Over this past month Xbox has confirmed their recommitment to Games Pass, to Windows gaming, and now a report has just come out that they might be going back to their ideas of a digital-only Xbox One.
In an article released today by Thurrot writer Brad Sams explains that he learned about a new revision to the Xbox One family while doing research for a book on the Microsoft Surface. While Microsoft is already preparing the next generation of consoles, dubbed Scarlett at the moment, this new device will be an Xbox One that comes without a disc drive. This will allow the console to be cheaper and is apparently being aimed at a sub $200 price point lowering the cost of entry into the Xbox One family even further. This would also help set up the Scarlett line which reportedly will have two versions, one that will be diskless like this device and one with a disc drive.
As a way to ensure that this will be approachable to gamers who already own physical copies of Xbox One titles, there are plans for a program for people to bring in their physical discs to specified locations such as Microsoft Stores to turn them into digital codes. This will mean you can easily turn your physical games into digital ones.
While not as big news it was also noted that there will be a new SKU Xbox One S that will focus on cost-reduction while still having a disc drive. These are all changes that are being implemented by Phil Spencer in a way to get more people into the Xbox One family not just at the high-end level with the Xbox One X but at more affordable options too.
Quick Take
It's certainly not strange to see Xbox taking this direction as the original infamous Xbox One announcement was already trying to bring up an idea of a digital only system. The big difference with this approach is that you can choose to trade in your physical for digital where-as in the original plan a disc would immediately turn into a digital license. I liked the idea of physical games becoming digital licenses back then and I still like them now, especially when most games come with day one patches to make them playable anyway. This seems like a better-planned approach to the process so hopefully more people will be looking forward to getting behind it.What do you think of a disc-less Xbox device? Are you someone who gets all Digital or all physics, or does it not bother you?
