Microsoft considered dropping the Xbox One’s disc drive altogether and making it a digital-only console, it has been revealed.
Speaking to OXM, Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer claimed that the company began to question whether the console should cut out the use of discs altogether following E3 2013, when the company was largely derided for the console’s heavily restrictive DRM policies, which limited the extent of ownership buyers had of the games thye purchased. Spencer said: “Obviously, after the announcement and E3, there was some feedback about what people wanted to change. There was a real discussion about whether we should have an optical disc drive in Xbox One or if we could get away with a purely disc-less console, but when you start looking at bandwidth and game size, it does create issues.”
He continued: “So we decided – which I think was the right decision – to go with the Blu-ray drive and give the people an easy way to install a lot of content. From some of those original thoughts, you saw a lot of us really focusing on the digital ecosystem you see on other devices – thinking of and building around that.”
Do you think the Xbox One would have been successful if it had been a digital-only console? Let us know in the comments section below.
