A new system is apparently coming to the Xbox One ecosystem along with the Xbox One X. This comes from a report from Digital Foundry, which claims to have seen development documentation. This system is being referred to as Intelligent Delivery, and has a major effect on how game data is downloaded to whichever Xbox One console is being used.
One of the major problems with our new 4K gaming era is download bandwidth. Even before 4K games hit consoles, some games are already pushing 100GB in total size. This is a problem for people who have slower speeds, data caps, and the like. Physical discs can’t even currently support 50GB games. This is where Intelligent Delivery comes in.
According to Digital Foundry, the documents reveal that Intelligent Delivery actually breaks down game data into individual “chunks,” which can be tagged by the respective game’s developers. These tags can be filtered out and individually downloaded, depending on what the devs choose to set up of course. Examples given in the video are 4K textures being downloaded only when an Xbox One X is detected, individual parts of a game being a la carte (such as a campaign or level editor), and even language packs in games like FIFA that use a ton of data for its various included languages.
How this will work out in practice remains to be seen. If these documents are accurate, then people worried about their bandwidth may be looking at a much smoother experience when it comes to downloading Xbox One games, even without the Xbox One X.
Source: Digital Foundry