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One of the biggest things we learned when Microsoft battled the FTC over its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King last year was that the former at one point planned to launch a discless Xbox Series X in the second half of 2024. In addition, earlier this year Microsoft dropped a number of studios responsible for delivering games to brick-and-mortar stores, so it was understandable that many feared the company would go all-digital. Fortunately, there is no need to worry just yet.
Stephen Totilo had the pleasure of speaking with Phil Spencer – Microsoft’s head of games – at the DICE Awards last weekend, and learned that Xbox has no plans to abandon physical media anytime soon. Although most purchases are digital today, Spencer says their strategy “doesn’t depend on people switching to buying everything digitally and getting rid of physical media, that’s not a strategic thing for us.”
Totilo also took the opportunity to ask about a possible launch of a new discless Xbox Series console in the future, and while Spencer’s answer was rather vague, it definitely sounds like the new Xbox Series X and/or a mid- gen upgrade will not have a disk drive:
We deliver games physically and digitally, and we really just follow what the customers do. And I think our job in running Xbox is to deliver the things that the majority of customers want. And right now, the majority of our customers are buying games digitally (…) Game consoles have kind of become the last consumer electronic device that has a disc, and this is a real problem, just considering the number of manufacturers actually building discs and the costs involved with them. And when you think about what elements we’re going to put in a console – and as there are fewer suppliers and fewer buyers – the cost of the drive has an impact.”
Quite a reasonable answer – although we have seen several examples of why an all-digital future can destroy us in recent years. What needs to change for you to ditch physical media altogether?
