Here is a list of attributed quotes and interview summaries from major blogs regarding Xbox One features, arranged by subject. Will be updated from time to time with new quotes.
Note: obsolete quotes are now marked [OBE] (Overcome By Events); these should no longer be considered accurate information.
Quick Jump To Sections
Backwards Compatibility
Buying/Selling/Trading/Renting Used Games
Family Accounts/Sharing Games/Playing on Others' Consoles
Installing Games on Hard Drive
Playing Without Disc in Drive
Playing While Offline
Kinect Requirements
Backwards Compatibility
[quote user="Business Insider"][The Xbox One] won't be able to play older Xbox 360 games. According to Todd Holmdahl, [MS Corporate Vice President, Interactive Entertainment], the move was necessary to push the Xbox platform forward and enable more advanced games.
"We created a new architecture," Holmdahl said in an interview. "It was too much of a burden for us to develop for both sets of games." (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Business Insider"]He also said it wouldn't be possible for future software updates to add backwards compatibility. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
Buying/Selling/Trading/Renting Used Games
[quote user="Xbox.com"]Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.(June 19, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"]We designed Xbox One so game publishers can enable you to trade in your games at participating retailers. Microsoft does not charge a platform fee to retailers, publishers, or consumers for enabling transfer of these games. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] Xbox One is designed so game publishers can enable you to give your disc-based games to your friends. There are no fees charged as part of these transfers. There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"]Third party publishers may opt in or out of supporting game resale and may set up business terms or transfer fees with retailers. Microsoft does not receive any compensation as part of this. In addition, third party publishers can enable you to give games to friends. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Major Nelson"][OBE] While there have been many potential scenarios discussed, today we have only confirmed that we designed Xbox One to enable our customers to trade in and resell games at retail. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Albert Penello, MS Senior Director of Product Planning"][OBE] It's going to be different than (sic) the way we currently do it ... We'll get into more specifics later. (via Engadget, May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"][OBE] We will have a system where you can take that digital content and trade a previously played game at a retail store. We're not announcing the details of that today, but we will have announced in due course. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
Family Accounts, Game Sharing, Playing On Someone Else's Console
[quote user="Marc Whitten, MS VP (via IGN)"](When asked if family sharing was time-limited demos) No, that would be silly. Don't believe everything you read online! (June 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Aaron Greenberg, MS Chief of Staff for Interactive Entertainment Busines (via IGN)"]There was no time limit, it was as we described. Team still investing in more digital features over time. (June 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Larry Hryb"][OBE] (Slightly paraphrased)You have to think of it as a library, sort of exactly how it works today. If we're a family, you're the dad, I'm the son, if you buy [a game], I can actually check it out and play it, or you can play it. Think of it as one person at a time just like it is today. (June 16, Interview with Angry Joe, YouTube, Link
[quote user="Yusef Mehdi, Microsoft Xbox Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer"][OBE] (Via Ars Technica) For one, a family member doesn't have to be a "blood relative," he said, eliminating the extremely unlikely possibility that the Xbox One would include a built-in blood testing kit. For another, they don't have to live in the primary owner's house—I could name a friend that lives 3,000 miles away as one of my "family members" Mehdi said. (June 12, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] Up to ten members of your family can log in and play from your shared games library on any Xbox One. Just like today, a family member can play your copy of Forza Motorsport at a friend’s house. Only now, they will see not just Forza, but all of your shared games. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] After signing in and installing, you can play any of your games from any Xbox One because a digital copy of your game is stored on your console and in the cloud. So, for example, while you are logged in at your friend’s house, you can play your games. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"][OBE] Your friends and family, your guests and acquaintances get unlimited access to all of your games. Anyone can play your games on your console--regardless of whether you are logged in or their relationship to you. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Albert Penello, MS Senior Director of Product Planning"][OBE] (When asked by Engadget specifically about playing a game on multiple family accounts) Certainly we've accounted for family members in the household being able to play games. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Major Nelson"]Another piece of clarification around playing games at a friend’s house – should you choose to play your game at your friend’s house, there is no fee to play that game while you are signed in to your profile. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Engadget"][OBE] You will, [Albert] Penello says, have "the ability to go over to your friends house, download your save game, or even download your game to his Xbox and pick up where you left off." So, not only will your game saves be stored in the cloud, your entire game library will be and you'll be able to download it from anywhere. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"][OBE] So, think about how you use a disc that you own of an Xbox 360 game. If I buy the disc from a store, I use that disc in my machine, I can give that disc to my son and he can play it on his 360 in his room. We both can't play at the same time, but the disc is the key to playing. I can go round to your house and give you that disc and you can play on that game as well.
What we're doing with the digital permissions that we have for Xbox One is no different to that. If I am playing on that disc, which is installed to the hard drive on my Xbox One, everybody in my household who has permission to use my Xbox One can use that piece of content. [So] I can give that piece of content to my son and he can play it on the same system. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"][OBE] I can come to your house and I can put the disc into your machine and I can sign in as me and we can play the game. The bits are on your hard drive. At the end of the play session, when I take my disc home - or even if I leave it with you - if you want to continue to play that game [on your profile] then you have to pay for it. The bits are already on your hard drive, so it's just a question of going to our [online] store and buying the game, and then it's instantly available to play. The bits that are on the disc, I can give to anybody else, but if we both want to play it at the same time, we both have to own it. That's no different to how discs operate today. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
Installing Games on Hard Drive
[quote user="Xbox.com"]You’ll be able to buy disc-based games at traditional retailers or online through Xbox Live, on day of release. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Engadget"](After interview with Albert Penello) Just pop the disc in and start playing and the game will start installing while you play. No need to hit the Y button and go through any other theatrics. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
Playing Games Without Disc in Drive
[quote user="Engadget"][OBE] "That feature, the ability to play games off the hard drive, was one of the first things we wrote down when we started to talk about next-gen," said [Albert] Penello. So, yes, once you install the game, you can put the disc on the shelf and forget about it. But, presumably, you can't just sell the disc and still keep playing the game. So, how does that work? At a minimum, each game disc must have some sort of unique ID associated to your account. "Your Xbox account will tie you to your game," said Penello. That ID must, therefore, be somehow disassociated from your account before you can sell the thing. Unfortunately, this is where things start getting murky. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
Playing Games Offline
[quote user="Xbox.com"]An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.(June 19, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Engadget"][OBE] Games will work offline without an issue and game saves will sync transparently when you reconnect, [Albert] Penello told us. However, some games that make use of Microsoft's online services may not be playable offline. That will be up to developers. (May 21, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"][OBE] For single-player games that don’t require connectivity to Xbox Live, you should be able to play those without interruption should your Internet connection go down. Blu-ray movies and other downloaded entertainment should be accessible when your Internet connection may be interrupted. But the device is fundamentally designed to be expanded and extended by the Internet as many devices are today. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"][OBE] I think the key point to make is that Xbox One requires an internet connection, but it does not need to be connected all the time. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
Kinect Requirement
[quote user="Xbox.com"]When Xbox One is on and you’re simply having a conversation in your living room, your conversation is not being recorded or uploaded. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Xbox.com"]If you don’t want the Kinect sensor on while playing games or enjoying your entertainment, you can pause Kinect. To turn off your Xbox One, just say “Xbox Off.” When the system is off, it’s only listening for the single voice command -- “Xbox On,” and you can even turn that feature off too. Some apps and games may require Kinect functionality to operate, so you’ll need to turn it back on for these experiences. (June 6, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Stephen Totilo, Kotaku"](quoting MS source) "It is not always watching or always listening," a spokesperson for Microsoft told me over e-mail while I was trying to nail down some facts for a story about next-gen consoles that ran in yesterday's New York Times. (May 28, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Harrison, MS Corporate VP"]We aren't using Kinect to snoop on anybody at all. We listen for the word 'Xbox on' and then switch on the machine, but we don't transmit personal data in any way, shape or form that could be personally identifiable to you, unless you explicitly opt into that. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Phil Spencer, VP MS Game Studios"]You definitely will have the software capability to turn off all the capabilities of Kinect. We want to put the gamer in control. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Jeff Henshaw, Group Program Manager for Xbox Incubation"]It's not the case where you'll be able to remove the camera altogether. But you'll be able to put the system in modes where you can be completely secure about the fact that the camera is off and can't see you. (May 22, Link)[/quote]
[quote user="Ars Technica"]The Kinect system has also been upgraded. Perhaps most importantly of all, it should work a lot better in small rooms. The field of view is described as being 60 percent wider and this translates to being able to stand 3-4 feet closer to the sensor. That's a substantial improvement, which is just as well since the Kinect will be mandatory equipment. (May 21, Link)[/quote]