Xbox One nearly came without a disc drive

Microsoft seriously considered building the Xbox One without a disc drive following E3 2013.

Apparently there was a discussion about whether the Xbox One needed to play discs at all, with digital media being the main focus.

"After the announcement and E3, there was some feedback about what people wanted to change," Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told OXM.

"There was a real discussion about whether we should have an optical disc drive in Xbox One or if we could get away with a purely disc-less console, but when you start looking at bandwidth and game size, it does create issues.

"We decided - which I think was the right decision - to go with the Blu-ray drive and give the people an easy way to install a lot of content."

The decision to include a Blu-ray drive was probably a good one considering the criticism Microsoft got for the always-online and DRM requirements that the Xbox One was originally revealed with.