ConsoleDeals.co.uk has learnt that Microsoft intends to charge Xbox One owners 90% of the original RRP for second hand game purchases. The leak first emerged from a senior employee at one of the UK’s largest video game retailers.

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 finding discounts of as much as 50% for trade-in games.

With the new Xbox One being announced this week, Microsoft have stated that each game will use a code that locks it to the owner’s account – giving the tech giant complete control over the second hand games market. Such control has been widely speculated but no specifics have been released until now.

Owner of ConsoleDeals.co.uk Phil Jones, who initially leaked the news on their blog said “the second hand games market has been struggling to survive for the past decade; this leak, which we believe to be true, is the final nail in the coffin.” he went on to say “We were all expecting the worst and we got the worst – I’m shocked that Microsoft is taking this decision”

Prior to the leak, Microsoft were quick to counter-act initial speculation at the Xbox One launch event, stating that they had a trade-in plan in place, and would reveal more about it at 2013’s E3 convention. This news comes as further disappointment following the new console’s luke-warm reception earlier in the week.

Editor’s Comment

The release of Xbox One I too found underwhelming. Yes, I’m a PS3 owner but I’m always very open minded to the possibility of “jumping ship”. If the Xbox One was exceptionally better than anything else then I’d definitely consider it over the PS4. Sadly, the PS4 is more powerful and Sony are concentrating more on the gaming aspect. For me I think this is the key to success – as casual gamers move over to tablets and both TVs, PVRs and Blu-Ray players offer movie and video streaming, its the “hard code” gamer that’s likely to keep the console alive.

Sadly news such as this isn’t going to help Microsoft (assuming it turns out to be true) but we’ve yet to find out what Sony are going to do either. In some respects it makes sense – until recently the most I’d ever spent on a PS3 game was £17 because I mainly bought from the used market. Sony would have received nothing from me a result. This will be their way of clawing back some of that “lost” revenue. Of course, tablet and other recent gaming markets don’t have a second hand market at all but, then again, their game prices are often only a few pounds rather than £40+.

Although tongue-in-cheek the following video, to me, demonstrated what was wrong with the new Xbox one…