Xbox |OT|

[crissindahouse]

Zippy6 said:

shikamaru317 said:

I'll reiterate what I said the other day when we were discussing this, Xbox would be fools to not at least offer an external, optional disc drive next gen, without one back compat will suffer big time. Barely anyone bought digital games back in gen 7, so most people have at least 90% of their Xbox 360 library on disc. Even last gen, physical was still the dominant Xbox One software format for the first 3 years of the generation, digital only passed physical on Xbox around 2018. There will be quite alot of unhappy gamers if they are left with the option of either no Xbox Series trade-in on the next Xbox console (because they need too keep their Series X for BC purposes), or no BC for a huge chunk of their library.

If Xbox does go digital only next-gen, that would be a big reason for me to not buy it, and instead upgrade my PC for Xbox games and Gamepass, and keep my Series X just for playing my dozens of physical 360, XB1, and XSX games. 

For me personally physical isn't important. I think everyone will drop it eventually but whichever of the 3 drop it first, which is very likely to be Xbox, is going to have a PR nightmare. Just like e3 2013 where Sony took them to town over the no used games, online check-in xbo stuff that got dropped in the end. Being the first to drop physical media will do some damage.

You do not want to be the console manufacturer kicking that hornets nest.

I'm sure there is a group which will do everything to make it a PR nightmare but I still wouldn't care as MS. 90% of gamers wouldn't buy physical games next gen even if they could so that they won't care what people will say about Xbox. 

The always online thing was definitely a bigger problem for many and yet it still isn't the reason why Xbox wasn't so successful last gen. If other things would have been better, then this "PR disaster" would have been noting more than hot air. 

Something which is a much bigger problem is that Xbox doesn't have a straight strategy when they always try to consider everything because there could always be some people complaining. Sometimes you simply have to go your way instead of trying to go three different ways but none of them to full extend. 

You don't have to please every gamer. You just have to offer the best product for a part of gamers. If 100m people think Xbox is the shit then that's enough. That still can mean that 500m think a PC, PS, Switch or handheld is better for them. 

Last edited by crissindahouse - on 27 January 2024