Digital rights management has been an ongoing point of contention between console makers and gamers as stricter policies became more common over the last decade. Stricter DRM stances by Microsoft and Sony coincided with an increasing digital marketplace and streaming options like Xbox Game Pass growing in popularity, but can also handcuff console owners abilities to enjoy their games. This appears to be the case with the Xbox Series X after one YouTuber found how the system's DRM policy restricted the ability to play games.
The issue was first shared by YouTuber Modern Vintage Gamer who broke down how difficult the Xbox Series X's DRM policy is making it to play certain games on the system. They first broke down how physical games are being impacted by the DRM policy, specifically backwards compatible titles. MVG explains the system reads physical Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games as a physical license and the games need to be downloaded to the system. However, if the user is not connected to Xbox Live or has their system set as their "home console," they will be unable to play the game.
They then went into how the DRM policy is impacting digital purchases and downloads from the Xbox Marketplace and Xbox Game Pass. MVG concedes the DRM policy in place makes sense with Xbox Game Pass as users essentially download a license for an available game from the subscription gaming service and users would lose access if they cancel their subscription. However, games purchased and downloaded directly from the Xbox Games Store are suffering from the same Xbox Live connectivity restriction.
The only games which don't appear to be suffering from these restrictions are physical, native Xbox Series X games. The example MVG provided was Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition, which was able to play with no apparent DRM-related issues or restrictions. However, MVG tempered this by pointing to the current lack of Xbox Series X-native games and saying most releases over the next 18 months may suffer from DRM restrictions if they are still compatible with Xbox One.
As mentioned above, DRM issues like these have become more commonplace in an increasingly digital marketplace. Sony has been consistently criticized for its own DRM restrictions since the PlayStation 3, which has continued on to the PlayStation 5. MVG's own criticism of Microsoft's policy isn't the first time the company has faced blowback regarding DRM. Perhaps the biggest blowback Microsoft faced was after it debuted the Xbox One in May 2013. Microsoft was planning to implement strict DRM measures to limit game sharing and physical game re-sale as the system would have been "always on." Microsoft backpedaled off this DRM policy shortly after and has not appeared to consider policies this strict since.