If you’re an Xbox One owner who likes to share with others, you need to know how to share Xbox One games with friends and family. Use this guide to learn how.
There are different ways to share Xbox One games with friends and family. Xbox Home shares digital games you purchase from the Xbox Store with people on your console. Both you and your friend can play the same game at the same time. With profile roaming, your friend can log into their Xbox and instantly access your digital games from their account.
Disc games are even easier to share than digital games. You just hand over your disc. There’s nothing that locks a physical game to the console, but if there are bonuses used with a code, you can’t share them to disk.
Here’s how to use these methods to share Xbox One games with friends and family.
Sharing Digital Xbox One Games
These two methods allow you to share Xbox One games without leaving your home. You can only use them if you downloaded the game from the Xbox Store.
Game Sharing with Xbox Home
Have your friend mark their Xbox One as your home console to share games with them. To do this, you need to give them access to your Microsoft Account. All your digital games will appear on their console’s download page after completion.
Be aware that sharing games like this can be dangerous. First, you must grant your friend or family member access to your Microsoft Account to make the change. Your friend can purchase games with your account and for example bill your credit card with this information.
Solve this problem by going to their home and making their console your personal home console. Lock auto-login when adding your account. Xbox Live will continue to share your Xbox One games with them, but will prevent anyone from logging into your account without your PIN or password.
The second reason to be careful when sharing Xbox One games this way is Microsoft’s account restrictions. You can designate only one Xbox One as your Home Console. So, setting the Xbox One as your home console at your friend’s house means losing access to other people playing games on your Xbox One at home. Fortunately, you can replace your home console three times a year.
How to Replace Your Xbox Home Console
Turn on your friend’s Xbox One and connect to Xbox Live.
Press the glow on the controller twice to open the Xbox Guide.
Select the circular icon in the corner of the Xbox Guide.
Now use your joystick to highlight it in the Xbox Guide.
Enter the Microsoft Account attached to your Xbox Live Gamertag. Do not select the “Like by magic” option. You want to force the console to ask for your password every time you log in. This will keep your account safe.
Now that you’ve added your account, go to Home by pressing the Xbox logo on your controller and selecting Home.
At the bottom of your screen, look for the tile with the logo on it. Select to be taken to the membership area.
After entering the membership area, select the button.
Choose now.
Sharing Digital Xbox One Games with a Mobile Xbox Live Profile
You can skip marking a console as Home and still share Xbox One games with others. Simply provide them with your Microsoft Account username and password. You can use digital Xbox One games wherever you’re signed in. If your friend signs in with your account, they can download games from your digital library and enjoy them in Gamertags.
There are two advantages to sharing digital Xbox One games this way. Signing into your own console will instantly remove their access to your games, which is convenient. Other people on your Xbox One at home can also play your games. This is the other advantage.
It’s important to know the disadvantages of sharing Xbox One games this way. You should give your friend access to your account, putting the security of your account at risk. Every time they log into their console, they log you out of Xbox Live, whether you’ve saved your game or not.
Sharing Xbox One Games on a Disc
Sharing Xbox One games on a disc is simple compared to sharing digital games. There are no restrictions on physical games. Since this is your copy, you can do whatever you want with it.
To share Xbox One games on disc, simply give the game to a friend or family member. Make sure the game is in its bag so it’s easy to identify and protected from scratches. Your account and game records are safe. Xbox One stores this information in your console’s internal storage, not on disk.
Your friend may miss out on some of the content you experience with your disc game, as some games have missions that require a code to unlock. These codes are included with the game disc, but you cannot redeem them twice. Ubisoft and Warner Brothers limit such downloadable content to a single quest or items to customize your character, so don’t worry.
Also, any downloadable content you purchase for a disc game stays with you. This content is stored on your console’s hard drive, not on your game disc. You must share your account details with your friend or family member to allow them to access your DLC.
