Numbers first: in April 2019, rumors about a disc-less Xbox One S gained concrete dates. According to the site Thurrott, the new version, built to run digital games only and sold as a cheaper option in the Xbox family, would be unveiled on April 16, during the Inside Xbox show, and would hit stores on May 7. The price reported for Europe was 229.99 euros.
In practice, this meant a console with the same hardware as the Xbox One S but without the Blu-ray drive: everything would have to be downloaded from Microsoft’s digital store. The report also said the company would use the presentation to show a program for trading in physical discs for digital versions, aimed at those who wanted to migrate their collection to the new device. The topic had been circulating for months, and the novelty of the report was precisely having firm dates.
What came next
The rumor was confirmed on the dates. Microsoft presented the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition on April 16, 2019, and the console launched on May 7. The model came with 1 TB of storage and three digital games in the bundle: Forza Horizon 3, Sea of Thieves and Minecraft. In the United States, it sold for US$249, US$50 below the regular Xbox One S.
Translating the market jargon: the All-Digital had a short life, as Microsoft ended production of the Xbox One family during 2020 to make room for the next generation. The idea, however, stayed. The Xbox Series S, launched on November 10, 2020, arrived without a disc drive, and in October 2024 the company also introduced a white Xbox Series X with no optical drive. The 2019 experiment ended up becoming a template for the whole lineup.
Source: Thurrott, via Eurogamer.
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