I have enjoyed my Xbox One since picking it up at launch – completely free of DRM. The removal of the controversial restrictions were something I took solace in upon my purchase, after being opposed to the online check-in system for other gamers’ sake. I never thought it would happen, but – after the last couple of months – I’m starting to miss it.
Upon revealing the Xbox One last year, Microsoft came under fire for their implementation of Digital Rights Management. According to Microsoft, the DRM was in place largely to combat piracy in the wake of a number of promising features they had planned. Apparently they had designed it as unobtrusive by having the Xbox One run a background connection to the internet every 24 hours. The decision was so poorly communicated that the gaming public almost unanimously disagreed with them, and it wasn’t long before Microsoft removed their DRM – and all those features along with it.
These are both features that, frankly, would make the Xbox One a better console.
Playing Xbox One games without the disc
Microsoft’s prime focus heading in this generation was making their console a digital hub, as well as an all-in-one entertainment unit. This was clear in their venture to have gamers perform a one-time install for every game they buy and then access it directly from the hard drive, never having to insert a disc again.
This is actually an issue I’ve had with the Xbox One since launch, and one that’s become increasingly glaring over the last couple of months. A pet hate of mine is that the game discs require installation, and then you still need to use the disc. Being able to play any of my disc-based games without the disc itself is a feature that I would love, primarily for convenience. Since I picked up Watch Dogs, however, the reasoning has taken a practical turn.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, the disc I received when purchasing the game had a slight scratch on the inner circle’s rim. From day one, playing Watch Dogs requires inserting and removing the disc multiple times before the Xbox One actually recognizes it. What I didn’t notice until recently, however, was the scratching noise as the disc spins in the tray.
This is an issue easily avoided by adding such a feature where the disc is needless after a one-time installation. It would negate any problems that anyone faces with discs, because they’re no longer necessary.
Xbox One Family Sharing
The Family Sharing plan was the most well-documented and received feature Microsoft had planned for the Xbox One, prior to the DRM removal. The gist of the plan was that gamers could take 10 people on their friends list and name them as ‘family’, and then be able to share their entire library of games with them for free. This gained immense popularity among the gaming community, and many were sad to see it go.
Personally, I’ve felt the sting of its removal since launch, but only over the last couple of months has it begun to sink in. My friends and I own most of the same games, with a few exceptions, due to budget limitations: one of us doesn’t own Watch Dogs, another doesn’t own Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, and so on. The gaps in each others’ libraries could easily be filled by using Family Sharing – especially considering that most of us haven’t played Watch Dogs in over a month.
While many argue that the DRM removal was a monumentally smart move on Microsoft’s part, it did come at the cost of some fantastic features. That being said, Microsoft is working on bringing back such improvements over the course of their monthly updates, DRM-free. This is preferable over the online restrictions, so we’ll have to wait and see how successfully they implement these features.
I, for one, can’t wait to share my library with my friends and not have to worry about breaking my discs.
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