Microsoft Telling Developers Not To Charge For XSX Game Upgrades?

There is a ton of hype over the upcoming generation of video game platforms. Going into 2020 we knew that both Sony and Microsoft were planning to launch their next consoles into the market. Of course, there was a bit of a curveball thrown at us with the global health outbreak pandemic thanks to the coronavirus. Still, it looks like both Sony and Microsoft have plans to keep their platforms on schedule for a release later this year.

While Sony and Microsoft are slowly unveiling more about their console platforms to the general public, one element that we know Microsoft will offer is a Smart Delivery system. This feature will essentially allow developers to make games that will be available for both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. This means that if a game has a few more features or enhancements on the Xbox Series X, then Xbox One owners would be able to pick up a copy for their current platform but also can enjoy those features when they obtain the next-generation platform. 

This will come in handy for first-party video game developers from Microsoft. After all, it was unveiled prior that Microsoft won’t have any exclusives on the Xbox Series X for the first few years, which would allow Xbox One owners the ability to enjoy the latest games as well. With that said, this is a feature that is optional for development studios that are not directly under the Xbox umbrella, so we very well could see some games release without the Smart Delivery feature in place.

Now a new report has come out that suggests Microsoft is telling development studios that the upgrade versions for cross-generation video game titles should be free. It’s a means to sway from consumers having to pay for the game twice. There are some alternative methods that we may see come up such as a bundled deal for a game on both platforms, but we may not see such a big push to deliver cross-generation games with a planned price hike for players to deal with. 

Source: VGC