Microsoft's original plans for Xbox One may have been scrapped in light of the public's response, but some of its ideas, including digital game sharing, could make a return in the future.
Speaking with GameSpot during PAX Prime, Microsoft executive Albert Penello discussed a digital future for the gaming industry, stating emphatically that a digital-only future will one day be realized. He pointed to what's happening with tablets, phones, music, and movies, as well as PC games with Steam, as evidence of this shift toward a digital-oriented future that the gaming industry will follow.
For now, Xbox One remains a disc-oriented system for games. It will have more of a digital presence than Xbox 360, with all games being made available digitally, but, as we already know, at launch it will lack some of the features Microsoft originally promised before bending to the will of outraged gamers. Things like being able to sell digital games and allow up to ten family members (who didn't actually have to be family members) to play your Xbox One games from any system went out the window with that shift, but Penello indicated the family sharing feature and others will be revisited