Rumor: Xbox Series X digital could be a thing and gamers are skeptical

In a recent development, Microsoft is reportedly working to bring Xbox Series X digital to life. Apparently, though, not everyone is happy about it.

According to Shpeshal Nick, co-founder of the Xbox Era news portal, the green console is looking to release an Xbox Series X version without the disc drive. On the XboxEra Podcast, the Xbox news leaker also suggested that more plans for “other hardware” are coming by 2025.

“What I’ve heard is Microsoft is currently looking into a digital-only series X, so no disk drive. Something a lot of people have wanted for a while,” he says during the podcast, which you can see in the exact timestamp here. 

The main question now is, should Microsoft make the digital-only version of the Xbox Series S happen, wouldn’t it be commercial suicide for Xbox Series S? The Series S is already the less powerful of the two next-generation Xbox consoles, and it cannot play 4K games. 

Then, for just a few dollars more, players will soon be able to purchase a console with Series X’s capability but cheaper, making the OG Series S more difficult to sell.

“I feel like they should have had a Series X Digital console when they initially released the Series consoles. A Next-Gen console that costs €100 less because it lacks a disk drive can be a very appealing offer to those gamers who only buy their games digitally but still want Series X levels of performance,” one user writes on the subreddit r/GamingLeaksAndRumours about the rumor. 

However, despite reports that Xbox hardware sales dipped in the last quarter, boss Phil Spencer doesn’t seem to be so concerned about it, as Series S still sold well for them although it wasn’t enough to make a dent into PS5’s numbers.