14 DAY TRIAL // Xbox boss Phil Spencer says that, while he likes the idea of digital game gifting on the Xbox One, there are currently no plans to implement such a feature.
The concept of being able to gift games or downloadable content or whatever else type of digital entertainment content you would like to your friends is great, but unfortunately, it's not coming to the Xbox One computer entertainment anytime soon.
Microsoft's Xbox division head Phil Spencer tweeted that "I like the feature, great part of digital, but we don't have a plan right now," when being asked whether it was on the Xbox One development roadmap.
And Spencer isn't even the first of the Xbox people to be approached regarding the subject of digital game gifting, the history dating back to even before the next-gen console's release, when Microsoft's Community Manager Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb said that it was a great feature that the team would like to add someday.
Even the Xbox Director of Product Planning, Albert Penello, talked about the feature last year, revealing that Microsoft had originally planned to support trading and loaning of digital Xbox One games for launch, but the feature had been dropped due to the controversy regarding the console's questionable policies.
The concept of digital game gifting is a pretty new one, with Valve's massive digital distribution service Steam being one of the few game marketplaces that support the feature.
Seeing the potential and good value for customers, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt developer CD Projekt RED also made it available on its own digital distribution platform, GOG.
This adds another one to the list of Xbox execs saying that gamers can expect various benefits to come to the Xbox One as far as digital games are concerned, and it would seem like a pretty nice addition to the company's push for digital sales.
"I think we need to do that. That has to be part of the experience," Penello said before the launch of the Xbox One console.
It seems that since then, Microsoft's continuous revision of its policies regarding the hardware platform has pushed back digital trading and gifting.
For the time being, Microsoft is busy for the upcoming launch of the Xbox One on 26 more markets, including China, Korea, India and Japan, scheduled for September 23.
A recent report from an analyst firm puts the PC gaming market at around 92 percent digital, and a similar trend, of a transition toward digital purchases are also seen for console games, although retail is still king for the time being.
@The_Iceman2288 I like the feature, great part of digital, but we don't have a plan right now.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) August 20, 2014