A recent survey suggested that Microsoft was planning to allow gamers to trade-in digital Xbox One games for store credit. Well an Xbox executive sadly confirms it’s not a feature in the cards anytime soon.
Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg commented on Twitter: “Yeah we are not actively planning such a thing, surprised it was even asked in a survey. Not fire being played with :-)”
One of the flaws of digital ownership is that you are stuck with a game for the rest of your life. If you bought something bad like Godzilla on PS4, you cannot swap or trade it towards something else.
When this survey came out, many people welcomed the idea although the trade-in value was frowned upon. In the survey, Microsoft said it was only going to offer 10 percent of the value of the game purchased. This is only around $6 for most full priced games.
With Greenberg’s Twitter comment, it sounds like Microsoft isn’t thinking about Xbox One digital trade-ins for the foreseeable future. Maybe Microsoft could reconsider it if lots of people ask for it.
If digital downloads become the norm in the near future, allowing gamers to trade-in ill-advised purchases will be beneficial. Trading-in/selling video games is one of the reasons why some customers still prefer having physical media.
