Sometime this year Xbox One should have been getting DVR functionality, according to what Microsoft announced last year. Alas, Microsoft has scrapped the idea and instead has said it wants to concentrate on bigger things.

A statement issued by Microsoft to The Verge concerning its sudden change of heart reads, “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to put development of DVR for Over-the-Air TV on hold to focus our attention on launching new, higher fan-requested gaming experiences across Xbox One and Windows 10.”

This doesn’t mean Xbox One will never get the DVR feature, but it’s likely if it comes it won’t be in 2016. Only back in March this year rumors suggested that Microsoft was testing the DVR feature, so either things didn’t go as planned, or as Microsoft alludes, it was a little bit too much with so much else going on with Xbox One at the moment.

This news might upset some Xbox One users as the feature would have been very useful, for all intents and purposes turning your console into a decent television solution. It may have been limited to OTA (over-the-air) broadcasts, but being able to record live TV would surely be an absolute winner with fans. It would have also further differentiated Xbox One from its nemesis the Sony PlayStation 4.

While Xbox One is doing ok, at least compared to the faltering Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 4 is surging to new heights. Last month Sony announced that it had sold over 40 million units, 5 million up from its January statement. The last we heard from Xbox One in terms of sales figures was 19 million units sold until January 2016.

But let’s see what Microsoft has up its sleeve. Rumors have been rife as to what we’ll see at this year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on June 13. Microsoft has said itself we are going to see something “really substantial”. Bets are that that substance will take the form of a new lightweight Xbox One, and perhaps a powerful upgrade ripe and ready for the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift. With this in mind, maybe it’s Microsoft’s time to mount a more profound challenge in the console war.

Photo credit: Yosomono via Flickr