The gaming rumour mill has gone into overdrive with the news that a new Xbox console is on its way. The most exciting part? It’s going to be disc-less.
As reported by Windows Central, the new console, set to be called “Xbox One S All Digital Edition”, would allow gamers to ditch discs and play completely digitally.
Fans would be able to buy games via a streaming platform, like its Xbox Game Pass digital subscription, to make gaming more like Netflix and Spotify where no one really owns anything.
One benefit of a disc-less console is that it would make it much cheaper. As well, it’s simply how the times are moving: streaming dominates most of our lives now, and Xbox rival PlayStation offers a similar service in the form of PlayStation Now.
It makes sense that Microsoft would go this way for the next Xbox. Last year, news leaked that the global tech company was working on a new project, codenamed Scarlett, which was Xbox’s version of a game streaming platform.
Microsoft’s gaming head, Phil Spencer, hinted something along these lines at the company’s E3 conference in June, saying: “Our cloud engineers are building a game streaming network to unlock console gaming on any device.”
In a recent interview with GeekWire, Spencer added some more weight to Xbox’s cross-device plans, saying: “We want to bring Game Pass to any device that somebody wants to play on. Not just because it’s our business, but really because the business model allows for people to consume and find games that they wouldn’t have played in any other space.”
However, the major issue is internet connections. Not everyone will have a good enough connection to facilitate cloud gaming, and latency is a problem, particularly in something like gaming.
One solution could be 5G. At Mobile World Congress last week, Chinese phone company OnePlus had its prototype 5G phone on show, demonstrating how cloud gaming will be possible with 5G speeds.
The next generation in mobile technology will allow people to stream large-sized games online, experience high definition, and almost no latency. There’s nothing to suggest that this is the tech Microsoft is going to be banking on for its version of cloud gaming, but it’s one option.
When could we hope to see this new Xbox? Windows Central says that pre-orders could start mid-April 2019, with the new console on sale in early May 2019.
Microsoft has been contacted for comment.
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