RUMOR: Microsoft planning to release disc-less XBOX in 2019?

[MMDE]

1 minute ago, ObliviousSenpai said:

 

I don't buy used games and I don't resell or trade my games most of the time. That's why I only focused on sales. It certainly is cheaper for people that do buy used and resell. I do agree that this is bad for consumers, I'm just saying that I wouldn't mind paying for a cheaper digital only console in the current market. 

 

As for generations of games being lost, it could happen if the digital stores are shutdown, but this may be less likely to occur with a shift to digital only. Overall, I believe physical should stay, I just find digital more suitable for myself personally.

 

Can you still access your digital content on the original Xbox?

Edited January 13, 2019 by MMDE

[RevengeancePrime]

1 minute ago, MMDE said:

 

Can you still access your original digital content on Xbox?

 

Yes.

[Honor_Hand]

Yeah, this is an old rumor.

 

If some folks want to go the digital-only route, well, that's fine. It's their decision. Me personally? I'd rather own my games and regardless of the price this console comes out on the market, I'd most likely end up skipping it instead and pay more for one that has the ability to play physical games instead. It's just a better deal to own your games and have a value associated with them in order for you as a consumer to be able to trade, sell, own. It's not that digital doesn't have its place, it has. The problem is that it really isn't a good deal to some of us.

[Guest]

Let's see how much cheaper it can be. Cost is everything for this to kick off right. I'm also assuming its not mainly aimed for new buyers but old that want another box in the house at a very cheaper price. Even if the discless system doesnt sale well, I doubt they will lose money on it. All they have to do is remove the drive, and tinker something and bam! 

[KingGuy420]

Considering my ps4 has never seen a disc anyways, this would be right up my alley.

 

Especially with how good the Xbox Game Pass has been growing. I've thought about getting an Xbox just for the game pass so this is definitely marketed towards someone like me lol.

[Undead Wolf]

As others have pointed out, this rumour has been floating around for a while.

 

I don't see it happening. The article linked by the OP mentions how the disc-less Xbone would lower the cost by $100 but I don't think the disc drive is anywhere near that expensive. The "disc-to-digital" program mentioned also sounds extremely far-fetched. Not only would that require a lot of money and effort on Microsoft's part to get up and running, but you also have to consider what they would actually get out of it. What are Microsoft going to do with all these discs? Sell them? I don't think they really want to stimulate the used game market like that... Also, why would publishers agree to this? They get nothing out of it.

 

I think Microsoft would do better releasing a "next-gen" Xbox rather than yet another Xbone console. Maybe release a SKU of the "next-gen" Xbox without a disc drive, but I think this would just confuse people tbh. You know there would be people out-of-touch with the game industry looking to get a gift for someone who see the lower price point of the disc-less Xbox and just assume it does play discs. It would cause a lot of problems.

[cris3f]

This is the console manufacturers dream. They want to end physical media for 3 reasons:

 

- more margins, as there's no retailers involved

- no 2nd hand (and 3rd, etc) sales which nets them 0

- the fact that unless the consoles are hacked, if they're sold the new owner will have to buy new stuff again

 

I would like digital titles if the prices would reflect the downsides of them. Problem is they don't so I avoid them.

 

 

Edited January 13, 2019 by cris3f

[kdogg_gamer_]

21 hours ago, SaltyCat said:

 

It doesn't make sense to me in any way. All they would do by doing this is lose quite a bit of customers. 

 

Well for starters it costs less money to put games on digital storefronts rather than a physical game, which in turn means we can have better sales on the games in the digital storefronts. Not to mention the trend is going to digital games. Gamestop/EB games is going out of business because of digital games. Best Buy likely will only carry new releases in the next few years. You can buy the game from the comfort of your own home rather than have to go to a store to get it. It makes perfect sense.

[SaltyCat]

2 hours ago, kdogg_gamer_ said:

 

Well for starters it costs less money to put games on digital storefronts rather than a physical game, which in turn means we can have better sales on the games in the digital storefronts. Not to mention the trend is going to digital games. Gamestop/EB games is going out of business because of digital games. Best Buy likely will only carry new releases in the next few years. You can buy the game from the comfort of your own home rather than have to go to a store to get it. It makes perfect sense.

Digital is only part of it, there is also the competition of the usual cheaper prices online on sites like Amazon and TheGameCollection.
Gamestop is going out of business because a lot of people don't like them much due to many reason and shop at other places.

Buying on the store will always be the same amount, just for convenience and that the company store like Sony take a part of the money. 

It will be less money in making the console because no disc thing but the company will see no competition and become potentially greedier, digital only will be quite bad in the long run.

People love physical and would rather be safe with a collection then trusting a digital store, plus internet and size of harddrives, consoles will possibly cost more because you need more space and all that, it will most likely drive more people away then anything.

Apologies on the kinda long-ish thing but yeah. Catering to one section of your playerbase and ignoring the other will probably make them lose customers.

[Tomthehitman91]

This might work for some people I'm sure.

 

However looking at how well there Xbox One reveal went down initially with being unable to share games and pushing for a more digital experience I would say there is still a huge following for physical copies of games.   I personally love having my games in a physical case, I do own many digital games just because they were on sale or due to Ps Plus but I wouldn't wont to be forced to buy off the store which is hugely overpriced compare to a physical copy.

[Remilia Scarlet]

On 1/12/2019 at 4:01 PM, PooPooBlast said:

This is just history repeating itself. 

 

Might as well Sony release the same ad showing how you can share discs with friends when the ps4 debuted

 

Dislike the idea as well but just curious how does that make them more money if most hard drives are from a 3rd party?

 

He means they'll just make a largercversion later on.

[starcrunch061]

19 hours ago, Tomthehitman91 said:

This might work for some people I'm sure.

 

However looking at how well there Xbox One reveal went down initially with being unable to share games and pushing for a more digital experience I would say there is still a huge following for physical copies of games.   I personally love having my games in a physical case, I do own many digital games just because they were on sale or due to Ps Plus but I wouldn't wont to be forced to buy off the store which is hugely overpriced compare to a physical copy.

 

I'm in the same boat. Until digital comes down from their strange discounting system (which seems to mimic American cable companies more than anything), I want physical games in place to exert some downward pressure to overall game prices.

[Dreakon13]

Glad we all seem to be on the same page on this one, more or less.

 

As a physical gamer, on the surface I'd be fine with an optional disc drive-less console to save people a few bucks on the console if it works that way for them.  I wouldn't participate.  However the implication behind it, the obvious "testing the waters" that they'd be doing to convince people that an all-digital future is viable and/or train them to accept it, disgusts me.  So F that noise.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Dreakon13

[PooPooBlast]

2 hours ago, Princess Boo said:

 

He means they'll just make a largercversion later on.

If that's the intention then lol that's a terrible idea. Why would you buy the same console twice just for upgrading the HDD? You could buy the HDD separately

[Tomthehitman91]

1 hour ago, Dreakon13 said:

Glad we all seem to be on the same page on this one, more or less.

 

As a physical gamer, on the surface I'd be fine with an optional disc drive-less console to save people a few bucks on the console if it works that way for them.  I wouldn't participate.  However the implication behind it, the obvious "testing the waters" that they'd be doing to convince people that an all-digital future is viable and/or train them to accept it, disgusts me.  So F that noise.

 

Exactly, if people want it as an "option" then that's fine. If however they are thinking of trying to make this the default I don't think it will work.

 

It also alienates people who don't have great internet or small data caps, the size of games now a days is getting larger and larger, even with a physical disk version and a decent internet connection it can still take hours for a day one patch to install. Imagine being forced to download the whole game on rubbish internet or using your whole data cap to get one game.

[AJ_Radio]

If you live out in the country with shitty internet you or you live in a small town with subpar service, DO NOT BUY THIS CONSOLE.

 

Microsoft assumes people have fast cable/fiber. America is one of the most backward countries out there when it comes to providing decent internet service.

 

Google has practically given up on their Google Fiber service. Both AT&T and Verizon cherry pick select homes and neighborhoods for their fiber service. Both companies are looking to drop out of the home internet market and only provide fast mobile service once 5G service comes around.

 

You're basically left with indie games and a few smaller games that are 10 - 30 GBs in size. You can't expect to play something like Gran Turismo Sport which I hear takes up over 80 GBs, plus with all these AAA games these days being required to have day one patches in addition to DLC, keeping around physical discs is declining.

 

Now someone can put ALL the DLC and updates onto the discs, like what CD Projekt Red did with The Witcher 3 with it's Game of the Year Edition. Otherwise you're stuck with downloading 10 - 40 GB patches in addition to downloading more for DLC if you decide to purchase it. The days of having everything on the disc out and ready for you are gone.

 

But despite my rant here, I don't expect Microsoft to succeed too far with this model.

 

Reason? Lack of good exclusives. Forza is the only franchise they got going for them. Halo has gotten to the point where nobody really cares about it anymore, sure there are some diehard fans who still play those games but it hasn't exactly sold to the masses. Gears of War was fun back when I played those games in the late 2000s, but the series got old for me so I stopped playing.

 

You can play most of everything else Microsoft has on the PC. Why in the fuck should I buy a disc less Xbox console if it doesn't have good exclusives and offers worth getting? You already got most of what a lot of people want right on the PC anyway. If it's not on Microsoft's library then you can probably find it on Steam. I have used Steam for many years now and it's still the best digital library out there.

 

Once again, Microsoft doesn't really know what they're doing. And if this rumor turns out to be false, then I take everything back except for my last two paragraphs.

[RadiantFlamberge]

On 1/12/2019 at 6:46 PM, MMDE said:

You'd also have the unfortunate effect of a generation of games going lost when nobody re-release them later and there's no way to purchase or download the games anymore.

This is why I wouldn't want a digital only console to be the only choice.  I do buy more than a few games digitally, but always like to keep the disc option available.  There are times when a game will be $59.99 digitally but you can buy a disc version for less (say $39.99).  And importing?  You can get games from other countries' PSN stores, but it's easier to import a disc.

[Z1MZUM]

Yeah ms has been crapping on about this for years and I don't care if they do. Microsoft are out of touch with gamers and technology anyway, If they want to sell consoles only to people that like shooting or racing that live in an area with decent internet? Sure that might work.

[Mrhemptastic]

This will never work purely because of the second hand market for games. 

[soniq]

Makes a lot of sense to me. Getting this in combination with Game Pass and a Gold sub gives you a good, ever growing digital library of games without any need to put in a disc. The backwards compatibility is excellent too and would allow access to many digitally available 360 games that are improved on the XBO.

Might get one of these just to play Halo MCC, 5 and Reach again.

[Gommes_]

With the help of game pass this could actually work. On the other hand you are pretty much screwed with a slow internet connection. Furthermore you have to rely on the xbox store if you want to buy games. No cheaper second hand retails anymore. If they say the original price was 79.99€ and now it's on sale with a whooping 59.99€ there is nothing you can do about it. Microsoft will dictate the prices.

 

On top of that they could get some problems with many retailers, shop owners etc. I remember hearing people say that they wouldn't sell consoles without optical disc drives in their store cause it won't help them. If the customer only comes in for the console but not for the games why should they provide the console in the first place? This customer will not come back.

[Elvick_]

Ironically, the only reason I have an Xbox One S is because it can play UHD blurays. I could get it cheaper than a stand alone player, and the PS4 'Pro' can't play them.

I'd never buy a digital Xbox. I mean, if that's what you want... PC is right there. With far more games, far better sales, etc.

[TJ_Solo]

7 hours ago, soniq said:

Makes a lot of sense to me. Getting this in combination with Game Pass and a Gold sub gives you a good, ever growing digital library of games without any need to put in a disc. The backwards compatibility is excellent too and would allow access to many digitally available 360 games that are improved on the XBO.

Might get one of these just to play Halo MCC, 5 and Reach again.

 

It makes less sense once you realize that this means cutting out rentals, used games, physical sales, and physical gifts from others. Is the novelty of it all really worth saving 20-50 bucks off an optic drive?

[MosesRockefeller]

A lot of you are saying this would never work... don't be so sure. Look, I'm the first person to say Xbox has no exclusives (and the ones it does have are 95% on PC - in fact I think Sunset Overdrive might have been the last holdout and it's being ported now). But I'm not sure that matters as much as we think it does. To the "discerning" gamer who picks a console based on games they can't get elsewhere, exclusives matter. But I think we're the minority. The fact is, the Xbox One X makes RDR2 look the best it can. Even beyond that, many gamers only play their annual multiplatform games. They want to play Madden and Fortnite with their friends, so they often pick Xbox. The young guy on my team at work has Game Pass and he can't even remember the last time he bought a game on disc. He's all digital. He doesn't care that he can't play Spiderman or God of War.

 

Maybe Microsoft won't pull off an all-digital console just yet, but it's coming. And I think it will do okay. The rest of us will still have Sony and Nintendo to give us interesting exclusives.

 

That being said, I can't see an optical drive being removed taking $100 off the price of a digital console. Even a top of the line optical drive wouldn't save that much considering Microsoft buys them in bulk.

[majob]

3 minutes ago, MosesRockefeller said:

 

I think a lot of people overestimate the "games play best on Xbox" marketing slogan. The reality is that most people haven't and won't pay half a thousand dollars for a console that only can make games look "slightly" better. Especially when those games are available on other platforms that are cheaper and many don't even have the 4k TV to even take advantage of that aspect in the first place.