Xbox One Gameshare: How to share games on the Xbox One

Game sharing used to be as simple as handing your friends a game cartridge or disc, and while the advent of digital titles made this much harder, there is still a way to share your Xbox One games with others, with ease.

One of the main benefits we’ve seen from sharing games this way is that the two of you can still play together. Back in the days of disc sharing MMO wasn’t really a thing but you couldn’t sit side-by-side and enjoy a game together with different consoles. Now, you can.

How to Share a Game Xbox One

Setting an Xbox One as your home Xbox allows anyone that uses that console to play your games while being logged into their own account. Bear in mind that this is a workaround because Microsoft has yet to let us share purchases like Apple’s iTunes.

This also applies to subscriptions for Xbox Live Gold, meaning friends can play online, as well as games downloaded as part of Games with Gold, EA Access, and Xbox Game Pass. Additionally, your home Xbox can play your digital games when the console is offline.

It should be noted that you can only have one console set as your home Xbox at any one time, but you can still log into your Xbox Live account on other consoles and play your games while connected to the internet.

All of your game saves are automatically stored in the cloud when you’re connected online, so you can always pick up right where you left off.

How to set an Xbox One as your home Xbox

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to bring up the Guide menu, scroll right to the System tab, and open Settings
2. Select General
3. Head to Personalization | My home Xbox. Depending on your sign-in and security preferences, you might need to input your Xbox passkey or Microsoft Account password
4. Select Make this my home Xbox to designate it as your home console, or “This is not my home Xbox” to deactivate this feature

Switch Your Home Xbox to a Different Xbox One

You can switch your home Xbox at any time from any console you’re currently logged into. There’s no need to first deactivate your current home Xbox, just follow the above instructions on the new console and it will take over as your home Xbox.

Note: You can only change your home Xbox five times within a 12-month period, so you can’t keep switching back and forth. When activating a console, you will be informed of how many switches you have remaining, or you will be shown when your next activation will become available if you’ve reached your yearly limit.

Remotely deactivate your home Xbox

Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t allow you to remotely deactivate an Xbox console as your Home device. But, there is a quick and easy workaround to this. If you’ve logged into a friend’s device (or sold one) and you forgot to deactivate it, simply sign in to your Microsoft account and change the password.

Scroll down and click ‘Update‘ under the “Security” tab.

Click the option to ‘Change my Password.’

Now, you can either set yours as your home device or leave it alone. Once you’ve changed the password, your friend will no longer have access to your Xbox account.

This will only remove your home Xbox activation from the console. If you wish to remove your account from the Xbox as well, you will need to do so with access to the console.

Xbox Anywhere Titles

Now that we’ve discussed how you can share your digital games with others, you may wonder if you can share games with yourself? The public outcry for cross-platform gaming is becoming more widespread these days and fortunately, Microsoft is willing to give just a little.

If you’re a PC/Xbox gamer, you understand there’s hardly anything more aggravating than having all of your game progress stuck on one device. If you want to play on another device, you not only have to buy the game again but start over from scratch.

If you purchase a digital copy of an Xbox Anywhere game, you can use it on both your PC and your Xbox (sorry PlayStation fans, an option like this has yet to develop from Sony).

For a complete and up-to-date list of these games, visit the Microsoft website here. We are still waiting for some of our favorite titles to release, but in the meantime, at least Microsoft is making an effort and giving us hope that one day we can seamlessly play on multiple platforms.

Can You Share Games in a Family Group?

Unfortunately, no. Microsoft introduced the Family Group as something similar to Apple’s Family Sharing. The only difference; you can’t share purchased content. Microsoft’s Family Group’s purpose is a monitoring service for households with younger children.

You can set up time limits, purchase limits, and content filters for other members of the group.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Xbox Live Gold Sharing?

Live Gold Sharing gives you the ability to share your subscription with everyone in your home. This will save you a lot of money if you have multiple gamers or even multiple PCs.

Follow the steps above for setting your Home Xbox to let others enjoy the benefits.

What can I do if my Xbox is still asking me to buy the game?

Assuming you followed the instructions above and the title you’re trying to play is still asking you to make a purchase, click the Xbox button on your controller and toggle over to the far right using the RB.

Select ‘Add or Switch Account.’ Sign in to both your account and the one that originally purchased the game. By doing this, the Xbox recognizes that the game is active on that console while letting you load your character.