Talking Point: Would You Like A Detachable Disc Drive For Xbox Series S?

Xbox promised a “solution” in 2020 for those who bought a series s but still had their xbox one discs. That never came to fruition

I've been asking for this since getting my Series S. I would LOVE to be able to play my dvd/blu ray collection on it. The physical games portion means very little to me. But coupled with the X-screen it would make a very nice and tidy little off-grid system. Funny thing is, Microsoft doesn't even have to do much. Sure they could make their own, which I would likely buy, but the Blu-Ray app is already available. All Microsoft has to do is enable it and USB input from an external blu-ray player.

In my country it's almost impossible to get physical Xbox games, so while the idea is really cool in theory and I'd love it, it would be useless in practice.

For me, no. The future of gaming is clearly purely in digital and subscription-based models. The writing is on the wall for years now. Specially with GP, Xbox gamers are very much getting used to playing the games on the service Day 1 and not buying them separately, either digital or physical. Barring the odd cases where you find a game on decent price in a random physical shop, there is no benefit in it for me.
Whatever solution that is chosen in this gen, such as external drive, will probably be absent from next-gen which will go fully digital. The idea of these external drives only delays the inevitable from 2024 to 2028.
@Kaloudz I think an eventual external disk drive would then work with both S and the eventual Cylinder-shaped X, unless Xbox directly blocks it from use with Series S.

I don’t think it will happen, but I think the only way it could work would be to use the disk to essentially verify that you own the game, and then the console would download the S version. And you would have to put the disk in each time you wanted to play that game.

The main benefit would potentially be to allow S owners to play backwards compatable games that they already own, and the chance to pick up physical games for a lower price.
Having had the S for a couple of years now, the idea of being able to purchase cheaper games earlier does appeal at times. So if they could implement in, for the right price I would potentially be tempted.

I'd be all in. I realize I could've bought an X and had the disc drive. But, after a year with the S, I finally realized I'm missing the ability to buy some physical games im finding for dirt cheap. Also kind of no reason to look at xbox sections at stores for me other than controllers or accessories.

I saw some HD DVDs in the charity shop the other day. I thought it must be so weird that so many of them exist in the wild still. I know there must be some enthusiasts that collect them but I wonder how many regular people actually just have HD DVD players and a small range of films that they still watch

I can imagine this happening with the already leaked Series X digital edition.

@themightyant I bought my series s for 180 new amazing price I still want a series x for the disk drive and the performance difference I do love my series s the only problem is with digital games is they are more expensive than physical which is crazy considering there's no box or distribution costs I mean 70 for most games digital is a rip off theres only 3 games id pay 70 zelda lotk forza horizon and god of war ragnarok nothing else and guaranteed get 15 quid off that 70 buying from amazon it's a rip off thank god for gampass 😊

My xbox is solely for 360 games and occasional dip into gamepass with bing points so im good

I don’t think it’s gonna happen but it should, more options never hurt anyone and there’s still some backwards compatible games that you can only play via the disc (such as Arkham Origins).

I don't own or intend to buy a Series S (I have a Series X) so I personally wouldn't care either way. I have no objection to MS maybe offering a way to use an external Disc Drive say over USB as it's just a 'delivery' method and/or a check to see you own a valid License to play - you never play games from Disc these days anymore - not even BC 360 games which 'used to run from Disc - now it just enables you to download/install and play.

Even if they just enabled the use via USB for example without offering their own MS/Xbox branded separate DD, that could enable the use of 3rd Party DD's for those that may want it and gives Consumers a bit more choice too.

Sure, don't look that much slimmer, especially with the disc drive. I miss the days of PS2 Slim. Now that was slimmer!

Yes, it doesn't have to be detachable though. Just a separate bluray drive accesory connected to Xbox with usb cable.

This is like going back in time and watching transitions of:
Music, cassette to cd to digital
Video, VHS to disc to digital.
Just the video game industry to go, won’t be long now, even if dragging and screaming 😂

@themightyant I know gamepass is amazing it really is but going digital isn't a good idea for the consumer at all especially on PlayStation or the next nintendo console whatever it will be called its a stupid idea and I hioe doesn't happen for a good while yet I'm not to fussed on xbox I can play every xbox exclusive on gamepass moving forward the greed from company's now isn't good greed leads to more greed

@OldGamer999 it's going happen sooner or later unfortunately these companies are greedy enough now with microtransactions every where and dlc what really annoys me though is companies charging 70 for an average game then still trying fleece gamers with microtransactions ads everywhere in games and then chargiing dlc for an incomplete game finish the story off

An optional disc drive for BC games would gain Microsoft a lot of goodwill after its leaked future console plans. We are headed to the digital future for new releases, but backwards compatible games are being removed for digital sale. I want to play my copy of Half Life 2, King Kong, Driver, FEAR, Syndicate, Indiana Jones, Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy and others on the Series S and the next Xbox Console.

@Dan1283
The only way to combat these things you mention is don’t buy a game at full £70 physical or digital.
It’s simple supply and demand.
Even if a game is digital only if no one paid the £70 they would need to reduce cost to recoup money on their investment.
It is sometimes the public desire of items that create cost increases.

@OldGamer999 good point. I set myself a budget this gen of maximum £35 per Xbox game, mainly because as a digital only gamer (Series S) I wasn’t happy with the idea of spending £70 on new games that I can’t trade it etc. it means by the time I buy a game, it has been patched several times, and I know for definite that I actually want it rather than buying it because it’s the new thing out. Has worked so far for me, anyway!

@OldGamer999 exactly gamers need vote with their wallets if no one bought games at that price the companies would have no choice but reduce the price I'm a hardcore gamer so like yourself I see a scam a mile off i don't touch online service games neither just no Interest in them at all it's always been about the single player game for me maybe I need get with the times lol

Nah. Not fussed. Sony - the most expensive way to play!

@themightyant Microsoft 1st party are ok for game pass but there's way any of them gmaes other than in my opinion forza horizon are worth anything close to 70 starfield is a buggy crash fest redfall is terrible halo infinite single player is good but not 70 good can't comment on forza motorsport not played it enough yet

I have a Series X and never used the disk drive. Been digital since the middle of the 360. So i don’t have any disks. But for those that do, i would like to see something be there for those gamers. However PS6 and Xbox Series 2 i would think they will mostly be digital by then. I mean outside of being able to sell and trade with physical games are digital now anyways. The disk is mostly just the license.

No, the future is digital. I know there are still a LOT of people who prefer physical, but the reality is that we are already in a generation of transition to full digital.
What I would really like from the big 3 are better solutions for retrocompatibility and game preservation.

I’m just hoping they offer this for future consoles. I’ve invested heavily in physical this gen. It’s so cheap and easy to collect for Xbox especially with the backwards compatibility

@themightyant
I totally agree with Xbox latest offerings you mentioned. The difference between the quality and finish of the Xbox product compared to me putting a TOTK or Mario Wonder cartridge in my Switch day one is a lot to behold.
The problem is once it’s released and then reviewed it ends up always a bad game in the publics eyes. And Xbox definitely needs a few TOTK and GOWR reviews for sure, to get some public interest and momentum injected into the brand.

More choice is always a good thing for consumers. PS5 digital owners being able to upgrade to a disc drive for $79.99 is a great option, and while I personally have a Series X, I hope Series S fans can get the same choice some day.

Would be a very good option to have for gamers

Yes, we NEED this in my house.

We have one Series S and one Series X.

My kids are always using my Series X for physical games. Skylanders and the like. Why? Because ONLY Skylander Superchargers is playable on Xbox Series S. the rest are physical only. We even have an Xbox One to play a couple of them which don’t work on the Series X.

We will lose access to certain games in a digital only world. And I don’t like that one bit.

But more importantly, I want my Xbox back!

Haven't used a disc in many years.

Of course the second consoles go all digital I'm done with them and going to pc. I like using my older consoles and all 3 console owners have shown they are happy to shut off digital store fronts. Atleast on those I still have a physical collection. If a consoles digital only and they shut off the store fronts I have a console I can't even buy a game for. Atleast on pc most games have been backed up if a store goes down.

...actually what I'm interested in is if Microsoft plan to release a £25 vertical stand for the upcoming slim Xbox X|S consoles😅.

Even when i was a kid with with ps1 and snes i hated physical change the disc or cart each time u wanna play a diff game ugh

Fool me once with the HD-DVD drive….. 😂

I would get one as my series X drive has gone faulty

Why don't they just support any branded usb disc drive that you can buy from shops? And all it needs to do is verify the disc.

@CutchuSlow because odds are people would figure out a way to pirate games in a week via a modded drive. It happened enough with 360 and it's disc drive back in the day.

I don't even use my drive on my X and doubt my wife even misses the drive on her S; she certainly hasn't said anything about it.

Honestly you should already be able to attach external disc drives to the Series S. Just because you bought a cheap system doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to use any discs on it. The only issue if they would release one themselves eventually would be how much cheaper the Series S with a disc drive would be than just getting the Series X.

It is long overdue for S owners to have a way to verify owning a disc copy of compatible 360 and One games. Some may have lots of discs before deciding to go digital and then there was the issue of Series X availability scarcity while Series S was more available.

It seems an inexpensive drive plugged into a USB port would suffice to verify ownership, same for the X if it's drive stops working.

I’ve owned a Series X since day 1 and I’ve had my disc drive crap out on me once already, so I would definitely love a solution that sees me running to the store and popping on a new drive over ordering, waiting, and installing a new disc drive in the system.

I'd be up for it. I don't have interest in an S but if it's played off the disk for the license like the backwards compatibility titles then sure.

That or a conversion option. I don't know how they'd go about it of send it in or something or so and not making disks useless or something or whatever selling or so but either way something like that maybe as an option to?

A price gap still between S, S 1TB and X though hmm. Besides PS4 continuation and Switch prices.

Otherwise an option for a disk drive would be nice. I don't go digital on Xbox at all so not much to care for. I'm physical all the way on it.

Also how long the disk drive does last I know it won't be like external hard drives but the cables and more than just inside the console differences I do wonder about.

If the price is the same as the PS5 disk drive (if Microsoft puts the price up to cover the costs as Sony is part of the Blu-ray alliance so they don't really have to worry as much as Microsoft having to deal with the royalties or whatever for Blu-rays to put the cost up that bit more to cover the extra.

I think it's a fair option for any idea.

@Jimboss ikr first world problems hurt the most :c
Also didnt help when people i knew would get robbed and all thr games are gone

@BrilliantBill ya the fact that the upcoming XCYLINDER is digital makes one think MS would have to have some disc functionality.

@ralphdibny i saw it with Batamax

Not a bad idea, but for me the S is a Game Pass machine, which does account for 60% of my gaming these days. As for physical, it's the only way I'll buy Nintendo 1st party games [day 1 at times] because they won't get much cheaper over time or via digital. Bought PS5 w disc thinking I'd pick up a ton of used or discounted PS4 and next gen games, but with PS Plus there's just too much to play as is.

I'd buy it without hesitation if only so I could play Mortal Kombat 9 and Arkham Origins.

@NintendoByNature
This. Physical Xbox one games are ridiculously cheap and that’s the main thing that’s been making me really want a disk drive. I have a One S digital that’s basically just a gamepass box but cheap physicals have made me consider an upgrade.

@Deemo37 yep. I buy a ton of digital games too, but it's been a gamepass box for me too. I might just have to upgrade to the x or wait for something like this with the S

I think it would be a cool upgrade and as a person who loves to buy physical games on sale, it would be very handy. I have a Series X but would love to have an add-on disc drive for my S in another room. I’d pay around $50-$100 for that a couple years later.

I would have thought that Microsoft would have come up with a solution by now. I suggested some sort of trade in system of discs for codes to Phil on Twitter ages ago but he never got back to me.

It would be nice, especially considering the devices detailed in the recent leak were disc-less.
Otherwise I like the suggestion of discs for codes that @__jamiie proposed.

Still, it'll be a sad day when everything goes digital only. High Street video game stores will be consigned to history, then while my wife shops for clothes I'll have nowhere to go.

I am a digital game guy, but as I have my XSS in my living room it would be handy to have a disc drive for the occasional Bluray/DVD disc that I play. The current solution is use the Xbox One X which is sat next to it as a glorified disc player! Haha

Of course I could bring the XSX downstairs and swap it with the XSS, but I want the better console in my game room.

Make it cheap enough and I am in!

Not at all. We're 99% digital at this point and very unlikely to ever go back. Would rather a discless Series X personally

@ralphdibny I have some HD-DVD movies and even one hybrid DVD/HD-DVD one but I have no way of playing them.

If I already owned a Series S and wanted to put money down for a disc drive, I'd rather sell the S and upgrade to the Series X. You get a drive, more power and a better built quality (all in one).

As someone who is still playing on a One S, a disc drive option for Series S doesn't entice me as I know I would want to upgrade to the Series X at a later date, making the purchase too transient.

The fact that the Series S doesn't have a disk drive is currently the main barrier for me to joining the 'current' generation - I can't really afford a Series X, and I'm not too bothered about the performance aspects, but I have many disk games, and the kids love second hand games - so a drive is essential for me. For now I'll just stick to my One X I guess!

I had a series S and traded it for a Series X, but the ability to read discs was not a factor that weighed on that decision, since I always tought that my Xbox will be a 100% digItal library anyway.
Nevertheless I ended up buying a couple of physical games (Transformers devastation, shadows of the damned, Dante’s inferno, and Spec Ops the line, but ONLY because they are not available on a digital storefront, and would be inaccessible on the “S”) maybe a detachable disc reader is not such a bad idea.

Yes, why not have the option for a drive for Series S?

Nah, I don't wanna get series S or detachable disc drive for it cause I already have a normal console with with disc drive.

Discs are basically just physical licence keys these days, so maybe? I have a few disc based games that would be very comfy to play in bed.

Yes!!! So I can enjoy my DVDs and Blu-rays!!!