OldBoy

Those are good points. Does seem silly to not at least have a simple slot...

Michael Corvin

To be fair, with this gen you have to install them anyway so storage is a problem regardless of your disc/digital preference. Same for updates. You're still gonna have to download it even if you have the disc.

Both companies screwed the pooch on storage this gen. If they wanted to push everyone to digital they should have launched with far larger drives than 500GB. Hopefully they don't make the same mistake on the PS5 and XboxTwo.

Coral

I don't think MS will be eliminating the optical drive entirely... they're just going to release 2 SKUs - one with a drive and one without.
They're going to let the market decide.

I was adamant that consoles should have an optical drive, and yet after having a One X for 15 months - I haven't once used the optical drive for anything.
Services like Game Pass and EA Access are getting people to go digital.

HDD space isn't as big an issue since most games just dump the contents from the disc to the HDD anyway. Plus an external HDD solves the issue.
The biggest concern is internet caps/speed. Not everyone has a great internet connection. This reason alone is why MS will be careful not to alienate these consumers.

My future XBOX console will not have an optical drive. No point in paying for something I'll never use.

Jay G.

There's a few additional advantages to MS above just manufacturing costs:

• Support costs. A certain percentage of drives are going to fail or have problems while under warranty. Those costs have to be factored into whether to include one in a console, and are saved by keeping it out. Even when out of warranty, there's the customer satisfaction angle to consider, and a failed drive is never good. It's just less to go wrong.
• MS doesn't have to pay DVD/Blu-ray/UHD Blu-ray royalties on a disc-less console. I think MS already reduces these fees by making the Blu-ray player an "app" users have to download, so they only have to pay for those consoles that it's actually downloaded on. But for the disc-less console, it won't be downloaded on them at all. Keep in mind that MS now charges Windows 10 users $15 for their DVD app, and that only plays DVDs. They probably know what percentage of XB1 consoles download the app, so if, say, 70% of console owners download the app, costing about $25 per console downloaded, that's an $18 savings there.
• MS can offset some of the cost of the disc-less console with the knowledge that every game purchase will go through their digital store, where they'll get a cut. No DVD/Blu-rays also means more streaming, so possibly additional revenue for their Video rental/buy part of the store. Again, they likely already know the percentages of digital & physical sales on the disc consoles, and they can see how much people who go all digital spend. So even if they don't take a loss on the disc-less console, they may be willing to shave the margins extra thin.
• Xbox Game Pass - related to the above, it's likely those that go all digital are more likely to buy into Game Pass as a way to get games for it, and that's a steady subscription revenue stream for them.
• Speculation: removing the optical drive frees up space in the cramped XB1S. Right now, due to space, they use 2.5" HDDs in it, while the optical drive is basically 5.25" size. By removing the optical drive you free up space for MS to put a 3.5" HDD in there. That means they could include a HDD that's both higher capacity and cheaper than the drive they put in the disc drive XB1S.

Put all these together, and you have the potential for the 500GB XB1S with drive for $249, while the disc-less XB1S with 1TB drive is $199.

milo bloom

If we didn't already have an S model, say we only had the regular One, I might be tempted. We have about 5 games on disc and about 50 or so digitally ( a lot of it is the free ones each month). I fought against digital only gaming and movies for so long, but the simplicity is just so good. Even the download times aren't horrible. Start a download and go make and eat supper, and when you're done the game is ready.

mattysemo247

I still rent a good chunk of games and have GCU, so that stacked with good sales still make up for 90% of my purchases. For me digital doesn't have the same value. If new releases came out at $50 for digital and $60 for physical, then yeah, I could see the value there. But the fact that you can go and preorder a $120 digital copy of The Division 2 is just nuts in my mind.

Dan

The only way I can see it being a big success is if they finally unveil a robust digital trade-in/second-hand-sale option, which... we all know isn't actually going to happen here (despite those of us who truly believed it back in 2013... yes I mean me.)

But Microsoft has to convince the market that a user's digital library isn't going anywhere; tough to buy into that with Games for Windows Live, Windows Phone, and now Band all going extinct.

That said, the last game disc I actually put into my Xbox One X was Lego Dimensions, and only because you HAD to use the disc for that game. MS obviously has the data on how many disc-based games people are playing, and they've determined that a discless system is worth building (though they could still cancel it at the very last minute, as they did with Surface Mini and Band 3... devices that went into full production then never got released. There was even a Roku-sized Xbox rumored as well...)

I use my X for Blu-ray and UHD discs all the time, though, so I'm happy to have a disc drive in there, and I hope that the next console, whatever it is, also has that Blu-ray/UHD capability. Oppo and Samsung leaving the disc-based electronics market sets a worrisome tone for things to come, though. But, worst case scenario, I have a UHD-friendly disc drive in my computer that will allow me to rip UHD/BD discs in full quality, which I can then store on a plex server or whatever if I have to.

stingermck

Would love a digital only, if I didnt already have an S I got cheap. I have been all digital this generation.

fujishig

But your media won't work forever. Even if you only buy single player games that aren't reliant on servers, the vast majority of them have some kind of bug fix/updates, usually on day 1, and even if you have your physical disc (and your console lasts forever) you won't always have access to that.

As others said earlier, storage space is moot, all games load onto the hard drive anyway, the only console that benefits from its media in terms of storage is the switch. So they need bigger drives next gen anyway.

mattysemo247

There was a rumored disc trade in program when details
first started leaking last year.

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/micros...trade-program/

This is going to be another huge blow to Gamestop since they are already on their last leg.

Coral

Just Cause 4 has already been added to Game Pass, with Fallout 4 and F1 2018 coming soon.

MS is really enticing people to digital games and subscribing to a service.

And I agree with fujishig - having the game on a disc doesn't guarantee you'll be able to play it as long as your console is working. It's not like the old days where everything you needed was on that game disc - there's a server/internet component to almost every game now even if it's only a single-player local game.

This is the wave - get used to it.

Decker

You don't have to get used to it. You can go along with what they want to shove down your throat and allow them to have a distribution monopoly like Apple or you can push back like consumers did in 2013. It's fine to have a preference for digital games but it's better for consumers and for gamers to have a choice. Plus I love having to opportunity to rent games that I'm on the fence about (and the opportunity to buy collectable Special Editions of games that I am super-psyched about).

BTW Didn’t Ms add Fallout 4 to Game Pass last year ?

Dan

I'm sure someone else has the correct details, but my memory tells me that it was a GWG title, and is now GP. This has happened with quite a few other titles since the launch of GP... I guess for those folks who haven't had GWG from the start, it makes sense. GP fills in some of those gaps.

fujishig

I absolutely agree it's better to have a choice. I'm just saying that the old adage of "I want to own my games" is less of a motivation, just like "I don't have enough space." Now high speed internet and data caps are important, as is the lack of choice/monopoly. IIRC, one of the most vocal arguments against MS's initial internet-only stance was when active military complained that they couldn't use their systems abroad.

stingermck

Guess I'll try out JC4 now

Coral

MS is actually giving a choice and won't remove the optical drive from their next generation of consoles - so the consumer will still be given a choice.
However, that can change if the a vast majority of sales are going to the disc-less consoles and digital games. It wouldn't be worth their time to continue to support it for a very small market.

The numbers show a growing interest in digital games - so optical drives may not be an option in 5+ years. We'll see what the market ultimately decides.

Rob V

It's not a simple slot... it's a mechanical device that costs money, has weight, breaks down, makes noise and ultimately costs them more than the value it's worth. That said, I refuse digital only simply because there never seems to be a deal on pre-ordering games in that format.

DJariya

So basically this will severely hurt the 2nd hand game market for anyone wanting to trade or sell games. If this becomes more prevalent.

I know many blind buy games and if they finish out or hate it, at least within the 1st month or two, you can sell it or trade it for 60-70% of it's value.

So who's going to want to gamble and spend $60 for a digital game not knowing if it will be good or not?

Decker

Do we know that for sure? I am not aware of any official statement on the next generation of consoles from MS.

Coral

Microsoft hasn't officially said anything, but after the backlash from their comments before the original XBOX One launch - you better believe they're going to be careful this time around and make sure they don't spook anyone.
It's too early to abandon optical drives altogether - so we'll wind up seeing multiple SKUs as in the next generation based on optical drives/disc-less.

Decker

Found it. Fallout 4 was added to Game Pass during E3 and then was removed in November. One of the reasons I'm not a fan of Game Pass.

https://www.trueachievements.com/n35...game-pass-soon

Michael Corvin

That market is going to decrease regardless. Digital sales are only going to increase. I was a staunch supporter of disc going into this gen partly because of my ability to resell. As time goes on though, I've sold less and less. Of course that's more from it being more of a hassle and trade-in values aren't worth it.

That's pretty much how games have always been bought though. We just got spoiled last gen with MS offering demos on every game.

OldBoy

could someone please help me out? my Xbox One keeps turning on by itself. i did all the troubleshooting measures. reset, turned off instant on, disconnected Kinect, took off auto updating, everything and yet still pops on for no particular reason. please help. thanks in advance.

nickdawgy

Pretty sure it won’t be called the Two. It’s only the One because of Microsoft’s silly all in one console idea.

Michael Corvin

Oh I know. I didn't know what to call it.