Xbox One Games Will Still be Playable When Servers Shut Down

[Maurice Harding]

oh i would love to see jeremy paxman interview microsoft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCo7qbzEX3c

 

[Soccermom]

LOL @ astroturfing!

Come on - try to be just a little bit subtle. Let me AT LEAST be in doubt whether this could be a genuine post.

Xbox One Games Will Still be Playable When Servers Shut Down

Major Nelson assured us that at the end of this generation's lifecycle, when the Xbox One's servers shut down permanently, you'll still be able to play your old games.

In an interview with /r/games [http://www.reddit.com/r/Games], Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb answered some of the most "upvoted" questions from the popular videogaming sub-reddit. Right off the bat, he was asked what would happen after the Xbox One servers are shut down at the end of the new generation. Specifically, he was asked if games would be unplayable after Microsoft pulled the plug. His response was a reassuring one: "That's certainly something we would not do. That's not the way the system is designed. It's designed for flexibility. But let's get the system out there first."

Next, Hryb was asked whether players who were banned from Xbox Live would lose access to the single player portion of all of the games they have registered to their account. "Absolutely not," Hryb replied with confidence.

"Come with us toward the light on an amazing journey, where we can unlock the potential of great gaming experiences."

Unfortunately, from this point on his replies are more deflections rather than straight answers. When asked why the Xbox One couldn't use a physical disk as a "failsafe" to bypass the 24 hour check-in policy, Hryb went on to talk about how its not possible because of how awesome the Xbox One's "family sharing library" is.

Hryb also seems unshaken by Sony's press conference, which practically devolved into mockery [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124817-PlayStation-4-Game-Sharing-This-Is-How-Its-Done] of the Xbox One. "I don't think we're going to change anything [after having seen Sony's conference]. We're very happy with what we've done with Xbox One."

Major Nelson seemed to keep coming back to the Xbox One's "flexibility" and "future proofing" as counters to the policies being scrutinized by reddit users. He ended the interview by again bringing up how great the "family sharing library" system will be, and how he wished more people would ask him about it. If nothing else he seems to be pretty damn excited about the system.

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[luvd1]

Well thanks Larry for clearing that up. It's good to see someone at MS telling it to us straight so not to cause anymore confusion about the machine then there already is..... Hang on.

 

[RJ 17]

Well.....at least he made it through the entire interview without insulting the consumers and/or outright telling them to not buy the product like Mattrick has a habit of doing.

On a side note: what the fuck is that on his head? o.o

 

[Longstreet]

Too bad she didn't follow through on some questions, but just accepted the answers.

A bit better interview, although cut short / stopped sometimes by PR, is here. Part 2 also answers some other questions.

 

[Lilani]

I don't get it. I'm sure the next x-box after the x-bone won't be backwards compatible, so this would mean that the x-bone would retain functionality even after there are no servers for it to connect to. Meaning it can run perfectly fine without checking in every 24 hours, meaning that feature isn't integral for any sort of gameplay, meaning it only serves as a detriment to the customer.

Also, why are we still learning about how this damn thing works? We've been at this for more than two weeks, now. Why are the most basic aspects of its functionality still being revealed? Did Microsoft completely forget how to market something?

 

[SmokePants]

It`s a tactic they will use to shift more of their Nextbox. Basically "Oh yeah you know the last generation of consoles? We`re turning them off so if you want to stay with us you need to come and use our NEW AND IMPROVED piece of boxy rubbish!"

Its just a transparent but powerful tactic to force people to buy new products. They did it with windows XP when they released a version of Direct X that wouldn't work on it and so forced gamers who want their Direct X requiring games to "Upgrade" to a new OS like Vista or 7.

I will bet money they will eventually force us to upgrade to 8 or 9 the same way as I will also bet that they will try and push 360 users to the X1 within the next 2-3 years by shutting off those servers.

Your logic is putrid. You are drawing a false equivalency between an upgrade incentive like DX10 and outright disabling the previous version. Did MS turn off Windows XP authentication? Did they turn off Windows Vista authentication? Did they turn off Windows 7 authentication? No, no, and no. Why not? Aren't they Satan? Don't they want to "force" everyone into buying the next soon-to-be-rendered-useless product, as you claim is such a great business tactic?

Ridiculous. I'm ashamed of myself for dignifying your post with a response.

 

[FoolKiller]

Well this just opens a new can of worms. If this is possible at the end of the generation, then why not just scrap the DRM now? It's the question that begs to be answered.

Additionally, if games will still be playable, then I guess we aren't relying on the cloud too much then...?

Okay. If I have the games I can still play them.

Now the question is can I add to my library after the generation ends?

 

[Aggieknight]

I think history shows us that M$ will kill the functionality for content that you've licensed (note: you are not buying with the Xbone) when they are done with it. Remember "Play for Sure"?

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

He didn't actually say anything. Either the "always online" isn't actually important to run games and all that "cloud" talk was bullshit or they plan to keep the servers running forever which is bullshit. So the typical PR from Microsoft about the Xbox One.

 

[Severian]

If some games require the cloud to run properly, how in gods name could you keep playing them if their servers go offline? Seems like a lot of his answers were straight up deflections and didn't even answer them. Lots of spin talk.

 

[Dryk]

I'll add this to the list of "Nah it'll be fine, just give us $500 and you'll see!" talk from Microsoft shall I

If some games require the cloud to run properly, how in gods name could you keep playing them if their servers go offline? Seems like a lot of his answers were straight up deflections and didn't even answer them. Lots of spin talk.

This is film companies melting down movies for the silver all over again. Humans never learn -_-

 

[fix-the-spade]

So, basically... Wait until Gen-9 to get an Xbone, since all the crap DRM junk will be removed when the Xbone's successor comes around? Good to know, I will be looking forward to buying an Xbone at that time, then.

You know how EA games remain 'playable' when 'support' gets taken away? I think he means that rather than maintaining any semblance of functionality or desirability.

There's a lot of very carefully worded answer coming from Microsoft, the total lack of definitive yes/no answers is not confidence building.

 

[Vie]

"Come with us toward the light on an amazing journey..."

You've set the end of the tunnel on fire huh?

 

[Something Amyss]

"Sure, we've said a bunch of confusing, contradictory, and even outright dickish stuff BUT TRUST US GUISE!"

So it becomes 'flexible' when the generation ends. Good to know.

Which is about when I'll be willing to invest in one.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

So basically all the bullshit about the 24 hour checkins being "mandatory" and "critical to the console" was complete shit. Thats Microsoft for your forward thinking pro-consumer outlook.

 

[masticina]

Eeeh no.. the once a 24 hour check goes right against the "You can keep playing if the servers are offline"

Those can't be matched up.

This is just deflection, it is rather obvious that the if the xbox live servers go down for longer then 24 hours.. gamers are BONED. And yes Microsoft these things happen.. remember how you laughed at the 44 days PSN was down. Remember SimCity Launch,

Redmond I think we have a problem.

A problem you can't talk your way around. The servers WILL go down.. that is a given. When and How.. that can change!

 

[StriderShinryu]

Well this just opens a new can of worms. If this is possible at the end of the generation, then why not just scrap the DRM now? It's the question that begs to be answered.

Additionally, if games will still be playable, then I guess we aren't relying on the cloud too much then...?

Bingo.

They talk of the online features of the One as a boon to gaming and say that it's there to improve the games. If that were true, and it could honestly be, then the connectivity requirements are something I'd have no issue with. However, if they can just turn it off at some point then, sorry, it's not there to improve thr games at all. That's just an admission that it is, in the case of the One at least, a totally optional requirement that serves no purpose beyong being DRM.

 

[uchytjes]

If anything, they'll make an update where they put in an option to have the Xbone work like normal, but when it isn't connected it'll require the disk be in the drive regardless of installation.

If that's the case, there must be a simple (ish) way to disable this in a console right from day one? I can see this being the mod-chip fiasco all over again...

Well, depending on how hard-coded it is into the system, it could take anywhere from a week to over a month of working on this single problem to get the disk thing to work and, because they are likely crunched for time as is, they probably won't get to that until after the console gets out and they work out all the bugs.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

What the fuck is he wearing... I suppose waiting until after that would be the best, though I doubt it's true.