When Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One there were a lot of mixed reactions.  Some were impressed, others were disappointed, and some just didn’t care at all.

Microsoft touts the One as an all-in-one entertainment system, meaning not only will it appeal to gamers, but even to non-gamers or occasional gamers.  Yet Microsoft focused so much attention on the entertainment side that it failed to clarify how pre-owned games will come into play.  Given that some sources later claimed that Microsoft will in fact be charging people to use pre-owned games, the focus on everything-but-the-gaming may well have been intentional.

Now, a new report has surfaced that appears to confirm Microsoft’s plans to get richer by stealing a cut of the sales of pre-owned games. The report, which appeared in the UK gaming website Console Deals, further claims that the Xbox maker intends to split these proceeds with the game publishers, with whatever remains going to the seller.

How The Resale Process Will Work:

So here’s how Microsoft intends to get rich. First, the retail partner needs agree to Microsoft’s Terms and Conditions and integrate its cloud-based Azure pre-owned system, so that when a gamer comes in to sell his game, his account will be wiped (meaning he or she is no longer able to play it), and the game will be registered as ‘traded-in’ on Microsoft’s system.

Once this is done, the retailer can then sell the game at any price he or she desires.  So far so good, but wait till you hear this :

The source revealed that game retailers will be forced to sell second hand games at just a 10% discount on the original RRP. This news will come as a shock to consumers who are currently used to purchasing trade-in games at up to 50% of the retail value.

That’s an ENORMOUS cut of the proceeds that Microsoft is insisting on stealing, one that effectively destroys the value of the pre-owned games market for retailers. It’s no secret that retailers make a large portion of their revenues from second-hand game sales, precisely because the profits they make on new game sales are so low (around 5-10%). Microsoft is effectively robbing them blind.

But it gets worse – the same source then said that Microsoft will also charge the buyer an ‘activation fee’ to play the resold game on their console, splitting this between the retailer and itself. ConsoleDeals goes on to claim that in the UK, this activation fee would amount to £35 ($52 in the US!!!), which if true is an outrageous price to pay for used games.

Whether these claims are indeed true or not remains to be seen, but I can’t imagine Xbox fans are going to be too happy about it, no matter what the price is. Microsoft really has no business getting involved anyway, yet there’s very little that anyone can do about it if they want to play its games.

For now we’ll just have to wait and see, although things really don’t look very promising. Microsoft was typically evasive when questioned about these rumors by MCV:

“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.,” Microsoft said in an e-mail sent to MCV.

“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.”