I hope you didn’t buy new gaming shelves recently, because Xbox may be joining in on the death of physical games. Just this morning, PlayStation announced it was ending disc production in 2028, implying the PlayStation 6 will be a digital-only device. The market has had a slow trend toward digital domination, and now the next console generation may finally be when physical copies become obsolete.
Xbox has already announced its next-gen console, currently known as Project Helix. That’s about all we know for sure, but various comments from Xbox executives and insider information have revealed Project Helix to most likely be closer to a pre-built gaming PC. It is presumed to have an Xbox overlay to make it a gaming-first device, not unlike Valve’s new Steam Machine, which runs SteamOS by default. Like other gaming PCs, Project Helix will reportedly have no disc drive.
Xbox has not officially revealed anything about Project Helix aside from its name – no specs, no release window, nothing. WindowsCentral, however, has sources that claim “Microsoft’s next-generation console will drop the disc drive.” Microsoft already has an all-digital console, the Xbox Series S, and has been trying to move the industry in this direction for quite some time. The Xbox One was initially announced in 2013 to tie all games (even physical ones) to a user’s Xbox Live account. The limitations this put on reselling and sharing games caused immediate backlash and was quickly reversed.
Despite Xbox’s history of such schemes, the industry at large has been embracing digital-only devices. The physical market for PC games is scant, and PlayStation already has similar models sans disc drive. The PS5 Pro and mid-gen redesign of the base model are both digital-only, though a peripheral disc drive can be purchased separately and attached.
PlayStation claims the move to all-digital is a reaction to current consumer behavior. To an extent, the company has a point; game sales are overwhelmingly digital now. If Project Helix is unveiled without physical game support, Xbox will likely parrot a similar sentiment, but digital games selling more does not stop the end of physical game production from being anti-consumer. When you purchase a digital game on a PS5 or Xbox, you’re only purchasing a license to download and play the game, not the game itself.
DRM-free options give PC users a bit more ownership over their games, but most digital purchases through Steam or Epic Games Store are similar – you’re only buying a license. A main concern with the death of physical media is a platform holder’s ability to revoke access to purchases, and the ease with which games can evade preservation. Look no further than Hideo Kojima’s beloved P.T., which was removed from the PlayStation Store and can no longer be downloaded.
PlayStation is the current console market leader (at least between it and Xbox; Nintendo’s been in its own lane for years) and has the leverage to make such unpopular decisions. If the reports are true and Project Helix also does not have a disc drive, it may be a case of Xbox simply being a pre-built PC manufacturer now, but it won’t be any less disastrous for the decline of physical media in gaming.
- Founded
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November 15, 2001
- Owner
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Microsoft
- Known For
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Halo, Forza, Gears of War