Wow. MS really pulled the trigger and is phasing out disc models of the Series X. If their next-generation Xbox is all digital, then that's the end of my support for Xbox. There's been a lot of reasons for having spent most of the past 18 years with Xbox as my primary. I like their controllers better. Except for the RROD issue that plagued older 360 models, their consoles have been of generally good quality. Halo has been one of my favorite game series of all time. Most of the people I play online with I met through playing Halo, and few of them have any interest in PlayStation. I've been invested in the Xbox ecosystem for some time, but I don't believe in sunk costs. There are alternatives. If you know me, I've long been a multiplatform person, and while I've long preferred playing on Xbox over PlayStation, if Sony continues to support physical media, that's where my money will go (and the vast majority of PS5 sales are the disc model, FWIW). And at least Nintendo seems to be truly dedicated to physical by not even having a digital-only system as an option.

I've said it before many times over the years both here and elsewhere, but if any of the Big Three decided to abandon physical media, that's when I abandon them. I'll have 40+ years worth of video games to draw from and continue playing for the rest of my days. I'm not giving up ownership of my games, period. Yes, it's that important to me. It's not worth giving up just so I don't have to get up and switch out discs or buy a game from a store (B&M or online retail). It's also a nightmare for game preservation.

So uh, how does a wrap work for a cylinder model?

Is that a serious question?

That's the gaming future. PC is basically 99.9% all digital and it's no accident that both MS and Sony had a physical media and all digital console at this generations console launch. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo also offers an all digital Switch 2 alongside a physical media Switch 2. 

This isn't isolated to Xbox. 

Like this, only larger.

23$ for 168 hours of added playing time.

For me, this only means people are getting more for their hard-earned 💵

Nice!!

It's a future I want no part of. I'm not leaving them. They left me. I'm under no obligation to continue supporting any of them.