Lo and behold, Xbox One’s DRM, previously announced by Team Xbox to have been removed following a revision of their policies, has resurfaced in a Killer Instinct tournament on livestream.
To be specific, this is their check-in DRM, which verifies that the player owns the game they are playing and will occasionally ask that they enter the disc for verification. The problem is, Killer Instinct was not even released on disc. The tournament organizers (TOs) found themselves stuck at Killer Instinct’s home screen for about four minutes before they could bypass the issue.
These issues were corroborated by TestYourMight forum user StevoSuperem0, who explained that the same issues have come up in other tournaments. Apparently, the system still requires you to logon to the internet once every 24 hours to verify this ownership, and each game has their own servers for this. StevoSuprem0 explains that Murphy’s Law struck him in one tournament, such that he couldn’t verify the day before the tourney started because KI’s servers were down. It also seems to affect only downloaded games.
The actual TO and streamer, Arturo ‘Sabin’ Sanchez, unfortunately was not getting proper credit for said video early on. Since we were able to verify this info on our end, we’ve embedded his video for you below. Note that the video clearly shows several matches before the issue came up (you can skip to it at 6:37). On my end, I suspect no foul play from Sabin.
Sabin explains he does not know exactly what happened, not owning an Xbox One himself. He expresses confidence that Double Helix will be able to resolve this issue. He also wants to make sure other TOs are aware so they could avoid future issues.
@WilliamUsherGB @cinemablend It was anything but staged. I don't own a Xbox One so I was just as surprised as anyone else.
— Arturo Sanchez (@nycfurby) December 18, 2013
@WilliamUsherGB @cinemablend I also wonder why that happened. I haven't seen a streamed KI tourney that had that problem to date.
— Arturo Sanchez (@nycfurby) December 18, 2013
@WinnerStaysOn I don't think so. I have full faith that Double Helix will be on top of that if they haven't been already
— Arturo Sanchez (@nycfurby) December 18, 2013
@gootecks it was good that it happened at a small scale tourney so TO's can prepare and not have that happen in the future
— Arturo Sanchez (@nycfurby) December 18, 2013