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All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 16th, 2019, 6:25 pm
by VideoGameCritic
Although I prefer the offline experience with physical copies of games, I can understand the strategy behind the new all-digital (no optical drive) Xbox One. I mean, you can make the system more compact and sell it for a cheaper price. Also, it would prime the market for an upcoming generation of no physical media (the industry's dream).

Microsoft however seems to have dropped the ball. Not only is the system the same size, but its price point is pretty much comparable to the normal system. WTF?

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/ ... ital-xbox/

Thoughts? Is there an audience for this thing?

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 16th, 2019, 7:30 pm
by David
I kinda get it and kinda not. On the one hand, they cut manufacturing costs by keeping the same design as the Xbox One S and gave it a $50 price drop. The disc drive in the S is probably insanely cheap for them, so a $50 reduction is nice. However, the S is seemingly always discounted to $250 or $200 so it doesn't seem that much cheaper. I think a $150-$200 price tag would've made it more sense.

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 17th, 2019, 8:07 am
by pacman000
https://m.newegg.com/subcategories/598/blu-ray-drives/

Seems like BluRay drives are $60-$70, if you just need a reader. And those are consumer prices; Microsoft is buying in bulk, so they'd get 'em cheaper.

Does a disk drive take up that much room?

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 17th, 2019, 9:08 am
by Retro STrife
Yeah, doesn't seem to make much sense. I imagine it's targeted at kids/parents and casual gamers, who will just see the cheaper price tag and choose that version, without any real thought put into their choice.

While times have changed in the past 10 years, let's not forget the PSP Go. That was Sony's attempt to create an all-digital system, and consumers didn't bite. It flopped miserably. Hopefully we see the same happen with home consoles.

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 17th, 2019, 12:21 pm
by ActRaiser
If the price was sub $200 I could see it. Maybe, they'll drop the price for sales? At $150 I see it being more of an impulse buy. I mean you could get that or a 3DS. At $250 it's stupid.

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: April 17th, 2019, 3:50 pm
by Matchstick
As others have pointed out, that price point is way, way too high, especially for a console that is missing features found in the other models currently available. If nothing else, I think it shows that the disc drive and related hardware were not that expensive to produce and manufacture in the first place.

I get the gut feeling that the $250 price point is just there to take advantage of the early adopter market. By the holiday season, especially with all the day after Thanksgiving sales, I'm sure we'll see this system bundled with a few games for $199 or less. If the system were priced at $199, with a year of Live and Game Pass included, I think that would be an excellent deal.

The bottom line is this: if you're going to take features away, you should probably provide something else to take their place. MS took away the disc drive, but if they offer up a year of Live (and the 12 months of its downloadable games) as a compromise, I think that would be a fair trade.

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: May 8th, 2019, 3:35 pm
by Marriott_Guy
Interesting video where the person took apart this new version and what is inside it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcKN7Y_-W6c

Terry

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: May 9th, 2019, 8:45 am
by Rev
Yeah, I watched that video as well. In short, the console is exactly the same as the Xbox One S minus the disc drive is missing and it has a different top. Since you can buy the Xbox One S for cheaper then this unit (which has a $50-70 disc drive installed) there is literally no reason to buy this...

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: May 9th, 2019, 9:15 am
by Voor
Maybe it comes with a free one year membership? Or $60 in digital bucks? If they did that, it could be a “pack in” game of your choosing, which would be sweet (or at least help make the price not as bad).

Re: All-Digital Xbox One worth it?

Posted: May 10th, 2019, 8:44 am
by ThePixelatedGenocide
At this point between the Vita, 3DS, Android, and Switch, I'm practically a digital only gamer. But this news only made me feel guilty for accidentally encouraging the industry.

Somehow, they still believe that because they can underpay their employees for their overtime, and overpay their executives for chasing previous year's trends, that money will behave in whatever ways their greedy little hearts desire.

I look forward to watching this product crash and burn, and cost them the usual amounts of consumer trust.