After months of speculation, Microsoft’s shiny new Xbox has finally been announced: the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition.
Very similar in design and form factor to the current Xbox One S, the big difference here is that the new version has no disc drive, so games will be available to play via Xbox Game Pass, the company's subscription service, as well as to buy on the Microsoft Store.
Everything is digital now, with Spotify and Apple Music holding all of your music, Google Photos and iCloud storing your photos, and Netflix and Amazon Prime replacing DVDs long ago.
With the advent of Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, and the forthcoming Google Stadia, it looks like gaming is going that way.
Speaking about the reveal, Jeff Gatis, general manager of platform and devices marketing at Microsoft, said: “We think of the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition as an option that caters to audiences who prefer to find and play their games digitally.
"We’re not looking to push customers towards digital; it’s about meeting the needs of customers that are digital natives that prefer digital-based media and providing value with the most affordable Xbox One console.”
What's new with the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition?
The new console looks almost exactly like the current Xbox One S with 1TB of storage, Dolby Atmos sound and 4K video streaming, handy for watching apps like Netflix and YouTube.
Price is crucial with the new Xbox One S All-Digital. It will be available for £199 in the UK, £50 cheaper than the standard Xbox One S. As well, it will come bundled with three of Microsoft’s most popular games: Minecraft, Forza Horizon 3, and Sea of Thieves.
Xbox says this price difference is a way to make console gaming more accessible to people, who may not want to invest in the previous, more expensive consoles.
The new disc-less Xbox is keen to bank on the success of Game Pass. The subscription service gives players access to over 100 games digitally for a monthly fee, including titles such as BioShock, Elder Scrolls, Gears of War and Halo. New titles are added monthly, similar to the way Netflix works.
Having a Game Pass subscription will be key to this new console.
Xbox also says it will offer gamers a choice of what they want to play, thanks to this all-digital platform.
“Given this is the first product of its kind, it will teach us things we don’t already know about customer preferences around digital and will allow us to refine those experiences in the future,” said Gatis.
“We see this as a step forward in extending our offerings beyond the core console gamer and continuing our journey to reach more than 2 billion gamers worldwide.”
The new console will be available to buy in the UK on May 7.
The next-generation consoles: Xbox One S All-Digital Edition versus PlayStation 5
It’s interesting that the same day Xbox reveals its brand new console, rival PlayStation revealed a major teaser about its next-gen device, PlayStation 5. Or rather, that it definitely will not be arriving this year (and it will have a disc drive).
Both companies now have to face a new competitor coming into the space, Google, with the launch of Stadia, its new digital gaming platform.
With Stadia, Google is promising “better-than-console” quality, high-resolution games with surround sound.
Where PlayStation and Xbox have the edge on Stadia is the content they respectively own. At the moment, Google has only announced the title Doom Eternal will be available to stream. However, the major gaming conference E3 is around the corner in June, so expect to see more Stadia details then.
