At E3 this year, Microsoft revealed the details about their eighth generation console, the Xbox One. Along with a sleek design came heavy restrictions on offline gaming, used games, sharing games, and selling games. As an added bonus, the console would also cost a whopping $100 more than the PS4 which bore none of the restrictions of the Xbox One. As if things weren’t bad enough, when the Xbox community first voiced their concerns, Microsoft was kind enough to point out that anyone who had a problem with the restrictions on offline gaming could stick with the Xbox 360.
Yesterday, however, Microsoft made an announcement that some of their policies had been changed.
First, the game discs will actually serve a purpose. Prior to the changes, the discs were useless to offline gamers and to those who wished to sell the disc or play with a used disc. It was nothing more than a very shiny activation key. Now, however, offline gaming is acceptable and the 24 hour connection restriction has been removed. Microsoft is also allowing users to share, sell, or trade discs. While this is a vast improvement, it comes with a downside. Because of these changes, the family sharing option will no longer be available. Downloaded games will still bear the same restrictions announced at the E3 presentation, and the price for the console will remain the same.
Though several releases indicate these changes were based solely on the wishes of the Xbox community, one can’t help but think Microsoft began to regret making the competition so easy and acted only to save its own skin.