微软Xbox未战先输

    此举对于Gamefly和RedBox等游戏出租公司来说绝对是好消息。他们可以为目前的PS3、Xbox 360、Wii和Wii U等提供下一代游戏。此外，它对于二手游戏市场同样是个好消息。去年，二手游戏为著名专业游戏零售商GameStop带来的收入超过10亿美元。GameStop在一则声明中称：“这对于玩家而言是好消息，微软能够理解消费者以及二手市场的重要性，这一点值得称赞。”

    资深游戏开发者、Oddworld Inhabitants游戏公司的创始人，曾开发PS4游戏《奇异世界：阿比逃亡记》（Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N Tasty）的罗尼•兰宁认为，如今的玩家将购买游戏视为一种日常消费，他们可以以此来抵消软件的60美元价格点。兰宁说：“个人在这个市场可以用他们的游戏库存来交易更新的版本。如果和用户的意见背道而驰，剥夺玩家对游戏的拥有权，它将损害公司品牌。”

    目前，微软已经蒙受了损失。尽管随着手机和免费游戏的发展，游戏人群的范围正在不断扩大，但微软仍在努力修复与核心玩家的关系，他们对于游戏行业至关重要。独立视频游戏分析师比利•皮德根认为，对于微软关于Xbox One上的软件认证要求，玩家社区强烈的负面反应虽然不太可能对产品的上市销量产生显著影响，但忽视玩家的批评将导致这款产品在2014年的销量放缓。

    皮德根说：“在E3大会上，微软未能及时回应玩家的情绪，结果使PS4获得了巨大的竞争优势。索尼可以更有创造性地利用这些优势。微软的反应或许有些晚，但对Xbox One的数字版权管理与二手游戏政策作出显著的调整能够重新赢得部分玩家。但索尼获得的优势已成事实，2014年，PS4必将大卖。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    This move is good news for game rental companies like Gamefly and RedBox, which will be able to offer next-gen games alongside current PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Wii U titles. It's also a win for the used games market, which accounted for over $1 billion last year for top game specialty retailer GameStop (GME). In a statement, GameStop said, "This is great news for gamers, and we applaud Microsoft for understanding consumers and the importance of the pre-owned market."

    Veteran game developer Lorne Lanning, founder of Oddworld Inhabitants and creator of the PS4 game, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N Tasty, said today's gamers view their game purchases as a commodity that they can use to offset the $60 price point of today's software. "It's a marketplace for individuals to trade their stockpile of games for newer titles," said Lanning. "Not listening to that audience today and trying to halt that ownership gamers feel for their games is damaging to one's own brand."

    The damage has been done for Microsoft. Now it's trying to rebuild its relationship with the core gamers who are vital to the industry, even as the gaming demographic broadens with mobile andfree-to-play games. Independent video game analyst Billy Pidgeon believes strong negative feedback from the gamer community directed toward Microsoft's statements regarding software authentication on Xbox One would not have significantly affected launch sales of either console, but ignoring gamer criticism could have slowed sales over 2014.

    "Microsoft's failure to respond to gamer sentiment at E3 opened up a competitive advantage for PS4 that Sony was able to creatively exploit," said Pidgeon. "Microsoft's response may be a little late, but making an apparent turnaround on Xbox One's DRM and used games policy will likely gain back much ground lost to gamer dissent. Still, Sony was able to gain an edge that should boost PS4 sales well into 2014."