Xbox One Game Gifting Option Availability Opens Soon
According to Xbox Vice President Mike Ybarra, gamers aren’t far off from being able to take advantage of Xbox One game gifting. Soon, Xbox One console owners will be able to give games as gifts to their friends online via the new Xbox gifting service. No exact date has been given for the service, but Ybarra stated via Twitter that the gift availability is “not far” from launch.
In a reply via Twitter, Ybarra claims the service will be going live soon. Although no further details are give, the response gives hints at the project’s progress in development and confirms that it is in the works for release sometime in the near future:
Not far!
— Mike Ybarra (@XboxQwik) July 6, 2017
Neither the PlayStation 4 nor the Xbox One offer gifting options, as the service has been something that’s completely unavailable. Companies such as Valve offer gifting options for games via Steam, which has been used with much gratuity, allowing players to take advantage of deals and share the bounty of great games with friends. Even the Nintendo Wii offered a gifting option.
While it’s always been available to buy console credit for friends and family to get their own games, and physical copies are usually available for large titles, obtaining a physical object just go give a digital gift adds an an inconvenient step to a simple process.
None of the follow-up questions to the Tweet have been answered, but players were quick to give suggestions to the upcoming gifting system, such as additional features such as wishlists that can be made public to other players, and the ability to rent games to friends so they can try before they buy.
Hopefully, the success of the upcoming Xbox One gifting feature will convince other platform executives to launch their own gifting systems, as both PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch owners would greatly benefit from the option.