A new Xbox Series X report has been making the rounds within the Xbox community, claiming that the new Xbox console has a “serious” DRM problem. According to the report, which comes the way of Modern Vintage Gamer, the Xbox Series X has a “heavy-handed DRM measure in place,” which in turn makes using the console offline, not connected to Xbox Live, more difficult than it should be. To this end, the report claims that sometimes this problem leads to disc-based Xbox One games and disc-based games that use Smart Delivery not running when the console is offline.
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Adding to this, the video claims the console when it’s set up needs to connect to the Internet, which in turn means if you don’t have Internet and buy the console, you’re going to need to take it somewhere that does otherwise it will be completely useless.
That said, this report made the rounds enough that an official and verified Xbox developer on Reset Era responded to it.
“Having watched the video and read through the discussion here, my main takeaway is that we (Xbox) need to improve our on-console error messaging; the very generic and unclear error messaging clearly adds confusion and can lead to mistrust of the system,” said the developer. “There is actually an effort internally to revamp licensing-related error messaging, and I will ensure that this feedback is heard internally to continue driving that effort.”
The developer continues by breaking down the claims and why they don’t exactly add up in the way they are presented. Concluding, the developer notes that this is more of a messaging issue than anything else. That said, they do confirm some of the concerns, noting that most games that are played through backward compatibility will require an Internet connection, however, native Xbox Series X games do not.
“Hopefully some technical explanation here helps shed light on the issue, and I completely agree that we need to improve the error messaging here,” said the developer. “Licensing is a complex area especially with discs and external HDDs and we can do better informing the user; I will take this away to the team and ensure we internalize this.”
In addition, to watching the video above, be sure to check out the link above for further explanation and details. The Xbox Series X does have some DRM issues, but nothing really out of the ordinary compared to other modern consoles.
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