Xbox One sparked mass confusion last night, with talk of always-online functions, pre-owned fees and the need to go online once every 24 hours to. It’s cloudy at best, but here’s Microsoft’s Phil Harrison to help clarify the matter.

Speaking with Eurogamer, Harrision said that the format is no different to how discs work today, and then added, “So, think about how you use a disc that you own of an Xbox 360 game. If I buy the disc from a store, I use that disc in my machine, I can give that disc to my son and he can play it on his 360 in his room.

“We both can’t play at the same time, but the disc is the key to playing. I can go round to your house and give you that disc and you can play on that game as well. What we’re doing with the digital permissions that we have for Xbox One is no different to that.

“If I am playing on that disc, which is installed to the hard drive on my Xbox One, everybody in my household who has permission to use my Xbox One can use that piece of content. I can give that piece of content to my son and he can play it on the same system.”

On the issue of having to pay a free to use second-hand copies of games, Harrison continued, “I can come to your house and I can put the disc into your machine and I can sign in as me and we can play the game. At the end of the play session, when I take my disc home – or even if I leave it with you – if you want to continue to play that game [on your own profile] then you have to pay for it.

“The bits are already on your hard drive, so it’s just a question of going to our [online] store and buying the game, and then it’s instantly available to play. The bits that are on the disc, I can give to anybody else, but if we both want to play it at the same time, we both have to own it. That’s no different to how discs operate today.”

So there you have it folks. Yes there’s a fee for pre-owned, which covers the game license, and no you can’t lend games to friends without them having to pay for it. So it’s not really the same as what we have today.

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What do you make of the above?

Cheers OXM.