author: Bart Swiatek
Microsoft Wants Free Upgrades of Xbox One Games to Xbox Series X
According to sources of Video Game Chronicle, Microsoft encourages its partners - game developers and publishers - to offer free next-gen updates for games developed for current and upcoming consoles. One option is to use Xbox Smart Delivery, but the decision is up to the developers.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Microsoft encourages developers and publishers to offer free next-gen updates for games created for current and upcoming consoles;
- The final decision is up to the creators - they have a number of options, and Xbox Smart Delivery is just one of them;
- The Redmond giant made sure that development of cross-platform games is as easy as possible.
Video Games Chronicle reports that Microsoft encourages developers and publishers to offer next-gen updates for games developed for both current and new consoles for free. For this purpose, the Redmond giant has developed Xbox Smart Delivery, which can also be used by third-party companies (after we buy a game, we can access the best possible version of the game after changing the console, without any extra charge).
It's up to the developers and publishers to decide what form of next-gen support will they take. Entities that do not use Xbox Smart Delivery and decide not to create their own solution can, for example, offer players with current-gen consoles a discount for the release dedicated to Xbox Series X. Another option is to sell both versions in a package - slightly more expensive than a single game.
"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. (...) 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," said Xbox's representative in a statement sent to the VGC editors.
It is worth noting that games not using Xbox Smart Delivery will have a separate place in the Xbox Live ecosystem created by Microsoft. VGC gives the example of NBA 2K21 and FIFA 21, which will not offer full compatibility of saved game states (we will transfer the progres in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team and Volta modes, but in the case of other modules - including online gaming and career - the progress will be assigned to the console). In the case of the Smart Delivery system, we do not have to worry about such things.
Interestingly, the decision to support Xbox Smart Delivery must be made before the game is released - there will be no possibility to join the program after the release. When designing its console, Microsoft made an effort to make the creation of games supporting both generations as simple and cheap as possible.
“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," we read.