Microsoft Offers Free Game To Xbox One Owners With Hardware Issues

Reports have surfaced over the weekend that a small percentage of Xbox One users were experiencing technical issues with their brand new gaming hardware. The most common issue seems to be a Disc-read error where the optical drive makes a scary clunking sound – caused by defective disc drives.

Polygon and many more sites have picked up on the news that – at well as offering their Advance Exchange program, whereby affected gamers will be sent a replacement machine before having to return their faulty one, in order to speed up the process – the gaming giant will also offer a free game as a way of apology to all of those affected.

It is unclear if this offer only applies to those with the specific disc drive error, or all early-adopters who experience hardware issues. But nonetheless, Microsoft are offering a free download version of one of the following to gamers; Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome or Zoo Tycoon. Being download-based, users will even be able to play these on their machine with the faulty disc drive whilst they wait for a replacement, if need be.

It is good to see that Microsoft are trying to make amends in some way for these early teething troubles, whereas Sony have offered no such resolutions to users in Northa America whose PlayStation 4 consoles are suffering the “Blue light of Death”. Perhaps Sony will soon offer a similar deal in order to save face when compared with Microsoft.