Xbox One's DRM check feature derailed a recent Killer Instinct tournament when it booted competitors out of the game to check the title's ownership, as shown in the video posted above.
The video, captured and posted by Team Spooky After Hours, shows gamers at Queens College in New York battling it out in the Defend the School Tournament. The tournament included qualifying rounds for New York City-based professional eSports event, the Defend the North fighting game tournament.
At the 6:34 mark things go south. To the announcer's cries of "Xbone, no!" the console boots players back to the main menu and the "Do you own this game or app?" message pops up.
"If you have a game disc, insert it now," read the on-screen instructions. "If there is no disc, make sure you are signed into Xbox Live. If you don't have rights for playing it, you'll need to buy it at the Xbox Store."
The prompt did not give competitors, who were playing together locally, the chance to save their progress and the battle was being livestreamed through Twitch at the time. From the video, it appears that the prompt was triggered when the Xbox One lost connection to the internet. The competitors were unable to continue from where they left off and the video ends with the announcer seeking help in restarting the game.
Earlier this year Microsoft reversed its initial software policies for the Xbox One, eliminating a previously-announced required daily online check and a number of other restrictions. However, when multiple users set up profiles on the Xbox One, playing a game under a profile that did not initially install the game will prompt the system to display the ownership message.
Update: Microsoft's support site states that the Xbox One must always be signed in and connected to Xbox Live when playing digital games on a console different from the one it was originally purchased on. This suggests that the issue during the above Killer Instinct tournament was related to a faulty internet connection, as Killer Instinct is a digital-only game. We apologize for not including this information in the original story and taking so long to fix it.
