Microsoft drops Internet, used game restrictions on Xbox One

After tremendous backlash from unhappy gamers, Microsoft has announced it’ll remove the requirement that the Xbox One must be connected to the Internet once per day.

Upset Microsoft customers complained the restriction on the company’s first gaming console in eight years and other new rules are unfair, including how used games would be shared and sold.

Earlier this month, Microsoft announced how the new console would work at an event in Los Angeles.  Company officials said Xbox One, which will go on sale later this year, would restrict how used games were loaned and resold and not be region-free.  Games purchased in one country might not work on systems in another.

Feedback from unhappy Xbox customers managed to temporarily crash the Xbox website.

"Since unveiling our plans for Xbox One, my team and I have heard directly from many of you, read your comments and listened to your feedback," Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, wrote in a post.  “So, today I am announcing the following changes to Xbox One and how you can play, share, lend, and resell your games exactly as you do today on Xbox 360."

In the post, Microsoft confirmed it’s dropping the once-a-day Internet connection requirement.

Microsoft first said it would only allow used games to be shared with month-long Xbox friends and only resold or bought at "participating retailers".

But the creators of the Xbox 360 did a “180” on the issue.  The company now states: "There will be no limitations to using and sharing games.  It will work just as it does today on Xbox 360."