Microsoft Clarifies Xbox One Automatic Achievement Recording

Recently, we reported on a new feature for the Xbox One that Xbox Australia product manager, Adam Pollington, unveiled during the EB Games Expo. The Microsoft man claimed that the next-gen console would record each and every new Achievement earned via the DVR functionality, but according to a NeoGAF post by Albert Penello, Microsoft's director of product planning, this isn’t exactly the case.

"It won't be automatic for every Achievement," Penello wrote. "It's a feature that Developers can unlock for achievements, OR, for instance, have hidden in the game for doing something cool or discovering something hidden. Basically we allow developers access to GameDVR and they can put conditions on an automatic recording."

Game Informer reached out to Microsoft for further comments, getting a clearer explanation of what we can expect from the unique feature.

“Xbox One keeps a rolling record of your most recent gameplay, and there are two main ways for this video to be captured by Game DVR," a Microsoft representative said. "First, game developers mark 'greatest clips' that happen within the game that represent fun and interesting moments within gameplay, such as when you unlock certain Achievements. Additionally, you can also issue commands, with either your voice or the controller, to capture interesting moments you would like to record or that just happened."

Once again, we’re left with a few mixed messages. However, it seems smart to side with both Penello and the official representative, instead of a product manager who likely misspoke during a busy expo.