BBC iPlayer has finally arrived on Xbox One, the BBC confirmed today, allowing Xbox One owners to watch BBC shows on demand through their games console. It's currently unknown why the service has taken over a year to appear on Microsoft's latest console, but it finally brings Xbox One's on demand services one step closer to matching Sony's PS4, which has had the service from day one when the console launched last November.
"TV is undoubtedly king at Christmas - and the arrival of BBC iPlayer on Xbox One gives viewers even more choice on how they watch," the head of BBC iPlayer Dan Taylor-Watt told Eurogamer. "And 30 day downloads arrives just in time for those unwrapping new devices, perfect for catching up on the bumper Christmas schedule."
Much like the BBC iPlayer app on Xbox 360, iPlayer for Xbox One will also make use of Kinect's voice and gesture control, which will let you navigate the home screen with simple voice commands. You'll need to be signed in to Xbox Live to use the app, but you won't need an Xbox Live Gold account to access shows.
It's possible that voice control integration was the main cause behind its delay on Xbox One, as BBC iPlayer for TV Xbox One's technical lead Julia Wilson explained it was a "big" challenge on a BBC blog post. The Xbox One's 1,080p resolution was also a higher resolution than they'd previously supported, so the initial app didn't originally fit the screen properly.
"With click support in place, the next step was to make use of Microsoft's voice Application Programming Interface (or API) which does the clever work of allowing voice commands to behave like a mouse click. At the same time, we worked to change certain aspects of the visual design to make the application really lend itself to voice interaction," said Wilson.
The team also had to make sure the app worked with other parts of the Xbox One ecosystem, including the user sign-in process, enabling programmes to be linked to from Bing search, and providing support for Xbox's second-screen "SmartGlass" companion app.
The announcement coincides with the news that the BBC has now extended the time limit for downloading and watching shows offline. Instead of only having seven days to watch a show once you started watching it, you can now watch it any time within the original 30 day window that began on the day you downloaded it. This new time limit applies across the board to PC, mobile and tablet devices.
