GameStop has "applauded" Microsoft for ditching its Xbox One used game DRM policies and mandatory online checks.


Microsoft today announced the complete withdrawal of the Xbox One's controversial restrictions on used games and the requirement of an internet connection for license checks once every 24 hours.

"GameStop welcomes today's announcement from Microsoft about changes in functionality for its next-generation console, the Xbox One," said a GameStop rep in an official statement to Polygon in response to the announcement.

"This is great news for gamers and we applaud Microsoft for understanding consumers and the importance of the pre-owned market," they added.

The console's previously proposed DRM measures would have restricted the sale of used games between gamers, and would allegedly have saw Microsoft and publishers take a cut of profits made from used game sales at retail. This would have had huge implications for major organizations like GameStop, which rely heavily on profits from the used games market.

But GameStop had said in May that it would commit to support of Xbox One despite used game policy concerns. "I think what is important to note is that all three of the console companies that have launched have now come back and they say, 'I realise the value of the buy-sell-trade model,' and they have built that into their new consoles moving forward," said GameStop president Tony Bartel at the time.