Xbox One: family sharing feature could return, says Microsoft

Microsoft is planning to reinstate key digital features of the Xbox One console, a senior executive has claimed. In an interview with US game site IGN, chief product officer Marc Whitten hinted that the promising "Family Sharing" feature, which would allow Xbox One owners to share their digital games with up to 10 friends, could make a return after the machine's launch.

The concept was removed in June when Microsoft reversed on its initial plans to make the new console effectively a digital-first machine, complete with daily user authentication and a limit on physical used-game sales. Since then, however, insiders have been questioning Microsoft's decision to throw out all of its new digital features. An online petition has been started by Xbox fans, requesting that the company reverts to its original plan - especially the "Family Sharing" mode.

Responding to the petition, Whitten said that allow there was no "road map" to reintroduce the function, it was a distinct possibility. "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," he said. "A 'road map' sort of implies more like 'on date X it's back' than I think exists, but we believe really strongly in how you build a great experience on Xbox One for me as an individual, but also for my family. Family Sharing is a great example of how you do that with content. I think you're going to see us, both with examples like that and with other things, keep pushing on how that's something great. An example is some of the stuff we're doing with what we announced around Gold, where other people in the house get the advantages of Gold when I'm a Gold member. You're going to see us continue to push in those areas."

After the new console was revealed in May, Microsoft failed to answer questions about how pre-owned game sales and offline play would be affected by its digital rights management, authentication and digital distribution plans. An online backlash grew over the following weeks culminating in Sony's combative E3 press conference, in which the PlayStation manufacturer assured viewers that pre-owned game sales would be fine on PS4, and that no DRM would restrict offline play. A week later, then-Xbox chief Don Mattrick released an online statement rescinding most of the digital planning for Xbox One, including the Family Sharing function.

At the time, the removal of several more attractive features was criticised by some pundits who claimed Microsoft was throwing its digital toys out of the pram. Whitten denies this, claiming that, to facilitate offline play and a pre-owned market, the company had to redirect resources. "To add it to the program, 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?'"

Since the reversal in June, Mattrick has left to join social gaming company Zynga, and Microsoft has shaken up its corporate structure, promoting Julie Larson-Green from Windows to the head of the entire hardware division. Gamers and industry insiders will be watching carefully to see how she adapts the Xbox One proposition from here. Originally, alongside the family sharing concept, it was hinted that the machine would also allow the resale of downloaded titles, bringing a second-hand sales market to the digital model. If Larson-Green wanted to make a positive impression before the launch of the Xbox One and PS4 later this year, bringing both of these features back into the mix my well be a smart manoeuvre.

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