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Things can change but this is the current planned roadmap for Xbox mid-gen refresh hardware as part of a whoopsie from the FTC documents with files attached.
The update appears to be an all digital design
The all digital design would certainly prevent me from buying an updated model, which is unfortunate since I do appreciate the backwards compatibility.
It's a cynical move to get all game purchases done through their storefront and eliminate game reselling, and it will lock out a lot of price-conscious consumers who need to wait for a good sale, or buy used games.
On top of that, it's a huge blow towards game preservation, since the logical next step would be to stop producing physical games. Even other publishers might think twice before producing a physical game if only a third of the base can even use disks.
Often people bring up that games can ship incomplete and need updates; but even a non-updated game is still more playable than a digital one when the servers aren't maintained, and there's no reason to remove the disk drive. You can still play digital games on a console with a disk drive.
All in all, this is a pretty disappointing update for me.
Short of legislation that requires these machines to allow you to hook into alternate digital storefronts, or a requirement for even console purchases to be DRM free, I don't think consoles will ever have a bright future for preservation regardless of a disc drive.
I fully agree that game preservation is not a priority for any gaming company. The playability of old games and not requiring paying again for a remaster/ release can only hurt their bottom line.
The good thing is that they don't have to like preservation, or even support it, when there's physical game disks. In 40 years if I have a copy of Breath of the Wild and a working Switch, I can still play it; but the same likely cannot be said of a digital copy.
The fact that companies care so little for (or actively dislike) game preservation is the very reason physical games are so important.
No, I'd say that's why you want DRM-free games. Plenty of games don't even get physical releases because the economics don't make sense, and then they get crucial patches that fix game-breaking bugs. Your console will break over a long enough timeline, and eventually the parts to fix it won't be produced anymore; I doubt your Switch will still play Breath of the Wild 40 years from now. Basically the only way to preserve modern games that makes sense to me is to make them run on PC, DRM-free.
The playability of old games and not requiring paying again for a remaster/ release can only hurt their bottom line.
Nah, because making that remaster or re-release costs them money and is more of a gamble than just putting out the old version for cheaper. Most of GOG's business is built around this, and then you see things like Sega putting out a huge collection of their ROMs entirely DRM-free with ROM hacks built into the Steam workshop.
As someone who more and more appreciates having physical discs of media I agree with what you're saying. We're seeing not just games but media disappear because they're digital only.
Digital is super convenient, but it also means you don't own anything. I've still got N64 and Gamecube games and I can play them today. But when specific servers go away I'm out my games from the PS4, PC, etc. Even the few I have discs for. It's such a bad feeling. Wish more games would launch without needing to be online all the time, especially for single player games. Seeing the depreciation of disc drives makes me sad.
Do any recent games have their full data on the disc anymore? I figured they had become too big, and that the disc merely serves as a licence to download it online anyway.
My understanding is that most games come with the full game data on the disk, though it's a little more of a gamble if some will be left as a download on the Switch carts since they charge by cart size if I recall correctly.
Having said that, it would still be the unpatched game data; but that's still more playable than a digital copy when the servers are no longer maintained.
It's also worth noting people with bad internet speeds can prefer the disks since copying 50-150GB is a lot faster than downloading it from the internet for them.
That’s a welcome surprise, actually. Perhaps I should be less cynical.
Damn, that controller looks ugly, but the upgrades seem nice enough
Too bad it doesnt actually have a gyro. I'm one of those gyro aiming weirdos. I like the ergo of the Xbox controllers better but I mostly use a dualsense because of this feature.
I don't like all digital
I would be extremely surprised if at least one upgraded model of the Xbox doesn't ship with a disc drive. It would completely alienate a section of their user-base that want a more powerful box and care about owning physical media. They also made this mistake before with the Xbox One - which Spencer himself has mentioned as a key reason why there's such a gap in sales volume between XBS/X and PS5 - so to make the same mistake again would be doubly confusing.
Edit: just seen this story corroborated by multiple outlets, so this may well be the real deal. And if so, super disappointing and fucking duuuumb. As the Xbox Series X OG console becomes more and more the outlier, what are the chances that publishers will just stop producing discs for retail completely? So basically, really piss off your early adopters. I own a Series S at the moment, but I'm more likely to just switch to PS5 Pro model when it comes round instead of stick with the Xbox Series consoles.
I am interested in a Series X some day, but no disc drive is a deal breaker. My only hope is the regular Series X will some day see a price cut.
Quiter buttons??!
Maybe i will have to get one.. i hate my current xbox controller. The face buttons are super annoying
The controller continues being a prime example of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".
Disagree somewhat. They need to put hall sensors in the controller so that precision is improved and drift is a thing of the past. I would also like better YBAX buttons as I find button presses arent registered 100% of the time. Also the vibration motors rattle so having a haptic type feature without spinning vibrators would be nice.
This holds true (for me) across various series controllers including the elite 2.
I guess launching this next year ahead of the rumoured Switch 2 launch would make sense to steal some of Nintendo's potential market share.
Perfect, no one needs discs anymore. Maybe I'll upgrade my S someday to the new X.