Xbox One To Release In Kinect-Less Bundle in 2014 - Rumor

[Zappykins]

Chris Hu said:

Removing the Blu Ray drive doesn't make a lot of finacial sense since it adds $50 dollars to the console at most removing it wouldn't net much of a saving both to the consumer and MS.  Also the X1 is marketed as a multi media device so a Blu Ray drive is pretty much vital until Blu Rays become obsolete.   Also the majorit of consumers still don't have fast enough internet (plus a lot of them have data caps) so a drive less cosole still isn't very appealing to the majority of consumers.

Blu-ray seems to be at the holding state, right before it starts the atrophy stage, much like DVD 10 years ago.  Blu ray players are about $60 or so for a decent version.  It is not supported  by Mac or Windows 8.  For it to be a major dominate format in the market it would need to still be growing.  But as seems like so many companies are all doing streaming right now, and most of the brick and motor video stores closed, I don't see it coming back.

Now if they used that extra space for a larger, say 1 T hard drive, and sold it for less, that might be a good choice for new consumers.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the quality, had the annoying menus and previews though.  I just think it's time has come, and it on it's way out.  Perhaps the can save it with 4K, but seems like everything, even that, is going streaming.