Microsoft wants to bring in 2019 two new models of the Xbox game console on the market. While an update of the Xbox One S should score with a low price, the other console should do without an optical drive - and would thus be a novelty among the major manufacturers of the console world.

According to the often well-informed insider Paul Thurrott , Microsoft plans to release two new Xbox versions next year. Both consoles should be understood as an update of the current generation of consoles. Nevertheless, at least one of the two Xbox updates could usher in a small console revolution.

The actually next-generation console from Microsoft, the lucky247 Xbox Scarlett (project name), should probably come in 2020 in lockstep with a PlayStation 5 on the market.

Xbox console comes without a drive Get two more offshoots soon: The Xbox One X

Get two more offshoots soon: The Xbox One X (Image: Microsoft)

One of the planned for 2019 Xbox variants is without optical drive, ie without Blu-ray drive, get along. Games will therefore only be playable via download or streaming. Games will be nothing more than physical disks. Due to the lack of the optical drive, the console would be foreseeably a lot cheaper than the current Xbox One X. A comparable console was not available from Sony and Microsoft so far.

In keeping with this, Microsoft plans to schedule a program of participating merchants where players can exchange their already purchased physical games for the digital version. Whether this concept works is at least doubtful. Microsoft offers the ability to directly experience the current expansion with a level boost, but for the developers themselves, the ever-increasing maximum level will be increasingly difficult to manage, which is why it has now been decided to reduce the ceiling.

The second of the new consoles to be a revised version of the previous Xbox One S. As usual, the slimmed-down version should be cheaper than the main console, which in this case would be the Xbox One X.

Can these consoles be successful?

A cheap version of the Xbox One X, marked as S-model, will probably find buyers for sure - even if many players are already craving for a completely new console generation.

But more interesting for the market is certainly the Xbox without Blu-ray drive, where games can only be played via download or streaming. Here it must be shown whether fans can actually do without the physical data carriers and their collector or nostalgia value. Also a lending of the games will not be possible without further ado.

Insiders have been forecasting such a feature or the development towards digital purchases and away from the Blu-ray for years. It will be interesting to see how the industry leader Sony and the PlayStation 5 , expected for 2020, are positioned here. Whether the Xbox Scarlett will appear with integrated drive, is not yet known."