Xbox’s Project Helix Could Outperform The PS6 With One Simple Feature

Following Sony PlayStation’s controversial digital-only future, Microsoft could pull one major trump card that may result in dominating the next-generation console market.

Sony PlayStation recently took to social media to announce that, as of 2028, it will no longer be producing video games on disc, which is a huge blow for any gamer who loves to collect physical media. This was announced alongside the news that the PS3 and PS Vita digital stores will be closing their proverbial doors.

Sure, physical media has its benefits, but once everything goes all digital, and that includes movies, control over the content we apparently own will be well and truly in the hands of the mega corporations. It’s why I will never stop buying physical movies and video games whenever I’m able.

READ MORE: PS5 Users Report Purchased Content Permanently Revoked Without Refund

History Is Repeating Itself, But Now It’s Sony Facing Anti-Consumer Criticism

Leading up to the launch of the Xbox One, Don Mattrick, the then-president of Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Business, took to the E3 2013 stage to gleefully announce that the Xbox One would be digital only, and players would need to connect to the internet at least once every 24 hours to play their games.

As you can imagine, those in attendance, those watching at home and those who would soon learn of this news weren't as happy as Mr Mattrick. To say that this announcement caused a huge wave of backlash across the video game industry would be an understatement.

Sony would quickly mock Microsoft over its anti-consumer decision, in a tongue-in-cheek video of Sony PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida and Adam Boyes swapping PS4 discs, saying “How to share games on PlayStation”. The Xbox rival made a point of being consumer-friendly with no restrictive DRM features.

Days later, Microsoft would make a dramatic U-turn, announcing that the Xbox One would no longer be a digital-only console, nor would it demand the always-online requirement. However, the damage was already done, and that damage is still being felt today, over a decade later.

Now, it’s Sony that is repeating history with major anti-consumer decisions, and just scanning the comments in the tweet announcing that digital-only is the future of PlayStation, the community anger is clear as day.

“You are killing ownership. You are killing legal preservation. You are killing discoverability. You are killing publishers. You are killing developers. This is a move that might slightly improve bottom lines, but tear down every other aspect of this medium. Well done! You f****d up!” exclaimed DoesItPlay1, almost perfectly summing up gamers' frustration.

How Can Microsoft Take Advantage of Sony’s Ignorance?

It’s simple, just do what PlayStation 4 did to Xbox One at E3 2013, and offer a console with a disc drive. It’s that simple. Xbox already has that option with the current gen, as it did the last. So, in other words, in terms of console hardware, keep doing what it’s doing to score a big win.

As Sony did in 2013, if Microsoft were to capitalise within the next 24 hours or so, announcing that the next-gen Xbox will support physical media, the company would be seen in a totally different light by gamers and could snatch even the most loyal PlayStation consumers.

However, it’s not like Microsoft has seemingly been making great decisions of its own lately, so it’s no guarantee that it will make the consumer-friendly decision over corporate greed. I suppose stranger things have happened.

Microsoft Reportedly Shutting Down Several Major Game Studios

Since 2024, Microsoft has been on a tirade, closing down some major development studios and cancelling some highly anticipated projects. Perhaps the most notable in 2024 was Tango Gameworks, the team behind The Evil Within and Hi-Fi Rush. Then, a year later, it not only cancelled the Perfect Dark reboot but shut down its studio, The Initiative.

Yet, fresh reports are now making the rounds that Microsoft is not done with the likes of Ninja Theory and even Arkane Studios potentially facing the chopping block.

As wonderful as it would be for Sony to make a U-turn on digital only and for Microsoft to not only confirm a disc drive for next gen and to not close studios, if there’s one thing we know for sure right now, the video game industry is in a sad state.

READ MORE: 5 Xbox Studios Set For Potential Closure Amid ‘Massive’ Industry-Changing Layoffs