Talking Point: Looking Back, How Useful Has Smart Delivery Been To You On Xbox?

These days, Xbox Smart Delivery barely comes up in conversation, and frankly that stands to reason! It’s Microsoft’s label for seamless, no-cost upgrades from Xbox One releases to their Xbox Series X|S editions, with hundreds benefiting since 2020. Half a decade into the new console cycle, the feature has simply blended into the background.

Still, it’s worth pausing to recall how generous Smart Delivery has been. Remember when (yes, early Xbox One days) you had to pony up the full MSRP just to step up to a slightly prettier re-release? Smart Delivery flipped that script—hits such as Gears 5, Forza Horizon 4, Halo Infinite, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077 and plenty more AAA heavyweights received complimentary next-gen bumps whether you owned them on disc or as a download.

A modest 23 games offered the perk at the outset, yet the catalogue ballooned rapidly over the following years.

By the tail-end of 2022 or so we stopped actively monitoring new Smart Delivery titles, but the feature keeps quietly humming along; just last month Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, Descenders Next, My Friendly Neighborhood and others joined the club.

For gamers who now sit atop giant Xbox Series X|S collections, Smart Delivery has doubtlessly saved a tidy sum of cash—and for me that ranks it among this generation’s standout innovations. Let’s just hope the system sticks around for whatever next Xbox turns up.

So how do you rate it? Share your take on Xbox Smart Delivery down in the comments.