I hear u. I could see if this was a mixed message that’s been fluctuating about for months. But the statement was retracted within a day. Every company does this. Move on.

Neither statement was probably wrong. Every Xbox one can be turned into a Dev kit. However probably due to piracy concerns as a Dev kit can run unsigned (pirated) code they don’t want every joe shmoe being able to make their Xbox a free game machine.

Its likely you will actually have to prove you are going to be developing something. Which would make both statements true.

The initial announcement stated that every Xbox had the ability. It did not state they would just unlock any Xbox cause someone asked. Publishers would kill them. Piracy would become so easy it would absolutely destroy game sales.

Also the ability to run unsigned code would also open up the abilities to hack any game for cheating online. This was an issue for the original Xbox that had mod chips. All a mod chip does is turn a console into a debug (development) unit that runs any code you want. That’s why Microsoft added checksums in the bios so when you login to live it makes sure you aren’t running unsigned xbe’s.

So..Microsoft can allow everyone to be a Dev and pirate whatever they want, install emulators on their Xbox and cheat online OR they setup a program so only legit devs can unlock their Xbox ones.

Lastly…about 1/4% of all Xbox owners could/would actually try to make games and those people can already get development consoles from Microsoft just by signing up for id@xbox so why does anyone even give a damn about this? Oh right I forgot! Its cool and fun to hate on Microsoft right now just as it was cool and fun to hate on Sony after the ps3 launch….