Xbox 720 Ditching the Disc for SSD or Digital Downloads

The latest rumour surrounding Microsoft’s next games console, currently tagged as the Xbox 720, is that it will be discless.

Adding to the news that the Xbox 720 will feature a tablet-styled controller like the Wii U it sounds as though that the next gen Xbox console will not be showing love for spinning media.

In a briefing that contained ‘strictest NDA’ (non-disclosure agreement) they’d ever seen, a source passed on the news that the Xbox 720 will apparently not feature a physical disc drive.

So, no DVD or Blu-ray formats here. Instead they are saying that it’s all about the digital downloads or some form of SSD storage system.

The shadowy source attended a briefing during GDC in which the news broke that the Xbox 720 would not use a disc drive, instead opting for some form of interchangeable SSD or SD card system.

According to the source, the SSD system would essentially become secondary to the fact that the next console would very much focus on digital downloads.

Even though the UK’s gaming industry is quite sizable, a lot of the stores are only just surviving thanks to physical media – where would digital only games leave them? That doesn’t even require an answer really does it?

Unfortunately, I love the service provided by Valve and Steam and can’t remember the last time I went shopping for a game that required me to leave my flat. Is this just the future?