Xbox 720 Could Require always-on DRM

Extremetech has an interesting story that leaked screenshots of the Xbox 720 development kit from 2012 reveal Microsoft's next-gen console may not only have always-on DRM but also mandatory game installs. If the final version of the console has these requirements, this will mean that the Xbox 720 wil not run used games. 

We’ve written about the always-on Xbox rumor before, and if you’ve been paying attention to the recent SimCity controversy, you’d know that always-on DRM is rarely met with any kind of positivity from a user standpoint. Always-on DRM is thought to be Microsoft’s answer to curbing used game sales; if the console is always connected, it can verify whether a game is used or not. Ever the vigilant leak mill, VGleaks showed off some Xbox 720 development kit screenshots, and the hardware overview section stated that the console will feature a hard drive with enough storage capacity to hold a large number of games. On top of that, the overview stated that the console will not run games from the optical drive, which would make the optical drive basically an install-slave for games, and nothing more. If the games cannot be run from the optical drive, this is more support for the theory that the Xbox 720 won’t run used games.

Being always-connected and having a mandatory HDD install point to a one-and-done kind of system. Games would be installed from the disc, then activated online. If this system ends up being confirmed, then that means optical discs would most likely just serve as a software backup for the person who installed and activated the game, just in case something happens to the data on the HDD.