130°

The Next Xbox Could Phase Out Physical Hard Drive In Favor Of Cloud Storage

Boston (TheNextXbox) – When the Xbox 360 released, it was launched in two forms, one with a 20GB hard drive, and another without the added storage. The next Xbox may not even require a huge hard drive if Microsoft continues the push to the cloud. Playing Xbox Live Arcade games in the cloud may be the best route to take.

The next Xbox is likely going to make a big push to adopt cloud gaming across all of its platforms. What this could mean is the end of saving games, even game purchases, your physical hard drive.

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thenextxbox.com
dangert124105d ago

And why would anyone want that?

morkendo234105d ago (Edited 4105d ago )

if this rumor is true that could mean make it or break it for MS and recent generation of gamers ends with beginning of digital content generation. no one in there right mind want digital content only. something you cant physically own is not worth buying.

Flavor4105d ago

"something you cant physically own is not worth buying."

What a thoughtless statement. Do people physically own all those billions of songs on their iphones?

Do the millions of steam users physically own any of their games?

Do people physically own their facebook pages which they slave over endlessly? Or their reddit accounts?

Let's see how much people value physical discs when the digital copies undercut them by 50% or more. Let's see , shall we? Or are industry experts, Apple, Valve, and MS's entire strategic planning division just fools?

jmc88884105d ago (Edited 4105d ago )

@flavor, wow simply wow.

At least the media is on YOUR storage device.

Mp3's are actually much like how your stuff is saved on your own hard drive, not cloud.

Look cloud is good for BACKUP purposes, like what Steam does. But if it's solely cloud, wow, simply wow. What a bonehead call.

Also...you actually really think they'll cut prices by 50 percent or more by getting rid of the disc? Sure, I'll believe that when the U.S. Gov't passes Glass-Steagall and actually prosecutes Wall Street fraud. Actually still I wouldn't.

Actually Facebook owns your details and sell you down the river to any company or gov't agency that wants it. Facebook is one foolish thing to put all your info on. It's also a fad and worthless company. Myspace anyone?

No, your interpretation is foolish. You have your saves on your own HD AND have backup with Valve. Your games are on your hd. Steam's games aren't cloud games.

They were saying, and see if you can tell the difference, that your saves wouldn't be on your hd, but on THEIR cloud system. (and not just saves, but digital games like live arcade or your dlc..which means just like in some cases you wouldn't be able to access your saves to the last couple of levels you would be open to some of your games not being able to be accessed at all, or the DLC packs to some of your favorite FPS)

So just when you're about to start up the game and play the last level or two, you can't access your cloud files...doh.

darthv724105d ago

remember, the emphasis is on the word "could". that isnt an automatic guarantee.

Plus it was referring to "hard drive" not the physical games themselves. So in essence you would still be able to buy your physical games and be able to have your saves in cloud storage.

As far as dlc, yeah that "could" be in cloud or you "could" use your own external storage (flash drive).

I dont see an issue with them going that route provided the games themselves are on a format that is sufficient for the developers to stop bitching about. Meaning they are using 25-50gb+ media.

Lets just wait and see what is officially revealed with BOTH sony and MS.

CalvinKlein4104d ago

This will never happen. sorry, it honestly doesnt even make sense. Are we to stream every game we buy digitally from them. Id imagine it would cost them too much and wouldnt be as good as what we have now. This is stupid and if this happened it would be a day 1 FAILURE.

Gimmemorebubblez4105d ago

"could"
Aweh just keep your pants on until Microsoft unveils the 720 and stop these rumours.

LackTrue4K4105d ago

Hope this rumor is not true!!
That will almost mean you will need to be an active live member, if not... You can forget of playing you single players games too.

Rainstorm814105d ago

^^^^this is the exact problem with this entire idea, even worse people will probably wear it as a badge of honor the fact they need to have Live to play SP games.....kinda like they do now with XBL

Christopher4105d ago

Won't happen.

1. Broadband connections aren't used by all 360 owners as it is.

2. Internet caps exist.

3. Brick & Mortar retailers are the best way to sell games and hardware. Moving to a digital focus will mean they will start reducing shelf space and ad placement for their products. Imagine the whole Xbox section ends up being a display model at the end of an aisle, no game aisle or room for accessories.

JBSleek4105d ago

Great point but this broadband excuse is getting old. In all sectors. Why do we stop innovation or progress just because everyone doesn't have fast internet.

It could take decades to ensure everyone has super fast internet.

Technology shouldn't wait till everyone has something.

I agree with your point they wont and shouldn't do this but doesn't mean we should stop progress because some cant take advantage of it.

Rainstorm814105d ago (Edited 4105d ago )

In this instance it would greatly decrease the XBox target audience.....just look at how many 360 have been sold and how many active gold accounts there are.

I agree we shouldn't stop progress but something like this should be an option at best

Christopher4105d ago

***Great point but this broadband excuse is getting old. In all sectors. Why do we stop innovation or progress just because everyone doesn't have fast internet. ***

Because you design based on the lowest common denominator. You do that so as to ensure the largest possible audience.

Cloud could be an alternative option, but you'd have to ensure that enough people would use it. The problem is, why would people use that over what we have now where they can trade in their games and buy at discounted prices after 3 months that put digital offerings to shame (Steam and those not tied directly to producers not withstanding).

***Technology shouldn't wait till everyone has something.***

When it comes to a mass market product, yeah, it actually should. If they do this, you can guarantee it will cost more than what we currently pay for our games and hardware because their market will be much smaller and they will have an expectation on making more money in the future than they did this generation.

jmc88884105d ago

Not every 'invention' is progress. Was the nuclear bomb progress? Were derivatives? Were photo radar? Were drones?

Everyone should realize technology can be good or bad, used correctly, or misused.

The cloud has a purpose, though it's not what is being pushed. Right now valve has it right, your game saves are backed up via their cloud.

Meanwhile if they want to cut out a hd to utilize the cloud, that's actually a step back. Now you'll have to worry about outages when you want to play games. It would mean you have to be connected or you can't save.

Actually progress is something we don't even strive for anymore, it's sad. But that's what happens when Wall Street banks and hedge funds rule the world (i.e. all 'advanced economy' gov'ts.

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290°

More Job Losses At Xbox, “There’s More To Come”: Paul Thurrott

Paul Thurrott in a recent episode commented on the on-going Microsoft fiasco hinting at more job losses and that "there's more to come".

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spieltimes.com
Sonic18811d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future . Xbox has to pay Microsoft back. It might take two decades to do that.

sagapo1d 19h ago (Edited 1d 19h ago )

I don’t understand what you’re saying. Xbox IS microsoft so there’s no “paying back “.
And MS gross profit in 2023 was over 140 billion dollars so forget your 2 decades.

Unless you mean the money MS invested in Xbox (acquisitions included) and the time it will take for xbox as a brand to gain that money back on it’s own, then yeah, that could take a while.

romulus231d 13h ago

The better term to use might be return on investment, xbox is simply a division of Microsoft one that MS can easily do away with if profit margins are not met. So in that regard he's right, if xbox isn't showing the expected return on investment the higher ups are expecting than it's unlikely Microsoft will acquire any other studios any time soon, especially if they are spending billions buying developers just to shut them down in the end.

MrBaskerville1d 5h ago (Edited 1d 5h ago )

Xbox is a division that they discussed shutting down but doubled down on after Gamepass was pitched.

It needs to make money at some point. Big money.

KwietStorm_BLM1d 5h ago

So you do understand it or..?

rokos1d 3h ago

According to Statista the net income of Microsoft is about $72.4 billion dollars which is a bit lower than last year profit. That is almost as much as Activision's acquisition but I assume that would be a one off since it costs so much plus I see how their focus has been shifted to AI, thus any major future investments will probably be in that area.

Markusb331d 2h ago

i think you are really missing the point

VariantAEC17h ago

@romulus23
That is not why MS buys studios. They might continue to buy because it's about taking that sweet sweet IP out of the corporate husks of their acquisitions.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 17h ago
SonyStyled1d 19h ago

“There won't be no more acquiring game publishers from Microsoft in the future”

No bro, there do be is for Microsoft not acquiring for what is now if not what it be is 😂

1d 16h ago Replies(2)
ChasterMies1d 6h ago

Xbox isn’t a separate company from Microsoft. It’s all Microsoft.

Abear211d 1h ago (Edited 1d 1h ago )

Let’s be real, this is the media spinning all the acquisitions and liquidations of said developers and spinning it to make M$ the villain.

This was bound to happen, a bigger slice of pie and cut costs, when the games come they stand to make more and that’s their agenda—it was the writing on the wall when the sales went through and legally all those who approved the sale and mergers knew this would happen.

Snowflakes need to realize business is ugly and you can cry all you want but this is how capitalism works. And it works.

That said, M$ needs to steer the narrative and grab hold of all this, make their plans known, hype the hell out of all those dead IP’s they plan to revive, and be honest about the timeline. This is likely to involve mobile and IP on other consoles, and most people realize that.

The problem is this company is incapable of being transparent and seems to often want to dissuade and confuse is customer base. The lack of E3 has hurt Microsoft and I don’t think they know how to properly or effectively market their brand anymore.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 17h ago
jwillj2k41d 22h ago

There really needs to be a class action lawsuit here. You buy these companies just to put people out of jobs. And it’s not like something happened to derail their plans this WAS the plan. Microsoft has no business in this space at all.

franwex1d 22h ago (Edited 1d 22h ago )

Microsoft has been doing this for years. They simply want the IPs. Look at Nokia. Look at Skype. This time it simply expanded to games. Gaming is not as important to Microsoft’s executives as it was to the founders too. Bill Gates was willing to sell the og Xbox at a loss. Steve Balmer approved the red ring of death fiasco. This CEO isn’t really a gamer.

-Foxtrot1d 21h ago

Maybe it's time though to put a stop to it and use a big giant like Microsoft as a huge example to the rest of these big companies.

There has to be a line drawn somewhere.

People like the FTC and the like went against Microsoft yet their Actvision deal was still allowed to go through yet look what's happened...it's not even Acitivisions studios aswell, it's Bethesdas.

VariantAEC17h ago

Years?

Try several decades, and in the gaming space 2.3 decades.

Jon615861d 2h ago

You do realize this happens in ALL industries? Or are you just saying this because it is Microsoft? In any case I feel for those that are being let go but the trch industry is suffering right now.

jwillj2k421h ago(Edited 21h ago)

This absolutely does NOT happen all the time. Let me know the last time 1 company with a terrible product track record spent 100 billion onto acquire MULTIPLE successful companies in under a year only to shut them down and stop making their products regardless of how successful they were. Not merge them, completely shut them down.

And you can’t use Microsoft in your example.

Notellin21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

Class action lawsuit? The law is on their side and protects them at all costs. There are no rules to protect the people at the bottom.

jwillj2k421h ago

Not true when it comes to mass layoff do your research.

RNTody1d 21h ago

Ninja Theory, Perfect Dark, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Wolfenstein 3, Dishonored, Prey, Doom, Quake... something tells me that bad things are going to happen to these entities under Microsoft.

MrDead1d 11h ago

ID software, the makers of Doom and Wolfenstein that have been with us since 1991 could be gone and MS will keep the IPs.

I hope some of these studios can buy their freedom from MS otherwise this is going to be even more devastating for the industry and gamers.

Yui_Suzumiya1d 8h ago (Edited 1d 8h ago )

That's exactly what I'm worried about. I've been a fan of id since Wolfenstein 3D and I'm honestly afraid.

lodossrage1d 4h ago

Toys for Bob saw the writing on the wall and bought themselves out.

Wouldn't be the first time a company did that under MS either. Bungie and Twisted Pixel did the same. Considering what just happened, I can see some other devs trying to buy themselves out too.

anast1d 21h ago

Good thing the bosses of all those small studios made their money.

glenn19791d 20h ago

they cant do it right now they will get burned

XiNatsuDragnel1d 12h ago

Phil and his team need to be gone

lodossrage1d 4h ago (Edited 1d 4h ago )

Won't make a difference.

The whole structure needs to be overhauled. Anyone that replaces Phil will be no different than him, Mattrick, or anyone else.

Until the company changes how they go about business, nothing will change

glenn19791d 1h ago

I just don't have any idea what they would do , they have done sooo much damage on their xbox brand, they have a show at July or June I think, but will it even matter even they show amazing games, idkn

lodossrage1d 4h ago

True,

But they may as well get it over with. Whether it happens now or later, the burning is going to hit the same.

Reality is the ONE move that can alleviate a lot of this is the one move they can't make. Remove day 1 from gamepass.

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90°

Microsoft Opening Xbox Mobile Game Store in July

The Xbox brand is expanding, as an Xbox mobile game store is opening this coming July where Microsoft will brings its "first-party portfolio."

Jin_Sakai3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

“Bond adds that they will start on the web”

This will go nowhere.

Nice knowing you Xbox. This is what happens when the house never gets cleaned.

MrDead3d ago

The only this MS is expanding is the amount of feculence it sprays on everyone who just want to enjoy gaming and make games.

The best thing MS can do for the gaming industry is leave and never return.

XiNatsuDragnel3d ago

Good luck with this even it might not succeed.

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210°

Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinks

It turns out that many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony published LittleBigPlanet series.

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eurogamer.net
XiNatsuDragnel4d ago

Microsoft had a good idea but fumbled it again.

Cacabunga2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Project Spark idea was decent but they quickly gave up ..
LBP was wonderful

ApocalypseShadow3d ago

Microsoft in a nutshell. Always tried to poach Sony employees, games, 3rd party games and devices like the depth camera that was turned into Kinect but was running on PS2 before Xbox 360. Wouldn't be surprised they wanted LBP. Just like they worked behind the scenes pushing the MLB to bring Sony's baseball game to Xbox instead of making their own.
https://www.playstationlife...

They didn't spend years trying to develop their own baseball game. They wanted Sony's game.

They're scum.

Zachmo1822d ago

Microsoft didn't force MLB on Xbox. MLB gave Sony 2 options either go multiplat or risk losing the license.

Rynxie2d ago

And why do you think MLB said that? I believe Ms approached MLB.

ApocalypseShadow2d ago (Edited 2d ago )

Totally ridiculous comment.

The only exclusivity Sony had was to their own creation of The Show. Microsoft could have paid the MLB for the license just like Sony did and made their own baseball game.

Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox. They're worth 3 TRILLION dollars. You think that's not enough money to make their own baseball game? Don't be delusional.

Microsoft spun it like they always do and told the media that they had to trust Sony with their hardware. After they put Sony in that position of not having a choice. Either go multiplatform or stop making one of their successful games. That's a no win scenario.

And what did Microsoft do? They didn't try to sell the game to the Xbox community. They put it on game pass to hurt Sony. Pushing the idea of why buy games that are $70 when you can play them in their cheap service for $10. It was a dirty tactic.

You fell for the Kool aid drink Microsoft served you instead of spitting it out. Hope it tasted good because you were fooled by Phil and the gang.

2d ago
Hereandthere2d ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2d ago
Notellin2d ago

"Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox."

Take a nap, conspiracies are rotting your brain.

2d ago
Hereandthere2d ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

ApocalypseShadow1d 13h ago

Lying to yourself is unbecoming.

Article link tells you all you need to know in Sarah Bond's own words.

Hereandthere2d ago

They were too cheap/inept/lazy to develop their own mlb game, so they port begged for years and bribed the mlb to make the show multiplatform. Like i said many times, xbox brought nothing to the table their 24 years, ZERO.

ApocalypseShadow1d 13h ago

At least you and others get it. Note drank the Kool aid and asked for seconds thinking it was refreshing.

Most don't even know how it all played out but it's there in black and white for all to see. Microsoft brought it up for years until the MLB forced Sony's hand. It was a win win for Microsoft. Kill one reason to buy a PlayStation or kill the game by dropping it in a cheap service to kill Sony's sales numbers on PlayStation.

OtterX3d ago

"However, Healey said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right doing that, adding it would have been "morally corrupt"."

Major kudos to Media Molecule for being an upright studio with principles.

Cockney1d 8h ago

They chose well, Sony gave them the backing to pursue their dreams with no restrictions even tho their games especially dreams have very niche appeal. Media molecule and Sony deserve respect for this in an age of risk averse publishing.

RNTody3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Great, more stories like this please. Show the last of the zombies holding the line what we've been saying for years: Microsoft is anti competition, anti industry and has no interest in making games at all.

But hey, at least there's an Xbox Games Showcase to look forward to, right?

Inverno3d ago

Well considering SONY just killed the series, LBP would've been dead by now either way. Though MM probably wouldn't exist by now either, so I'm glad they stayed with SONY, hopefully they don't get shut down any time soon or ever honestly.

Inverno2d ago

They shut down the servers, that's millions of user created levels gone. That and dead are pretty much the same, it's also been years since 3 and they cancelled HUB soooo.

2d ago
fsfsxii2d ago

They shutdown the servers because no one was playing, no one in the community cared about the user created levels so why keep them up? Wtf you guys would never succeed in running a business.

Inverno2d ago

Yea dood no one was playing so they shut off the servers. Cause people with enough common sense can't just Google why they were actually shut of, right?

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