Why does Xbox One have a Bluray player?
- Thread starter blakjedi
- Start date
500 GBs is half a terabyte.
There is no blu-ray less sku right now because Microsoft did the math and came to the conclusion it would make the most money with blu-ray. Considering it's history of HDDVD failure and backing the wrong format in the hidef proxy war I am certain Microsoft didn't come easy to this conclusion.
I doubt very very much that a xbox one without a blu-ray would add to any confusion. That is, right now I think we can all agree that anything Microsoft does or says adds to confusion
But that was not something considered when they decided to go with blu-ray and not create a driveless sku.
Yes (I already said as much
Profits from download games should be higher than from disk games, so the BRD-less option should be no concern from earnings POV. It's just a matter of logistics managing a limited stock and limited advertising campaign that just targets the niche consumer like Silent_Buddha.
But what would be the point of such a large sytem with no drive ? I would want a system with a larger hardrive and a smaller foot print.
Also I wasnt talking about profits. I meant judging demand per skew. What if out of 1m launch sysyems they only made 100k dd only but the demand was 500k. They now have people sitting on the side not buying
...WHY?Yes (I already said as much
There's no point in it. BR drives cost peanuts today, the hardware savings would be minimal, greatly offset by all the expenses in additional assembly and administration costs for two disparate versions, together with the dreaded "customer confusion" issue where you can't advertise your box as having ONE set of capabilities, universally. People will buy the wrong version and return it to the store unpacked, and so on. You now have an exception, and are you then gonna follow that up with more exceptions down the road...?
No, this does not make sense. If you don't want a BR drive you can live with there sitting one inside the casing regardless. Talk about first-world problems...
if I'm spending the money I'd want a choice and I would go with a smaller system foot print and larger hardrive over a bluray drive.
All they have to do is wait a year or two and release the xbox one digital download edition and mark on the box in large words no bluray drive.
Just like today you have the xbox 360 arcade , xbox 360 250 gig , xbox 360 arcade Kinect , xbox 360 250 gig Kinect.
All they have to do is wait a year or two and release the xbox one digital download edition and mark on the box in large words no bluray drive.
Just like today you have the xbox 360 arcade , xbox 360 250 gig , xbox 360 arcade Kinect , xbox 360 250 gig Kinect.
It'll be cheaper as it has no BRD.
Cheapest BRD drive on Newegg is $50. Unless there's a crazy markup on that, cost to include a BRD in a console has to be $25-30 minimum.
So someone should pay ~$30 extra for a component they don't want and won't use, and for the world at large to manufacture items at cost in resources and pollution for people to have sitting idle? that says more about first-world attitudes than first-world problems (which isn't a problem, only a preference, to spend less on not buying something one's not going to use).No, this does not make sense. If you don't want a BR drive you can live with there sitting one inside the casing regardless. Talk about first-world problems...
Multi-SKU systems are always a terrible idea. No one wanted the $299 Xbox 360. No one remembers the $499 PS3. Everyone pretends the $299 Wii U doesn't exist. For a system launch, having more than one SKU has never been a good idea.
Limited SKUs based on specific runs perhaps make sense a few years down the road to promote a new game but they always know they are making X units and no more. You never have to deal with trying to balance demand. Companies also don't particularly like being in the position where ABC territory gets a color and XYZ doesn't (oh, heck, let's just say it, Japan always gets all the dope DS and 3DS systems, arg!).
Lastly, I really wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft eventually joins Ultraviolet and copies Vudu's Disc-to-Digital program. Stick in a Blu-ray movie, pay $2, and boom, you've got a digital copy you can stream without a disc. Sounds too good to pass up for a system designed around all-in-one entertainment.
Limited SKUs based on specific runs perhaps make sense a few years down the road to promote a new game but they always know they are making X units and no more. You never have to deal with trying to balance demand. Companies also don't particularly like being in the position where ABC territory gets a color and XYZ doesn't (oh, heck, let's just say it, Japan always gets all the dope DS and 3DS systems, arg!).
Lastly, I really wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft eventually joins Ultraviolet and copies Vudu's Disc-to-Digital program. Stick in a Blu-ray movie, pay $2, and boom, you've got a digital copy you can stream without a disc. Sounds too good to pass up for a system designed around all-in-one entertainment.
Well 12X burners have been out there for a few years and they only cost about $70. Readers should be much cheaper.
Silent_Buddha
Legend
...WHY?
There's no point in it. BR drives cost peanuts today, the hardware savings would be minimal, greatly offset by all the expenses in additional assembly and administration costs for two disparate versions, together with the dreaded "customer confusion" issue where you can't advertise your box as having ONE set of capabilities, universally. People will buy the wrong version and return it to the store unpacked, and so on. You now have an exception, and are you then gonna follow that up with more exceptions down the road...?
No, this does not make sense. If you don't want a BR drive you can live with there sitting one inside the casing regardless. Talk about first-world problems...
Why? To drive additional sales. As Shifty pointed out, the majority of consumers are likely to want a BRD drive, so that will always sell in greater numbers. But there's X number of people that might buy the console if it is 50-100 USD cheaper that wouldn't buy the same console at the full price. For them, no BRD would likely not be a deterrent.
So just like with the different console SKU's of the last generation you charge significantly more with significantly higher margins for the top SKU versus the lower SKU. Or did you really think that a 20 GB HDD cost Microsoft 100 USD to include in the launch X360? Or that it cost Sony 100 USD more to include a 60 GB HDD instead of a 20 GB HDD in the launch PS3? Hell, the price difference between a 20 GB versus 60 GB HDD was far less than the price of a 20 GB HDD.
Also, the cheapest available retail Blue Ray reader at retail price on Newegg is still more than the cheapest available retail 20 GB 2.5" HDD on Newegg at the time of the respective consoles launches. And the retail price difference at launch for the PS3 between a 20 GB 2.5" HDD and 60 GB 2.5" HDD was certainly far lower than the 100 USD price difference between those SKUs.
So, again, why?
To drive additional sales that wouldn't be there at the full monty price.
I wouldn't say no one. Less than the higher priced SKU? Sure. But over the life of the X360, the lower priced SKU still made up at least 1/3 of all sales, IIRC. That's a difference between a current user base that is likely over 80 million right now versus potentially less than 55 million. Granted some number of that ~26 million would have bought the higher priced SKU if a lower priced one didn't exist. But I'd wager that the greater majority of them wouldn't have. I know for a fact for instance that the 3 families I know wouldn't have bought one if the lower priced X360 didn't exist as they got it mostly for Netflix, but later on added a Kinect for some Kinect gaming on them.
Regards,
SB
We can't really believe that getting rid of the Bluray drive makes the system $50-100 cheaper, can we? Besides, even on the fastest of Internet connections, you're still limited by the speed of the CDN servers, which means a whole lot of waiting. It also eliminates the ability to borrow games, rent games, buy used games, or receive physical games as gifts.
You've somehow managed to create a more restrictive console than what Microsoft initially proposed with the Xbox One, all in the name of saving $25 by not including a BRD and its associated licensing fees.
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You've somehow managed to create a more restrictive console than what Microsoft initially proposed with the Xbox One, all in the name of saving $25 by not including a BRD and its associated licensing fees.
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Silent_Buddha
Legend
Just like a 60 GB 2.5" HDD was 100 USD more than 20 GB 2.5" HDD?
And it is no more restrictive than how the majority of PC gamers do their PC gaming and video watching. Or how 100% of tablet and smartphone owners do their gaming and video watching.
Hell, if you add PC and mobile devices, more people game without using any physical distribution than game using physical distribution. So I doubt anyone that doesn't use physical distribution feels that it is restrictive.
It's so weird that some people have such a strong reaction to giving the consumer more choice. It's not like we're advocating the removal of the BRD from all machines.
Regards,
SB
Someone's gonna have to find some real numbers on that price as we're all assuming different amounts, but even then your reasoning in unsound. What's the point in anyone spending $25 more than they want or need? Good value is not good value if you don't want what you're paying for, no matter how cheap it is. If I have a choice between a £30 120GB HDD or £35 for 160 GBs, as I had years ago, that extra £5 is a waste of money if my requirements are < 120 GBs. $25 for a BRD player you'll never use is $25 wasted money. May as well ask MS to put in $25 of SNES and Megadrive cartridge ports for people like Silent_Buddha.
Isn't this thread about why Microsoft doesn't have a SKU without a BRD? We can keep going in circles about why Microsoft doesn't build the perfect box for its customers, but we all know that's not how business works. It's about making more money for them, not about making customers happy. Sometimes both align, but I think I've given a bunch of reasons why they didn't for this particular case.
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$25, discontinued yes, but don't tell me that Microsoft or Sony would have to pay neither 50 or 25 dollars for a blu-ray drive today.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106325
As for useless features i would bet my money on Blu-ray in next generation hidef consoles being way down on the list. Compared to Microsoft's heavy investment in the extra HDMI port and the related software it's invisible
None of which I agree with.
The logistics aren't a problem because the BRD-free SKU could be managed in a very low-cost way. There's no marketing or distribution issues. MS could even just supply only preordered boxes, so no issues with stock (which could be easily rectified by adding a BRD to unsold BRD-free consoles. Heck, MS could sell an official upgrade for buyers who change their mind!).Quite simply, MS could say to it's manufacturer, "by the way, can you make 10k without BRD drives please, and ship them to our warehouse? We'll sell them ourselves. Oh, and print some stickers we can put over the specs panel on the box to correct the drive specification."
I don't know what they'd pay. A link to a discontinued product doesn't help that. As already mentioned though, the cheapest BRD drive on Newegg is $50. The cost to MS (and the consumer) is therefore somewhere between $0.01 and $50.
It's been categorically proven useless to Silent_Buddha. He's a reference consumer. He is being asked to pay $x more than he need to for a feature he doesn't want. The question is 'why'? Is it because the cost of supporting him is too high? Are the logistics of manufacturing a SKU that leaves out one component too complex ? Not obviously, although there could be a firmware issue. The FW will do a basic system diagnostic and have to check the drive for inserted discs and whatnot. These features may be hard coded rather than part of a flexible BIOS. If not that though, and if an XB1 can boot and run without an optical drive attached, I see little reason not to support a low-volume, service-to-your-fanbase, probably more lucrative thanks to download titles generating more profit than disc-bought titles, SKU.As for useless features i would bet my money on Blu-ray in next generation hidef consoles being way down on the list. Compared to Microsoft's heavy investment in the extra HDMI port and the related software it's invisible