Microsoft fixes Xbox One consoles that were effectively bricked due to being unable to update

Reports from across the Internet, including Reddit and NeoGAF (the earliest we could find was on July 21 and the latter forum), indicate that some launch model Xbox One consoles were effectively soft-bricked from playing games (online or all depending on severity) or even updating the console until Microsoft fixed the issue with backend updates, per a Tweet from Xbox Gaming Devices & Ecosystem VP Jason Ronald.

This issue happened because some of these launch model consoles, including many that found their way onto the secondhand market, hadn't received software updates since November 2018 or earlier. This also applied to original models that had simply been factory reset before reselling, as is good practice. Mind, the original Xbox One launch was back in 2013, and the succeeding Xbox One S refresh launched in 2016, a year before the mid-gen upgrade of the Xbox One X launched in late 2017. So, it's not wholly surprising that some Xbox One consoles went completely untouched in that timespan, though factory resets also trigger the issue and set a much wider umbrella than just the last update time.

Fortunately for these troubled Xbox One console owners, Microsoft addressed the issue pretty much the instant a large platform— Digital Foundry in its DF Direct series— covered it. However, it's unfortunate that something as simple as factory resetting an original Xbox One model could render it unusable once resold for any span of time. It goes to show the inherent downsides of a console market that's veering increasingly towards always-online requirements, as opposed to owning the console simply allowing you to play your games no matter what, as used to be standard.

This specific issue with this specific launch model even recalls the initial Xbox One announcement, where a mandatory always-online model was planned and received massive backlash from fans across the console gaming space until Microsoft backtracked on the decision. Unfortunately, the Xbox One still launched with a mandatory Kinect peripheral, which not many games utilized, and this raised the price by a solid $100 over the competing PlayStation 4— and the rest is history, at least as far as that generation of console gaming goes.