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Xbox One: pre-owned activation to cost £35 - report

Xbox One has already caused a deal of confusion surrounding the use of pre-owned games, and on top of having to pay a fee to play used games, it seems that Microsoft and publishers will get a cut of each used sale at retail too.

MCV has been told by retail sources that Microsoft has explained the pre-owned issue to stockists, and that while retailers will be free to price used games as they see fit, both Microsoft and the game's publisher must receive a cut of the sale.

The site then explained a potential scenario, where retailers must have agreed to Microsoft's terms & conditions to sell pre-owned Xbox One games, and it must also have installed Microsoft’s Azure pre-owned framework into their own system.

Once an Xbox One game is traded in at the store, it is logged with Microsoft, and the person trading in will then see the game wiped from their Xbox Live account.

ConsoleDeals has suggested that retailers may get around 10% from each Xbox One pre-owned sale, which is a huge cut from the current-gen, and that activation of pre-owned Xbox One games on your console may cost around £35 - a price which is not in addition to the cost of the used game. It's the full price, period, according to MCV.

An official Microsoft statement to MCV on the matter reads, “We know there is some confusion around used games on Xbox One and wanted to provide a bit of clarification on exactly what we’ve confirmed.

"While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. Beyond that, we have not confirmed any specific scenarios.

"Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house – should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile.”

Major Nelson provided a statement on the matter as well: “The ability to trade in and resell games is important to gamers and to Xbox. Xbox One is designed to support the trade in and resale of games.

"Reports about our policies for trade in and resale are inaccurate and incomplete. We will disclose more information in the near future.”

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Dave Cook avatar

Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.

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