"borrow" a digital Xbox one game ? How does it work ?

[DavidinCT]

Hey all,

My Brother and I was discussing this and I really cant find how it works. He picked up a digital copy of Gears 4 and I picked up Forza Horizon 3 digital. So we were looking into swapping games where he could borrow and play it and I wanted to play Gears 4...

So I logged into his Xbox one and downloaded it under my profile and we did the same on mine. The games are installed but, it says I need to buy it (asking for disc) when I try to play it. We both have our Xbox ones set as our own "Home" console.

So, how does one let another person BORROW a digital game ?

If we had a phsyical version, I could just hand the disc to him but, these are digital games.

 

[speccy]

He has to be logged in to your console I believe before you can play it. I'm able to log into my sons console and play my games on his console. At least for some games I can, it's not something I've done often, so I'm not sure if it works for all games.

 

[DavidinCT]

He has to be logged in to your console I believe before you can play it. I'm able to log into my sons console and play my games on his console. At least for some games I can, it's not something I've done often, so I'm not sure if it works for all games.

We have our profiles on each of the Xbox one's... So needing to LOGON kind of defeats the point of "borrowing" a game.

Is this like, logon to his profile, logon as my profile, then log him off and I can play ?

Is this how it works ? Just wondering the ins and outs of this process..

 

[speccy]

My experience may not be how it's supposed to work, I was just sharing what I'd observed.

 

[DavidinCT]

My experience may not be how it's supposed to work, I was just sharing what I'd observed.

No problem, didn't mean anything bad, Thanks for your reply. I hope there is a better way, I figured lots of people use this feature so maybe someone really knew the ins and outs of it..

 

[jeffchapik]

The person who purchased the game must stay logged in on the console for anyone else to play it, unless you are on the owner's home console.

 

[DavidinCT]

The person who purchased the game must stay logged in on the console for anyone else to play it, unless you are on the owner's home console.

OK, I guess that is not really borrowing a game... Oh, well a fail on that aspect...

Thanks

 

[sinime]

If people hadn't gotten their panties in a wad when MS first announced the XB1, you'd be able to have 10 "family" members that could play your games (as long as you aren't playing the same game at the same time). Would have been awesome IMHO, but the overwhelming horde of users who didn't understand the process forced MS to changed how it all worked. The only issue under the original system was the constant need to be online. Although I'm sure there could have been a workaround.

 

[DOGC_Kyle]

There's no way to borrow digital games at all, unfortunately. Would have been nice but as sinime said, the requirements of that feature weren't well received by a lot of people.

You CAN let others borrow games on your home console though. If you buy a game on your home system, anyone signed into your home system can play it (on their own accounts).

For Play Anywhere games, you can also play on a Windows PC at the same time. The owner of the game can sign into a Windows PC and play, while another person plays on the owner's home console. You can even do multiplayer.

One exception though, you can't play the game on multiple systems using the same account. If you're signed in to a game on one system, you'll need to sign out before you can sign in somewhere else.

 

[DavidinCT]

If people hadn't gotten their panties in a wad when MS first announced the XB1, you'd be able to have 10 "family" members that could play your games (as long as you aren't playing the same game at the same time). Would have been awesome IMHO, but the overwhelming horde of users who didn't understand the process forced MS to changed how it all worked. The only issue under the original system was the constant need to be online. Although I'm sure there could have been a workaround.

Yea, I hear ya but, used games were a big deal for me. As too many games come out and there is lot of tiles I would like to play but, not willing to pay $63+ for it (after tax, etc), so getting a 2 month old game used for $25-35 is a good gaming value.

The on-line all the time thing would never work and have too many complaints from people. Not everyone in the world has a great internet connection at their home, sure a good 80% of players do but, what about that 20%, or the mother who would not let their 10-12 year old have access to the internet on their xbox...

Even digital games are a fail in a lot of aspects... I have a fairly good connection (50/20mb about), and all wired via gigbit but, a 47.5gb game (about the size for most AAA games these days) still takes about 2 hours to download...

There was something to be said for the N64 and past consoles....drop in, turn on and you are playing 2-3 seconds later.... kind of miss those days...

 

[buzzard75]

Think I understand this. I'm actually considering getting a second console for the living room for 4k and to eliminate some standalone boxes.

So, say my daughter and I want to play the same game together on two different consoles and all the games are under my account. She would need to be logged into my 'home' console and then I could login on the second console.

I know you can move games from an internal hard drive to an external one and back again. Can you COPY games rather than moving them? I just don't want to have to download a game or all the DLC twice and eat into my ISP data cap any more than I already am. Some of these digital downloads are massive.

 

[DOGC_Kyle]

So, say my daughter and I want to play the same game together on two different consoles and all the games are under my account. She would need to be logged into my 'home' console and then I could login on the second console.

That is correct. Just make sure that you're not signed into the home console, otherwise it will kick both of you out of the game until you sign out of one system. I would advise disabling Kinect Sign-In (if enabled) since it would immediately close the game on all systems if the sensor sees you.

I know you can move games from an internal hard drive to an external one and back again. Can you COPY games rather than moving them? I just don't want to have to download a game or all the DLC twice and eat into my ISP data cap any more than I already am. Some of these digital downloads are massive.

I think there is a Copy option, but I don't know if you can use this to copy games to a different console. There might be DRM preventing you from transferring to a different console, but you'd have to try it and see.

 

[buzzard75]

That is correct. Just make sure that you're not signed into the home console, otherwise it will kick both of you out of the game until you sign out of one system. I would advise disabling Kinect Sign-In (if enabled) since it would immediately close the game on all systems if the sensor sees you.

Yeah, it's disabled. I keep a cover over the camera anyway.

I think there is a Copy option, but I don't know if you can use this to copy games to a different console. There might be DRM preventing you from transferring to a different console, but you'd have to try it and see.

I recall seeing the copy option, but I'm not sure if it was for apps AND games, or just apps. I'll give it a shot.

 

[ANTxDAxRULER]

U can only Game Share up to 5 times a year with someone.....

First you will have to sign into your brothers account on your XboxOne

Lock account Down to where no one on the console can access his account unless using his Microsoft password

Second you will have to go to settings and make your console his Home Console

This allows you to play all of his Digital Games on your console under your Gamertag without him having to be logged in....AND YES YOU GUYS CAN PLAY AT THE SAME TIME ON 2 DIFFERENT CONSOLES

For him to Play all of your digital games at the same time reverse steps.... Now YOU make his console your HOME console



everybody who replied lacked the knowledge and misled everyone

 

[DOGC_Kyle]

U can only Game Share up to 5 times a year with someone.....

First you will have to sign into your brothers account on your XboxOne

Lock account Down to where no one on the console can access his account unless using his Microsoft password

Second you will have to go to settings and make your console his Home Console

This allows you to play all of his Digital Games on your console under your Gamertag without him having to be logged in....AND YES YOU GUYS CAN PLAY AT THE SAME TIME ON 2 DIFFERENT CONSOLES

For him to Play all of your digital games at the same time reverse steps.... Now YOU make his console your HOME console



everybody who replied lacked the knowledge and misled everyone

That's exactly what I said... "You CAN let others borrow games on your home console though. If you buy a game on your home system, anyone signed into your home system can play it (on their own accounts)."

There's also no five times per year limit that I'm aware of, games on the home console can be played by anyone at any time. Unless you're referring to the limit of changing home console, but you shouldn't need to change the home console (assuming it was set as a console that the non-owners have access to, likely a shared TV/console).

 

[DavidinCT]

I guess in this aspect... Physical games are better.. Follow these directions on how to share games... care of the PS4....LOL

I figured they would have something in place if you had a digital game but, this is not the case, I guess I will be buying more physical games...

 

[ANTxDAxRULER]

you cant just go to ppl houses making their console your home console in order from them to play your digital games that is why Microsoft put a limitation saying you can only make other console your home console 5 times a year