On March 19, the website vgleaks.com posted screenshots of what it claims is the software development kit for the next-generation Microsoft gaming console, code-named Durango. The shots, which were reported by Edge Magazine as "entirely legitimate" revealed that the system will install games directly to its hard drive, and will not support play from its optical disc.
According to Forbes, disabling optical disc play will kill the market for used games and possibly require the new console to come with up to a terrabyte of hard drive space.
Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation about its products, but the significance of the system's alleged design was not lost on Reddit. User GideonJWells compared the tentative hard-drive install to rights-management strategies used by PC game publishers in the late '90s and early '00s, whereby the optical disc gradually became "just an install medium."
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