WELP.
On the Xbox Wire blog today, Microsoft's President of Interactive Business, Don Mattrick, announced that the upcoming Xbox One console would no longer contain any of it's controversial DRM policies or region locking. Instead of one online check-in every 24 hours, owners now only need to connect once to the Internet when doing the initial registration. Furthermore, games will work, "...just as [it] does today with Xbox 360," where you can trade-in, borrow and lend to friends and so forth.
In the post, Mattrick also states that, "Xbox One games will be playable on any Xbox One console - there will be no regional restrictions." The turnaround comes from Mattrick and his team listening to feedback from the Xbox community. Quote,
"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."
There's a myriad of other reasons as to why this turnaround occurred. There's been reports of PlayStation 4 selling more pre-orders than the One. There's also the news that the original DRM policies alienated military stationed overseas. Hell, some folks have mentioned Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night, when Fallon had Mark Cerny from Sony on to show the console. There was a round of applause when Fallon stated that the PS4 would allow trade-ins and so forth, thus possibly rocketing Microsoft's then restrictions into the mainstream. There are a lot of reasons why this is happening.
But let's be honest here - this is a good thing. The previous alienation that came from past restrictions is gone, and way more folks can enjoy the console as is. I still don't enjoy the necessity for a one time registration with the internet, but it's the lesser of two evils.
It'll be interesting to see just how this will play up later on in the year. Thing is, gamers remember when a corporation screws up, and how badly. And the fact that this seemed like such a quick turnaround - you can't blame some people for thinking that Microsoft lied when they went on about how those restrictions were needed. So as far as sales go, this may help them out when the One comes out in November. Everyone will be watching this holiday to see who comes out on top.
Source [Xbox Wire]
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