After some confusion over comments from Phil Harrison that some took to mean that the Xbox One can record in-game footage indefinitely, Microsoft has clarified that five minutes is the upper limit. More exciting than that brief does of confusion is the fact that players will be able to record a separate commentary track to accompany their footage.The confusion came after
VG247, reporting from a talk at Eurogamer Expo, quoted Harrison saying that players can record “as much or as little as they want.”
A Microsoft rep has since told
Game Informer that, "We are committed to giving gamers the ability to produce high quality videos easily and quickly. We can confirm the recording buffer in Game DVR is 5 minutes, which we feel is optimized to take advantage of high-quality production features and advanced social mechanics in Xbox One."
Presumably, then, Harrison just meant that players are not committed a full five minutes of footage.
Also at the talk, however, was a demo showing that after players have recorded gameplay footage they can record a separate video of themselves commenting on the clip using Kinect. The footage and commentary can then be shown side by side, with players having the options to either keep their clip private, share with friends or share with the wider public.
With a brilliant dash of corporo-waffle, Harrison referred to this process as a "powerful virality tool."
The PS4, for its part, will buffer 15 minutes of recording.