Having more than 1 Xbox One in the house?

Ken28

n00b
Joined
Dec 12, 2015
Messages
6
Hey guys! I'm wondering is someone can answer this for me.

My oldest son has an Xbox One already. My two younger sons both want an Xbox One for Christmas.

Can I buy games in the future once and have them all play the same game without having to buy 3 copies?

They all had a PS3 and used to share discs - no problem. Then they all got the Xbox 360 and I had to buy the same game 3 times because they couldn't share. I don't want the same problem again with the One. Games here are too expensive to have to buy 3 times. For instance, NHL 16 is about $100 per disc with tax etc... where I live (Ontario, Canada). $300 for them to play just one game isn't happening.

I've been reading mixed reactions about whether or not this is possible to share games. Can someone here that knows what they're talking about help me out? I'm not a gamer so I'm not too familiar with it all. In my time I gamed on my Atari 2600 and Nintendo LOL.

Also, if it's possible to share games would they all need to have a Live account too?

Just to clarify, they don't all necessarily want to play the same game at the same time. My oldest might play Black Ops 3 while the other two might play NHL and I don't know, WWE or a Lego game or whatever. Basically I just want to know if buying a game once will allow them all to have access to it or if I need to buy each game 3 times, which I refuse to do.

Thanks!
 
You will need live accounts for them to play on line. You can share the disc, but they can't play at the same time, that would be considered piracy. One trick for MS store purchased items is to set the home console of one player in an opposite room. That will give each other access to download purchased store items. again, can't be played at the same time.
 
Would it be better if I bought games from the MS store and downloaded onto one of the consoles or if I bought the disc from a store? Or does that even matter?

So if my younger two boys wanted to play the same game at the same time, say Forza 6, then I would need a purchased copy for each?

Another question if you don't mind answering. My oldest now has a refurbished console he got one year ago. If we also bought him a new one, because he wants the elite controller and they are sold out, so if we bought him the elite bundle which comes with the elite controller and an SSD drive, would he be able to put all his current games from the console he has now to the new console without losing anything? Then my wife and I could use his refurbished console in the living room as a media centre.
 
The games that they "couldn't share" on 360, was it a digital game or a physical disc? There shouldn't be anything blocking them from sharing a physical disc on any system as long as you have the disc in the console.
 
His saves should sync to the cloud, and will be downloaded when he logs in and plays the game. You would need 2 copies of F6 to play at the same time.

Getting games from the MS store is good if you don't want to worry about discs. The plus side is when you want to play, you don't have to get up and put the disc in the machine. The down side is usually they cost more than buying from another store. I like buying from the Microsoft Store, but don't like the price.
 
The games that they "couldn't share" on 360, was it a digital game or a physical disc? There shouldn't be anything blocking them from sharing a physical disc on any system as long as you have the disc in the console.

Physical disc. But they wanted to play the same game at the same time.
 
His saves should sync to the cloud, and will be downloaded when he logs in and plays the game. You would need 2 copies of F6 to play at the same time.

Getting games from the MS store is good if you don't want to worry about discs. The plus side is when you want to play, you don't have to get up and put the disc in the machine. The down side is usually they cost more than buying from another store. I like buying from the Microsoft Store, but don't like the price.

Okay I think I have it figured out now. Thanks for that.

I guess one last question. For all future games bought from MS and downloaded - should we download them all to the same console and share from there or does it not really matter which of the 3 consoles games are originally bought for and downloaded to? For instance, my oldest likes the COD and NHL games, middle likes racing games the most and youngest likes WWE and Lego the most. So if I buy Forza 6 for my middle son should I download to his console since he will play it the most but one of the other two kids might play it occasionally?
 
Physical disc. But they wanted to play the same game at the same time.
Well, any console you'll have that restriction. May want to look at buying used games rather than new. Usually 1 season gone by sports games drops in price to very little
 
I think you will have to end up downloading to both places. Also, if you have data caps, pay attention to this. You can chew threw it pretty quick.

Also, what is your internet speed. If they want to play, it will be a lot faster installing from a physical disk.
 
Well, any console you'll have that restriction. May want to look at buying used games rather than new. Usually 1 season gone by sports games drops in price to very little

That's what I started doing was buying used discs for their ps3 and 360.

I think you will have to end up downloading to both places. Also, if you have data caps, pay attention to this. You can chew threw it pretty quick.

Also, what is your internet speed. If they want to play, it will be a lot faster installing from a physical disk.

My data is unlimited and my current Internet speed is 100Mbps but I am thinking of switching it to their fastest 250Mbps soon because we have 5 computers, 2 laptops, 6 tablets, Android TV box, 3 smart phones and of course the gaming consoles.
 
That speed is fine. You are still looking at 15 minutes the first time you put a disk in versus well over an hour if you down load. MS servers will only download so fast, and unless everything in your house is streaming and downloading at the same time, I think you will have diminishing returns, as far as download a game goes by the speed increase.
 
I have two consoles in my house. No problem. My son and i can play games (digital) any time because we go off of my Live subscription. My gold subscription can allow two people to play within my house. Anyone can play on my home console (sons room), and anyone can play on my living room console because my profile is automatically logged in. Now if i want more than two consoles to play, the same games, then thats a problem.
 
i tried to think out of a scenario that would help minimize costs for you.... at any point in time you will need to purchase a minimum of 2 copies per game... 1 copy must be a digital copy and this is the copy that can be shared between two consoles by using the method mentioned in a previous post...

i suggest for new games you follow this approach.. older games you're better off just buying used copies
 
Well, any console you'll have that restriction. May want to look at buying used games rather than new. Usually 1 season gone by sports games drops in price to very little

Actually a neat trick with the PS4 is to set one of the PS4s as the primary for the account you buy games on. Buy all the PS4 games digital then any guest or account on that PS4 can play the game. Then on another PS4 sign in with the primary account holder who bought the game and you can also play the same game you bought but at the same time.
 
You can gameshare digital games on Xbox one and both people play them at the same time together on seperate systems online you just need Xbox live for both accounts. Tons of people do this. They just take turns buying the games or split the cost of the game.

You would need to buy one digital copy and one physical copy if your gonna do it for 3 systems and it will work and they can all play the same game together at the same time.
 
Back
Top