{"id":2120434,"date":"2026-08-31T12:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2120434"},"modified":"2026-08-31T12:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T09:48:10","slug":"xbox-ceo-refuses-to-confirm-whether-next-console-helix-will-have-a-disc-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2120434","title":{"rendered":"Xbox CEO refuses to confirm whether next console Helix will have a disc drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Xbox CEO refuses to confirm whether next console Helix will have a disc drive<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Reading between the drives.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/asha-sharma-xbox_ETUJlFF.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"A woman in a thin green jacket and with long black hair an a very white smile leans against an Xbox Logo while smiling widely. It&apos;s Xbox boss Asha Sharma.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"asha-sharma-xbox_ETUJlFF.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer \/ Xbox<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1533038852.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Vikki Blake avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1533038852.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/vikki-blake\">Vikki Blake<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\n<p>Published on   <time datetime=\"2026-08-31T12:48:10+00:00\" data-auto-time-zone=\"true\" data-year=\"numeric\" data-month=\"short\" data-day=\"numeric\" data-hour=\"numeric\" data-minute=\"numeric\">Aug. 31, 2026, 12:48 p.m.<\/time>\n              <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Xbox CEO Asha Sharma will not confirm if its next console system, codenamed Project Helix, will have a disc.<\/p>\n<p>Talking to the BBC, Sharma kept very much on script, stressing that whether players valued physical or digital games, what&#8217;s important is that &#8220;your libraries can go wherever you are&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Xbox CEO on the &quot;crisis&quot; facing gaming hardware | BBC News\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/txuYKwrbq1M?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/txuYKwrbq1M\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Xbox CEO on the &#8220;crisis&#8221; facing gaming hardware | BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Xbox CEO on the &#8220;crisis&#8221; facing gaming hardware | BBC News.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=txuYKwrbq1M\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Look, whether you play physical games, digital games, it&#8217;s really important that your libraries can go wherever you are,&#8221; Sharma said when asked about the future of physical media.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And we&#8217;re really committed to preserving great gameplay. If you think about all around Europe, there are stacks of games on everybody&#8217;s shelves. And so today, we&#8217;re announcing the ability for players, for a thousand titles with physical discs, to be able to have a digital entitlement. And so they get the wonderful goodness that comes from digital libraries, but in the form of the physical libraries that they also have.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And we&#8217;re just getting started. You know that we announced PC back compat. We&#8217;ve long pioneered backwards compatibility. And so you&#8217;ll continue to see that as we go forward in the generations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked directly if Xbox&#8217;s plans had changed as the industry &#8220;moved away from physical media&#8221;, Sharma said: &#8220;I want Xbox to be where the world plays. And in order to be where the world plays, I know that players love physical media, and I know that there&#8217;s a lot of benefits in digital media, and I want to make sure that people have a choice in that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And so, I&#8217;m excited for what we are able to do today as a first step towards that, and you&#8217;ll see more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then, asked <em>again<\/em>, directly, if Helix will be disc-less, Sharma laughed and said: &#8220;So, we&#8217;re not sharing more on Helix. I know you had to ask it, but we&#8217;ve been hard at work on a great next generation and a great family of devices for Helix, and we&#8217;ll share more soon&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/project-helix-dev-kits-not-going-out-until-2027-and-other-new-details-on-xboxs-next-gen-console\">Microsoft&#8217;s next Xbox console, Project Helix, has been announced<\/a>, albeit without much of the detail. We know it will be some kind of console-and-PC hybrid, and that development kits won&#8217;t go out until next year. Microsoft has also just announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-disc-to-digital-one-series-x-details\">its disc-to-digital Xbox initiative<\/a> to let players digitise their game discs so they can &#8216;own&#8217; them as we move towards a worryingly discless future.<\/p>\n<p>In the background, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">Sharma&#8217;s Xbox division is still reeling from wide-ranging restructuring<\/a>, which left 1600 people without jobs and will leave a further 1600 jobless by next summer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>Xbox CEO Asha Sharma will not confirm if its next console system, codenamed Project Helix, will have a disc.<\/p>\n<p>Talking to the BBC, Sharma kept very much on script, stressing that whether players valued physical or digital games, what&#8217;s important is that &#8220;your libraries can go wherever you are&#8221;.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"video_wrapper youtube\">\n<a aria-label=\"Xbox CEO on the &quot;crisis&quot; facing gaming hardware | BBC News\" class=\"video-facade full-size\" data-platform=\"youtube\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/txuYKwrbq1M?autoplay=1\" title=\"Click to play video from YouTube\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cover image for YouTube video\" class=\"video-facade__image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/txuYKwrbq1M\/hqdefault.jpg\"><span class=\"video-facade__title\">Xbox CEO on the &#8220;crisis&#8221; facing gaming hardware | BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a>\n<\/div><figcaption>Xbox CEO on the &#8220;crisis&#8221; facing gaming hardware | BBC News.<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=txuYKwrbq1M\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Watch on YouTube<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;Look, whether you play physical games, digital games, it&#8217;s really important that your libraries can go wherever you are,&#8221; Sharma said when asked about the future of physical media.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And we&#8217;re really committed to preserving great gameplay. If you think about all around Europe, there are stacks of games on everybody&#8217;s shelves. And so today, we&#8217;re announcing the ability for players, for a thousand titles with physical discs, to be able to have a digital entitlement. And so they get the wonderful goodness that comes from digital libraries, but in the form of the physical libraries that they also have.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And we&#8217;re just getting started. You know that we announced PC back compat. We&#8217;ve long pioneered backwards compatibility. And so you&#8217;ll continue to see that as we go forward in the generations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked directly if Xbox&#8217;s plans had changed as the industry &#8220;moved away from physical media&#8221;, Sharma said: &#8220;I want Xbox to be where the world plays. And in order to be where the world plays, I know that players love physical media, and I know that there&#8217;s a lot of benefits in digital media, and I want to make sure that people have a choice in that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And so, I&#8217;m excited for what we are able to do today as a first step towards that, and you&#8217;ll see more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then, asked <em>again<\/em>, directly, if Helix will be disc-less, Sharma laughed and said: &#8220;So, we&#8217;re not sharing more on Helix. I know you had to ask it, but we&#8217;ve been hard at work on a great next generation and a great family of devices for Helix, and we&#8217;ll share more soon&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/project-helix-dev-kits-not-going-out-until-2027-and-other-new-details-on-xboxs-next-gen-console\">Microsoft&#8217;s next Xbox console, Project Helix, has been announced<\/a>, albeit without much of the detail. We know it will be some kind of console-and-PC hybrid, and that development kits won&#8217;t go out until next year. Microsoft has also just announced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/xbox-disc-to-digital-one-series-x-details\">its disc-to-digital Xbox initiative<\/a> to let players digitise their game discs so they can &#8216;own&#8217; them as we move towards a worryingly discless future.<\/p>\n<p>In the background, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/microsoft-xbox-layoffs-2026-double-fine-compulsion-ninja-theory\">Sharma&#8217;s Xbox division is still reeling from wide-ranging restructuring<\/a>, which left 1600 people without jobs and will leave a further 1600 jobless by next summer.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Xbox CEO refuses to confirm whether next console Helix will have a disc drive Reading between the drives. Image credit: Eurogamer \/ Xbox News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Aug. 31, 2026, 12:48 p.m. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma will not confirm if its next console system, codenamed Project Helix, will have a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-2120434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2120434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2120434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2120434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2120434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2120434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}