Microsoft Denies $399 Disc-Less Xbox One

[Steven Bogos]

Microsoft Denies $399 Disc-Less Xbox One

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/429438436139745281]
Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has officially denied rumors of a $399 Xbox One with no disc drive.

Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg has officially come out and denied the rumor that a $399 disc-less Xbox One is in development for release this year, stating in a response to a question about the console's existence [https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/429438436139745281], "No, you cannot believe everything you read on the internet..."

Earlier this month, during a massive spill of Xbox One details, the senior publishing source [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131811-Rumor-Titanfall-Limited-Edition-399-Disc-Free-Xbox-Ones-Coming-Soon] later confirmed the rumor.

But now Greenberg, Chief of Staff for Devices and Studios Group at Microsoft, has firmly squashed that rumor. While it may still be true that Microsoft was working on such a console, it looks like we won't be seeing it, at least for a while.

Industry analyst Michael Pachter said that a cheaper Xbox One with no disc-drive would be "Dumb, dumb, dumb," [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131860-Pachter-Disc-Free-Xbox-One-Would-Be-Dumb-Dumb-Dumb] when commenting on the rumor, and so it seems Microsoft has come to the same conclusion.

How about you guys? Would you buy a cheaper Xbox One if it didn't have a disc drive? I live in Japan, and thus have amazingly fast internet, so I would jump on a deal like this, but it does seem like it would only appeal to a very specific market.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/aarongreenberg/status/429438436139745281]

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[tippy2k2]

I didn't believe it when I read it but it is interesting to see an "Official" No

The hard drive would have to be gigantic for this to work (I have the 250 GB Hard Drive on my disc-playing 360 and I STILL nip the edge of my limit every so often) and with how console makers price hard drives, it would never work.

Secondly, unless the disk drive is made out of gold and unicorn giggles, how in the world would taking the hard drive out knock a full $100 off?

Thirdly, the digital marketplace on the 360 is STILL waaaaaay too expensive for most things, though it is getting better. There's no way I would trust Microsoft's software pricing to feed my gaming habit.

Just too many hurdles to make this a reality. I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibilities but I don't see it happening.

 

[Saltyk]

I don't know how to say this without someone accusing me of hating on Microsoft or trolling or whatever. So, I'll just say, no. I have no plans to ever buy an Xbox One. Ever. Not even if they were willing to pay me more than the cost of the machine to buy it. I have a better system.

Take that to mean whatever you think it means.

 

[Flunk]

I'd rather have a $299 discless and Kinectless Xbox One. Otherwise the PS4 is by far still the better value proposition.

Here's how this works out for me.

PS4 Blueray +$50 = $350 remaining.
Xbox One Blueray +50, Kinect +0 450 remaining.

Discless Xbox One Kinect +0 = $400 remaining.

Bump the PS4 a bit for having better specs and it looks even worse. Microsoft seems to have decided to put their money on a stupid gimmick, much like the Nintendo Wii U. It just doesn't make sense to me to shell out for something I don't want.

 

[Something Amyss]

The hard drive would have to be gigantic for this to work (I have the 250 GB Hard Drive on my disc-playing 360 and I STILL nip the edge of my limit every so often) and with how console makers price hard drives, it would never work.

PS3/4 use regular Laptop sized SATAs, and Nintendo uses USB HDDs on the Wii U. Really, excluding the PS Vita as a handheld, it's only Nintendo. Plus, their current model is a non-removable HDD. And I think you can't use external USB for games, though I could be wrong.

Also, unless the disk drive is made out of gold and unicorn giggles, how in the world would taking the hard drive out knock a full $100 off?

Given how little BD drives now retail for, I imagine this is pretty much bull, yeah.

Anyway, what they need is a Kinect-Less model. Keep the drive, lose the waggle controls.

 

[Parasondox]

I didn't believe it when I read it but it is interesting to see an "Official" No

The hard drive would have to be gigantic for this to work (I have the 250 GB Hard Drive on my disc-playing 360 and I STILL nip the edge of my limit every so often) and with how console makers price hard drives, it would never work.

The hard drive was going to be, now rumoured, 1TB of storage which is A HELL OF A LOT... and the same size as my Sky+ HD box.

Er... Sky+HD is your version of a DVR in the US. Many series and movies saved on that thing lol.

 

[Sarge034]

To the question, no. Physical media or bust.

If they kept the drive, added the 1TB HD, removed the Kinect, and asked me very nicely I would probably get one so long as they did drive up the price for this "premium" version.

 

[Ratty]

I figured this was probably just something someone at Microsoft threw out in a meeting, if it wasn't completely made up. Because it's a terrible idea. The kind of people who would be most incentivised by that $100 off are people who probably don't have the best internet connections anyway, and they know it. Even if Microsoft could hide the fact that AAA console games are always more expensive on download than retail until they suckered them into buying it.

 

[FalloutJack]

I'm not a witch at all. I wouldn't buy one at all. It's not really worth having or doing. In any case, for the sake of the actual X-Box fans, here is what you can do Microsoft... You can knock out the Kinect, the DRM, the advertisements, AND sell it a little cheaper as a result...and therefore people who are not cybernetically connected to the internet can actually enjoy your product.

But hey, that's me. I'm not a business major or an economics major. I just notice what DOES sell as opposed to what DOESN'T.

 

[Icehearted]

They remind me of predators, or hunters, basically attempting not to scare away their prey. If they really believed they could get away with some version of all digital, they would strangle the shit out of user end rights and go for it both barrels. The console market is/was "their" last bastion for retaining absolute rights over the consumer, but that has eroded slowly away over the last two decades.

 

[smithy_2045]

I would've been very interested in a cheaper, discless Xbox One, even with my Australian internet.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Ok, it's obvious I need some sleep because I read that headline as "Microsoft Denies $399 Dickless Xbox One."
Gah, the mental image!

Although you could consider a disc-less Xbox One a neutered console, so maybe it does make sense.

 

[Yopaz]

Secondly, unless the disk drive is made out of gold and unicorn giggles, how in the world would taking the hard drive out knock a full $100 off?

The explanation for this is this:

Thirdly, the digital marketplace on the 360 is STILL waaaaaay too expensive for most things, though it is getting better. There's no way I would trust Microsoft's software pricing to feed my gaming habit.

If they were going to kick the disc drive and offer a 100 dollar discount they would make that back really quickly due to pricing. No option to buy retail, no option to buy used. Even if they had cut the price in half they would easily have made their money back. Well... if they had any games worth buying for it that is...

OT: I'm not sure what to say to this. Considering the plans to have the online check-in or you'd have a paperweight thingy I'm not sure I would be surprised of this had turned out to be true. However as others have stated it still wouldn't be cheaper than the PS4 with the blu-ray player already on it so it wouldn't offer that much of an advantage.

I guess in a way I am relieved this turned out to be true though. While I personally love digital distribution I'm not sure I would want a console manufacturer to gain complete control over the distributed games.

 

[RJ 17]

Nah, I'd much prefer still having discs and such, thank you. I guess I'm just one of those weirdoes who likes actually owning their game rather than buying a license that allows me to play it.

Now if they made a $399 console with no Kinect, then we'd have something to talk about...that'd be something that might actually get me to buy an XBone.

 

[Seracen]

I know it's unreasonable, but part of me feels they allowed this fiasco to gestate at long as it did solely to gauge whether it would fly. It DID take a while for them to issue a statement, IMO.

Meanwhile, I have yet to see an exclusive that can convince me to shell out that much money and deal with Kinect.

Watch Dogs will be great on the PS4, and my PC is ready for Witcher 3! Now, if only they could keep Origin off DA3 (and also it doesn't suck), I might get it on PC, otherwise, it's a used console purchase for me.

 

[Eiv]

I would buy it. I actually wanted it initially when everyone thought the XB-One would have it. Sooooooo, if it does appear to be true (never trust the internet includes tweets) then ill buy one. It shall sit next to my PS4.

 

[JenSeven]

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft themselves released that rumour. It's a good idea to test the waters and see the media and public's response.

And now that they have seen the response it's the usual back-paddle-a-go-go.

And yes, it is dumb. Terminally dumb.
Microsoft will never release digital content on sale and will price all the products as high as they can get away with.
Retail stores that sell discs, for consoles that work on discs will have sales and second hand content. A pure digital console will not have that, and therefore it will only appeal to people with massive amounts of cash to throw away and no sense of economy or decency.

The only digital distributors that have a decent amount of users and a sense of decency are Valve and GOG (I know there are quite a few more but they are pretty small). They have sales, don't have restrictive DRM, or any DRM at all and good customer service and value their customers.
Microsoft is not a decent digital distributor.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Discless would be fine, its no different to how you game on a PC. BUT they would have to make the games way cheaper and also the console for that matter. I think the only issue is internet speeds because of the amount of data, after all some games are 32gig - that will take ages to download depending on peoples connection speed.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The only digital distributors that have a decent amount of users and a sense of decency are Valve and GOG (I know there are quite a few more but they are pretty small).

Yes, quite a few more... and I think you're failing to differentiate between those that use proprietary frontend clients and those that just let you do what you want with putting any obstacles in your way.... or posssibly you don't see that as worth mentioniing.

Plus, and this is probably more important for people living outside of North America, GoG doesn't practice regional price discrimination (and while Valve may not practice it themselves they allow publishers to do so). For a lot of people allowing regional price discrimination goes against their definition of 'decency'.

They have sales, don't have restrictive DRM, or any DRM at all and good customer service and value their customers.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree as to whether Steam/Steamworks counts as 'restrictive DRM'. IMO, it may not be as in-your-face intrusive as certain other DRM schemes but it's as restrictive as most (EA and Ubisoft shitfuckery not included). I count any DRM that places obstacles between me and my gaming leisure to be restrictive.

Microsoft is not a decent digital distributor.

If you can't make your digital distro 'shopfront' a success in PCspace then you're fucked if you're thinking about trying it in Consolespace.

What a lot of people either forget, or are ignorant of, is that digital distribution took on in PCspace because a large chunk of physical distribution neglected the PC. PC gamers took to digital distro because for many of us it was the only way to get a lot of the games we wanted (seeing as the retail selection at the time in most meatspace retailers had shrunk to several The Sims expansions and a couple of Blizzard games).

If Microsoft really want to charge ahead with digital distro then... their best bet is to make a few of their Flagship titles only available through digital distro. Of course, the downside to that is that gamers who still love their physical media will lean towards the PS4 (assuming Sony don't pull an equally stupid move) and the retailers will make their displeasure known.

The only proven alternative to that is to follow the mobile gaming distro method, shotgunning the market with loads of low cost games...

So what we have is that the only 2 'successful' digital distribution models that grew because there was little competition from traditional distribution.

Something to think about, anyway...