Neither of those conclusions make any sense. EDGE would lose some credibility (few people outside gaf will care or remember in a week), not "all" of it. Microsoft presumably has done some market research on this and believes that it's worthwhile, which is more than gaf used-gaming armchair analysts can say. Indeed, few gaffers know anything about the market and base their gloomy analysis solely on the fact they don't like the idea. It's probably a slightly risky move, but to suggest that it will single-handedly doom a console regardless of other factors is completely absurd.
This. I mean I personally think it will hurt them but Microsoft has 100% done a TON of research and analysis and can back up their decision (whatever it is) with more than a hunch.
The ability for them to completely control distribution of media for their platform, have a much better way to track sales and price products, not lose money to retailer middlemen, and not "lose money" to used game sales (or whatever their analysis shows) is VERY attractive and
could outweigh any negative impact of their decision. I don't think it will, but I don't have anything to back it up. That said, my hunch isn't based on me not liking the idea - I'm OK with it.
But it will hurt potential sales: If this rumor is true, I won't buy any games at all because I won't buy the system.
How much does you not buying the system offset the positive financial impact of this decision? How much will it affect console sales? 10%? 20%? 50%? How much will attach rates (for NEW games) improve and per-console software revenue improve as a result of this? How much does one offset the other? Those are the kind of things they have thought about.
