All-digital consoles are not very popular in many markets yet, the majority of potential consumers worldwide still have very poor internet speeds (or at least semi-poor) and prefer physical copies. Digital is slowly taking over, but the current numbers we've seen with Corona and various limitations and restrictions are not representative of the overall market under normal circumstances (I mean, hell, look at the crazy hardware and software numbers for Q2 this year, breaking records). The digital-only Xbox One sold very poorly and was discontinued after only a short time on the market. Even if digital console gaming revenue has crept up towards and beyond physical, this is likely due to microtransactions, DLC and other add-on software. The fact that there is practically no market yet for an all-digital console says a lot about consumers in the console gaming segment overall. Gaming revenue is only a part of the story, the most profitable games are usually free-to-play and that speaks volumes of what the market has become. Downloading a smaller DLC or cosmetic add-on or shortcut pack for competitive games is also a lot easier than entire games if your connection sucks.
Perhaps a digital-only console from MS and Sony will do really well, I can't really say I know for sure, but recent trends would suggest that physical media will continue to be an important factor for many customers, especially in developing markets where internet speeds are really poor. These are also the markets where Sony has traditionally head-and-shoulders above both Nintendo and Microsoft, they just can't seem to gain much traction here, not even with decently priced hardware.
TL;DR: No, a cheaper all-digital Xbox won't decide the console generation one way or the other.
Existing User Log In
New User Registration
Register for a free account to gain full access to the VGChartz Network and join our thriving community.
