The Daily Vote | Would you buy a disc-less, digital-only console?

The Daily Vote is a daily community feature in which GameRevolution’s readers choose the victor of a hotly-contested topic. This week we if our readers would buy a digital-only console.

The release of the Xbox One S All-Digital is the first time that a major console manufacturer has decided to go disc-less with its hardware. With digital downloads and game streaming becoming increasingly popular, the Xbox One SAD (an unfortunate acronym, but an acronym nonetheless) has opened the doorway for more digital-only consoles. But is that something that gamers even want right now?

Vote on whether you’d buy a disc-less, digital-only console in the Twitter poll below, and we’ll reveal the winner in tomorrow’s The Daily Vote!

Would YOU buy a disc-less, digital-only console?

VOTE below! ✅

— GameRevolution.com (@Game_Revolution) May 23, 2019

Paul Tamburro, executive editor: “No chance. I still want to buy physical games to add to my collection, and after moving house, my download speeds are nowhere near where they’d need to be to make a digital-only console a reasonable purchase.”

Jason Faulkner, senior editor: “I hate the idea of an all-digital library. Anytime a company decides it no longer wants to support a console there goes thousands down the drain. I have a lot of digital games, either because I got them for review or because they’re just not available in a physical edition, but I vastly prefer physical releases.

The only way digital beats out physical is convenience, and that’s not even really true when you look at how digital licensing works. If I buy a 3DS game digitally my fiancee can’t play it on her system, but if I buy physical we can swap between them as much as we want. With Xbox One and PS4 if I’m using my account then my fiancee is locked out of my games if she wants to play on another console. Digital purchases are just another way to companies to cut costs and tighten their control over what, how, and when you can play their games.

When you look at the fact digital costs the same as physical new then you’re really not getting a deal. You get an ethereal “license” that can be revoked at any time versus a case and disc that gives you the ability to play whenever you want (most of the time). Of course, companies have even screwed us over on physical editions by making it the norm to not get a manual. The only time I see them care about physical editions is when they’re trying to break one off in you with some cheaply made collector’s edition. But, as long as people are bending over and saying, “Please give me less and less for my money,” companies are going to make the concept of “owning” a game more and more abstract until we’re just long-term renting games over digital storefronts.”

Mack Ashworth, lead editor: “Maybe. If the price is right, when both hardware and software are factored in. Most modern PCs no longer have disc trays, due to the convenience of digital and how the many storefronts offer competitive prices. My need for a console disc tray is mostly due to how expensive digital versions are on the PlayStation and Xbox stores. If the price is right, the disc tray can go.”

Bradley Russell, news editor: “Unlikely. Admittedly, I’ve warmed towards the concept in recent years as my ever-growing digital collection continues to expand and outstrip its physical cousins, but I can’t see myself ever wanting to willingly remove the choice between the two. You’re always reliant on stable internet speeds (a rarity at the best of times) and, worse, continual multi-GB patches and other downloads.”