The last week as been an awesome roller coaster of trying to figure out where Microsoft was going with new features and how they were going to handle DRM. Today, all that died.

Don Matrick, President, Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft announced today that (alternate source since the Xbox site is under heavy load):

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.

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.

While this means the used game market isn’t going anywhere and people can still trade their used games, the features that went along with the DRM to add value are gone as well. No chance to share your game library with family or friends the next state over. Unless you want to put your game in an envelope and mail it to them that is. And hopefully they send it back.

Where this puts publishers and developers down the road can’t be good. It’s already well-known that used game sales hurt AAA titles the most. I guess we’ll just have a few less Call of Duty class games and a few more indie games on our next gen consoles. Ho, hum. I’m not a fan of backtracking.