Appeasing fans who fear the next generation Xbox, codenamed Project Scarlett, will not have an optical disc drive much like the recent Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, Xbox Head Phil Spencer has confirmed that the upcoming console will sport an optical drive for physical media.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Spencer had said that although digital purchases are a rising market, the company knows "people still have discs" and that "right now physical is a choice that millions of people love."
Giving players a choice of how they get their games and play them is something Microsoft has been pushing for quite heavily in recent times. First-party games from the company coming to Xbox One as well as Windows 10 simultaneously is commonplace nowadays, even including Steam for some releases. We also can't forget about the Xbox Game Pass and the upcoming Project xCloud services that add on to how many ways players can experience Xbox titles.
Spencer also defended the All-Digital edition's very descriptive name, saying it is to stop any confusion that might occur when choosing a console to purchase:
"So even when we put out things like the Xbox One S All-Digital edition, we are very clear with the name because I am not trying to confuse anybody, that if you are somebody that has a library of discs, or that's the way you want to acquire the content, then you should buy the Xbox One S, not the Xbox One S All-Digital... which is why we put it in the name, and yes I know it says SAD."
Project Scarlett is planned to land in 2020 during the holiday season, coming with Halo Infinite as a launch title. There's no price attached to the machine yet, but Microsoft did reveal what its innards are made of during yesterday's E3 Xbox Briefing.
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