Microsoft could yet bring digital game sharing to Xbox One

One of the features lost in Microsoft’s big Xbox One u-turn in 2013 could yet be revisited.

Shortly after the Xbox One’s E3 2013 reveal the platform holder was forced to abandon much of the digital architecture it had designed for the console, amid a ferocious consumer backlash that still haunts the console to this day.

However, while the decision to ditch the machine’s need to be connected to the internet and its pre-owned DRM was welcomed, some other features were lost that probably would have been beneficial to owners.

An example was the proposed game sharing mechanic that would have allowed owners of digital titles to share their library with friends and family. Now head of programming Mike Ybarra has told Game Informer that such a feature could yet return to the table.

"Steam has a great family plan right now. We’re looking at both from a Windows standpoint – well, what’s our policy of the Windows Store? How many people can play concurrent? How do you share?” he explained.

We’re going to merge those two topologies soon so that a whole new model for how you share games across that will be in place. We’re actively working on that now to try to figure [it out], but we want to get to a much simpler model and potentially one that lets you do more… have a little bit more freedom in what you can and can’t do."

Expect any possible sharing programme to work across PC and Xbox One.