Microsoft gives free game to those with faulty Xbox Ones

After a small number of customers received botched Xbox Ones, Microsoft has decided to reward these early adopters by offering them a free game to make up for the frustration of having to wait and send the faulty unit back.

As reported by Polygon, an Xbox customer care e-mail said that those who've received defective consoles will be able to pick up a free game of their choice from four Microsoft published titles: Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome and Zoo Tycoon.

"While a replacement console is on its way, we want to ensure our advance exchange customers can stay in the game," said Microsoft in its customer service e-mail. "We will provide each of them with a free digital download of one of the launch titles published by Microsoft Studios."

This appears to apply to all customers with broken Xbox Ones, regardless of it being the console's common disc drive issue or another fault entirely, reports Eurogamer's Tom Phillips, who had his Xbox One die after around three hours of use.

On launch day Microsoft said that faulty disc drives were "affecting a very small number of Xbox One customers" and that it was "working directly with those affected to get a replacement console to them as soon as possible."

Customers are currently being told to expect replacement consoles to be couriered to them within the next week, Tom reports, at which point he'll hand back his lemon.