Microsoft's President of Interactive Entertainment Business Don Mattrick took to Xbox Wire to announce that the company will not go forward with their online connection requirements or used game restrictions for the company's next-generation console, Xbox One.
In the post on Microsoft's corporate Xbox blog, Mattrick states that the changes come following E3 and the thousands of gamers who voiced disappointment with the oppressive nature of Xbox One DRM. Mattrick writes:
- 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 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.
This changes comes after months of bad press for the next-generation Microsoft home console, beginning with controversy surrounding former-Microsoft employee Adam Orth's combative comments regarding an "always-online" connection, and the dogged reactions to Xbox One's official unveiling.
[Update]: A few notes on this news:
- Xbox One will still need to connect once upon your initial unboxing and set up, but apparently that's all it takes. Maybe anyone buying Xbox One as a gift this holiday season should keep that requirement in mind.
- moretokes sends this report by Polygon that points out a newly proposed bill in the United States Congress that would outlaw a device that watches consumers in their own home. I don't believe this was a primary driver for Microsoft's renegging today, but it's still something to consider in light of these new Xbox One policies.
- Xbox One will no longer allow users to share their games with 10 "family members," at least as far as we know now.
- This change in Xbox One's requirements does not affect the system's cloud-computing abilities. Developers can still require an online-connection as needed, meaning you shouldn't count support for ever-expanding processing power out just yet.
Can we talk about how awesome it is that Killer Instinct is coming back now?
