We could barely believe what we were reading, but there's a decent rumour going around that Microsoft are planning to announce a new Xbox One console configuration in October.
Chinese Windows Phone site WPDang are reporting that in October, Microsoft will hold a big event to announce the launch of the new Lumia 940 and Lumia 940 XL smartphones, the next version of the Microsoft Band and the availability of a new Surface tablet - the Surface Pro 4. The word is that alongside these more or less expected announcements, the Redmond-based giant will announce that the Xbox One Mini is in the works.
The Xbox One Mini is reportedly one third of the size of the current Xbox One and is a digital-only device that does away with the Blu-ray drive entirely. It'll apparently be much quieter as a result.
Now, The Verge's Tom Warren has confirmed pretty much everything that WPDang are claiming, APART from the Xbox One. In fact, Warren says "there may be a slimmer Xbox One, but a lack of rumors around Microsoft's console plans suggest this is unlikely."
Following on from that, the longstanding WPDang site has mysteriously disappeared, with the entire thing being taken offline in the early hours of Friday morning. What this suggests is up to your perception of things.
In some senses, it would be a good idea to bring an all-digital version of the console to market - especially if the price is correct. In others though, it would be a tough sell. We can't imagine that retailers - who make large percentages on the price of physical games - would welcome the move. Plus October is definitely strange timing, right in the middle of the busiest time of the year for videogame sales. The only way that it wouldn't damage the holiday push would be if Microsoft were to come up with an Apple-style "...and it's available right now!" kind of move. Anything else could cause prospective console buyers to hold onto their cash until the new model was released.
As always, we'll keep our ear to the ground to see what goes on and we'll let you know just as soon as we do.
Comments 28
Surely this would be a bad move on MS' part, what with all the backlash about always online etc and the sky high prices of digital games with no prospect of trade in?
Well, I think this could be what Phil Spencer meant when he recently mentioned something people will 'throw eggs at.' I'll be honest, I prefer physical copies of games and I'm not in favor of all-digital consoles, from any company. We'll see how it plays out though.
Its interesting that MS is slowly returning to its 2013 commitments but semi-quietly. I agree with you @crippyd which brings me full circle to why I was so unhappy with this during the Xbox launch:
Unless MS goes the route of Valve, and start offering significant discounts on digital downloads, users will be stuck between a rock and a hard place; they are bent over a barrel to accept rediculous prices.
Case in point I'm looking to download Dying Light so I look on Xbox Store and it's £55 I subsequently check online and GAME are selling it for £24.99. It seems bananas to me that a game that was shipped from the US, driven to a store, held in store then delivered to my house costs less than a button press.
If I want to buy a game on launch date then sure sell it to me for £55 as it's roughly what the store charges (I'm predownloading The Taken King for silly money because I want to play on launch). That's a privalage I am happy to part cash for, not having to wait in the freezing cold for 2 hours to pick up a game at the store. But be reasonable - when your game has been out for 9 months you can't charge the launch price.
A fair price is all that stopping me from parting with my disk drive.
This should need to be like $150 for me to part ways with something as big as physical media compatibility. If it is even true to begin with.
@DesignateTurian
Reading the article, I had the exact same thought, honestly I think this is away to test their original plan to see how it would take (if the rumours hold up as true) if it's priced right, I could see myself buying one or two, as I would be their ideal consumer. That sounds crazy, right? But hear me out.
Sans Dead Rising 3, I'm all digital. I would buy an XB1 mini for my room and for my travels, as I would be one sign in away from access to my One and 360 BC games.
Edit: A mini would probably have a niche market, but I think it could pull off a quite a few units. Obviously a cheaper steam route would be idea unless they just revamp their Deals with Gold program.
Honestly, I think this would be a nice addition to the lineup. It obviously won't be replacing the "full" Xbox One, rather it'll be provided as a secondary option, but I know a few folks that have gone all digital who would appreciate this!
I use my blue ray drive, dumb idea. Also My console is already quiet. I don't believe these rumors.
I mean as far as offering another choice, this has merit. The standard console would still be available of course. My Xbox One is my primary Blu Ray player, so I wouldn't be interested, but I imagine if they included some extras like a lifetime digital purchase discount and a year of Xbox live, as well as a $199 price point and a Free game. The value would be worth it to anyone who doesn't care about physical media.
The blue ray drive is pretty useless - games are run on hard disk anyway. However, the new console with a disc drive means that players have to buy games on MS store or using download codes. Usually games are cheaper on stores than online.
I'd buy one as a second console. 95% of my games are digital and all my new TV, Film and Music purchases have been too for several years.
A couple more years down the line and I'd be happy to buy one as my only console. Physical media has had its' day in our household and as time passes we have less and less legacy stuff that needs a physical reader to access it.
This may be true, but it will fail. As will every other stupid digital only video game console. These companies can keep trying to shove it down our throats, but it isn't working. And I don't know how many times the majority has to say it.......
We prefer physical games!!!
Sure, there are people who enjoy paying full price for several yr. old digital version of a game. I have no idea why these people do this, but some do. It, literally, make no sense unless you just like to give away free $, which I don't like doing.
But most gamers are still using physical media. And there isn't anything wrong with that. The only one to benefit from going all digital are these companies' bank accounts, not the consumer's.
If Microsoft wants to waste it's time & money on this garbage, it's their perogative. Howevever, they should go ask the now unemployed idiots that came up with an all digital PSP how that worked out. It was a disaster that drove the final nail into the PSP's coffin.
@KelticDevil
Rumors are circulating that the NX might not have a disc drive. If Nintendo jumps on this bandwagon, not at all far fetched to believe Sony and MS will. I don't think it's a great idea, but to keep gaming we might not have a choice but to accept this is the future, no matter how much it sucks (and it sucks imo).
@Gamer83
You may be right, but I really hope it's not going in that direction. There are numerous major roadblocks that would have to be cleared to even make a fully digital console work.
Hard drive space, internet speeds & caps, & they would have to drop the prices of games more than what they do now bc it's ridiculous that we should pay $60 for any digital game when there would be no shipping, manufacturing, packaging, or retail costs.
Plus, since we'd be playing every game off of our hard drives, you would have to worry about the lifespan of each hard drive, etc. And if people say, "Well, you could save in the cloud....".......do we really want to rely on these networks like Xbox Live, the awful PSN, & god knows what network Nintendo would have going, actually working all the time? And if they go down, we lose our saves & can't access our games?
Not to mention how much more power that would give the internet companies over us than they already have. That would also give shi@#y companies like Comcast power over Microsoft, Sony, & Nintendo.
And all of THAT (and probably more that I can't think of off the top of my head) just to avoid physical media? I just can't see that happening.
Once again, it goes back to what we were talking about in a different thread........greed, arrogance, & stupid decisions. Gamers need to realize that WE tell these companies what WE want & they provide that product. It's not the other way around.
Microsoft tried forcing major policy changes on gamers before the Xbox One launch & look what happened. I would've hoped that these companies saw that & learned a valuable lesson.
@KelticDevil "We prefer physical games!!!"
Some of us do, sure. But it's a dwindling number that is FAR from all of us. I know a number of people in my social circle who switched to all-digital on Xbox One and PS4 from day one. Heck, even I've got 100+ games installed on my Xbox One that are digital, and maybe 7 disc-based games.
There's plenty of evidence out there to suggest that a decent percentage of gamers are going digital. In the US, digital sales accounted for 29% of the market in 2010, 32% in 2011, 41% in 2012, and 53% in 2013. It's the same elsewhere. A lot of that will be attributed to rising sales of games for smartphones/tablets, but physical game sales are falling. Last week for example, the #7 best-selling game in the UK shifted less than 8,000 copies at retail. That would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Latest UK numbers show that boxed software accounts for £935m (down 6.3% on 2013) of the market's value, with digital console and PC (NOT smartphones/tablets) featuring a year-on-year rise to £1.048 billion. Digital actually leads in the UK by a fair distance, and that distance will keep growing.
The fact of the matter is that the hardcore probably DO still prefer physical discs. But people outside of that core group - of whom there are far more and who don't make any noise about it on message boards and comment sections either way - are buying digital more and more.
The PSP Go had more problems than being all digital. It was fighting against mobile devices and didn't have anything - software OR hardware wise - to really sell it, especially in the face of the still massively popular NDS.
@SuperKMx
Not that I am doubting your #'s........but there are a lot of factors that aren't explained there. Do those #'s include games from PS Plus & Games With Gold? Free games shouldn't count even though they are digital.
Also, those #'s don't say that 53% of all larger would-be RETAIL games were digital sales. With the rise of smaller, indie titles or examples like Xbox Live Arcade, those #'s could skew my overall point.
Even if those #'s are true, it doesn't mean they SHOULD be that way. Other than pure laziness for convenience of not having to drive to a store, I have no idea why anyone would go all digital.
In addition to all of the reasons I mentioned above, the loss of being able to trade games into a store for credit towards new games would be a huge loss.
Plus, it could cause other issues like I am running into right now.....de-listed games. If games were all digital, I would have no ability to play Marvel: Ultimate Alliance right now. Or Quake 4 like I did last month. Those games have been taken off Xbox Live completely. Because of physical discs, I can still enjoy those games.
@KelticDevil The numbers are sales only, so they don't count PS+ or Games With Gold, no.
Absolutely, the 53% does include games that aren't released at retail so indie games will push that number up. However, with the lower cost of indie games, they'd have to sell more individual copies per percentage point to alter things. End of the day, physical sales are down in cash terms, no matter what the cause.
A lot of digital buyers do just like the convenience. Not necessarily down to laziness, either. It's much the same way MP3s are loved so much. I know I wouldn't have space in my house for my music collection if it was all on CD! Plus the digital sales often bring prices down below the prices my local stores sell at. New releases are pricier, of course, but when something's on Deals With Gold, there's a good chance it's cheaper than it is physically (in the UK, at least!)
But there's definitely arguments for both sides. As someone who used to trade a LOT, the trade-in factor is huge for me. There again, having worked at my local retailer and seeing the stupid amounts of markup we used to put on every traded title so we could make money for doing practically nothing, I'm kinda happy that I'm not feeding that anymore.
The delisting factor is definitely a big issue though, for sure. There needs to be some sort of change to the way contracts are formed for digital titles, so that if a publisher goes out of business, their titles aren't suddenly unplayable. Or, if they just decide to stop selling something.
Now that games require lengthy installations, pre-purchasing digital games means not having to wait 5 days to download (lookin' at you, ESO!) Games are only going to get bigger and bigger, so preordering digital will likely rise in popularity, which could in turn make a discless Xbox popular.
Well I already have a XB1 and very interested getting second one for the man cave and/or bedroom. I would be interested in this since I have less room for stuff and already do tons of downloads (mostly from the sales that always show up).
The biggest worry I have is storage. With 360 backwards compat, new games and other stuff I think it has to be 2TB at least if that is the only way to store it all.
Yet if its 2TB and around $200 USD, It would be a serious consideration for the man cave and bedroom.
@SuperKMx
Like you said, there are two sides to every story. But I am just puzzled because nobody can seem to find even ONE benefit of a fully digital console over physical other than the convinience factor. And I, and others, have listed like 7-8 reasons why physical is way better.
My point is why are any people behind this since there is VERY little benefit, at best? And there are numerous potential downfalls. I know why companies are behind it, because of greed & $$$, but I have yet to meet anyone that has given me a reason other than being lazy & not wanting to go to a store or lack of "shelf space"?
And both of those reasons are ridiculous compared to the downsides. But I guess to each their own.
@KelticDevil There's a few benefits to digital releases. Right off the bat, I know that a game I want will never be out of stock (unless it's delisted which, while it happens, is relatively rare!) Also, I'll be able to play every game at midnight on launch day, rather than having to wait for the shops to open. There's also the speed of purchase on all games. No waiting for Amazon to deliver a game when I want to play it. I can buy it and play it right now (aside from the download time. Fortunately my internet connection is quite speedy.)
Plus, I can grab my external HDD and take 100 games around to a friend's house, rather than taking a handful of discs and then getting there and finding that I really, really should have brought FIFA 15 with me...
Also, I guess there's the whole carbon footprint thing, but I don't know enough about that to even warrant a comment on it.
As far as publisher and platform holder greed comes into it...yep, I see that. But the thing is, it's only a switch to where the money's going. Either it goes to some corporate-sized retailer like GAME or GameStop so some CEO and board gets his pockets lined, or it goes to the publisher/platform holder so they can continue to make games and consoles. End of the day, it's the same crime, just with a different villain.
Don't get me wrong, an all-digital console isn't my preferred choice at all. I like being able to use discs. Not mention that my Xbox One is my primary Blu-ray player in the house!
@SuperKMx
I get what you are trying to say & are trying to play the other side of my argument, which I appreciate, even though you may not prefer a digital console either.
In the end, my point would be that I think forcing an all digital console on everybody would be awful. I think it should stay the way it is........both physical & digital are available, so the consumer has a choice. And then let the chips fall where they may.
While I see no practical reason, whatsoever, to own an all digital video game console, maybe some people would want this.
And I could care less what happens with this machine as long as the physical choice is an option.
@KelticDevil
I think the bottomline is we have to see it play out. I won't lie. My entire music collection is now all digital. I could see myself doing the same for games, but there would need to be massive changes. The biggest change, that you already mentioned, would be the need for prices to be much lower. It is absurd to pay $60 for digital games. No question about that.
@KelticDevil Oh, absolutely. At this stage, it definitely shouldn't be a "this is your only option" kind of thing. That would be catastrophic for a number of reasons.
I think a second SKU that's digital only, while the standard bundle is still available, would be a good idea. I reckon it'd go down quite well, especially at a lower price. But hey, it's all rumour and speculation at this point anyway
@Gamer83
Yea, all of my music is digital now too. But I look at that much differently for a variety of reasons. One is that I don't pay $60 for an "album", physical or digital.
But you are right. Let's see how it all plays out. And I wouldn't be completely against a digital console if the manufacturer gave the $ they save back to the consumer w/ lower prices & build the thing correctly, then great.
The problem is I don't trust Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo to do that. I guess we'll see.
@SuperKMx
A 2nd SKU isn't a bad idea. I just didn't want this to turn into "opening a can of worms" situation. But, like you said, this is all rumor & speculation anyways. I get all fired up for no reason. Lol.
@KelticDevil
I don't trust any of the big 3 either, but there's nobody else making consoles so I just hope if they're going to go all digital, they do it the right way. Nintendo is the most consumer-friendly, the problem is, outside of Mario and Zelda I'm really not into their first-party games anymore and since those consoles don't get GTA, Mortal Kombat, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect, NHL, NBA 2K, Fallout, Metal Gear Solid, etc. It really isn't an option for me anymore. I'd love to see that change because I don't like missing out on the Mario games, but it is what it is.
@Gamer83
I completely agree. If Nintendo would just stop......well, being Nintendo (stubborn as hell), they could have the #1 console out there.
If they made a console that is up to current-gen standards, tech-wise & started mending the fences (that they foolishly & arrogantly tore down) with third party publishers/developers while adding in their Mario, Zelda, etc. first party stuff......watch out.
But that won't happen because Nintendo likes to constantly make things more difficult on itself than it has to.
@KelticDevil
That's Nintendo's blessing and curse it seems. It marches to its own beat and in some ways it's great, in others, it's very detrimental. NX will most likely continue this trend. I'm still expecting a hybrid of console and handheld gaming. If that happens, I see a lot of benefits but some serious flaws as well. Regardless, this industry keeps moving forward and it's going to be interesting to see how things play out. There's lots of rumors surrounding the big 3 these days, all of which may have a big future implications.
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