Microsoft Encouraging Devs to Offer Free Xbox One to Xbox Series X Upgrades - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 October 2020 / 2,295 Views
Microsoft is pushing publishers and developers to offer upgrades of Xbox One games to the Xbox Series X for free, according to sources who spoke with Video Games Chronicle. This will be done through Microsoft's Smart Delivery or through the publishers or developers own schemes.
Confirmed third-party games that will offer free next generation upgrades includes FIFA 21,Cyberpunk 2077,Destiny 2, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Third-party publishers and developers who decide not to use Smart Delivery or their own scheme can offer owners of current generation games a discount on purchase a copy of the next generation of said game on the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft does want to provide publishers and developers a variety of options to sell their games on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X, even if they don't use Smart Delivery.
2K has decided to do its own thing with NBA 2K21. The current generation version of the game can be purchased for $59.99, the next generation for $69.99, or a special bundle that includes both versions of the game will be available for $99.99.
"Developers and publishers ultimately decide how they deliver their games, and we work with them to provide the best possible experience based on their needs," said a Microsoft representative in a statement to Video Games Chronicle.
"At Xbox, the player is at the center of everything we do, which is why we’re committed to supporting exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles, including Halo Infinite, with Smart Delivery, providing the best available version for whichever console you choose to play on.
"It will be up to individual developers to determine whether they implement Smart Delivery, and they can choose to use it for titles that will release on Xbox One first and come to Xbox Series X later.
"In addition, developer feedback was a top priority when the team created Xbox Series X and the development tools that go with it, which means the tools used to build games on Xbox Series X are the exact tools used to build games on Windows 10 PC, Xbox One and the cloud.
"This makes it as easy as possible for developers to ship games across multiple devices, while taking advantage of the unique capabilities of the specific device that they’re on. That is also why we offer a suite of features and capabilities in how to distribute content, including Smart Delivery, for developers to take advantage of on Xbox.
"However, developers and publishers ultimately decide how they deliver their games, and we work with them to provide the best possible experience based on their needs."
Smart Delivery means that anyone who owns a game that supports the program will automatically get the next generation version when they purchase an Xbox Series X.
While not every game will be getting next generation enhancements, the Xbox Series X will run almost every Xbox One game on the Xbox Series X via backwards compatibility, along with the current lineup of Xbox 360 and original Xbox games running on the Xbox One.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Good, and actually even if the dev doesn't to that would be worse for them because of BC the gamers will have access to the game anyway, so better publicity to have an improved version, that may as well lead to extra sales for older games.
Pubs and Devs should encourage MS do give away free XB console upgrades...
Haha I was thinking the same thing. How would any company like it if another company 'encouraged' you to give away free stuff? Let alone its the big guy with more money telling the little guy with less money to lose more money. MS is only asking this just to make their own console look better but at the cost of other companies so it somewhat sounds very selfish of them. But ya MS should lead by example and give away free XB since this gen it seems "they're not about console sales and more about the number of XB accounts", or at least that's what they've been telling their investors. As a gamer, what MS is doing sounds great, but as a business this is selfish and not good. And if we look at game sales history, it doesn't hurt one bit to port games over to next gen and people will still buy them (ie. GTA5, TLoU, Mario Kart etc..)
Trading offers will have great deals this holiday. Since MS is doing amazing when it comes to BC. Xbox one owners should be looking into trading their Xbox one for Series X. Same cant be said for PS4 owners until they improve their BC catalogue.
@V-r0ck what if the game which released on Xbox One is playable on Series X through backwards compatibility. Does BC hurt sales now? Seems like a consumer friendly feature to have.
@Jranation, wasnt Xbox One backwards compatible with 360 games? Backwards compatible is a nice feature but sales show people dont mind rebuying a game if they want to. Nintendo had backwards compatible for only a few of their previous systems but that's not stopping their games for selling like hot cakes. What MS is asking is not a bad idea BUT you shouldn't 'encourage' others to offer up free business. Now MS just put a spot light on every publisher and if they dont do it then they may get criticized just because MS thinks its was good idea. If MS offered the publishers an incentive for every game that got upgraded then I'm sure that would hurt the publishers less.
My perspective is on the consumer, but I understand your perspective on the publisher.
It would be really cool if both MS and pubs/devs could easily give away free upgrades, but yes, if pubs/devs were the one's saying this about XB consoles, you can bet the reaction would be much different from all perspectives.
