Microsoft Reveals its Disc-less Xbox Series X Console

[TheLostSwede]

During the Xbox Games Showcase today, Microsoft revealed its upcoming disc-less Xbox Series X console, alongside an upgraded Xbox Series X with 2 TB of storage and a white XBox Series S with 1 TB of storage. The disc-less SKU will be known as the Xbox Series X 1 TB Digital Edition and it will at least initially, only be available in what Microsoft calls Robot White. As the name implies, it will sport 1 TB of storage and Microsoft says it's the "perfect option for digital-first players to experience the speed and performance of Xbox Series X".

The new 2 TB SKU will be known as the Xbox Series X - 2 TB Galaxy Black Special Edition and as you can see on the pictures below, it has a rather interesting pattern made up of grey and green sparkling plastic moulded into the black. The Xbox Series S - 1 TB in Robot White is simply getting half a terabyte of extra storage over the current model and it means that the white and black Series S consoles will have storage parity. However, the press release suggests that the black model might be discontinued in favour of the white model. The Xbox Series X - 1 TB Digital Edition will retail for $449.99/€499.99, with the Xbox Series X - 2 TB Galaxy Black Special Edition coming in at $599.99/€649.99 and finally the Xbox Series S - 1 TB in Robot White will cost $349.99/€349.99. All three models will be available later this year.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[umdterps71]

They are out of their minds. The minimum they should be offering is the same price points with more storage and a diskless series x at $400.

1tb series S at $300
1tb diskless series x $400
2tb series x at $500

Even then it’s not going to sell and probably needs to be $50 cheaper than what I posted across the board.

This is ridiculous.

 

[Phayzon]

I don't really see the point of a disc-less Series X, especially if the exterior dimensions don't even change.

What I'd like to see is a Series S with a disc drive. Xbox loves to tout it's solid backwards compatibility around, why not let people buy a cheap, small box that lets them play a good chunk of their 360 discs? And, ya know, movies.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Looks like you are renting your games from now on.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Looks like you are renting your games from now on.

Totally QFT!

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

I don't really see the point of a disc-less Series X, especially if the exterior dimensions don't even change.

condition more people to buying digital rentals and streaming services, with no safety blanket of "well once the servers are gone I can still play games".

Repeat after me: "You will own nothing...."

What I'd like to see is a Series S with a disc drive. Xbox loves to tout it's solid backwards compatibility around, why not let people buy a cheap, small box that lets them play a good chunk of their 360 discs? And, ya know, movies.

Microsoft doesnt actually care about backwards compatibility. Why would they sell you a cheap box that can play movies and 360 games when they can sell you a $600 console with no exclusives that you have to rent games on via gamepass and pay to stream your movies on top of it? Poor little MS needs more of your MoNeY!

They are out of their minds. The minimum they should be offering is the same price points with more storage and a diskless series x at $400.

1tb series S at $300
1tb diskless series x $400
2tb series x at $500

Even then it’s not going to sell and probably needs to be $50 cheaper than what I posted across the board.

This is ridiculous.

They're desperate to prop up Xbox profits since gamepass growth has flatlined.

 

[Durvelle27]

This pricing sucks so hard. Going up to 2TB should not negate a $100 increase in price especially 3 years after the initial launch and hardware is exactly the same.


This could have been so simple

Xbox Series S 1TB - $299
Xbox Series X 1TB (OG Model) - $399
Xbox Series X 2TB (New Model) - $499

Making a disc less Xbox Series X seems pointless. They literally made a OG Xbox Series X removed the disc drive and dropped price $50 (Woo hoo).


Their new pricing literally puts the Xbox Series X Digital $50 above the PlayStation 5 Digital which seems so ridiculous.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

News Article: This new Xbox can no longer play games on physical media, thanks to Disc-less over here.
Forums: Is this true???
Also Forums:

 

[AsRock]

Looks like you are renting your games from now on.

Yeah, suckers who buy in to this BS.

 

[HisDivineOrder]

Looks like they already know what Sony's doing with PS5 Pro because that SeX Discless is built to be put on sale. They've been sliding the current SeX down to $399 on the regular and I expect they want the Discless taking that role from now on. They must know Sony's going heavier on the SSD with their Pro unit, so Microsoft has already primed the pump by telling people (like DF) that the SeX is their version of what a Pro would have been except they did it years ago. They're going to be marketing that the PS5 Pro is Sony only just now catching up to what they did way back then, so they don't need more hardware. Just more capacity.

The bummer is the lack of the new controller. According to the leaks from the Activision-Blizzard lawsuit, we were supposed to get an updated controller with PS5 features that would have trickled down to PC and finally we'd have had those features built-in to games besides Sony published ones.

But alas it seems like it's not meant to be. Microsoft has abandoned us to inferior controller hell for a whole generation. Imagine a world where them buying Activision-Blizzard wasn't horrible in every possible way.

 

[Ruru]

What I'd like to see is a Series S with a disc drive. Xbox loves to tout it's solid backwards compatibility around, why not let people buy a cheap, small box that lets them play a good chunk of their 360 discs? And, ya know, movies.

Totally agree. That would be a perfect console for us 1080p TV owners.

 

[LazyGamer]

They are out of their minds. The minimum they should be offering is the same price points with more storage and a diskless series x at $400.

1tb series S at $300
1tb diskless series x $400
2tb series x at $500

Even then it’s not going to sell and probably needs to be $50 cheaper than what I posted across the board.

This is ridiculous.

I can literally buy Series X 1TB with disc drive for the same amount they plan on asking for console without disc drive. What a great deal, Microsoft.

 

[damric]

People bitchin' like they want it to have VHS and Beta too.

Got news for you: you can't take all that media with you to the grave and your kids don't want it.

 

[Daven]

Does anyone remember the HD-DVD vs Blu-ray war? Is was so obvious that removeable physical media was on the verge of extinction even then but so many couldn’t let go of those spinning scratch magnets.

 

[bitsandboots]

People bitchin' like they want it to have VHS and Beta too.

Got news for you: you can't take all that media with you to the grave and your kids don't want it.

Besides the point. The people advocating for discs would be just as happy with any other physical media type. You could argue for game cartridges like Nintendo does if you're upset about discs.
I assume discs are still cheaper so that's what is used.
The point is to have something physical that allows you to continue to play your games long after the cloud servers get shut down, or in areas with poor internet such that buying and transporting physical media is a faster transfer rate than their internet, as to this day using a carrier pigeon to move data around remains faster than rural internet.

 

[Kaleid]

Besides the point. The people advocating for discs would be just as happy with any other physical media type. You could argue for game cartridges like Nintendo does if you're upset about discs.
I assume discs are still cheaper so that's what is used.
The point is to have something physical that allows you to continue to play your games long after the cloud servers get shut down, or in areas with poor internet such that buying and transporting physical media is a faster transfer rate than their internet, as to this day using a carrier pigeon to move data around remains faster than rural internet.

And if you get tired of the game you can sell it. Once all the DLC tracks for Mario Kart were released I had played the game more than enough..

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I suspect the pricing is introductory in nature. In a few months, the holiday price drops will come and they'll stay down after that. Game consoles are consumer products, which always launch at an MSRP that takes advantage of impulse buyers. Plus, they might want to clear out the old stock of the last SKU, so I say just give it some time.

 

[trsttte]

Looks like they already know what Sony's doing with PS5 Pro because that SeX Discless is built to be put on sale. They've been sliding the current SeX down to $399 on the regular and I expect they want the Discless taking that role from now on. They must know Sony's going heavier on the SSD with their Pro unit, so Microsoft has already primed the pump by telling people (like DF) that the SeX is their version of what a Pro would have been except they did it years ago. They're going to be marketing that the PS5 Pro is Sony only just now catching up to what they did way back then, so they don't need more hardware. Just more capacity.

Sony launched an "external" drive accessory that can be used to upgrade the PS5 slim digital to disc version, it was more limited than we'd like but it exists and it works. I would wager they'll make the Pro console compatible with this external accessory or release a new one to accompany the new console version.

I don't buy MS playing the Series X as the PS5 Pro killer, no one is going to buy into that when PS5 exclusives have been much more interesting and impressive when it comes to hardware utilization.

And if you get tired of the game you can sell it. Once all the DLC tracks for Mario Kart were released I had played the game more than enough..

That's the greatest advantage of physical media and one of 2 things they want to kill. The second is using retaillers to sell disc versions having to share some money with them and contend with their sales cycle. They want to bring everything in house, akin to the PC where you only buy games for a couple of digital storefronts, difference being it will be only one place with consoles

 

[Vayra86]

Yeah, suckers who buy in to this BS.

Well consoles weren't very far from non-ownership anyway, let's face it. You're one firmware update away from being unable to access your shit. Always. And there is no market dynamic that keeps companies in check here - there is one owner of your system: Sony, or MS. They are judge jury and executioner, your gaming soul is theirs and theirs alone. It doesn't even matter how much you choose to spend.

This is why I play on the PC. And more reasons will appear in the near future, such as, for example, the real price of on-demand services.

Netflix just elevated my sub from 19,99 > 23,99 / month (+20%!!!)
Its going to get cancelled as soon as we've finished watching Trailer Park Boys GTFO with that shit. They started at 7,99 go figure. That's some inflation.

Its a writing on the wall for gaming on demand. Be careful what you dive into and get used to. Ownership is and will always be the best and cheapest and most reliable way to play games, unless you're happy playing something you possibly can't get back into tomorrow. Who needs Saved Games, right? Who are those fools that play a game and get back to it a year later, right? Yeah. Mhm.

The real deal is still on PC:
- You can mod
- You can cheat
- You can work around monetization
- Online is free
- The market has checks and balances & real competition
- Its raining free games & content
- It has the sharpest price cuts in games
- Content isn't vetted by one company, there are no barriers you can't cross
- ... which means innovation always happens on the PC, never on consoles.

And the more you game, the more all of these advantages play out.

People bitchin' like they want it to have VHS and Beta too.

Got news for you: you can't take all that media with you to the grave and your kids don't want it.

But we ain't dead yet are we

Looks like you are renting your games from now on.

Last I recalled, consumers are capable of voting with wallets

Its stuff like this that makes for a nice catalyst for continued PC gaming market growth. As it has done ever since it was invented I might add. There is nothing to worry about. Ownership is here to stay, even if corporate dreams of another world. Reality simply is what it is, as long as the PC exists, it will show its advantages and they will only weigh heavier for people as the net closes around owning content. We already have the first 'Stop killing games' initiatives.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you give away ownership, you give away power. The new gen of gamers is coming to terms with that now. Markets are all about demand, and people always want what they don't have yet, or anymore.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Netflix just elevated my sub from 19,99 > 23,99 / month.
Its going to get cancelled as soon as we've finished watching Trailer Park Boys GTFO with that shit. They started at 7,99 go figure. That's some inflation.

That’s pretty much been true of all the subs. It had the early look of being cheaper than the cableTV model, but once you add up all the subs you need, you’re probably paying more and probably still getting served up ads.

 

[Vayra86]

That’s pretty much been true of all the subs. It had the early look of being cheaper than the cableTV model, but once you add up all the subs you need, you’re probably paying more and probably still getting served up ads.

Yeah well Netflix is now officially more expensive than just cable was on its own. Its insane if you juggle several services you're going to be near $100,- a month for some shitty low-quality TV content. Because I can't really say Netflix's content is improving over time. The vast majority of 'Originals' are showing unremarkable 'formats' I've already seen a few dozen times in the past years, and the rest? Sometimes the content in series' episodes is nearing the bullshit level of linear TV by now.

 

[trsttte]

Yeah well Netflix is now officially more expensive than just cable was on its own. Its insane if you juggle several services you're going to be near $100,- a month for some shitty low-quality TV content. Because I can't really say Netflix's content is improving over time. The vast majority of 'Originals' are showing unremarkable 'formats' I've already seen a few dozen times in the past years, and the rest? Sometimes the content in series' episodes is nearing the bullshit level of linear TV by now.

 

[LabRat 891]

People bitchin' like they want it to have VHS and Beta too.

Got news for you: you can't take all that media with you to the grave and your kids don't want it.

"Don't drink the water. They put something in it to make you forget. I don't even remember how I got here"

Yes, I be salty.

 

[ks2]

Nobody asked for this

 

[Evrsr]

The preservation aspect on Xbox is pretty bad, without disc drive it is much worse. Sure, some games are still available but Xbox stuff that now will have enough horsepower to run will never be whitelisted on the emulators. Some of them are pretty good games too and this is probably very little effort to give back to fans of the platform.

Many have been delisted, some like Dust or Soulcalibur 1 & 2 are no longer available. Dust is one of the crazy ones, as it was a XBLA sponsored game that sold over 1 million copies. It has now been ported to PS4 and Switch(!) but is not available on Xbox anymore.

If you care about money, you will probably also shell out $50 more because there is a lot to be saved going with used discs. Especially XBOne games, which seem to be plenty to go around.