Microsoft’s Xbox Series X refresh spells the end for game discs

It was just over 10 years ago that Microsoft’s gaming division — then led by Don Mattrick, an executive who sometimes seemed like he’d been replaced by a malfunctioning automaton — first revealed the Xbox One to the world, and explained that it heralded an all-digital future in which users would buy game licenses rather than games. Even if you bought the games on disc! The policy was vilified by fans, excoriated by the press — “Microsoft kills game ownership and expects us to smile,” wrote my old boss at Eurogamer in one pitiless takedown — and openly mocked by Sony on a live E3 stage in perhaps the most devastating, and certainly the most memorable, finishing move of the console wars.

Humiliated, Xbox reversed its decision, but the reputational damage was done, and Xbox One’s fortunes were irreparably damaged. The Xbox One’s botched multi-media strategy and underwhelming performance were both factors. Soon, Mattrick was gone, replaced by the much more personable Phil Spencer, and Spencer — whose every utterance put gamers first — set about rebuilding trust in the Xbox brand and innovating its business model in other ways. And generally, he’s done a pretty good job at that.

Microsoft Image

But Mattrick wasn’t wrong. He was right. The following are some of the most common questions that people ask. seen the future, it’s just that his timing was off — and apparently, Spencer knew it. That much is evident from leaked plans for a mid-generation refresh of the Xbox console range, which includes a redesigned, “all-digital” Xbox Series X with no disc drive. The Series S console is digital only. Sony also produces a PlayStation 5 that is digital only. So if Microsoft’s plan to replace the existing Xbox Series models in late 2024 comes to fruition, Xbox will be the first console manufacturer to leave physical media behind altogether. It’s now a big question as to when Xbox will completely stop producing and distributing games discs.

A digital-only Xbox console generation is a hugely significant milestone, but over the last 10 years, we’ve all become so much more accustomed to assembling virtual libraries of games that this move isn’t likely to raise the same outcry it did in 2013. There’s an obvious convenience to the way digital distribution makes every game you’ve bought quickly accessible across multiple devices. It’s more sustainable than making and shipping discs, too (although it’s important to remember that the environmental cost of large downloads and cloud streaming is not insignificant). At any rate, the market — meaning us, people who buy and play games — seems to have decided. What Microsoft’s decision tells you above all else is that Xbox owners’ appetite for buying physical games has shrunk to the extent that it’s financially feasible for the company to ignore it completely.

Thanks to Valve’s visionary creation of Steam in the early 2000s, PC gaming — a sector Spencer returns to again and again in his public comments — had abandoned physical releases even before Mattrick’s Xbox made its disastrous proclamation a decade ago. But the console business has always had a closer relationship with retail, and it seems Microsoft’s competitors in that space will be slower to take the plunge. Sony appears to be hedging its bets: It’s reported that the mid-generation refresh for PlayStation 5 will have an optional, detachable disc drive. Meanwhile, it’s said that Nintendo, ever the traditionalist, is continuing to support game cartridges with its successor to the Switch.

Microsoft Image via FTC

Microsoft clearly believes that the business of selling games has declined to the point where it is able to cut off ties. Microsoft will become the exclusive distributor for Xbox console games. This means that Amazon, GameStop and others are no longer involved. This will give it more control over pricing. While retailers can undercut the recommended retail price if they want, they are not allowed to do so for digital storefronts. This is why digital versions of brand new releases are priced at $70 whereas physical copies can be purchased for as little as $10.

Theoretically, Microsoft might choose to lower its prices, give the savings to their players and then compete with Steam on price, as Steam games, in general, are cheaper than those sold on consoles. It is highly unlikely that this will happen, due to the ever-increasing costs associated with game development. Xbox users will end up spending more on games because they won’t be able to shop around for bargains or buy used games.

The removal of physical game options has few positives. Digital games have no resale value, retailers will suffer, and there’s a very concerning knock-on effect for game preservation. Digital collections may feel permanent, but in reality they only persist at the whim of storefront operators, while games can be (and often are) delisted by their publishers — a fate soon to befall Marvel’s AvengersFor example. In an all-digital world, unless you happen to already own a license to a delisted game — or, in some cases, have it downloaded somewhere — it becomes completely inaccessible. Delisted games will not be playable in this future. They’re lost to time.

Microsoft’s move to create the first all-digital console gaming platform has always felt inevitable. It’s where the technology is headed, and it seems to be what people want. But with it, the gaming industry loses a link to its community — and to its past — that can’t ever be restored.