14 DAY TRIAL // At no point during the Xbox One's development process was the next-gen console set to not have an optical drive for disc-based games, as Microsoft firmly believes that there will always be gamers who want physical discs instead of virtual downloads.
Before the next-gen consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, were revealed, there were quite a few rumors concerning the transition to digital games and how the new devices might not even feature optical drives for discs.
That didn't happen, however, and Microsoft's Albert Penello believes that delivering games on discs will always make sense to some consumers, while others are transitioning to just digital downloads.
"Because I think right now we realize the size of the games that are coming now. What we conceived was that the disc was the delivery medium. But that the licensing and all of that was happening in the cloud. So yeah, you're always going to need a disc. But for some people, there will be a time when that's not necessary anymore," he told GameSpot.
The Xbox One is set to feature a Blu-ray drive, just like the current PS3 or future PS4.