Xbox Codename Roma Arrives as Digital Direct
Back in December of 2018, I wrote a post deciphering a variety of Xbox codenames including Anaconda (series X), Maverick (Xbox All Digital), and a few others. Included in that list was Roma which remained in the background of the other codenames but it looks like that feature has finally become a reality.
At that time, I wrote that Roma is “a ‘digital attach’ feature for the Xbox. What this will allow you to do, as long is it is shipped as planned, is to order an Xbox One with digital services ‘attached’ to the hardware when it ships to your house.” And it looks like that feature is now available.
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Microsoft is calling this feature Digital Direct and says that no codes are required and that “all digital content including games, subscriptions, and exclusive content will be redeemed to your Microsoft account and directly delivered to your Xbox console during setup.” It looks like the old days of opening up a console and having to enter a code to redeem your content may be behind us.
It’s important to note that when setting up a console with Digital Direct, the first Microsoft account used to login to the console will have the content attached to the account. While this is certainly going to streamline the setup process for some users, for others, this can be a pain.
The reason being, if you buy a bundled console and don’t want one of the digital games, it appears that there is no way to sell that code to a friend.
One of the first places with see Digital Direct showing up is with the recently released Cyberpunk 2077 limited edition console. Gamers who have bought that console already, even though the game is not yet available, have been informed that the game will automatically be applied to their account.
While this may not seem like a significant new feature, it shows a maturity to Microsoft’s bundling and console pipeline; that they can now optimize how and where content is delivered with their consoles.