Xbox Series X DRM Makes It Near Impossible to Play Games Offline
It seems that Microsoft’s digital rights management decisions for the Xbox Series X are a serious cause for concern. According to a video from YouTuber and game developer Modern Vintage Gamer, the Xbox Series X is unable to play games without connecting to Microsoft’s servers. He tried games off a disc like Rise of the Tomb Raider as well as Hitman 3 and both refused to work offline. While Microsoft recommends keeping your Xbox Series X as your ‘Home Console’ in its settings, it’s a solution that’s described as a ‘band-aid’ as it doesn’t seem to work with every game as it should.
Native Xbox Series X physical games like Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition work fine. It installed off the disc and ran as it should offline. This should in theory mean that games that are solely for the Xbox Series X should work both offline and online. However with Microsoft’s focus on Smart Delivery, it means that the current crop of Xbox Series X discs that run on Xbox One as well are essentially coasters.
All of this essentially means that you won’t be able to play your Xbox games when Microsoft decides to take its servers offline.
You can check out the video for yourself right here.
Modern Vintage Gamer’s video hasn’t gone unnoticed. Preservationist group Does It Play chimed in on the matter, taking to Twitter with the following statement.
“Combined with its forced online set up ALL Xbox consoles and smart delivery game’s will one day be obsolete,” the group says. “Talk about caring for preservation all you want, actions speak louder than words and right now Xbox is the worst platform for preservation.”
Of late gamers are growing increasingly aware of what appears to be console companies exercising a near obscene amount of control over their games. Sony was taken to task for its heavy-handed policies regarding the PS3, PS4, PSP, PS Vita, and most recently, PS5. Safe to say, Microsoft’s been no better in this respect.
For what it’s worth, we were able to replicate Modern Vintage Gamer’s findings and reached out to Microsoft for comment. We’ll update this story if we hear from the company.
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