Xbox One won’t play games out of the box, requires day-one patch

If you unbox and turn on an Xbox One on November 22nd, make sure you have an internet connection nearby. Microsoft has revealed that a day-one patch for its upcoming next-gen console will be a requirement to play games and access basic apps on the console. "Functionally, you will be able to do very little without taking the day-one update," said Microsoft’s senior director of Xbox product management Albert Penello in an interview with Engadget recently. Out of the box you can do “nothing” according to Penello: “You need the Day One update,” he said. Microsoft confirmed Penello's comments to The Verge. "An initial, one-time system update is required for your Xbox One to function," says a Microsoft spokesperson.

The day-one patch, expected to take around 15 or 20 minutes to download, will update the Xbox One to the latest dashboard operating system. Microsoft previously revealed details of the day-one patch in June, but it wasn’t known that the console would be rendered useless without it. "You're gonna need to take this update. It's not gonna be really an optional thing,” adds Penello, noting that a lot of the new apps come with the update. Sony has a similar update for its PlayStation 4 console. Out of the box, the PlayStation 4 won’t play Blu-rays or DVDs without Sony’s patch. However games are still expected to function out of the box on the PS4.