Microsoft Almost Went Disc-less With The Xbox One

Would you have preferred it if the Xbox One had gone disc-less? Games could technically be cheaper since costs such as packaging, printing, and burning would have been taken out of the equation, but then again there is the issue that gamers without internet might have trouble playing games or downloading news ones. Well thankfully Microsoft has decided to go with Blu-ray for the new Xbox One, but apparently at one point in time, the Redmond company did consider going disc-less. Speaking to the official Xbox magazine for the UK, Microsoft Studio’s Phil Spencer revealed that they were still undecided even as late as mid-2013.

According to Spencer, “There was a real discussion about whether we should have an optical disc drive in Xbox One […] we could get away with a purely disc-less console, but when you start looking at bandwidth and game size, it does create issues.” It’s interesting that Spencer thinks that Microsoft could have gotten away with a disc-less console. After all when the console was announced and the always-on internet requirements and the DRMs were revealed, gamers kicked up a fuss to the point where Microsoft had to rescind on those policies, so we can only imagine if connecting to the internet once ever 24 hours was that big a deal, imagine having to download all your games, or being unable to play the latest game because you were stationed overseas with no connection.

What do you guys think? Are you glad Microsoft did not go disc-less?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Microsoft, Xbox One