All the details haven't been issued yet, but it's so transparent Microsoft's intentions. They're eliminating the parasitic middle-man that is used game retailers.
Instead of a person trading in 4 games to Gamestop to get one game, they can digitally trade the permissions (game for game) with friends directly, and it makes sense. Why trade four games for one game when you could find another gamer with the game you want and do 1-for-1 trades? And on top of that, since when you buy a single game, you're allowed to share it with however many friends, you're essentially buying multiple copies with one game.
Or atleast that's the basis functions I've extrapolated from the info Microsoft HAS released on trading software.
Otherwise, just like Sony said with the PS4, DRM is fully up to the discretion of the developer, and first party titles won't maintain DRM.
Now, sales-wise, I'm not prone to believe anything. When I was getting my DSi, they told me to pre-order because they were going so fast that they'd all be gone. Same thing with the 3DS. Same thing with the WiiU (and honestly, I caught on to the sales tactics with the DSi), and all internet sources corroborated the information.
If you analyze market trends and brand popularity, it's impossible that the PS4 has wider appeal outside of gaming communities (such as IGN, Gamespot, GBAtemp, etc) and such. I say this all the time, but Sony had to PAY to have #PS4 trend on twitter (promoted trend), while the #XboxOne trended naturally. Twitter isn't exactly a gamer hub. Non-community gamers are really mostly looking for multiplayer gaming, and with the PS4 having a 20% higher cost for online gaming now in contrast to the Xbox One (and, c'mon, XBLive), Xbox One is the go-to console. As for technology market trends, one-trick-pony devices aren't popular anymore. People aren't buying DSLR cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, DVD/BD players, sound systems, etc when they can get everything in one tidy device. Hell, even MIDI controllers and MPCs are replacing instruments in the music world. Though the PS4 is (almost) all of what the Xbox One is, it's not being marketed as a media device.
Lastly, it's really the purist traditional gamers who pre-order anything. The WiiU got plenty of pre-orders (and the Wii didn't), and that turned out to be a big nothing.
But I sound like I'm in some sort of denial, so I should clarify that even I only pre-ordered the PS4.
no, why!? you're basically paying $500+ for a glorified rental service with some of the most anti-consumer policies ever enacted on a console
did you ever think about whats gonna happen 10 years down the line and Microsoft decides to drop support for the Xbone and shut down all servers needed to authenticate games?
What's anti-consumer about investing in the future? Do you know how many game developers went bankrupt this generation and last generation, and how many are still struggling? It's real and always happening. It's not lke they're all Sony, who can blow $180 billion+ marketshare from 2000-2012 (down to an all-time low of $14 billion - Forbes), swim through shit creek and come up clean like Andy Dufresne.
DRM is in the interest of all developers. Without developers, there are no games. Without games, there are no consumers. Without consumers, there is no profit potential. Without profit potential, there are developers.
It's like livestock. Over feeding just leads to useless, excess fat, but that's not the problem or else these businesses and companies would not be failing. Moderately feeding means you get to eat too. Under feed your liveestock, and nobody gets shit.
I'm not worries about over feeding my livestock, but if I under feed them, it's all done. And I'm not a rancher, this is just a metaphor.
Under feed your livestock and you starve too.