Xbox: New console with no disc drive to be released soon, rumours suggest

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Microsoft is gearing up to release a new version of the Xbox – with no disc drive, according to rumours.

The new console will include the same guts as the Xbox One S. But it will be cheaper because Microsoft will not have to build a drive to take game discs, the reports claim.

The disc-less console is thought to be referred to under the codename Xbox Maverick and has been rumoured for months. Leaks have suggested that it could be arriving soon, though there has been little clarity on what it might actually be.

Now Windows Central reports the new console will be sold as the "Xbox One S All-Digital Edition". The new console could open for pre-orders in the middle of April 2019 and go on sale early the next month, the report suggests, with all markets receiving the new console at roughly the same time.

The new console would mark the first time Microsoft has made an Xbox without a disc drive. But it is not a major departure for the company, which has in recent years focused on digital downloads and subscriptions to gaming services.

Some content, such as 4K films, are still often watched using disc drives. But games and other content is now largely made available over the internet, and services like the Xbox Game Pass have encouraged people to borrow and download games rather than buying them in hard copies.

Though there have been no definitive leaks about price, it's likely that the new console could be the cheapest version of the Xbox available. It is also not clear whether the removal of the drive will be the only change to the console.

The same report also claimed Microsoft is working on a Fortnite edition of the Xbox, which will include a special design on the outside. It's not clear whether that will be one of the disc-less versions and whether it will come out at the same time.

Xbox has released a variety of different versions of the current generation of console: after the original Xbox One came the Xbox One S and then the much more powerful Xbox One X. That has to some degree replaced the traditional pattern of releasing entirely new consoles, though Xbox has been reported to be working on a whole new version of the Xbox, which may or may not include a disc drive.