Microsoft has begun to send out warnings to players informing them of changes coming to game captures. Thousands of gamers are receiving the notice which has been posted to Reddit in order to spread word further.
The notice says, "Due to a new policy starting October 1st, 2023, existing and new captures on the Xbox Network will be automatically deleted after 90 days." Microsoft notes that the first batch of deletions will start January 2024.
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This announcement has caused a scurrying of gamers wanting to back up their precious highlights, clips and ventures into photo modes. If this affects you, you have several options to keep hold of your captures.
To keep your images and clips safe, you could upload them to OneDrive, export them to extended storage - a USB thumbstick will work fine - or you can download them from the mobile app, onto your phone or tablet. Of course, if you have a lot of content stored on Xbox Network moving them to OneDrive may require a subscription for space. And moving things onto your phone can take a long time without a 'select all' option.
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It's worth noting, the announcement only mentions 'Xbox Network', so any captures saved on your console should be safe as they are not taking up server space. There is no mention that Xbox-stored captures will be auto-deleted.
Many users are upset at this change expressing this with comments like, "We should get more cloud storage if we're paying for Game Pass," and, "2023 and still having to periodically transfer screenshots to a USB stick if I want to save them is f**ing medieval."
Opinions on this change range from players frustrated at what they believe is "penny pinching" from Microsoft, to others who are recommending the use of websites like TrueAchievements who can store some of your clips and images.