Why does the Xbox One have an online requirement?

With the Xbox One there are no offline profiles. You must connect to their servers once when you first use the system. This means after the servers are shut down all Xbox Ones will be unrepairable. If you lose your profile the system will be useless.
If the system has to be reset to its original state it will be useless.

What purpose does this serve for Microsoft? I understood their original plan: it would enable various features that would be impossible without a frequent internet connection. But this half-measure has no advantage for Microsoft but a severe disadvantage
for customers in the future.

No other console works like this. All of the other consoles can play games on discs or cartridges without ever needing an internet connection. I stopped connecting my consoles to the internet years ago and I've played hundreds of games on my Xbox 360,
Playstation 4, Wii U, and all of my other consoles without ever connecting any of them to the internet.

I'm a big fan of Xbox 360 and the original Xbox but I will never buy an Xbox One as long as there is any internet connection required.

:)

 

Why does the Xbox One have DRM?

If your system is set as your
home system, all your digital content can be played offline, don't know if this applies to back compat games as well, but worth a try.

 

Why does the Xbox One have DRM?

I've had my Wi Fi down for a few days so i had to use the Xbox One in Offline mode. The problem with Offline mode is the Xbox One doesn't play any of my Digital Xbox One games and backwards compatibility games (Disk and Digital). I can only play Xbox One
games on disk Offline, everything else like Minecraft, Red Dead Redemption, Killer Instinct, Forza etc requires an internet connection. I can't even play a game like Sonic CD and Wolfenstein 3D which is over decade old and wants me to connect to the internet
to play. Why isn't Microsoft doing anything about this?

I only own 2 games out of 122 that require an internet connection and those are online games, Need for Speed and TitanFall. I don't understand why need an internet connection for the rest when i just want to play Single Player.
This what i get
"For this game you need to be online"
(0x803f9008)
"Please Connect to Xbox Live"
(0x80072ee7)

 

The xbox live gaming society is growing everyday and the demands for new features are tied to the updates that roll out through the online updates and that requires an online connection. System updates help improve your experience with the addition of new
features as well as improvement of existing features. The updates will be downloaded from the Xbox Live service directly to your Xbox One and subsequently installed.

You don't have to update the games. However, if you want to play or communicate on Xbox Live, you must have the latest console software. New games might also require the update before you play them.

For more info:

support.xbox.com/.../system-update-overview

 

"New games might also require the update before you play them."

That is only a problem on Xbox One. All other systems include the updates on the game discs that require them.

Requiring a connection to specific servers which will someday be taken down (just like the original Xbox servers were) to play single-player games is extremely short-sighted. I still have my original Xbox and it continues to work great despite Microsoft
having dropped support years ago. My Xbox 360 will also continue to work after Microsoft has dropped support (I can even update it long after Microsoft drops support). As long as the policies that Xbox One has now remain in place that will not be an option
for it.

Why are there no offline profiles? Why aren't system updates included on discs? Why is the Xbox 360 capable of both of those things but the Xbox One isn't?

 

Hey there PenguinMaster27!

I'm happy to help clarify things with you.

To clarify, an Xbox One console can be used offline provided it is put into offline mode and here's how! Using Xbox One offline

The console does need to be updated when it's first out of the box, this can be done offline as well though, you'll just need to use the offline update tool here. I
need help with system updates on my Xbox One/Update Xbox One offline

Of course like you mentioned, some games require an online connection such as MMORPG's like The Elder Scrolls Online and that's consistent across all platforms including PC. Not all games require this though, It's on a case by case basis and up to the developers.
Check the game packaging for more information on if an online connection is required to play.

That said, you can also use many game discs offline without updating though. In fact, it's actually a troubleshooting step to install games to the console offline if someone is having an issue installing the update during the game install.

I hope this helps to clarify things a bit for you and give you some ideas on how you can play Xbox One offline if you prefer to play offline.

 

Is it possible to use the Xbox One offline without ever connecting it to Microsoft servers?

My fear is that after the servers have been shut down if the system has to be returned to default settings to fix a problem then it will become unusable. It is my understanding that there are no offline profiles so even if the system is fully updated you
can't use it without connecting to Microsoft servers to retrieve your online profile or create a new one.

 

Hey again PenguinMaster,

I can understand your specific concern with having to use an account that has a Microsoft Account attached to it. To better address your concerns about being able to create an offline profile without having to be connected, you might want to post any ideas
you may have with this setup on the
Xbox Feedback page.

You do need to connect the console to Xbox Live in order to be able to create or download an Xbox Live profile. Though once the profile is on the console, you'll be able to use it offline. If you're looking to create a profile without being connected to
Xbox Live should you not have an internet connection in the future, you'll want to post that
feedback.