Bandwidth and game size ended a real discussion on removing optical drive.



From ArsTechnica:

In the midst of Microsoft’s on-again, off-again positions regarding online requirements and used game restrictions for the Xbox One over the first half of 2013, the company was apparently also seriously considering simply doing away with the disc drive on the system. That’s according to Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer, who tells the UK’s Official Xbox Magazine that a "purely disc-less console” was under consideration at the company in mid-2013, even after Sony handily trounced Microsoft at that year’s E3 unveilings.

"Obviously, after the announcement and E3, there was some feedback about what people wanted to change," Spencer told the magazine. "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.”

  Microsoft considered disc-free Xbox One as late as mid-2013