i was like, yeah that would be cool in the future, but both systems aren´t 10 years old yet.... uh wait a moment... holy shit they ARE 10 years old by now! shit i´m old :D
The Series X is currently a great console, but its waay to heavily reliant on the internet. Once that goes down it'll be absolutely useless unless you modify it.
@@FlyingV555exactly man some seem to forget not everyone can mod their consoles or find it too difficult despite been tons of tutorials online but they aren’t willing or able to do it
Just set it as Home console and you don't need a connection. Although if Internet connection is lost in some future apocalypse I'm not sure my console will be a priority.
The way they made old games take advantage of the new hardware without developer time needed is one of my favorite features. As long as they continue what they did from the Xbox one to the series x then preservation won’t really be an issue since the newer console kinda makes the last one useless.
I have a PS5 and Series X and honestly I find myself playing the Series X more because there's more to do with it because of Gamepass. I get it for free for doing MS rewards each day, and constantly have a backlog of stuff to play and I personally find multiplatform games often end up cheaper on Xbox. The PS5 is great for those exclusives and a few obscure Japanese games that MS doesn't get, but overall it's a great ecosystem for playing a large variety of stuff.
I see. Interesting POV. Let me ask you this: What about single player campaign games in any kind of genre? I for example like Detroit become human and I cannot find anything similar to that for Xbox. Only available on PS. I am open to either PS5 or Xbox Series X but gotta settle for one. It just too bad that both cannot be had for cheap as sub $400.
@@edgaryzen4925 That's a fair point. I would look at all the PS5 console exclusives and see how much of it you have to have whether by genre or franchise. I personally did not like Detroit Become Human haha so my opinion won't help specifically. I still stand by my point that both consoles overall are fairly identical when it comes to content, but PS5 has the Sony 1st party games along with some JRPGs that only they and Nintendo get (like the recent Star Ocean 2 port) while Xbox has lots of stuff with Gamepass but around half of it isn't even worth playing to me. However, you do get enough variety on there to jusdtify the price plus a few times a year when a huge day 1 game drops on Gamepass.
You don’t get it for free. If you were to work those endless hours of grinds you don’t want to do ( even just the ones you don’t want to do) you’d have more money and time if you worked. You are making 1/32 min wage grinding out rewards
One of the most noteworthy things regarding the death of physical media is the fact that two of the front-runners for ‘Game of the Year’; Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3; are both only available digitally.
Great video Adam. Very true what you said, I live in Australia and our Big W stores (just like your Walmart) have recently announced that they will no longer sell DVDs and Disney will no longer distribute any of their stuff on DVDs. Music CD's can also no longer be bought from Big W stores, only JB Hi-Fi sell CDs and DVDs and their CD section keeps getting smaller every year while the vinyl record section gets bigger and bigger each year. I hate living in a 2023 digital toilet where all physical media is going down the gurggler. At my house the shelves will always be filled with rows of physical games.
I agree. I'll just keep building a catalogue of physical games from older generations if they abandon physical. Games pass just feels soulless. Give me a shelf full of cases any day!
@@tshepp89 Well said. I enjoy these videos and finding out about the current video game news but I'm personally not affected by the current push to an all digital video game future as I stopped buying and collecting consoles a long time ago. The XBox 360 was the last one I ever bought brand new. I asked myself a long time ago what my no.1 console for life was going to be and it was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis with Master System and Mega-CD attachments. New games are still being made for the system even now in 2023 by new indie developers and they're physical carts like back in the day. I believe in the current generations to come, we may have another video game crash coming.
They want to control the consumer. They don't want you to own anything and they want you to pay service fees and be tight to them. Thankfully Disney is so horrible this days that losing anything new they make is the smallest of sacrifices. The only digital thing i buy is games threw GOG that are completely DRM free and i can even burn them into physical media if i want. For everything else digital i'll rather be a pirate honestly since those are the only copies that have no DRM and i can own.
No chance that they’ll sunset the Series S at this point, IMO. They’d further reduce the requirements of how closely the Series S version has to match the Series X version before they did that. I think the Series S is about to become more relevant, not less, as it’s probably going to be similarly powerful to the next Nintendo system, so there will be an incentive for developers to port back and forth between them.
Yeah, I don't agree....long term game developers develop on more powerful hardware....and if the S is not capable you will end up not having them on the platform (Baldurs Gate for instance, and others that run quite poorly on the S, Lords of the Fallen for instance)...game development does not look backwards when it comes to technology, and while the S has a greater share than the X, it is a drop in the ocean when compared to the PC, PS5 and Xbox series X user base.....
Meanwhile Xbox still doesn’t have Baldurs Gate 3 because Larian is having trouble getting split screen working on the S and Microsoft won’t allow 2 different versions to release on for both their consoles.
@@cynic5581 but the game game is coming. They are just removing the Split screen for the S version until they can put it on. The S probably does cause some issues but is a cheap way too enter the Xbox ecosystem and probably everyone who own an S has GamePass. Which it Microsoft’s main goal.
I understand using Xbox as a case study about the industry unfortunately going digital, but I wouldn't absolve Sony and Nintendo either. They all are pushing in various ways toward this and their own subscription model (and publishers are often even worse).
Even Starfield doesn't have the full game on the disc. Does the Xbox SeX even use ultra HD blu-rays (100 gb)? If not, I'm guessing there's some licensing fee they don't want to pay. It's also a shame people aren't embracing 4K blu rays. Besides ownership, etc, it's objectively better quality than digital/streaming.
For me personally, the biggest issue with xbox is games, especially exclusives. For how many game studios they bought over the past few years not much has come out from those studios.
@@MistahBroccoli I was about to say the same thing bout Ninja Theory and YES I get how time consuming acquisitions can be! Still though there only thing to truly show for it is...Bleeding Edge!? ;/
Been loving the XBOX Series X console. I’m really not a fan of requiring the internet when first booting it up or that fact that the optical drive has a daughter board, but I adore the memory expansion cards (We’ve been using them like memory cards without need of reformatting the data) and the immense backlog of backwards compatibility. Also been really easy cleaning the console out!
@@reflectionself5595ya I gotta say I love the series x but the abysmal pricing of the proprietary ssd, is atrocious… Sony definitely did the better design choice allowing you to buy a third party M.2 ssd keeping the prices cheaper.. as long as the memory speeds are up to spec for read and write times for ps5 games and there are plenty that are and decently priced… WD Black made an Series X/S ssd but it’s the same damn price as the MS SSD… so what was the point 😂 they need to make that aspect of the series x go down in price cause paying like 300$ for 2tb of space is insane when it’s way cheaper for M.2 and the speeds are relatively close in speeds..
@@Michael-jj8gzit's the price that bad but the cards are great . I keep all my fighting games on one for when u go to my friends house on ps u have to open the console up
@@reflectionself5595The idea is still awesome. Iirc Microsoft made a exclusivity deal with I think Seagate, so without competition they didn't had to react to falling NAND prices. I heard the deal ended recently but I sadly doubt enough people still care.
I am happy with my seriesX, owned it now for almost 1 year - crazy to think its been out for 3 years already! I do think this will be my last current gen system, im not into 'digital download' stuff, i know most games get patched, updated and often just made more playable with downloads but, i love collecting and im into retro videogames...the amount of time i get to play games and the limited funds i do have, i think will be better put towards 'my collection'. I love the xbox controller and my current go to games are forza, Fifa & assassins creed! I can see it all being geared towards 'gamepass' and the xbox console becoming almost like the Sky set top box and all download only. Great vid 👍
In my opinion upgrading to a new xbox is like upgrading to a new phone. It's easy painless and kinda weird when you think about it. But I like the series x a lot.
I slightly disagree on your physical media part at he end. Major studios don't care anymore but boutique labels are licensing out the movies and doing it themselves. Labels like Arrow, Shout, Vinegar Syndrome, Second Sight, BFI. There are a bunch and they are the future of physical media for movies at least. For games though, there's less of an incentive. Especially considering that games don't even play from those discs anymore. My hope is Microsoft will at least have a drive add-on but I'm sure the main model will be all digital.
Adam, the demise of physical discs for games are nothing new. Stores like Bestbuy, here in Canada, historically gad huge sections for music cds, dvds, etc, but today, there's a tiny Kiosk. Digital media was PC gaming since Steam started in 2003. My PS4s, and my various incarnations of Xbox One never had their disc drives used; it's been all digital. At lunch I have tons of kids playing Wii's, Gamecubes, Dreamcasts, etc and I have a stack of consoles with failed disc drives. Unlike a PC, fixing and replacing console disc drives is expensive and a pain to replace, so I will start modding these consoles soon, where I can at least preserve these machines and the hundreds of games I have purchased on physical media.
Xbox as a brand just feels completely hollow and dilapidated to me, and the Series X is no exception. I was a huge Xbox fanboy for the OG Xbox and Xbox 360, so much so that by the time the 7th gen was over I had purchased four Xbox 360s due to RRODs and just kept coming back for more lol The energy the Original Xbox and Xbox 360 had around them was special. Halo 2/3 and Gears of War really just brought insane energy and life to the brand. Towards the end of the 7th gen that energy and life was gone. Halo 4 was a massive dud, Gears of War Judgement was a complete joke, and generally it was just L after L. They never got that energy back. The Xbox brand lifecycle feels like it started as a mom & pop restaurant(OG Xbox), upgraded to like a happy and lively drive through restaurant with a play place(Xbox 360), began min maxing and overworking their employees to death(late Xbox 360, first half of Xbox One), and half way through the Xbox One we entered the current soulless flippy the robot stage where the burgers taste alright and the restaurant is clean, but the facade has fallen and there's no vibrant human energy left anymore.
@@cameron2900x I really don't want to cheer lead for Sony, but their track record speaks for itself. PS1 was a banger its entire life, PS2 was a banger its entire life, PS3 was a banger for the last third of its life, PS4 was a banger for its entire life, and PS5 is looking a little mid so far but still alright. Compare that to Xbox's track record of one pretty good first console (OG Xbox), one extremely good console that they let slip in the last quarter (Xbox 360), one complete monumental failure console (Xbox One), and one extremely mid console (Xbox Series X).
I absolutely love the Xbox Series X. Once they got rid of drm in 2021 i feel so great about my xbox one/series X console collection. I have tested playing and installing discs while offline and it works beautifully, as it should. I have xbox ones and a Halo Infinite Series X that hasnt been connected to the internet since 2021 and they install and play disc games offline flawlessly, i love it. Obviously there are the few games that require an internet connection to finish the download like jedi survivor, hogwarts legacy, halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5. This is why physical games will always be the best option. Of course, as long as you make one console your home xbox, you can play your digital games offline, but i dont buy digital so im not worried about it. The only thing that really worries me is the future of xbox...seems like theyre pushing an all digital future and that would suck for physical media collectors like me and many others who like to own their games.
Halo infinite dog shiiit Xbox has been dead since 360 era that's why they tryna buy up everything because they cant make a good game to save there life
I always find physical media in games interesting because looking at vinyl with music, and with film you got dvd or blu ray as a universal thing but with games there isn't a single platform that stands out that would be easier for games to go the way for vinyl like music, the closest we got really is the Dreamcast and the new games we get now for it
Great video! My favorite historian on TH-cam!! Thank you for starting this series and the crazy part is i can time travel back to your Xbox One 1 year anniversary which is pretty darn cool!!
I still have my OG Xbox one VCR as my main console. I was waiting for the mid gen slim model to get a series X so if that turns out to be discless and they stop making discs I'll get the current disc series X before it is discontinued and then that'll be the last Xbox console I ever buy. I still prefer physical disks and I watch DVDs and blu-rays all the time on my Xbox so it's a huge deal breaker for me.
Hifi Rush, Pentiment, and other first party Microsoft titles being digital only is tragic. I’ve had my Series X offline since February and haven’t had any issues yet with my disc games.
I look forward to coming across this video again in the future. I enjoy Pete Dorr’s consoles’ release library retrospectives cus they give me a perspective I wasn’t paying attention to as a kid/youth. But now that I am, it makes me wonder how I’ll feel about Microsoft’s all digital future, I know I hate it now, but I wonder if in spite of it we’ll get a vinyl-esque renaissance you mentioned. I hadn’t considered that for gaming.
It might be more like how I resisted working remotely when everyone started doing it during the pandemic, but I quickly embraced it when my physical office building was closed forever and now I'll never commute to an office ever again.
Eh, I see the parallel you're trying to draw in terms of change and acceptance evolving into preference. I like wfh, I don't deny the convenience factor of pure digital media, but I think physical media and buying your games and media as a good, not a service, is still far too important to relinquish. If I own my games, I have a good of exchangeable value and an item expressing my enthusiasm for it. It's useful to me as long as I own it and it remains working. Which isn't forever, but I'd posit is still a good deal longer than putting my trust in a mega-corp like Microsoft to honor a digital purchase. They've already slowed support of legacy content, old hardware servers close all the time now, Microsoft's interest isn't preservation or my *unlimited* access to games I've already paid for - it's hooking us all to an ever increasing priced subscription service, developing for and monetizing trends (not for me), and controlling a robust collection of IP's as a way to reach markets, but more so, prevent competitors from doing so (limit competition). I don't trust large corporations to work the way I want them to. Despite that, all I was saying is maybe there's a silver lining in how vinyl has had a resurgence in the recent decade as a way to own your media and also better support the artists who do creative work. Hopefully video games are afforded the same support. @@ordinaryhuman5645
@@klocks2543 I think the catch is that the good is increasingly becoming a service anyway, even if there's a physical product involved. If you really want ownership, a DRM-free digital copy that you can backup physically as desired and use on hardware you own (i.e. not a corporate-controlled console) is probably the ideal to strive for.
Speaking of dying physical media, I was looking for _Airheads_ starring Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi on Blu Ray. It was selling for a ridiculous two hundred bucks or more. Then I was looking for _Idiocracy_ and it seems THAT wasn't even released on Blu Ray. Interestingly enough, both those movies are available as a double-feature bundle pack on DVD
I'm way too dependent on CEX for used games to embrace a digital future. I suppose the platform holders don't care too much as they don't make money from sales there, but it would push me more towards pc as at least games can be bought cheap there
I have no major issue with the possibility of discless consoles in the future. If you play using a disc it doesn't quite play from the disc but rather the game gets downloaded on your console. That downloaded version requires you to keep the disc in to play the game. You may as well just buy digitally then. Physical does allow you to sell the game after finishing the game but if you buy digital games on discount they can often be cheaper than used discs from a reseller. Practically I see little benefit over digital.
As someone who prefers the collectability of console gaming, but who also PC games, I’ll probably stop buying xbox consoles when that happens, and I’ll probably end up getting a PS5, by the end of this generation because it has way better physical content.
This is the console I've been with since day 1. I might pick up the Series X digital only console that got leaked. But I'm actually more excited about the new controller that was in the same leak.
Cross-gen games are still releasing with playable builds on base Xbox One hardware. It honestly shocks me that it's still happening but it's also really interesting to see the VCR model pull it off with mixed results. I think atomic heart still had a pretty decent base Xbox one build while something like Callisto Protocol is super unstable. This has got to be one of the longest periods of cross-gen support ever (excluding the PS2).
I have a problem with my sx, it just doesn't play any x360 games anymore. Fails to create/download an account after I had to soft reset it, because a september update boot-looped it. Microsoft couldn't fix it so.. bo backward compatibility for me no more. Thankfully I still have my x360 around
@@AdamKoralik yeah you don't say. But tbh these older titles took may too much space anyway, so I just ended up hooking good old x360 to my 4k tv and it looks surptisingly well actually
2023 in my opinion is definitely the best year in gaming since 2017, if not better. It seems like all 3 had their own big system seller plus way more third party AAAs and other first party games plus indie games and more. 2017: PS4 - Horizon Zero Dawn Switch/Wii U - Breath of the Wild Xbox One - Sea of Thieves 2023: PS5 - Spider-Man 2 Switch - Tears of the Kingdom Xbox Series - Starfield
I disagree. The last good year was 2019. If you're a normie, sure 2017 and MAYBE 2023.... but to me it was 2013 and 2019 were the last good years.... Theonly good games this year for me was Alan Wake 2, FF 16, and Wanted: Dead....
I'm sure at some point physical media will disappear but in the areas where Internet is not good to nonexistent there will be a market for old media or media that can be downloaded.
I was a manager for the Electronics department for a Walmart store for over a year and can confirm that I rarely ever had customers buy physical copies of Xbox Series X games compared to Switch and PS5. At this point, Microsoft doesn't even need to put much more effort into pushing for an all digital future, when a lot of their customers are already content with it. And seeing how the percentage of digital sales for PlayStation has skyrocketed to the point of pretty much being the norm on that platform, it has already happened with Xbox lol.
Since Xbox discs include only the Xbox one versions of the games do you prefer getting the PS5 versions because of the full versions of games being on a 100gb discs?
I bought mine 3 weeks ago and man I just love it. For some reason, the image quality is noticeably better compared to my PS5 using HDMI 2.1 on both consoles. Speaking of HDMI 2.1, The series X is 120 Hz while the PS5 decided to stop the 120 Hz thing for some reason on my TV. Looking forward to what future holds for that wonderful platform.
A couple months ago people were up in arms on Twitter over the all digital Xbox Series X trashcan rumor, and I honeslty was shocked to see this come as a suprise to so many people that Microsoft was looking for an all digital future. The Xbox brand has been pushing all digital consoles, cloud gaming, and Game Pass for literal years now; if they really do get out of physical media, that is the most predticable outcome in gaming history.
Don't know if you heard yet the new Yakuza game on Xbox has Daytona 2 and fighting viper's 2 within the game. As for digital your right it is inevitable sad but true.
I feel like Adam kind of misses some stuff when he talks about Xbox consoles simply because as a console fan he compares them based on conventional console ideas which makes him lean towards certain biases but we all should know by now Microsoft is playing a different game, they have been for a while now and that should also be considered in these discussions. Microsoft is interested in consoles so they have an avenue to deliver Microsoft services and software to TV's and living rooms, just like Sony. As Adam stated, Microsoft looses money on console sales, both MS and Sony take losses on consoles so they have a large install-base of people to buy their software, so it makes sense logically to offer a console with no disc drive to try and save some money in that respect which is why Sony is doing the same thing now too. However, as long as movies are still on physical media (blu-ray discs, dvd's, etc.) Microsoft will still offer console options with disc drives because they know this is a system for the TV, so I don't think that's leaving any time soon unless people stop buying movies on physical media and stores stop selling them, not to mention a feature advertised by MS is that you can put your old discs from OG Xbox or Xbox 360 into your console and still be able to play that game on current gen and you need a disc drive to facilitate that feature that MS spent money creating. If the day ever comes that Xbox no longer offers a console with a disc drive then Sony will be right there with them every step of the way. People like Adam consistently doubt things about Xbox like predicting whichever Xbox console will be the last Xbox because MS just wants their services and doesn't care about consoles, or Xbox will only offer a GamePass box and not an actual console, and now that goalpost has been moved to this Xbox will be the last one with a disc drive, but these predictions always miss things pertinent to the larger picture and eventually are proven inevitably wrong. In this modern day, console games always ship incomplete for every console, even Nintendo. There's updates, patches, bug fixes, new content, etc. and the discs alone can never be used later to get that complete experience with all that missing data which is why the time of people owning the games they buy so they can play them in the far future is long gone. Not to mention games that require servers to host things for their online features, those servers won't be hosted forever. When platforms start to shut down storefronts and turn off servers then those old discs if they're even allowed to still be used at all won't have the same experience you've been having, it'll have the original data on the disc with missing content, minor glitches, game breaking bugs and all and I haven't even touched on the fact that data gets corrupted, discs don't last forever, scratches happen and if even 1 little part isn't able to be read then the whole game is worthless since the console can't pull the missing data from the servers to install on your hard drive since the servers are disconnected. As we all know, games don't play directly from the disc but instead are installed to the hard drive and played from there and even if they were played directly from the disc then a scratched disc would still be useless unless the console could pull the needed data from it's servers which can't happen if the platform has been abandoned. Games are so big that if you did play it from the disc the load times would be HORRENDOUS. Everybody, which includes Sony, MS, and Nintendo have been shutting down stores and services to old devices and platforms which means that those discs can no longer be used to get the experience of the game as it once was no matter what you do, except in Microsoft's case where those discs can still be used in modern consoles to get the old game installed in it's entirety on your hard drive with enhancements to resolution and frame rate. You might get some experience from those other console's old discs IF they removed security features to allow you but that's an assumption taken on faith and it will still be an incomplete experience, and in some cases it'll be a broken unplayable one. Everybody would have to offer a brand new disc that has all the final patches and fixes, all the new content, and have the security measures removed and still the online services would be nonexistent; no one is going to do that, none of them are going to offer that. That means the days of physical media for video games is dead, sorry to the people who don't like that but it's already gone, there's no 2 ways about it, we install and play games from hard drives now. The fact that Microsoft is building infrastructure into backwards compatibility and cross-gen experiences means they have the means to keep those experiences for the people who still want to play old games, an old Sony disc for an abandoned platform and shutdown storefront with disconnected servers isn't going to get you there in this day and age but Microsoft's approach does. If you value legacy games then MS is doing the best job in the whole console industry at preserving that experience period; if you value having a box to put on your shelf then get physical games but if you value being able to play the game in it's entirety then get an Xbox which can still utilize those old discs and has digital versions still available on modern hardware when competitor's old storefronts will be be shut down with all of it's content gone. Microsoft is buying companies so they have value for their services today but that also adds the security of longevity so you can be assured their servers are going to be online for LONG ways to come, definitely years and probably decades, when they own IP's from beloved video game franchises and the studios who made them they have reason to believe their services will stand the test of time. As newer gen games come to the fold the old games can still be facilitated via their backwards compatibility infrastructure. Microsoft is preserving gaming experiences and making them better, they're also making them more available on modern hardware than Sony. I don't see Sony doing anything for game preservation, at least Microsoft is albeit in this new age of gaming, they've adapted and Sony hasn't plain and simple. If you want to own the games you buy then I have bad news for you no matter what console you bought, but if you want to be able to play those games in the future without worry of it going away then Xbox is the BEST chance you got. I like physical games and own lots, I wish it could be like it used to be but that's just not the reality we live in. Not to mention, out of any company that has a storefront whether it's console or PC, Microsoft/Xbox has BY FAR the fastest speeds out of all of them; they invested into making their uploads as quick as possible so users won't have to be bottlenecked by crappy infrastructure from the host. A service like GamePass works so well because it's a good value with lots of great games, available on Xbox consoles and PC for 1 price, day 1 exclusives from beloved franchises, with backwards compatibility baked in, the downloads are the fastest in the industry, and you play the games locally on your own device's hard drive and so no internet interruptions while gaming or latency from cloud gaming (although it does have cloud options mainly for other features like mobile gaming on top of it all). Sony's service just can't compete with that currently and they're doing very little to do so. Microsoft has set themselves up to be a top player in gaming for a long time to come and Xbox isn't showing any signs going anywhere; they want the service to offer but they need the consoles to get into living rooms, PC stores for the personal gaming spaces, and now mobile stuff too for the 'on the go' aspect meanwhile Sony is doing a functionally less version of the WiiU gamepad and VR which is going nowhere fast. Microsoft is setting up for the long term and doing more for game preservation than basically anyone else in the console industry, Sony doesn't even have a direction outlined for their future and is actively working against game preservation, Sony is just relying on exclusivity and nickel and diming all aspects of the industry to stay in their position but complacency will be their downfall in the end.
The major missing game from the backwards compatibility list is Ninety Nine Nights. I've been holding onto my launch copy all these years waiting for it to be made BC (my son red ringed my 360 when he spent 4 hours one day repeatedly hitting the power button to watch the lights spin. I haven't been able to play it since 2013)
In my opinion, Xbox has been all digital since Xbox One. All of the discs require at least one time of internet connectivity to play. Therefore, the physical releases don't really work as physical discs. If they need internet access, even if just the one time, then it's not really a physical release. Someday those discs become coasters.
I like having game boxes/cases on the shelf but the convenience and (supply) economics of digital are hard to beat. My concerns though: - Consumer rights: resale, borrowing, owning it forever. Case in point: "This is how you share your games on PS4" - Storefront competition: even now digital games tend to be much more expensive, imagine if you have no alternative. - Legacy: I can play my 25 year old games just fine and don't have to justify to anyone as to why I might want to. I can find new used ones, no one can delist them from the world.
I bought both an XSX & PS5 near their initial launch dates. And to be completely honest I think the PS5 has just been okay to pretty good so far and on the other hand the XSX has been a massive disappointment for me personally. Every single game I was anticipating and looking forward to playing have been letdowns. If I were to rate each console on a 1-10 scale I’d rate the PS5 a 6.8 & the XSX a 3.5. My personal ratings could change for both of these consoles over the next few years and I hope it does. For comparison sake I would rate the Switch a 9.0 so far.
@@Alextheskater91 Can’t say I blame you for that decision. I’ve always bought all the mainstream consoles during my adult years. And I’d have to say that The Nintendo Switch is up there with the greatest consoles of all time. Sitting up there with the SNES, PS2, NES, and a couple others.
Yeah…. I think that when Sony is considering a disk drive as an optional extra, then I really don’t think the next Xbox will contain a disk drive at all!! But if Xbox considers making it external disk drive and fully backwards compatible then that might ease the sting!
As a PC gamer wanting to play GTA 6 day one, which is the best console to go with, while waiting for the game to come available on Rockstar launcher? Series S/X or PS5? The only console I play regularly is the switch right now.
7:55 - Nintendo didn't get just one big release (Zelda TOTK) this year, there is also Super Mario Bros Wonder (and Metroid Prime Remastered, Pikmin 4 etc.)
I’m excited about Xbox’s future. Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and it looks like Square Enix will also be big contributors in the future of the brand. The XSX is a better console to me than the PS5. Offers more features than PS5 and backward compatibilty is much much better. If they can get the new games out more frequently then they will be even more dominant. Great video Adam!
I wonder if the Project Brooklin will replace the original Series X like the One S did to the One or if it will just be a cheaper version of the Series X like the One S All-Digital Edition was to the One S.
I got my Xbox series X not too long ago. I just want to know how the performance is as in how loud it is after three years how the games play if there’s any crashes? Etc but so far I’m loving it. I just want my console to last for a long time us having the older games that we used to play back down like Black ops two GTA for all that is an exclusive itself for meee❤🎉
Physical movies are still a better deal because the digital version of a movie usually costs as much as the disc version, and now a days when you buy a bluray or 4k bluray it comes with 2 copies and the digital code anyway. So you're usually getting 3xs the value for your money getting the physical copy of a movie versus just paying the same price for just a digital download
I was going to write some sort of potato themed comment, but when the video ended I got a Christmas themed Ritz Crackers ad that talked about "Holiday Ritzuals" and now I'm just irrationally upset.
Hello Adam!.Keep going good work.Hello from Greece 🇬🇷 from"39"years old "kid"!😂.Here in Greece I was" minority " bought original Xbox 22APRIL 2002At Launch..Happy times😊
Australia is like anglo Japan. In addition, you can actually "survive" with over the air network tv because the promise of digital multichannels actually thrived there. Its worth noting that cable is generally less popular there.
I ended up gaming more on Series X cause I had a BC library of older games to play and keep me invested. The PS5 I had at launch ended up getting moved to the side, unplugged and sold for vintage video games this year. I have no regrets currently. If Microsoft moves to digital only, they will have regrets too. They can not afford to lose again considering their flop from Xbone “always on” days.
If they keep up backwards compatibility (easier without needing physical media hardware) it might be an improvement over physical media that isn't forward-compatible.
Lmaoo so you bought a next Gen console to play old games 😂😂😂and sold the PS5 whitch has way better line up of exclusive high tier quality games ok by the way i have a series x incase you try to call me a hater
@@AvatarRoku-w8o PS5 has mid female protagonists and no games worth the investment. All kidsy Rachet and Clank and comic book kidsy garbage. T for Teeny weeny kiddos; that’s it. So boring. Come back to me when your MidA55 Spiderman game can distinguish the difference between a Cuban flag and a Puerto Rican flag. Did they fix the bugs in that abomination? Don’t mind me. I don’t care. I’m too busy exploring space and saving humanity. If not that, I’ll be popping in Japanese 360 games enjoying my REGION-FREE BC content. Haha go play on your laggy internet-tethered 200$ PS Portal. Sony is a MESS!
I'm extremely careful with what physical games I pick up for my Series X. I pretty much just skip out on their first party stuff since they're coasters and aren't interesting to begin with. I mostly do third party and I'm careful with it. Thankfully there's a decent amount of games that ship with both an Xbox One and Series X build on disc if it fits. Atlus and Sega seems to be really good with that especially. But yeah the Series X is essentially just a third party plus Halo machine for me mostly :/
I have a pretty big library of physical discs since I have been with Xbox since the beginning. I also have a ton of DVD movies that I could convert to digital, but that takes time (well over 500 titles). I didn't want to spend $500 on the Xbox Series X, and during CoVid they were gone, or priced much higher. At $350 Holiday pricing this makes a compelling buy for me given my circumstances. I having been loving my Series S, but feel compelled to get a beefier console WITH a disc drive before the door slams shut (possibly for good). Like most people I have lots of things to do IRL, so buying on the trailing edge of technology has worked out fairly well. For people where money is no object, obviously circumstances are different.
I didn’t see a Optical/Digital port on the Xbox X…. Does this system not have one? That’s how I run my 5.1 Surround, Directly from the Xbox one! A miss there if they did not include that.
I own ALL the newest consoles. At the moment my series X (w new TV) IS my most used best value... and my go to console (currently)...couldnt have always said that about xbox..things are good now my most used console very happy w it)...this could change but MS is killing it (for now) ✌️✌️
They didn't want WB Games because it would have been studios only - with NONE of the IPs included as they're all licenses for film studios. That's why they never even tried to grab WB Games, it would have been more heads to pay yet no franchises included
If Microsoft does go digital only, then Sony should make a very wise business decision and continue to make consoles with a disc drive. Millions of gamers like me who want the option of playing physical media will buy a PlayStation.
Always love watching these review videos. My personal Xbox Series X 3rd birthday review is that it’s been a great 3rd party games machine, gamepass titles have gotten better, activision blizzard deal is sealed but future is uncertain, first party games are still weak with RedFall and Starfield being underwhelming imo. Future plans with their all digital Xbox is something we all knew was coming it was just a matter of when. I’m personally not a fan of an all digital system although I won’t lie my game purchases are about 50/50 with physical and digital depending on the deal. I just like having that physical option. Overall a pretty OK year nothing spectacular.
Phil Spencer did say that their plans have changed from when that document was made. Thats what Adam didn't add in the vid. The document that was made was made before Microsoft got Actiblizz and the plans were in works at the start of this generation before they even got bethesda and zenimax I believe. That's why Phil remarked that Nintendo was a huge asset in gaming and wanted to buy them. But now that they have Bethesda and actiblizz I don't think that Xbox would care or obsess over Nintendo anymore in the same level as they did in the Xbox One era before this gen started.
Personally, I no longer care. Im going backwards. Im going to get modded consoles and for modern games Im going PC. Im only sticking with Nintendo for consoles and thats about it. There will be plenty of ways to buy my music, movies and games. The PS5 and Xbox series just do not seem worth it with hurdlers they make you jump through just to play games. After the console blocked me from playing some digital games I PAID for in full on my HOME Xbox because I didnt have internet for a while, the Xbox Killed itself for me.
Wouldn't it be cool? If at some point they start selling games on 2230 nvme drives. The little stubby ones. Or even the big ones. They're about the size of a stick of gum. A 128 gb nvme is like 10 bucks. Then the media would be fast enough to just plug and play, no install.
On one hand I'm kinda sad to see physical games vanishing because of multiple reasons, on the other hand from November 2020 until now I was buying only 2 physical Xbox and 2 physical PS5 games, all others I played via subscription services or digital versions in sale.
Japan still loves physical media and you can still get brand new laptops with dvd. It sucks that it is that way here in north america. Collector editions will still be available if you got the extra cash
@@bobtom1495 What sucks is that for previous gens, ive gotten my multiplats for Xbox. Mainly because 360 games sometimes ran better than PS3 games. And also because of Xbox backwards compatibility. So i was hoping i could maintain this consistency with the Series X.
As much as i like consoles, every day im more convinced that PCs are the better deal than high end consoles, since you can also use them for work, hace free internet multiplayer, and better deals on games
8:00 Starfield was considered underwhelming and overhyped after the dust settled and more reviews looked deeper into it are coming out. You completely forgot about Baldur's Gate III which is considered one of the greatest games in years.
A 10 year retrospective on the PS4 and Xbox One would be cool. There is still a lot of content being released for these systems.
i was like, yeah that would be cool in the future, but both systems aren´t 10 years old yet.... uh wait a moment... holy shit they ARE 10 years old by now! shit i´m old :D
The Xbox One will be exactly 10 years old in 3 days from the time I write this comment😅
@MetalTiger88 you're a cheeseball 😂
These retrospectives are like a pre christmas/birthday gift. Its both this and the Top 10 songs of the year that make me feel like a kid again.
The Series X is currently a great console, but its waay to heavily reliant on the internet. Once that goes down it'll be absolutely useless unless you modify it.
And most people aren’t gonna mod their consoles. So most of them could eventually be doorstops.
@@FlyingV555exactly man some seem to forget not everyone can mod their consoles or find it too difficult despite been tons of tutorials online but they aren’t willing or able to do it
Depends on the game and it's mostly bc of the game publishers. Enough games work without internet connection. You should inform yourself better. ☮️
You're right about the second point
Just set it as Home console and you don't need a connection. Although if Internet connection is lost in some future apocalypse I'm not sure my console will be a priority.
The way they made old games take advantage of the new hardware without developer time needed is one of my favorite features. As long as they continue what they did from the Xbox one to the series x then preservation won’t really be an issue since the newer console kinda makes the last one useless.
I have a PS5 and Series X and honestly I find myself playing the Series X more because there's more to do with it because of Gamepass. I get it for free for doing MS rewards each day, and constantly have a backlog of stuff to play and I personally find multiplatform games often end up cheaper on Xbox. The PS5 is great for those exclusives and a few obscure Japanese games that MS doesn't get, but overall it's a great ecosystem for playing a large variety of stuff.
I see. Interesting POV. Let me ask you this:
What about single player campaign games in any kind of genre? I for example like Detroit become human and I cannot find anything similar to that for Xbox. Only available on PS.
I am open to either PS5 or Xbox Series X but gotta settle for one. It just too bad that both cannot be had for cheap as sub $400.
@@edgaryzen4925 That's a fair point. I would look at all the PS5 console exclusives and see how much of it you have to have whether by genre or franchise. I personally did not like Detroit Become Human haha so my opinion won't help specifically.
I still stand by my point that both consoles overall are fairly identical when it comes to content, but PS5 has the Sony 1st party games along with some JRPGs that only they and Nintendo get (like the recent Star Ocean 2 port) while Xbox has lots of stuff with Gamepass but around half of it isn't even worth playing to me. However, you do get enough variety on there to jusdtify the price plus a few times a year when a huge day 1 game drops on Gamepass.
You don’t get it for free. If you were to work those endless hours of grinds you don’t want to do ( even just the ones you don’t want to do) you’d have more money and time if you worked. You are making 1/32 min wage grinding out rewards
cannot believe it's been three years man..time flies when ya have fun lmao
One of the most noteworthy things regarding the death of physical media is the fact that two of the front-runners for ‘Game of the Year’; Alan Wake 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3; are both only available digitally.
For now anyways. Bg3 is being sold physically on PS5 in Japan. It’s coming Out next month.
I gotta imagine Alan Wake 2 will get one eventually too
@@Kain5th Larian actually announced very recently that a physical deluxe edition for both console and PC is coming next year.
Great video Adam. Very true what you said, I live in Australia and our Big W stores (just like your Walmart) have recently announced that they will no longer sell DVDs and Disney will no longer distribute any of their stuff on DVDs. Music CD's can also no longer be bought from Big W stores, only JB Hi-Fi sell CDs and DVDs and their CD section keeps getting smaller every year while the vinyl record section gets bigger and bigger each year. I hate living in a 2023 digital toilet where all physical media is going down the gurggler. At my house the shelves will always be filled with rows of physical games.
I agree. I'll just keep building a catalogue of physical games from older generations if they abandon physical. Games pass just feels soulless. Give me a shelf full of cases any day!
@@tshepp89 Well said. I enjoy these videos and finding out about the current video game news but I'm personally not affected by the current push to an all digital video game future as I stopped buying and collecting consoles a long time ago. The XBox 360 was the last one I ever bought brand new. I asked myself a long time ago what my no.1 console for life was going to be and it was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis with Master System and Mega-CD attachments. New games are still being made for the system even now in 2023 by new indie developers and they're physical carts like back in the day. I believe in the current generations to come, we may have another video game crash coming.
They want to control the consumer. They don't want you to own anything and they want you to pay service fees and be tight to them.
Thankfully Disney is so horrible this days that losing anything new they make is the smallest of sacrifices.
The only digital thing i buy is games threw GOG that are completely DRM free and i can even burn them into physical media if i want.
For everything else digital i'll rather be a pirate honestly since those are the only copies that have no DRM and i can own.
No chance that they’ll sunset the Series S at this point, IMO. They’d further reduce the requirements of how closely the Series S version has to match the Series X version before they did that. I think the Series S is about to become more relevant, not less, as it’s probably going to be similarly powerful to the next Nintendo system, so there will be an incentive for developers to port back and forth between them.
You have absolutely nailed what I was going say. Also the Series S makes up about 70% of the Xbox user base.
Yeah, I don't agree....long term game developers develop on more powerful hardware....and if the S is not capable you will end up not having them on the platform (Baldurs Gate for instance, and others that run quite poorly on the S, Lords of the Fallen for instance)...game development does not look backwards when it comes to technology, and while the S has a greater share than the X, it is a drop in the ocean when compared to the PC, PS5 and Xbox series X user base.....
Meanwhile Xbox still doesn’t have Baldurs Gate 3 because Larian is having trouble getting split screen working on the S and Microsoft won’t allow 2 different versions to release on for both their consoles.
@@cynic5581 but the game game is coming. They are just removing the Split screen for the S version until they can put it on.
The S probably does cause some issues but is a cheap way too enter the Xbox ecosystem and probably everyone who own an S has GamePass. Which it Microsoft’s main goal.
I understand using Xbox as a case study about the industry unfortunately going digital, but I wouldn't absolve Sony and Nintendo either.
They all are pushing in various ways toward this and their own subscription model (and publishers are often even worse).
Even Starfield doesn't have the full game on the disc. Does the Xbox SeX even use ultra HD blu-rays (100 gb)? If not, I'm guessing there's some licensing fee they don't want to pay.
It's also a shame people aren't embracing 4K blu rays. Besides ownership, etc, it's objectively better quality than digital/streaming.
XBone ❤ Xbox SeX
If that is true I won't bother buying the game then just play it on game pass.
For me personally, the biggest issue with xbox is games, especially exclusives. For how many game studios they bought over the past few years not much has come out from those studios.
They started rolling out this year. Next year looks stacked as well.
@@cdw3088 I hope so. waiting for hellblade 2
Games that are SPECIFICALLY for the Series X?
takes like 5 years to makes a game. their roadmap is STACKED moving forward.
@@MistahBroccoli I was about to say the same thing bout Ninja Theory and YES I get how time consuming acquisitions can be! Still though there only thing to truly show for it is...Bleeding Edge!? ;/
Been loving the XBOX Series X console. I’m really not a fan of requiring the internet when first booting it up or that fact that the optical drive has a daughter board, but I adore the memory expansion cards (We’ve been using them like memory cards without need of reformatting the data) and the immense backlog of backwards compatibility. Also been really easy cleaning the console out!
"but I adore the memory expansion cards"
You're probably the only one
@@Michael-jj8gz I do have to say I hate the insane price. Memory card- SSD’s are neat, but yeah… kill my wallet.
@@reflectionself5595ya I gotta say I love the series x but the abysmal pricing of the proprietary ssd, is atrocious… Sony definitely did the better design choice allowing you to buy a third party M.2 ssd keeping the prices cheaper.. as long as the memory speeds are up to spec for read and write times for ps5 games and there are plenty that are and decently priced… WD Black made an Series X/S ssd but it’s the same damn price as the MS SSD… so what was the point 😂 they need to make that aspect of the series x go down in price cause paying like 300$ for 2tb of space is insane when it’s way cheaper for M.2 and the speeds are relatively close in speeds..
@@Michael-jj8gzit's the price that bad but the cards are great . I keep all my fighting games on one for when u go to my friends house on ps u have to open the console up
@@reflectionself5595The idea is still awesome. Iirc Microsoft made a exclusivity deal with I think Seagate, so without competition they didn't had to react to falling NAND prices. I heard the deal ended recently but I sadly doubt enough people still care.
Upgraded from xbox one earlier this year to series x and man I'm glad i did!
Waste of money. Should've got a PS5 instead
@@Michael-jj8gzkeep your biases to yourself
@Michael-jj8gz fan boy, you bot, ps5 is MS now 😂 you playing MS games on ps5 whether its physical or digital fan boy quit your 🧢 'n!!!!!
This is the dumbest comment I have ever read 🙄
I am happy with my seriesX, owned it now for almost 1 year - crazy to think its been out for 3 years already!
I do think this will be my last current gen system, im not into 'digital download' stuff, i know most games get patched, updated and often just made more playable with downloads but, i love collecting and im into retro videogames...the amount of time i get to play games and the limited funds i do have, i think will be better put towards 'my collection'.
I love the xbox controller and my current go to games are forza, Fifa & assassins creed!
I can see it all being geared towards 'gamepass' and the xbox console becoming almost like the Sky set top box and all download only.
Great vid 👍
In my opinion upgrading to a new xbox is like upgrading to a new phone.
It's easy painless and kinda weird when you think about it.
But I like the series x a lot.
I slightly disagree on your physical media part at he end. Major studios don't care anymore but boutique labels are licensing out the movies and doing it themselves. Labels like Arrow, Shout, Vinegar Syndrome, Second Sight, BFI. There are a bunch and they are the future of physical media for movies at least. For games though, there's less of an incentive. Especially considering that games don't even play from those discs anymore. My hope is Microsoft will at least have a drive add-on but I'm sure the main model will be all digital.
I just want them to start pumping out great exclusives. Series S and X are great consoles.
Adam, the demise of physical discs for games are nothing new. Stores like Bestbuy, here in Canada, historically gad huge sections for music cds, dvds, etc, but today, there's a tiny Kiosk. Digital media was PC gaming since Steam started in 2003. My PS4s, and my various incarnations of Xbox One never had their disc drives used; it's been all digital. At lunch I have tons of kids playing Wii's, Gamecubes, Dreamcasts, etc and I have a stack of consoles with failed disc drives. Unlike a PC, fixing and replacing console disc drives is expensive and a pain to replace, so I will start modding these consoles soon, where I can at least preserve these machines and the hundreds of games I have purchased on physical media.
I've been watching you for probably 15 years and i still haven't Figured It Out.... ☹️
Xbox as a brand just feels completely hollow and dilapidated to me, and the Series X is no exception. I was a huge Xbox fanboy for the OG Xbox and Xbox 360, so much so that by the time the 7th gen was over I had purchased four Xbox 360s due to RRODs and just kept coming back for more lol
The energy the Original Xbox and Xbox 360 had around them was special. Halo 2/3 and Gears of War really just brought insane energy and life to the brand. Towards the end of the 7th gen that energy and life was gone. Halo 4 was a massive dud, Gears of War Judgement was a complete joke, and generally it was just L after L. They never got that energy back.
The Xbox brand lifecycle feels like it started as a mom & pop restaurant(OG Xbox), upgraded to like a happy and lively drive through restaurant with a play place(Xbox 360), began min maxing and overworking their employees to death(late Xbox 360, first half of Xbox One), and half way through the Xbox One we entered the current soulless flippy the robot stage where the burgers taste alright and the restaurant is clean, but the facade has fallen and there's no vibrant human energy left anymore.
+1
Yep, so horrible compared to “market patterns” Sony… 😹
@@cameron2900x I really don't want to cheer lead for Sony, but their track record speaks for itself. PS1 was a banger its entire life, PS2 was a banger its entire life, PS3 was a banger for the last third of its life, PS4 was a banger for its entire life, and PS5 is looking a little mid so far but still alright.
Compare that to Xbox's track record of one pretty good first console (OG Xbox), one extremely good console that they let slip in the last quarter (Xbox 360), one complete monumental failure console (Xbox One), and one extremely mid console (Xbox Series X).
still waiting for more OG Xbox games and more Xbox 360 games for backwards compatible on Xbox One/ Series X?
Fax,I want gun/true crime remake
The series x is slowly taking me back to the Xbox 360 days it's always the 2nd and 4th console to really hit different
I love my SeriesX..more than the PS5 but there's no denying the lack of games so far.. shame as it is a fantastic console
Agreed
I really want another xbox backwards compatibility update video 🤘
Love the videos, keep em coming
I absolutely love the Xbox Series X. Once they got rid of drm in 2021 i feel so great about my xbox one/series X console collection. I have tested playing and installing discs while offline and it works beautifully, as it should. I have xbox ones and a Halo Infinite Series X that hasnt been connected to the internet since 2021 and they install and play disc games offline flawlessly, i love it. Obviously there are the few games that require an internet connection to finish the download like jedi survivor, hogwarts legacy, halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5. This is why physical games will always be the best option. Of course, as long as you make one console your home xbox, you can play your digital games offline, but i dont buy digital so im not worried about it. The only thing that really worries me is the future of xbox...seems like theyre pushing an all digital future and that would suck for physical media collectors like me and many others who like to own their games.
Halo infinite dog shiiit Xbox has been dead since 360 era that's why they tryna buy up everything because they cant make a good game to save there life
every year that passes this guy looks more and more like a wizard
Smaller "smart delivery" games do contain both versions on the disc. The bigger ones suffer though.
I always find physical media in games interesting because looking at vinyl with music, and with film you got dvd or blu ray as a universal thing but with games there isn't a single platform that stands out that would be easier for games to go the way for vinyl like music, the closest we got really is the Dreamcast and the new games we get now for it
Great video! My favorite historian on TH-cam!! Thank you for starting this series and the crazy part is i can time travel back to your Xbox One 1 year anniversary which is pretty darn cool!!
I still have my OG Xbox one VCR as my main console. I was waiting for the mid gen slim model to get a series X so if that turns out to be discless and they stop making discs I'll get the current disc series X before it is discontinued and then that'll be the last Xbox console I ever buy. I still prefer physical disks and I watch DVDs and blu-rays all the time on my Xbox so it's a huge deal breaker for me.
All Xbox games should be playable on the seriesX as long as you have the Disc, no excuses. Boggles the mind they don't implement this.
Hifi Rush, Pentiment, and other first party Microsoft titles being digital only is tragic.
I’ve had my Series X offline since February and haven’t had any issues yet with my disc games.
I look forward to coming across this video again in the future. I enjoy Pete Dorr’s consoles’ release library retrospectives cus they give me a perspective I wasn’t paying attention to as a kid/youth. But now that I am, it makes me wonder how I’ll feel about Microsoft’s all digital future, I know I hate it now, but I wonder if in spite of it we’ll get a vinyl-esque renaissance you mentioned. I hadn’t considered that for gaming.
It might be more like how I resisted working remotely when everyone started doing it during the pandemic, but I quickly embraced it when my physical office building was closed forever and now I'll never commute to an office ever again.
Eh, I see the parallel you're trying to draw in terms of change and acceptance evolving into preference. I like wfh, I don't deny the convenience factor of pure digital media, but I think physical media and buying your games and media as a good, not a service, is still far too important to relinquish. If I own my games, I have a good of exchangeable value and an item expressing my enthusiasm for it. It's useful to me as long as I own it and it remains working. Which isn't forever, but I'd posit is still a good deal longer than putting my trust in a mega-corp like Microsoft to honor a digital purchase. They've already slowed support of legacy content, old hardware servers close all the time now, Microsoft's interest isn't preservation or my *unlimited* access to games I've already paid for - it's hooking us all to an ever increasing priced subscription service, developing for and monetizing trends (not for me), and controlling a robust collection of IP's as a way to reach markets, but more so, prevent competitors from doing so (limit competition). I don't trust large corporations to work the way I want them to. Despite that, all I was saying is maybe there's a silver lining in how vinyl has had a resurgence in the recent decade as a way to own your media and also better support the artists who do creative work. Hopefully video games are afforded the same support. @@ordinaryhuman5645
@@klocks2543 I think the catch is that the good is increasingly becoming a service anyway, even if there's a physical product involved.
If you really want ownership, a DRM-free digital copy that you can backup physically as desired and use on hardware you own (i.e. not a corporate-controlled console) is probably the ideal to strive for.
Speaking of dying physical media, I was looking for _Airheads_ starring Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi on Blu Ray. It was selling for a ridiculous two hundred bucks or more. Then I was looking for _Idiocracy_ and it seems THAT wasn't even released on Blu Ray. Interestingly enough, both those movies are available as a double-feature bundle pack on DVD
I'm way too dependent on CEX for used games to embrace a digital future. I suppose the platform holders don't care too much as they don't make money from sales there, but it would push me more towards pc as at least games can be bought cheap there
I have no major issue with the possibility of discless consoles in the future. If you play using a disc it doesn't quite play from the disc but rather the game gets downloaded on your console. That downloaded version requires you to keep the disc in to play the game. You may as well just buy digitally then.
Physical does allow you to sell the game after finishing the game but if you buy digital games on discount they can often be cheaper than used discs from a reseller.
Practically I see little benefit over digital.
As someone who prefers the collectability of console gaming, but who also PC games, I’ll probably stop buying xbox consoles when that happens, and I’ll probably end up getting a PS5, by the end of this generation because it has way better physical content.
This is the console I've been with since day 1. I might pick up the Series X digital only console that got leaked. But I'm actually more excited about the new controller that was in the same leak.
Yeah, I would definitely agree
Imagine buying a trashbox with no games over a PS5 🤣🤣🤣
Has the SX sold more vs Xbox one s and x
Not sure to be honest.
Cross-gen games are still releasing with playable builds on base Xbox One hardware. It honestly shocks me that it's still happening but it's also really interesting to see the VCR model pull it off with mixed results. I think atomic heart still had a pretty decent base Xbox one build while something like Callisto Protocol is super unstable. This has got to be one of the longest periods of cross-gen support ever (excluding the PS2).
The sports games came out until 2017 for 7th gen consoles
@@cameron2900x That doesn't count in my opinion. Sports games are trash.
I have a problem with my sx, it just doesn't play any x360 games anymore. Fails to create/download an account after I had to soft reset it, because a september update boot-looped it. Microsoft couldn't fix it so.. bo backward compatibility for me no more. Thankfully I still have my x360 around
Never heard of that, that sucks.
@@AdamKoralik yeah you don't say. But tbh these older titles took may too much space anyway, so I just ended up hooking good old x360 to my 4k tv and it looks surptisingly well actually
Can’t wait for the switch video! I’ve loved these so far!
2023 in my opinion is definitely the best year in gaming since 2017, if not better. It seems like all 3 had their own big system seller plus way more third party AAAs and other first party games plus indie games and more.
2017:
PS4 - Horizon Zero Dawn
Switch/Wii U - Breath of the Wild
Xbox One - Sea of Thieves
2023:
PS5 - Spider-Man 2
Switch - Tears of the Kingdom
Xbox Series - Starfield
I disagree. The last good year was 2019. If you're a normie, sure 2017 and MAYBE 2023.... but to me it was 2013 and 2019 were the last good years.... Theonly good games this year for me was Alan Wake 2, FF 16, and Wanted: Dead....
I'm sure at some point physical media will disappear but in the areas where Internet is not good to nonexistent there will be a market for old media or media that can be downloaded.
I was a manager for the Electronics department for a Walmart store for over a year and can confirm that I rarely ever had customers buy physical copies of Xbox Series X games compared to Switch and PS5. At this point, Microsoft doesn't even need to put much more effort into pushing for an all digital future, when a lot of their customers are already content with it. And seeing how the percentage of digital sales for PlayStation has skyrocketed to the point of pretty much being the norm on that platform, it has already happened with Xbox lol.
Since Xbox discs include only the Xbox one versions of the games do you prefer getting the PS5 versions because of the full versions of games being on a 100gb discs?
They're almost never the full version.
I bought mine 3 weeks ago and man I just love it. For some reason, the image quality is noticeably better compared to my PS5 using HDMI 2.1 on both consoles. Speaking of HDMI 2.1, The series X is 120 Hz while the PS5 decided to stop the 120 Hz thing for some reason on my TV. Looking forward to what future holds for that wonderful platform.
@@ProxyDeath2210 that’s what I noticed on my TCL 825 mini led. Perhaps there is an issue with the HDMi cable but that’s unlikely.
A couple months ago people were up in arms on Twitter over the all digital Xbox Series X trashcan rumor, and I honeslty was shocked to see this come as a suprise to so many people that Microsoft was looking for an all digital future. The Xbox brand has been pushing all digital consoles, cloud gaming, and Game Pass for literal years now; if they really do get out of physical media, that is the most predticable outcome in gaming history.
Don't know if you heard yet the new Yakuza game on Xbox has Daytona 2 and fighting viper's 2 within the game. As for digital your right it is inevitable sad but true.
What motivation would MS have to stop making the S? Developers would be still hold back since they can't not support the S.
My thing is, it seems every disc I buy lately is just a few megabytes. game isn’t on there. However, I still love having physical game discs
I feel like Adam kind of misses some stuff when he talks about Xbox consoles simply because as a console fan he compares them based on conventional console ideas which makes him lean towards certain biases but we all should know by now Microsoft is playing a different game, they have been for a while now and that should also be considered in these discussions. Microsoft is interested in consoles so they have an avenue to deliver Microsoft services and software to TV's and living rooms, just like Sony. As Adam stated, Microsoft looses money on console sales, both MS and Sony take losses on consoles so they have a large install-base of people to buy their software, so it makes sense logically to offer a console with no disc drive to try and save some money in that respect which is why Sony is doing the same thing now too. However, as long as movies are still on physical media (blu-ray discs, dvd's, etc.) Microsoft will still offer console options with disc drives because they know this is a system for the TV, so I don't think that's leaving any time soon unless people stop buying movies on physical media and stores stop selling them, not to mention a feature advertised by MS is that you can put your old discs from OG Xbox or Xbox 360 into your console and still be able to play that game on current gen and you need a disc drive to facilitate that feature that MS spent money creating. If the day ever comes that Xbox no longer offers a console with a disc drive then Sony will be right there with them every step of the way. People like Adam consistently doubt things about Xbox like predicting whichever Xbox console will be the last Xbox because MS just wants their services and doesn't care about consoles, or Xbox will only offer a GamePass box and not an actual console, and now that goalpost has been moved to this Xbox will be the last one with a disc drive, but these predictions always miss things pertinent to the larger picture and eventually are proven inevitably wrong.
In this modern day, console games always ship incomplete for every console, even Nintendo. There's updates, patches, bug fixes, new content, etc. and the discs alone can never be used later to get that complete experience with all that missing data which is why the time of people owning the games they buy so they can play them in the far future is long gone. Not to mention games that require servers to host things for their online features, those servers won't be hosted forever. When platforms start to shut down storefronts and turn off servers then those old discs if they're even allowed to still be used at all won't have the same experience you've been having, it'll have the original data on the disc with missing content, minor glitches, game breaking bugs and all and I haven't even touched on the fact that data gets corrupted, discs don't last forever, scratches happen and if even 1 little part isn't able to be read then the whole game is worthless since the console can't pull the missing data from the servers to install on your hard drive since the servers are disconnected. As we all know, games don't play directly from the disc but instead are installed to the hard drive and played from there and even if they were played directly from the disc then a scratched disc would still be useless unless the console could pull the needed data from it's servers which can't happen if the platform has been abandoned. Games are so big that if you did play it from the disc the load times would be HORRENDOUS. Everybody, which includes Sony, MS, and Nintendo have been shutting down stores and services to old devices and platforms which means that those discs can no longer be used to get the experience of the game as it once was no matter what you do, except in Microsoft's case where those discs can still be used in modern consoles to get the old game installed in it's entirety on your hard drive with enhancements to resolution and frame rate. You might get some experience from those other console's old discs IF they removed security features to allow you but that's an assumption taken on faith and it will still be an incomplete experience, and in some cases it'll be a broken unplayable one. Everybody would have to offer a brand new disc that has all the final patches and fixes, all the new content, and have the security measures removed and still the online services would be nonexistent; no one is going to do that, none of them are going to offer that. That means the days of physical media for video games is dead, sorry to the people who don't like that but it's already gone, there's no 2 ways about it, we install and play games from hard drives now. The fact that Microsoft is building infrastructure into backwards compatibility and cross-gen experiences means they have the means to keep those experiences for the people who still want to play old games, an old Sony disc for an abandoned platform and shutdown storefront with disconnected servers isn't going to get you there in this day and age but Microsoft's approach does. If you value legacy games then MS is doing the best job in the whole console industry at preserving that experience period; if you value having a box to put on your shelf then get physical games but if you value being able to play the game in it's entirety then get an Xbox which can still utilize those old discs and has digital versions still available on modern hardware when competitor's old storefronts will be be shut down with all of it's content gone.
Microsoft is buying companies so they have value for their services today but that also adds the security of longevity so you can be assured their servers are going to be online for LONG ways to come, definitely years and probably decades, when they own IP's from beloved video game franchises and the studios who made them they have reason to believe their services will stand the test of time. As newer gen games come to the fold the old games can still be facilitated via their backwards compatibility infrastructure. Microsoft is preserving gaming experiences and making them better, they're also making them more available on modern hardware than Sony. I don't see Sony doing anything for game preservation, at least Microsoft is albeit in this new age of gaming, they've adapted and Sony hasn't plain and simple. If you want to own the games you buy then I have bad news for you no matter what console you bought, but if you want to be able to play those games in the future without worry of it going away then Xbox is the BEST chance you got. I like physical games and own lots, I wish it could be like it used to be but that's just not the reality we live in. Not to mention, out of any company that has a storefront whether it's console or PC, Microsoft/Xbox has BY FAR the fastest speeds out of all of them; they invested into making their uploads as quick as possible so users won't have to be bottlenecked by crappy infrastructure from the host. A service like GamePass works so well because it's a good value with lots of great games, available on Xbox consoles and PC for 1 price, day 1 exclusives from beloved franchises, with backwards compatibility baked in, the downloads are the fastest in the industry, and you play the games locally on your own device's hard drive and so no internet interruptions while gaming or latency from cloud gaming (although it does have cloud options mainly for other features like mobile gaming on top of it all). Sony's service just can't compete with that currently and they're doing very little to do so. Microsoft has set themselves up to be a top player in gaming for a long time to come and Xbox isn't showing any signs going anywhere; they want the service to offer but they need the consoles to get into living rooms, PC stores for the personal gaming spaces, and now mobile stuff too for the 'on the go' aspect meanwhile Sony is doing a functionally less version of the WiiU gamepad and VR which is going nowhere fast. Microsoft is setting up for the long term and doing more for game preservation than basically anyone else in the console industry, Sony doesn't even have a direction outlined for their future and is actively working against game preservation, Sony is just relying on exclusivity and nickel and diming all aspects of the industry to stay in their position but complacency will be their downfall in the end.
Well said. Thanks for sharing your insights.
The major missing game from the backwards compatibility list is Ninety Nine Nights. I've been holding onto my launch copy all these years waiting for it to be made BC (my son red ringed my 360 when he spent 4 hours one day repeatedly hitting the power button to watch the lights spin. I haven't been able to play it since 2013)
I didn’t even realize it was the 3rd year anniversary today, coincidentally I wore my Series X shirt today.
I game on pc and own a ps5 but something about the series X has won me over. Got it for the $350 holiday price couldn’t be more stoked
i wish we had more OG Xbox games and Xbox 360 games for backwards compatible on Xbox One/ Series X?
Kind of crazy that Adam sort of predicted the Xbox Series X all digital indirectly in this video
In my opinion, Xbox has been all digital since Xbox One. All of the discs require at least one time of internet connectivity to play. Therefore, the physical releases don't really work as physical discs. If they need internet access, even if just the one time, then it's not really a physical release. Someday those discs become coasters.
Your hair is a real trip man lol great video like always man
Love the new "I just crawled out of a dumpster" look. :)
It crazy how affordable console are when compare to PC
I like having game boxes/cases on the shelf but the convenience and (supply) economics of digital are hard to beat. My concerns though:
- Consumer rights: resale, borrowing, owning it forever. Case in point: "This is how you share your games on PS4"
- Storefront competition: even now digital games tend to be much more expensive, imagine if you have no alternative.
- Legacy: I can play my 25 year old games just fine and don't have to justify to anyone as to why I might want to. I can find new used ones, no one can delist them from the world.
I bought both an XSX & PS5 near their initial launch dates. And to be completely honest I think the PS5 has just been okay to pretty good so far and on the other hand the XSX has been a massive disappointment for me personally. Every single game I was anticipating and looking forward to playing have been letdowns. If I were to rate each console on a 1-10 scale I’d rate the PS5 a 6.8 & the XSX a 3.5. My personal ratings could change for both of these consoles over the next few years and I hope it does. For comparison sake I would rate the Switch a 9.0 so far.
I just bought he Zelda oled switch with the totk. Let's just say I don't care to buy the ps5 or series x at the moment
@@Alextheskater91 Can’t say I blame you for that decision. I’ve always bought all the mainstream consoles during my adult years. And I’d have to say that The Nintendo Switch is up there with the greatest consoles of all time. Sitting up there with the SNES, PS2, NES, and a couple others.
Yeah…. I think that when Sony is considering a disk drive as an optional extra, then I really don’t think the next Xbox will contain a disk drive at all!! But if Xbox considers making it external disk drive and fully backwards compatible then that might ease the sting!
I wish microsoft made game exclusive games to give me a reason to buy it but microsoft doesn't really care about the series consoles
The reason why Microsoft is nicer to Nintendo these days is because the Switch is a hybrid and Microsoft has no interest in the handheld market.
Nintendo Switch has a richer library of exclusive games that are more appropriate for younger kids and families.
As a PC gamer wanting to play GTA 6 day one, which is the best console to go with, while waiting for the game to come available on Rockstar launcher? Series S/X or PS5? The only console I play regularly is the switch right now.
Probably a better question to ask in like two years to be honest.
Buying a Xbox series X tomorrow 😊
I am glad you made it back from Portland. I'm surprised the flights were canceled or on fire.
7:55 - Nintendo didn't get just one big release (Zelda TOTK) this year, there is also Super Mario Bros Wonder (and Metroid Prime Remastered, Pikmin 4 etc.)
Super Mario RPG as well
Yeah Nintendo was unbelievable this year. Amazing year for Nintendo.
I’m excited about Xbox’s future. Bethesda, Activision Blizzard, and it looks like Square Enix will also be big contributors in the future of the brand. The XSX is a better console to me than the PS5. Offers more features than PS5 and backward compatibilty is much much better. If they can get the new games out more frequently then they will be even more dominant. Great video Adam!
I wonder if the Project Brooklin will replace the original Series X like the One S did to the One or if it will just be a cheaper version of the Series X like the One S All-Digital Edition was to the One S.
I got my Xbox series X not too long ago. I just want to know how the performance is as in how loud it is after three years how the games play if there’s any crashes? Etc but so far I’m loving it. I just want my console to last for a long time us having the older games that we used to play back down like Black ops two GTA for all that is an exclusive itself for meee❤🎉
Physical movies are still a better deal because the digital version of a movie usually costs as much as the disc version, and now a days when you buy a bluray or 4k bluray it comes with 2 copies and the digital code anyway. So you're usually getting 3xs the value for your money getting the physical copy of a movie versus just paying the same price for just a digital download
I was going to write some sort of potato themed comment, but when the video ended I got a Christmas themed Ritz Crackers ad that talked about "Holiday Ritzuals" and now I'm just irrationally upset.
Hello Adam!.Keep going good work.Hello from Greece 🇬🇷 from"39"years old "kid"!😂.Here in Greece I was" minority " bought original Xbox 22APRIL 2002At Launch..Happy times😊
If they try to push all digital I will go retro and the high seas.
Same
Australia is like anglo Japan. In addition, you can actually "survive" with over the air network tv because the promise of digital multichannels actually thrived there. Its worth noting that cable is generally less popular there.
The death of physical media is breaking my heart. 😞
Adam is one of my favorite TH-camrs that covers video games and it’s history. Another one I suggest is Mystic. He is awesome!
I hope your doing well Adam 🎉 love your stuff
I ended up gaming more on Series X cause I had a BC library of older games to play and keep me invested. The PS5 I had at launch ended up getting moved to the side, unplugged and sold for vintage video games this year. I have no regrets currently. If Microsoft moves to digital only, they will have regrets too. They can not afford to lose again considering their flop from Xbone “always on” days.
If they keep up backwards compatibility (easier without needing physical media hardware) it might be an improvement over physical media that isn't forward-compatible.
Lmaoo so you bought a next Gen console to play old games 😂😂😂and sold the PS5 whitch has way better line up of exclusive high tier quality games ok by the way i have a series x incase you try to call me a hater
@@AvatarRoku-w8o PS5 has mid female protagonists and no games worth the investment. All kidsy Rachet and Clank and comic book kidsy garbage. T for Teeny weeny kiddos; that’s it. So boring. Come back to me when your MidA55 Spiderman game can distinguish the difference between a Cuban flag and a Puerto Rican flag. Did they fix the bugs in that abomination? Don’t mind me. I don’t care. I’m too busy exploring space and saving humanity. If not that, I’ll be popping in Japanese 360 games enjoying my REGION-FREE BC content. Haha go play on your laggy internet-tethered 200$ PS Portal. Sony is a MESS!
I'm extremely careful with what physical games I pick up for my Series X. I pretty much just skip out on their first party stuff since they're coasters and aren't interesting to begin with. I mostly do third party and I'm careful with it. Thankfully there's a decent amount of games that ship with both an Xbox One and Series X build on disc if it fits. Atlus and Sega seems to be really good with that especially. But yeah the Series X is essentially just a third party plus Halo machine for me mostly :/
I have a pretty big library of physical discs since I have been with Xbox since the beginning. I also have a ton of DVD movies that I could convert to digital, but that takes time (well over 500 titles). I didn't want to spend $500 on the Xbox Series X, and during CoVid they were gone, or priced much higher. At $350 Holiday pricing this makes a compelling buy for me given my circumstances. I having been loving my Series S, but feel compelled to get a beefier console WITH a disc drive before the door slams shut (possibly for good). Like most people I have lots of things to do IRL, so buying on the trailing edge of technology has worked out fairly well. For people where money is no object, obviously circumstances are different.
I didn’t see a Optical/Digital port on the Xbox X…. Does this system not have one? That’s how I run my 5.1 Surround, Directly from the Xbox one! A miss there if they did not include that.
I own ALL the newest consoles. At the moment my series X (w new TV) IS my most used best value... and my go to console (currently)...couldnt have always said that about xbox..things are good now my most used console very happy w it)...this could change but MS is killing it (for now) ✌️✌️
They didn't want WB Games because it would have been studios only - with NONE of the IPs included as they're all licenses for film studios. That's why they never even tried to grab WB Games, it would have been more heads to pay yet no franchises included
If Microsoft does go digital only, then Sony should make a very wise business decision and continue to make consoles with a disc drive. Millions of gamers like me who want the option of playing physical media will buy a PlayStation.
A bit of an off-topic question: Does anybody's xbox series x disc drive make random noises even when there isn't a disc in? It does not happen often.
Always love watching these review videos. My personal Xbox Series X 3rd birthday review is that it’s been a great 3rd party games machine, gamepass titles have gotten better, activision blizzard deal is sealed but future is uncertain, first party games are still weak with RedFall and Starfield being underwhelming imo. Future plans with their all digital Xbox is something we all knew was coming it was just a matter of when. I’m personally not a fan of an all digital system although I won’t lie my game purchases are about 50/50 with physical and digital depending on the deal. I just like having that physical option. Overall a pretty OK year nothing spectacular.
Phil Spencer did say that their plans have changed from when that document was made. Thats what Adam didn't add in the vid. The document that was made was made before Microsoft got Actiblizz and the plans were in works at the start of this generation before they even got bethesda and zenimax I believe. That's why Phil remarked that Nintendo was a huge asset in gaming and wanted to buy them. But now that they have Bethesda and actiblizz I don't think that Xbox would care or obsess over Nintendo anymore in the same level as they did in the Xbox One era before this gen started.
Personally, I no longer care. Im going backwards. Im going to get modded consoles and for modern games Im going PC. Im only sticking with Nintendo for consoles and thats about it. There will be plenty of ways to buy my music, movies and games. The PS5 and Xbox series just do not seem worth it with hurdlers they make you jump through just to play games. After the console blocked me from playing some digital games I PAID for in full on my HOME Xbox because I didnt have internet for a while, the Xbox Killed itself for me.
Wouldn't it be cool? If at some point they start selling games on 2230 nvme drives. The little stubby ones. Or even the big ones. They're about the size of a stick of gum. A 128 gb nvme is like 10 bucks. Then the media would be fast enough to just plug and play, no install.
On one hand I'm kinda sad to see physical games vanishing because of multiple reasons, on the other hand from November 2020 until now I was buying only 2 physical Xbox and 2 physical PS5 games, all others I played via subscription services or digital versions in sale.
If the next Xbox Series X doesn not have a disc drive, I'm buying a PS5 slim!
Series X is already better no need for 10 revisions
@@notafanboy355 I just want an extra 4K blu ray player for the house(and the option to grab any game that catches my eye) 🤷♂️
Japan still loves physical media and you can still get brand new laptops with dvd. It sucks that it is that way here in north america. Collector editions will still be available if you got the extra cash
Hey Adam, I would love your input. When it comes to multiplat releases, should I build my current gen collection on Series X or PS5?
I'd say ps5. At least then you have a better chance at preserving your games physically on there....
@@bobtom1495 What sucks is that for previous gens, ive gotten my multiplats for Xbox. Mainly because 360 games sometimes ran better than PS3 games. And also because of Xbox backwards compatibility. So i was hoping i could maintain this consistency with the Series X.
I say the same thing about the ps5 I still haven't seen one. Seen the Series s...
As much as i like consoles, every day im more convinced that PCs are the better deal than high end consoles, since you can also use them for work, hace free internet multiplayer, and better deals on games
8:00 Starfield was considered underwhelming and overhyped after the dust settled and more reviews looked deeper into it are coming out.
You completely forgot about Baldur's Gate III which is considered one of the greatest games in years.
Why would Balder's Gate 3 matter in this video? It's on PS5, and apparently, isn't even out on the Xbox Series X yet.