Xbox CEO Asha Sharma will not confirm if its next console system, codenamed Project Helix, will have a disc.
Talking to the BBC, Sharma kept very much on script, stressing that whether players valued physical or digital games, what’s important is that “your libraries can go wherever you are”.
“Look, whether you play physical games, digital games, it’s really important that your libraries can go wherever you are,” Sharma said when asked about the future of physical media.
“And we’re really committed to preserving great gameplay. If you think about all around Europe, there are stacks of games on everybody’s shelves. And so today, we’re announcing the ability for players, for a thousand titles with physical discs, to be able to have a digital entitlement. And so they get the wonderful goodness that comes from digital libraries, but in the form of the physical libraries that they also have.
“And we’re just getting started. You know that we announced PC back compat. We’ve long pioneered backwards compatibility. And so you’ll continue to see that as we go forward in the generations.”
Asked directly if Xbox’s plans had changed as the industry “moved away from physical media”, Sharma said: “I want Xbox to be where the world plays. And in order to be where the world plays, I know that players love physical media, and I know that there’s a lot of benefits in digital media, and I want to make sure that people have a choice in that.
“And so, I’m excited for what we are able to do today as a first step towards that, and you’ll see more.”
Then, asked again, directly, if Helix will be disc-less, Sharma laughed and said: “So, we’re not sharing more on Helix. I know you had to ask it, but we’ve been hard at work on a great next generation and a great family of devices for Helix, and we’ll share more soon”.
Microsoft’s next Xbox console, Project Helix, has been announced, albeit without much of the detail. We know it will be some kind of console-and-PC hybrid, and that development kits won’t go out until next year. Microsoft has also just announced its disc-to-digital Xbox initiative to let players digitise their game discs so they can ‘own’ them as we move towards a worryingly discless future.
In the background, Sharma’s Xbox division is still reeling from wide-ranging restructuring, which left 1600 people without jobs and will leave a further 1600 jobless by next summer.
