Xbox’ Smart Delivery means free next-gen game upgrades

Microsoft has a neat plan in place for Smart Delivery. Publishers who make use of it must deliver their upgraded Xbox One games free of charge.

What’s next? Free upgrades

Smart Delivery is something all together new for Microsoft and the upcoming Xbox Series X console. The gimmick basically allows for gamers to buy a title for the Xbox One (for example), but then have it also be available for play on their new Xbox Series X, when they pick one up.

There’s a catch to using the feature though. Well, there is for video game publishers anyway. And that is that publishers will not be allowed to charge gamers for that eventual upgraded copy.

So say you buy Cyberpunk 2077 for the Xbox One. Then you get an Xbox Series X when that’s released, and you download your copy of CP77 there via Smart Delivery. According to Microsoft, you’re not going to pay a dime for that second, next generation copy.

Not that there isn’t a workaround for publishers who want to charge for upgraded editions. An article in MCVUK points out that companies can just come up with their own schemes for upgrading, outside of Smart Delivery. Then they could charge whatever they like.

Of course, they could also release ‘new’ versions of whatever games they might want to re-offer and charge full retail (or whatever). That’s happened many, many (many) times in the past when generations flip over.

Nevertheless, the announcement of Smart Delivery upgraded games being free (as long as you do own that original release edition), is pretty great. It’s a smart pr move from the Xbox company, that should pay off for avid gamers who just can’t wait for the latest and greatest.

The Xbox Series X is expected to hit retail sometime this fall/Holiday.

Source: MCV