https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xwnz9z/disc-free-gaming-is-an-archival-nightmare

Carly Kocurek is the author of Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) and Brenda Laurel: Pioneering Games for Girls (Bloomsbury, 2017).

Microsoft's new Xbox One S launching May 7 boasts "disc-free gaming," a feature that has already raised issues about ownership and access for players. However, the upcoming xCloud game streaming service indicates Microsoft may be moving towards streaming as a dominant distribution model. If the goal is to migrate away from downloads entirely, the new Xbox disc-less console is the harbinger of what could be a pretty grim trajectory for video game history.