Xbox One Family Sharing Feature May Return If Gamers Really Want It

Microsoft performed a ONE-EIGHTY recently concerning the Xbox One’s Internet connection required and used games DRM after hearing the cries of its customers complaining of the next-generation Xbox’s features. It looks like those opinions weren’t the true for all of the future Xbox One owners out there as a petition launched to bring back the device’s old policies back. Microsoft’s Xbox One chief product officer Marc Whitten has heard the public’s new outcry to return some of the previous policy’s of the console, specifically the family sharing feature.

Whitten spoke with IGN saying the family sharing feature’s potential return is based on the community’s feedback. “If it’s something that people are really excited about and want, we’re going to make sure that we find the right way to bring it back.” Whitten goes into detail as to why exactly the feature was cut when Microsoft removed its used games DRM. “We had to make room, just from a pure engineering perspective, to be able to get that work done. So taking Family Sharing out of the launch window was not about ‘we’re going to take our toys and go home’ or something like that. It was just sort of the logistics of ‘how do we get this very, very clear request that people really want, that choice, and how do we make sure we can do an excellent job of that, get to launch, and then be able to build a bunch of great features?’”

I personally liked the idea of a family sharing feature as I would like to be able to share my games with my family like how we used to growing up, as well as with my wife who may want to play a game I’m currently playing in another room. This definitely was a slick feature that if Microsoft can bring back while keeping the always-on requirement and used games DRM out, would be a killer feature.

Daniel Perez
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Microsoft, sharing, Xbox, Xbox One