Xbox could have won the next-gen race as Phil Spencer's physical disc stance emerges

Phil Spencer’s Xbox reign receives a lot of flack especially compared to the current leadership of Asha Sharma, but apparently Spencer’s vision for the company wasn’t so different after all.

There were many flaws to Phil Spencer’s mindset when it came to running Xbox, with the biggest being a lack of first-party exclusives.

While it’s cool to see Halo: Campaign Evolved launch on the PlayStation 5, it would start to leave you wondering why you should own an Xbox in the first place if more games were to jump ship to Sony’s platform.

However, according to Digital Foundry's John Linneman, reported by IGN, Phil Spencer's regime was on the side of the gamers when it came to its latest debated topic: physical media.

Xbox is currently in the process of launching a new system that’ll let you convert physical games into digital licenses, without making the discs obsolete like PlayStation is doing with the PlayStation 6.

John Linneman answered a lot of questions in a YouTube video posted on July 31, and explained that multiple sources had told him Xbox had plans to continue physical media support before its “reset” under Asha Sharma.

He said, "Before the current Xbox reset, I didn't know where it is now. It sounds like Microsoft was actually very much going to continue disc support. Not because they value retail disc sales, but because they wanted to ensure that all your Xbox games were still playable on new Xboxes.”

Linneman made it clear that he doesn’t know what Xbox’s current plans are. A lot has changed since Sharma took the reins, and all eyes are on the company’s next-gen console Project Helix.

If Xbox under Phil Spencer was keen to continue physical disc support, it implies that Project Helix will include a disc drive, or at least an optional one you can buy as an add-on.

That could still be the case, but Xbox’s latest disc-to-digital system throws a lot of doubt on that theory. Fingers-crossed that both types of media are supported.

Xbox could still win the console war with Project Helix

While it’d be nice to see Project Helix support discs in some way, shape or form, whether it does or doesn’t may ultimately make or break the console.

PlayStation has acknowledged the outcry from fans over its decision to cease physical game production in 2028, but has no plans to make a U-turn.

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This could mean your shiny, new PlayStation (whenever it launches) may not support your physical PlayStation 5 library. Take that with a pinch of salt, though as we have no way of knowing for sure.

In the worst case scenario though, PlayStation's shortcomings would be Xbox’s opportunity to get ahead of the competition.

All Project Helix needs to do is A. Support physical media, B. Be reasonably priced, and C. Have first-party exclusives that actually sell the console.

It’s a tall order for sure, but it’s entirely possible. The only one that seems a little dicey right now is a reasonable price. Component costs are still at an all-time high, and if Valve’s Steam Machine is anything to go off the next-gen Xbox and PlayStation consoles will inevitably cost a fortune.

Given what we’ve heard about Phil Spencer’s unactioned plan for Xbox, and what we know now, the company has every chance of competing with PlayStation, and Project Helix might end up being the winner of the next console race if all goes well.