Xbox Series X: 'Smart Delivery' feature means players will get their games on new console for free, Microsoft confirms

Gears 5 and Halo Infinite will be part of new feature, and developers can choose to implement it on third-party titles too

Andrew Griffin
Monday 15 June 2020 16:25 BST
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Xbox players will get their games free on the new generation console, Microsoft has confirmed.

The company's "Smart Delivery" feature will let people buy a version of a game for the current generation of Xbox One, and then have that available when they come to play on the upcoming Xbox Series X, the company said.

Any developer can implement the feature in their game, and it can be used even on physical titles.

Microsoft will bring the feature to all Xbox Game Studios titles, which include Halo Infinite. Publishers and developers will choose whether to implement it on their games, meaning that some third-party titles could have to be bought twice, if those making them decide so.

It means that if anyone buys a game now – such as Gears 5 – for the current generation of Xbox, all they will have to do is push a button on their Xbox Series X when it is released to download the version of the title fully updated and optimised for the new console.

Likewise, players will be able to buy Halo Infinite when it comes out alongside the Xbox Series X, and play it on both the new console they may put in their living room as well as the Xbox One that may be demoted to the bedroom, Microsoft noted.

Not all games will be ready when the new version of the Xbox is released. Microsoft pointed to the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, for instance, which will be released in September; that will not be optimised for the Xbox Series X at launch, but players will be able to play it on their new console in "compatibility mode" until the fully optimised version arrives later on.

All of those games will allow saved games and progress to move forward onto the new console, too, meaning that players will be able to pick up where they started on the previous generation.

Microsoft gave a brief list of all the games that are optimised for Xbox Series X and are confirmed to support smart delivery, which included Halo Infinite and Cyberpunk 2077. But it said it would be adding more as the launch approaches.

It noted that the feature works in addition to backwards compatibility, which allows games for the previous generations of Xbox to work on the new Series X. That has already been announced for thousands of titles, with Microsoft calling the console the most compatible ever and working to bring accessories as well as games into the new generation.

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