Just a few weeks back, Reddit chatter was buzzing about the next Xbox, codenamed Project Helix, and whether it would still bring a physical disc drive. A lot of folks want that option back, especially for preserving old game libraries or watching Blu-rays. Yet fresh rumors have gnawed away at those already slim hopes.
Rumor roundup: Helix, Saluki and Positron
According to a report from Microsoft insider Jez Corden at Windows Central, anonymous sources described two new Xbox codenames that later surfaced in current Xbox Insider builds. Beside “Project Saluki”, which is said to refer to new Game Pass offers for the Chinese market, the moniker “Positron” also appears. Corden believes this could point to a disc-to-digital program.
What Positron could mean for discs
Specifically, “Positron” could allow physical Xbox games to be converted into digital licenses. That would make disc-based games permanently available in the digital Xbox library. It would also suggest that the next Xbox may no longer need a built-in disc drive, while Microsoft could still give users a way to carry their existing disc collections into the digital Xbox ecosystem. Microsoft could take a similar route to Sony with the PS5 Slim and offer an external disc drive as a separate accessory. Another possibility is that games could be digitized through older consoles such as the Xbox Series X (priced at $648) or Xbox One. In a Reddit thread on the topic, disappointment over the possible loss of a disc drive appears limited. That is likely because Microsoft’s rumored solution sounds fairly promising for owners of physical games – provided it works the way fans hope.
If a one-time digitization process makes a game permanently available on the console, Positron could make the shift more convenient without reducing the value of physical games. However, the disc may still need to be verified through an external drive before each play session, even if the game itself then runs digitally. In practice, Microsoft would merely be moving the disc drive outside the console. At this point, all of this remains pure speculation, and Microsoft has officially confirmed neither the absence of a physical disc drive nor the rumored disc-to-digital program. Windows Central reports.
Source: www.windowscentral.com