Xbox Series X: Digital-Only Model Cost Analysis

The Xbox Series X's disc-less model offers savings, but limits gaming flexibility and access to physical games.

### The Xbox Series X: To Disc or Not to Disc?
* 🎮 Microsoft has launched the Xbox Series X, a digital-only console that **saves you $50** but requires a commitment to a **disc-free gaming future**.
* 💵 While saving $50 sounds appealing, the conventional wisdom suggests that **physical games tend to be cheaper in the long run**.
* 🔍 Research reveals that you would need to purchase approximately **29.8 non-used games** to break even on the savings from a disc drive version.
* 📉 Further analysis shows that digital games can **save you an average of $419 per game** for the patient gamer, leading to **significant overall savings**.
* 🕒 Tech tip: Patience pays off; waiting for sales can result in **savings of $900 to $1,300** for an entire game library.
* 🛒 For immediate access, used games can be found at **competitive prices** on platforms like GameStop and Amazon, but **convenience may favor digital options**.
* 📜 Digital purchases come with the risk of **losing access if servers go down**, while physical games offer **transferable licenses and resale options**.
* 💻 Ultimately, a mixed approach combining used and digital games may provide the best value, emphasizing the **importance of flexibility in your gaming choices**.

Microsoft just sent us their brand new Xbox. Time to make a whole video on all the big changes. Well, it's an Xbox Series X, all right, with no disc drive and some cost optimizations, and it's white. Okay, very funny, but there is legitimately more to this story. The new model will also save you $50. That is, if you're willing to commit your soul to the digital-only future and give up playing disc-based games, probably forever. Should you take the deal? I mean, on the one hand, $50, that's a lot of money to save. But on the other hand, the conventional wisdom says that physical games are much cheaper than digital ones, especially in the long run. Does that make diskless consoles like this a bad deal? How many games would you need to buy before you wipe out that $50 savings? That is the question we set out to answer, and it turns out it's kind of complicated, or well, really complicated. The good news is we did the complicated part for you, and when you're done watching this 11 and a half minute

video. You will be equipped with some very practical tips that will save you money, and you'll also be equipped with this message from our sponsor, OVHcloud. They're a leader in providing cloud computing and hosting services, and coming up on November 28th, our very own Luke Lafrenier is going to be at OVH Cloud Summit as a guest speaker. It's going to be streamed live on their Twitch and X platform, so don't miss out and click the link in the video description to learn more. We began our price comparison journey by adding the top-rated and top-selling PlayStation 5 titles to a spreadsheet, then culling any of the games that didn't have a physical release. That left us with a healthy mix of 67 games. We've stuck with the PS5 this time around because the cross-platform licensing on Xbox is a bit more complicated, so leave a like if you want to see a deeper dive that includes the Xbox and the PC. Also, about twice as many people have PS5s than current gen.

Xboxes so PS5. Step two was to populate our spreadsheet with both digital and physical pricing. Now, some individual prices may have changed since October 15th, but the overall story shouldn't, giving us the answer to our first question right away. How many non-used games would you need to buy right now to break even on the $50 that you spent on a dis Drive version? 29.8, which I got to say is a lot more than I expected. I mean, sure, if you bought our entire sample Library here, it's clear you'd come out way ahead with physical games, but let's be real, that's way more than most people are going to be buying over the entire lifespan of a console. So, digital wins, brother. We are only at the first nest of this rabbit Warren. To go deeper, we need to add these columns tracking historical sale pricing where digital extends its lead. Not only is it cheaper for a gamer with an average size library, but it's even cheaper overall, and not by a narrow margin. We're talking a savings

of $419 per game for the patient gamer. That's $281 for our complete library. But before you physical media enthusiasts finish typing that comment, we're not done yet. So backspace, backspace, couple more times. There you go. Let's break this down, tech tip by tech tip. Although we've been focused on digital versus physical so far, the most important metric is really current price versus sale price, which was a difference of $13 to $20 per game or $900 to $1,300 for the entire library. So that right there is tech tip number one: be patient. Seriously, if you take one thing from this video, that's it. Using some of the same tools that we used, like PS Deals or CamelCamelCamel, you can not only view historical sale prices, but in many cases, you can even predict future sales, both the timing and even the pricing. I mean, look at this, it's like clockwork these days, especially for digital. You can also follow social accounts that are dedicated to keeping you informed on regional sales. We're going to have links to some of those

tools, as well as the consoles we're talking about down below. Now, of course, I understand you can't always be a patient gamer. You want to jump into that new release while all your friends are playing it. But especially for single-player games, guys, you can save as much as $5 to $10 simply by waiting a week or two and picking up a secondhand copy. Ah yes, the ace up the sleeve for team physical used games. These are going to change the math in a big way. But first, let's talk about where to get them. That's tip number two. It turns out that if you want something right now, your local GameStop might not be as bad as we expected. On average, pricing on used games at GameStop and Amazon is remarkably close, and that's before you include promotional offers. We did find that used prices on Amazon could be significantly lower sometimes, but the availability was pretty inconsistent. Of course, if you're patient and willing to emerge from your gamer den once in a while, buying on Facebook Marketplace is

King for finding the best deals on YouTube games. Our spreadsheet makes that clear already, and we haven't even tried to lowball anyone yet. So, so much for everything else I said. Physical for the win, video over, or is it? The whole convenience argument against Marketplace, that's a real argument. Picking up all your games in one shot really is a lot easier than meeting up with 67 strangers on the internet. But if we're going to talk about convenience in our equation, then it kind of reopens the door for digital, doesn't it? Click, click, boom, you got a new game to play. Your time has a value, and I'm not just talking about driving to and from the store 'cause the discs we're buying these days are pressed weeks in advance of launch, meaning that even on day one, there are almost always crucial patches that turn your disc into little more than a shiny license key that takes up space on your shelf. We downloaded three whole games in the time that it took to install and update one game via disk, though of

course your internet speed is obviously a big variable there. Making matters worse though, let's say you bought six games one at a time as you build up your game library, and you bought them from the store at a median US hourly wage. You just added at least $12 to $15 in time and transportation to your cost. Now the full picture is obviously going to vary from person to person. You can clearly order a physical game online as well, but what we can say is that with waiting around factored in, digital absolutely obliterates physical. But we're not done yet. What about game preservation? Buying digitally is just leasing a license. That was literally settled in court not that long ago. And when those servers go down, you lose your game. Point for physical then, well yeah, but counterpoint, when that happens, you're also going to be losing access to crucial updates for those physical games. So if you're really concerned with preserving your gaming experience for all time, this key point that used to go to physical media now belongs to

piracy. But since the current-gen systems haven't been jailbroken yet, we're going to cut that conversation off here. Changing gears, though, there is one huge W that physical still retains: transferable licenses. You can lend your friend a game without account-sharing shenanigans, and you can even sell your games outright to partially cover the cost of your next no-life addiction. In fact, if you're trying to min-max your gaming, and if time means nothing to you because, hey, it's your hobby anyway, this is the clear winning strategy. You find a deal on a used game, you finish it in a week or two, then you sell it directly to the next consumer, not back to GameStop. If you can time it right, you can usually get your money back or even make a few bucks here and there. Now, if that kind of flow sounds exhausting to you, don't worry, you're perfectly normal. But if it's your jam, power to you, and I get it. As for me, I think the most interesting finding from our investigation is probably how subscriptions factor into

the equation. Let's match up our cheapest overall category of historic low used prices against the historic low digital prices. But this time, let's include 2 years of PlayStation Plus extra. That adds $270 for the subscription, but we get 24 out of our 67 games for free, giving us a net savings of $1,136. That makes the price difference between the lowest all-used and all-digital just $37 for the entire library. So once you factor in the $50 discount for a digital console, all of a sudden you're ahead $13 by going disc-free. And you've got two years of online play, extra features, and access to hundreds of additional games. Of course, you're going to have to keep paying for PSN forever, and even if you do, some of those games might get taken away at some point. Are we going to have a conclusion here? Gauging value for these things, as you can see, can be really complicated, and that ignores the fact that depending on how you do the math and which games you look

at the numbers can bear out very differently if we used median values for our initial analysis. For example, it might have only taken us half a dozen games to make up the cost of our disc drive rather than the original 29.8, which is why we focused on the overall trends that make it easier to make generalized tips for you. So, here's one more: in the real world, the best deals are on a per-game basis, and if you want the cheapest version of our complete library, it's probably, no, definitely going to involve a mix of used and digital games. That right there, I think, is the conclusion because that is the most irrefutable argument against the removal of the optical drive because what it costs you is not only measured in dollars, it's measured in flexibility. With this console, I don't get to choose anymore what kind of game I'm going to buy. That is why David, who wrote this video, is going to be doing a second exclusive over on LMG G/Floatplane, going through the spreadsheet in a bit.

more detail, and admitting he was wrong about the PS5 Pro's lack of a disc drive. He said he didn't think it was that big of a deal. He wrote this video and then immediately went out and bought a disc drive for his. I look forward to watching that, and I look forward to telling you guys about our sponsor, Vessie. Are you ready to step into fall? Well, Vessie's new Courtside Classics bring a vintage tennis shoe style to their collection that is perfect for unpredictable fall days. Whether it's rain or chilly winds or a walk at the pumpkin patch that looks cute but ends up being muddy, Vessie is going to be there for you. They say their shoes are so waterproof you can splash through puddles without a second thought. They feature a padded tongue and collar, plus a lightweight design that makes you feel like you are walking on clouds. Whether you're crunching through leaves on a scenic hike or enjoying a cozy evening in the city, Vessie keeps your feet comfy and

dry. Our team loves Vessis because they're super versatile, and you can rock them all season long. So don't wait, grab your pair today. And if you use our link in the description, you'll automatically get 15% off your first purchase. If you like saving a buck on your video games, why don't you check out our video about five mods that Nintendo wishes were illegal? Seriously, go watch it now before their lawyers try to take it down, which isn't a challenge, Big Red.

The True Cost of Digital Games - Microsoft’s New Xbox is their Worst Deal Ever

Linus Tech Tips is a passionate team of "professionally curious" experts in consumer technology and video production who aim to educate and entertain.


Linus Tech Tips

Microsoft's New Xbox Series X: A Digital-Only Future

Microsoft's new Xbox Series X model is disc-free, white, and offers a $50 savings for going digital.

The shift to digital-only gaming raises questions about long-term cost savings compared to physical games.

A price comparison of top PS5 titles reveals that it would take buying 29.

8 non-used games to break even on the $50 savings, with digital games ultimately offering a more affordable option in the long run.

Saving Money on Video Games: Tips and Tricks

Being a patient gamer can save you $900 to $1,300 by waiting for game sales.

Using tools like PS Deals and CamelCamelCamel can help predict future game sales.

For used games, GameStop and Amazon offer similar pricing, while Facebook Marketplace provides the best deals.

The Battle Between Digital and Physical Game Purchases

Internet speed and additional costs make digital game buying more appealing than physical.

Digital purchases come with the risk of losing access to games if servers go down, while physical games offer transferable licenses and the ability to sell them.

The strategy of buying used games, finishing them, and reselling them can be a lucrative way to minimize gaming costs.

The analysis compares the historic low used prices of games with digital prices, factoring in the cost of a PlayStation Plus extra subscription.

The net savings from the subscription and free games make the price difference between used and digital games only $37.

Ultimately, going disc-free offers a $13 advantage, along with online play and access to additional games, but the value of flexibility in choosing game purchases is also highlighted as a crucial factor.

Admitting Mistakes and Vessie's Fall Collection

The speaker acknowledges being wrong about the PS5 Pro's disc drive and has since purchased one.

Vessie's new Courtside Classics offer a vintage tennis shoe style, perfect for unpredictable fall weather, and are advertised as super waterproof.

The shoes feature a padded tongue, lightweight design, and versatility for various activities, with a 15% discount offered through the provided link.