When Microsoft pulled the veil off of their then yet-to-be-released Xbox One console, there was a lot of ambition and aggressive strategies behind it. One of them was the controversial “always on” aspect of the Xbox One. Your console would require an internet connection at all times and would probably boot you from games if you were offline for more than 24 hours. Plenty of rage ensued online – a policy of this type was very ambitious and perhaps a little too soon given the state of the world in terms of internet availability and consistency. The idea was meant to make things easier for gamers. Firmware updates, expansions, even social media apps could remain active at all times and your console would always be just a second or two away from being on and ready to use (instead of a 15 second bootup sequence).
As you may be well aware, Microsoft abandoned some of their restrictive policies and instead opted for more traditional routes that their own Xbox 360 had thrived on. But there were several gems in the midst of the chaos that was the Xbox One PR nightmare that had to get stripped back or delayed as a result of potential customers crying out about their disapproval. One of them was an exciting and forward-thinking sharing system, which Microsoft dubbed “Family Share”.
Think of it like T-Mobile’s “Fav 5” or whatever system they’re running now. You had a select number of friends or family members that you could have in a specialized network that would allow you to share unlimited calls and texts without experiencing overage charges. Microsoft drummed up something similar with Family Share, but instead of mobile communications it was games sharing. From what we can know about it prior to Microsoft backing the program out prior to the Xbox One’s launch, the program would allow you to network with as many as 10 other people on your Friends list via Xbox Live to which you could share digital licenses of a game with. It was like loaning a game disc to someone without having to physically hand them the disc. The two of you likely couldn’t play simultaneously, but it would certainly help you play certain games that you were on the fence about. The best part is, this was supposed to be free and included in Xbox Live. Sounds pretty legit, right? Still, it got pushed out of the limelight and traditional disc sharing was the only course for the launch of Xbox One, should you want to play a game that you borrowed from a friend. There’s good news though, Family Share could make a comeback in a big way.
Right now you buy your games either in a store or from Xbox Live. If you buy a disc copy, that’s simple enough as you own the hard copy and can have the game installed to your Xbox One’s hard drive for better loading times. The sharing plan that Microsoft had originally unveiled last summer is said to deploy on the Xbox One, perhaps before the end of 2014. The service would allow gamers who purchase their favorite titles digitally to share them digitally with other friends that they specify as “family/friends” to share content with. You can authorize these people to enjoy a game you bought at no charge to them, and vice versa. This kind of sharing is an extremely cool idea and one that can benefit gamers on a budget greatly. If you work with your closest Xbox Live friends, you can each buy specific games online and swap digital licenses temporarily to play the games that you didn’t buy. So far there hasn’t been any real pushback from publishers or development studios as it isn’t a widespread free-for-all for sharing as the number of friends to share with is limited. Plus, some games like Titanfall are online only and require you to own the game to play so for the titles that rely heavily on online multiplayer we’re all going to have to still buy our own copy of the game if we want to play it whenever we want without strings attached.
These kinds of services are what make Xbox Live’s “Gold” status worth the annual payment of $60, and that’s if you’re too lazy to go anywhere and shop for a better deal. For nearly six years, I have yet to pay more than $40 + tax for an Xbox Live 1 year membership as both Microsoft and third party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy will often sell them for $35-$45 during different points of the year (especially the holiday season). Xbox Live in its current state offers quite a bit more than Sony’s PlayStation Network, hence the reason it costs anything at all (and costs a bit more than Sony’s new $50 annual price model). Not every gamer is going to take advantage of every feature that Xbox Live has to offer, but without a doubt this new sharing system that will make its debut sometime in the future will add to that value. We’ll be running an article showcasing the benefits of Xbox Live and try our best to give a good comparison to the PSN, but we’re firm believers that nobody should be stingy about XBL and its paid premium tier since you get what you pay for. With a system of sharing games at no additional charge to the gamers who have Gold, XBL becomes a gigantic savings machine that could prevent you from spending hundreds or thousand of dollars depending on how purchase-happy you and your friends are with games on an annual basis.
Xbox One Game Source 