Xbox users just lost a key feature thanks to Elon Musk

Xbox users have just lost a key feature all thanks to billionaire tycoon, Elon Musk.

Especially during the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console generations, being able to share our favourite captured screenshots and gameplay footage to social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook with ease has been a wonderful feature.

We’ve all been there, an unexpected and epic moment happens in-game, so we capture that footage asap with a press of a button and it's instantly shared on social media. Sadly, however, at least for the most part, that function is no longer available for Xbox Series X|S as well as Xbox One.

As reported by Polygon, the function to share screenshots and/or gameplay via the Xbox console or Xbox Game Bar via Windows is no longer possible. I’ve just checked for myself and at the time of writing, my Xbox Series X only allows shares to be made on the Activity Feed, Messages, Mobile, Club or OneDrive. There is no longer the option to share on Twitter.

News of this share function being removed was confirmed last week when the official Xbox Twitter account responded to a follower in regards to the removed function.

“We have had to disable the ability to share game uploads to Twitter directly from the console and Game Bar on Windows,” tweeted Xbox. “You can still share your favourite moments to Twitter via the Xbox app for Android and iOS.”

While it's not been confirmed as to why this share function has been removed from Xbox consoles and Windows, some have speculated that it's due to Elon Musk’s new Twitter API (Application Programming Interface) paywall.

According to a report from The Verge, the API could cost companies as large as Microsoft around $42k per month to integrate Twitter functions on its consoles and PC. However, the reasoning for the function being removed from Xbox is based on hearsay at this time.

Interestingly, you can still share screenshots and gameplay clips on PlayStation 5 and 4, as well as on Nintendo Switch. Furthermore, you can still upload content to Twitter from the Xbox mobile app, which is odd, all things considered.