybe don’t have as much money to keep fuelling their hobby won’t really be able to buy into it. People who only really see video games as a hobby and a lot of unfortunate parents are going to end up forking out for, what you say is, essentially an expensive rectangle.

  7. Ross Hamilton

    A well-written piece, and some valid concerns, but re: the used game fee thing, Microsoft has since said that it is one of several potential scenarios. It may still turn out to be the case, but I doubt it’s actually been finalised yet.

    I completely understand why you missed that though, Microsoft’s messaging on this has been truly awful.

    Source: http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4353538/xbox-one-perform-recurring-online-checks-even-for-offline-play

    • They’ve been backtracking a lot, to the point where it’s hard to trust what you’re reading or listening to. One exec says one thing and another says the other. I read somewhere that someone said it would be full price and another said a five dollar fee. It’s confusing to say the least.

      Thanks for bringing that article to my attention, though.

  8. J. Bryan Jones

    This list could have been a lot more than three. But yes, these are the biggest problems… So far. We’ll learn on the 11th.

  9. Jason Krell

    Hmmmm, I WISH Microsoft could change the Internet connection thing, but I’m skeptical that’ll be possible! After all, they did say that the reason for that connection is because games can be designed to lean on their cloud servers for processing power instead of the console itself. It really depends on what devs do, but games that use that feature heavily might require constant connection.

    I really hope that’s not the case, but it sounds like Microsoft is in too deep with that one. As far as used games go, I think they can bounce back and change their plan. No backward compatibility is rough, though. Guess I’ll just hold onto my 360!

  10. Sir Phobos
    0

    The used games bullshit and Microsoft’s pushing it as a TV hub kind of thing turns me off 100%. I’ll take a ps4 over this, thank you very much. Unless we’ve changed our economy to something other than free market, they can kiss me ass with the used game fee. I don’t have to pay a fee when I buy used furniture, and I won’t do it for a video game.

    • Yeah, that used game fee drives me nuts. I don’t mind them trying to make an all purpose entertainment console, but they’re really shoving it down our throats.

      • Sir Phobos
        0

        That’s just not what I want out of my gaming console. I want to, you know, play games. Obviously, they’ll have games, but Sony’s apparent commitment to indie games has me way more intrigued than another Call of Duty and, oh! I can switch to TV! Whooptie do.

  11. Gitana Duka

    Great summary! It covers the majority of the points really well, especially the effect on gamers. Even as a PlayStation fan, I was amazed at how Microsoft shot themselves in the foot with this reveal, particularly how all these factors alienate what was their core market. With the popularity of the 360, it’s kind of bizarre to see a billion-dollar company miss the mark so bad (and then fail to provide any clear information)?

  12. Danny Cox

    Traditionally, I have been an Xbox man. I remember waiting in line for 12 hours outside of Best Buy in the dead of winter (I live in Michigan so it is real winter here haha) in order to secure an Xbox 360 when it first came out. But after reading this, I might just have to make a shift over to PlayStation if these problems have proven to be true. Thanks for the info.

  13. Part of this—the first and last problems particularly—is that Microsoft was to grab some extra cash.

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