Microsoft is throwing its massive machinery into reverse to drop many of the restrictive digital-rights management policies it planned for Xbox One.
“As a result of feedback from the Xbox community, we have changed certain policies for Xbox One,” reads an update on Microsoft’s Xbox One blog.
Giant Bomb reporter Patrick Klepek first reported that Microsoft will reveal changes to how Xbox One handles game ownership, online, and more.
Microsoft’s new stance will drop the always-online requirement — Xbox One will no longer have to check in every 24 hours. Game discs will work just as they do on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. An Internet connection is now only necessary for the initial console setup.
Microsoft may even drop region locking.
I’ve reached out to Microsoft to ask if it will confirm or deny this report. I will update this post with its response.
If this is true, it is a massive swing in the other direction for Microsoft who just came off a tough Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show that had Sony playing on each one of the Xbox One’s perceived weaknesses.
The biggest cheer of the week went to Sony when it announced that the PlayStation 4 will treat used games exactly as the PlayStation 3 did. That was all due to Microsoft’s bungled messaging that still has most consumers confused as to how game ownership works on Xbox One.
That confusion could quickly evaporate if this rumor is true. We’ll have more on this as we continue to dig.
Filed under: Games 
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