Rumors have been swirling since yesterday that Microsoft is planning to expand their offering of Xbox consoles to include a purely digital box without a disc-drive. After reviewing several of the sources, we’re now confident in the information.
The rumor on the drive-less Xbox One S is to be an entry level device that will allow people to enter the ecosystem cheaply. Combined with Xbox Game Pass, you can clearly see Microsoft has a focus in this direction for the future. It also lends credence to the rumor that there will be two flavors of the next Xbox ; one with a drive and one without.
More interesting to us however, is the “disc to digital” program that is also being discussed. The idea is simple. If you own a physical copy of a game, simply take it to the Microsoft store or participating retailer and they will provide you with a code for the game. Again, it seems the idea here would be for people to “go fully digital” should they choose.
We’ll be watching this closely in the coming months and will update you when we learn more, credible information.
Our Take
Making a drive-less Xbox One in 2019 makes perfect sense to us. As long as the Xbox team continues to offer a physical option with 4K blu-ray drive, we see no issue with the plan. As for disc to digital, again there’s no reason why this couldn’t be an option. As we’re seeing more and more, the Xbox team simply wants you to game in whatever way you choose. Combined with Project XCloud, next generation is looking very, very interesting.
