Microsoft to Pull Complete Reversal on Xbox One DRM Policies

The Eye still Watches You. I'm still not convinced. I already Pre-Ordered my PS4 out of good faith. Sony has got your back since day 1, Microsoft did not stand by their philosophy and now are trying to appease the ones they lost. I've always been neutral throughout these years, I have always purchased all systems from all the major players, but I'm getting too old for this. I'm sticking with one company , Sony. I even got PlayStation Plus for 1 year in preparation for this November. I still need to dust off my Wii U, that thing haven't seen sunlight for a couple of months.

It's good news for gamers, good news for Microsoft, and even good news for Sony. MS definitely took a PR hit at E3, but there was a chance that publishers would be on board with the MS DRM policy over Sony's. Now the playing field is leveled which is great for consumers. The choice isn't as risky for people who only buy one system.

I can't decide whether to applaud or laugh.

At this rate EA is just going to make their own console that runs on Origin or something.

This is why Scoops is the best in the biz. I'm not planning on getting either console at launch but it's going to be a hell of an interesting fight to watch play out.

They're already listening. And I don't even own a Kinnect....

Great news. It somewhat evens the playing field between Sony and Microsoft even though the Xbox is still a little bit pricey. However, I do believe that if Microsoft pushes for new IP's and a stress on indie's I think the gaming masses would be willing to invest in the new Xbox. Now it becomes the war on who offers more bang for the buck both in terms of games and entertainment.

@polymorph: I think you mean 101

This evens things back up again

Xbox really had the cooler looking exclusives at their press conferences, but I didn't really care at the time because I was already sold on PS4 after their conference. But now as a 360 user for the last 6 years I think I will stay with MS.

Goodness gracious, are you completely serious?

Microsoft: "You'll need to check in once every 24 hours."

"Screw you, Microsoft! Not everyone has internet! How can you blatantly not care about your own customers?!"

Microsoft: "Okay, never mind, we'll scrap all of that."

"Pfft, you're just pandering to win brownie points with the masses, Microsoft! You should've held your ground!"

It's a wonder happiness still exists with this kind of double sided "I'm never satisfied" attitude.

@lifebydegrees: I really do hope they make a middle ground. I understand the 24 hour check in which to me was bogus, but if you're borrowing a digital game from a friend and you have the bandwidth to download that game... their is no reason to believe that you won't be attached to the network.

I just really hope they give us options. I know it's more work for them, but for the majority of people, their old model would have worked perfectly

1. WHAT THE FUUUUUUCK

2. We did it, baby! Yeah!!

We made the multinational corporation do our bidding!

Suck it, haters!

3. Now I really don't know what I'm going to do. Play Quantum Break, I guess!

4. UNPRECEDENTED THINGS CAN HAPPEN. The world is crazy.

@briangodsoe: I wouldn't be surprised.

Honestly, I was kind of looking forward to see just how much Xbox 1 failed (or didn't) with these policies. Guess it's just an average console war again.

So what does this mean for the family share plan that was previously announced? Gone? Altered?

@destroyeron: I concur sir

For me it's a case that MS already eroded any trust I had in their brand. This doesn't change that fact.

Gone for now.

@zonerender: I agree with you completely. I think it's a damn shame.

All the interest I had in the next gen of consoles has fizzled away completely.

What a scoop from Patrick. Very glad to see Giant Bomb breaking this story. This console war is bananas right now. I love it.

Add a -$100 Dollars and its a win!

Still people accept they cannot trade or sell their digital games, people are still tools anyway and it will get worse.

I never thought I'd say this but... WELL DONE INTERNET

Microsoft defining their DRM policies, then changing them 2 weeks later doesn't go a long way to sell me a new walled garden with a $500 price of admission. I was surprised to read this today, but if anything, Microsoft has proved over the last 9 years that they will change whatever they please with the console whether I want it or not, whether it's the DRM policy (The 360's been phoning home for years to try to catch pirates), the user interface (no more blades), or the kinect (so glad I didn't buy that thing), while charging for services I can get for free somewhere else. In hindsight, I ended up paying for Live for about 4 years longer than I really should have, and I'm not going to pay them money so they can do me like that again, just based on their flimsy vision of a new Xbox (vision may change in 2 weeks).

Someone should post something along the lines of "SCOOOOOOOOOOOPS!" I haven't seen anyone do it yet and it would be really funny.

Yeah most MS stuff that isn't Halo ends up on PC either at launch or not long after.

MS: "we're doing this"

Everybody: "don't do this"

MS: *several months of doing this*

Consumers: "not buying this"

MS: "we've listened to your feedback..." etc etc

Nice work Patrick. I guess you're leaving SF on a high note!

I don't take sides in console wars anymore; I'm lucky enough to buy both, but I'm not sure where people are getting this PS4 has more per-orders than XBone. Amazon, for one, has the XBone as the #1 Seller in Video Games:

Xbox One Console - Day One Edition by Microsoft (Nov 29, 2013)

• $499.99 $499.96 Xbox One
• Available for Pre-order. This item will be released on November 29, 2013.

• #1 Best Seller in Video Games
• Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping and 1 more promotion
• Video Games: See all 9,724 items

I thought they couldn't do this because of publisher pressure/games being designed around using THE CLOUD for background processing or whatever.

I guess not?

Regardless if this is true it's a step in the right direction, so good on them.

Did Microsoft not get the memo that E3 was last week?

Xbox One looks like it's going to be the shit show that just keeps on giving, and apparently there are still people out there who like shit...a lot.

Hmm, I felt the DRM stuff would have helped publishers make more money which is always a good thing don't want anymore THQ situations.

Scoops!

Well, this certainly puts the XBone back into consideration.

@dryker: You're missing the five PS4 bundles in the top ten alongside the single Xbox One at #1.

This doesn't really affect me either way, nothing except The Spark Project at their E3 conference caught my eye, and that's coming to the PC and 360 as well (and it's F2P, which sucks, since all the good stuff will inevitably be micro transaction shit, but whatever), so while this might encourage me to buy an XBO at some point in the next few years where I wouldn't have before, I really have no solid reason to pick one up right now. Still super interested in Sony's wave of indie games, so it'll be PS4 for me.

They should totally break off that Kinect shit and drop $100 though, then we'd have a fight.

It is unclear what caused this huge change in policy right after E3,..

I would say it is the realization that they didn't listen to consumers on Windows 8 and the sales of that are pathetic, plus the reports that Sony's is receiving more pre-orders by a ratio of 3:2. Microsoft simply can not afford another failure if they want to stay in business.

Idiot Sony fanboys and their fear mongering ruined my future of gaming. Disc-less play and family plans wiped away all because some uneducated douches couldn't understand how out of date Sony's bs stream is and how it will all prove crap once publishers tell us how the future really works. At least with XO you had a well defined and liberal use/sharing policy for the age of digital distribution.

I still plan to sit out the console launches this year. All the games I am interested in will either release on PC or they are "looking into a possible PC release" (looking at you Ubisoft and Bungie).

Just remember micro soft controls the terms of use and conditions . If its that easy to turn it off who is to say in six month to a year they wont re-implement its after they have everyone's money

you should check gamestop and best buy, ps4 is in number 1, also there are like 3 ps4 bundles on amazons best seller list as well.

now that those policies are revoked, im honestly fully back on neutral ground and glad to just have the conversation be about games,

but the facts still remain and ESPECIALLY for them to revoke these policies, ps4 was outpacing xbone in pre-orders.

Scoops at it again! Great job Mr. Klepek.

Now all they have to do is release a cheaper bundle that doesnt require kinect and i'm sold. (I know i'm standing in the way of "innovation" but I dont care)

Ah MS is pulling a Sim City here.

1)Foolish DRM

2)Act like it it's the only way

3)Take enormous heat

4)Oh we can change all that.

I like how they are trying to say they made the right decision originally. It's like how a child would apologize.