Microsoft officially pulls DRM from Xbox One : Othor Games

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:24 am

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=de2ccb8ca8943c06669720e0a267a9f6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.neogaf.com%2Fforum%2Fshowthread.php%3Ft%3D596671&v=1&libId=66a2e19b-ba0f-4cb5-923e-7f73bec59a58&out=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.xbox.com%2F2013%2F06%2Fupdate&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.neogaf.com%2Fforum%2Fforumdisplay.php%3Ff%3D2&title=Microsoft%20officially%20pulls%20DRM%20from%20Xbox%20One%2C%20announces%20new%20policies%20-%20NeoGAF&txt=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.xbox.com%2F2013%2F06%2Fupdate&jsonp=vglnk_jsonp_13716765065976

Don Mattrick: Last week at E3, the excitement, creativity and future of our industry was on display for a global audience.

For us, the future comes in the form of Xbox One, a system designed to be the best place to play games this year and for many years to come. As is our heritage with Xbox, we designed a system that could take full advantage of advances in technology in order to deliver a breakthrough in game play and entertainment. We imagined a new set of benefits such as easier roaming, family sharing, and new ways to try and buy games. We believe in the benefits of a connected, digital future.

Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback. I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One.

You told us how much you loved the flexibility you have today with games delivered on disc. The ability to lend, share, and resell these games at your discretion is of incredible importance to you. Also important to you is the freedom to play offline, for any length of time, anywhere in the world.

So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360. Here is what that means:

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

In addition to buying a disc from a retailer, you can also download games from Xbox Live on day of release. If you choose to download your games, you will be able to play them offline just like you do today. Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console -- there will be no regional restrictions.

These changes will impact some of the scenarios we previously announced for Xbox One. The sharing of games will work as it does today, you will simply share the disc. Downloaded titles cannot be shared or resold. Also, similar to today, playing disc based games will require that the disc be in the tray.

We appreciate your passion, support and willingness to challenge the assumptions of digital licensing and connectivity. While we believe that the majority of people will play games online and access the cloud for both games and entertainment, we will give consumers the choice of both physical and digital content. We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds.

Thank you again for your candid feedback. Our team remains committed to listening, taking feedback and delivering a great product for you later this year.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:57 pm

There were already 2 threads stating this, I don't think a third is needed.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:38 am

Looking forward now. The gap is certainly closing between PS4 and XB1 now!

I was getting it anyway (Halo 5 ftw) but this increases my hopes that Microsoft cares at least a little about the community

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 8:23 am

the other thread were on why they hate the xbox

this one reflects a change of attitude regarding this

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:55 am

Sources indicate Microsoft is going to move away from what's caused the company so much headache.

The tug-of-war between Microsoft and Sony just got more interesting. Multiple sources inform me Microsoft will announce what amounts to a complete reversal on its DRM policies for Xbox One today.

What does this mean?

No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped
It is unclear what caused this huge change in policy right after E3, a week where

Microsoft executives spent days explaining, justifying, and talking about its policies to the press. I suspect Microsoft’s official announcement will say something to the effect of “we've been closely listening to consumer feedback.”

Based on what I’m being told, that’s definitely true.

I've reached out to Microsoft for comment.

Microsoft has taken an enormous amount of heat regarding DRM policies with its new console. Sony became consumer heroes at E3, announcing PlayStation 4 would not treat used games differently, and the status quo would reign. The company released this video, twisting the knife:

Then a link to the ps4 used game YouTube instructions. Sorry about formatting, I'm on my ipad.

A complete reversal like this, if true, doesn't help Microsoft. Finding a way to keep new interesting stuff like family plan while getting rid of 24hr restrictions would still provide some differentiation. Now they just have a more expensive, lower powered system with kinect that has never been a huge point for gamers

http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/microsoft-to-pull-complete-reversal-on-xbox-one-dr/1100-4673/
http://news.xbox.com/2013/05/qa

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:30 am

They do not care for you or anyone. They did this 180 because otherwise they would have been a laughing stock at launch.

I hope nobody does a 180 on them.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:29 am

Well that's food for thought still ain't gonna get it unless they take that luminous crap or whatever it's called out as well an allow backwards compatibility but it's still food for thought.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:35 am

You realize to do this they would have to put an entire Xbox 360 into the Xbox One? This would cause the price to skyrocket. Similar to the Playstation 3 at launch.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:25 am

Original Xbox compatibility should be easy enough and could be better than the 360's backwards compatibility because it should be possible to do it without software emulation. In fact, the OS implementation of the Xbox One should make it even easier: just add the original Xbox OS to the Hyper-V hypervisor.

Of course then they wouldn't be able to get away with reselling the games on xbox live... and even if you had bought them on the 360's xbox live, MS already told us that 360 xbox live digital games won't grant you access to the game on the xbox one's xbox live.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:16 pm

Good to hear, hopefully now the competition in the console market won't grow one sided. I love how people still want to criticize Microsoft. They did something wrong, got destroyed by the media and the public for it, and decided it was a bad idea and went back on it. I'd say that's a good thing.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 6:07 am

It's easy to criticize, but hard to compliment.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 5:44 am

Hopefully, the games can still be installed so the disk is not grinding all the time.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 2:31 am

No.

They pushed the company line long and hard after the bad feedback started. Calling people downright idiots at times and without so much as a concession or hint at a change of heart in the works.

This is nothing more than them folding due to too much bad PR causing too much company and product line damage.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 12:47 pm

Microsoft is learning that people want what they want, not what Microsoft wants.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:25 am

Well games were going to have to be installed from the disc beforehand, so it seems pretty reasonable that the installation process would be similar to the 360.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 1:44 pm

gee how did i know this would happen.

I know people gotta voice their concerns. Which was helpful in this case.
But i had a feeling they would back off significantly on these stances; and therefore didn't feel the need to post GAMEHATERSPYBOX 10000000000 times on these forums.

voicing a concern is one thing. but peeps seemed to be going for blood.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 3:18 am

This,

Some people are way to overzealous against Microsoft.

» Thu Jun 20, 2013 7:11 am

And.. they fell. The gaming community pushed harder and they gave in. No matter what twisted wording you wanna give to it, no matter what bad PR they had, they went back and took most of the crap that made the Xbox one a bad system and removed it. Believe it or not, that's actually good. Of course there are still some issues like the kinect thing, which I think is still required, but they changed a lot of the horrible ideas initially put with the Xbox one.

I can't comment much on the PR issues Microsoft had, I haven't really kept up on it. But in the end they folded, and the console looks a hell of a lot better because of it.