Xbox One pre-owned and online policies are "definitive", unlikely to change in near-term

Those hoping for a swift U-turn from Microsoft look set for disappointment.

Microsoft’s studios boss Phil Spencer has told CVG that the policies regarding Xbox One’s online and software authorisation requirements are definitive” and will remain in place. For now.

"We wanted to set our definitive policy in black and white terms on Xbox Wire, which we did last week. That’s our policy," he insisted.

Spencer did add, however, that like any entertainment company Microsoft listens to consumers and Xbox One will evolve over time.

"When we first shipped the Xbox 360 the idea of a Netflix didn’t exist,” he explained. That robustness that we see in the digital marketplace around content wasn’t there. Free-to-play wasn’t a way that people bought games.

"And through the life of 360 there have been policy changes and Marketplace changes that have responded to consumer demand, creator demand and what’s happening in the marketplace.

These systems evolve. We’re a software company. If you think about the amount of times we changed the operating system on 360 – it was a number of times. But we wanted to set our policy as it is for Xbox One in clear terms so that there wasn’t ambiguity in what our stance was. That was our intent."