Xbox chief executive Asha Sharma says the gaming giant needs to be "thinking about" affordability for its next-generation console, amid a "crisis" in computing prices. In an interview with the BBC, she said rising hardware costs partly driven by AI spending mean firms need to find ways to make gaming affordable. She also revealed gamers will soon be able to get digital versions of many of the physical games they currently own, potentially meaning their old games can be played on future Xbox consoles without having to put a disc in a drive.
"I know players love physical media, and I know there's a lot of benefits in digital media, and I want to make sure people have a choice," Sharma said. Currently, digital games can be downloaded online and played across Xbox consoles or PCs. But some players prefer discs, with one of the main benefits being they can be bought and sold second-hand.
The topic has proven controversial, with Sony announcing new PlayStation games will no longer be released on discs from January 2028, and the hotly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI similarly launching without a physical disc. "There are stacks of games on everybody's shelves," Sharma said. "We're announcing the ability for players for 1,000 titles with physical discs to be able to have a digital entitlement." If a disc is sold second-hand, it is not exactly clear if the digital rights would transfer over to the new owner.
And while the exact process of how players will get digital versions of their games is unclear, Sharma hinted that this might mean gamers would be able to play their old titles on future hardware. "We've long pioneered backwards compatibility and so you'll continue to see that as we go forward in the generations," she said. But she would not reveal whether Xbox's next-generation console - currently codenamed Project Helix - will have a disc drive at all.
"This next generation, we have to be thinking about efficiency and affordability alongside performance," she added. For the first time in the history of gaming, consoles across the board have seen price hikes years after they came out. This is partly due to component costs such as Ram skyrocketing in price as AI companies buy up all the parts for their data centres.
"As an industry, we're in the middle of 'Rampocalypse'," Sharma said. "All of the industry needs to start to innovate on affordability and efficiency. That is something that we have not had to do [previously].
Extract — continue reading at the source.
