During the April edition of its Inside Xbox live show, Microsoft uncovered the newest member of the Xbox One family: The frequently-leaked Xbox One S All-Digital Edition. As the name suggests, the All-Digital Edition doesn’t have a disc drive, which means the only way to play games on this console is to download them.
While the new version of the console lacks a disc drive, Microsoft makes up for that by bundling the All-Digital Edition with three of the Xbox One’s most popular titles: Minecraft, Sea of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 3. The Xbox One S All-Digital Edition will retail for $249.99 ($50 less than the standard Xbox One S), but Microsoft says that the All-Digital Edition will always be $50 less than the standard Xbox One S, even during sales.
Preorders for the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition begin right now at a wide variety of retailers, including the Microsoft Store, Best Buy, Walmart, and Amazon.com. The console launches on May 7th, and you can watch a genuinely funny video about the creation of this disc-free console below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBDSMNE3_oQ
In other news, Microsoft also announced a new service during the Inside Xbox live stream called Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For $14.99 per month, you can get the full Xbox Game Pass library (which features over 100 games) and access to Xbox Live Gold online multiplayer. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate won’t arrive until later this year, but it sounds like a solid deal for anyone who primarily games on their Xbox One, especially if that Xbox One doesn’t play physical discs. Finally, Microsoft also mentioned that anyone who hasn’t tried Xbox Game Pass before will be able to get three months for $1 when they sign in for the first time on their All-Digital Edition.