Phil Spencer Explains The Lack Of Optical Audio Port On Xbox Series X

Something else that Phil Spencer discussed during his lengthy (and fantastic) hour-long interview with IGN was the lack of an optical audio port on the Xbox Series X. We'd already heard it would be missing on the new system, but until now, we hadn't received a specific reason as to why:

“The marginal cost of everything is important. So if you look at a part on a console that’s maybe one, or two dollars and you say, ‘okay, how big of a deal is that inside of a console?’ That’s a few hundred dollars. But then you say, ‘okay, we’re going to plan to sell, you know, 100 million of these consoles.’ So you take two bucks over 100 million, now you’re $200 million over the life of the program.”

Spencer went on to reveal that Microsoft knows how many people are using the optical audio port on Xbox One, appearing to suggest it's a relatively small number. He also admitted he knew the decision might leave some people disappointed, but the company "has a plan for the future".

"We had a conversation with the headset manufacturers prior to all of this. So when we stood up and said your accessories are going to work, we weren’t kind of walking a tightrope there. We’d already had the conversations.”

Echoing this, manufacturer Astro Gaming recently announced that all of its current products (such as headsets) designed for Xbox One would work on Xbox Series X despite the lack of optical audio port, with a report suggesting Astro and Microsoft were "ironing out the details."

How do you feel about the lack of optical audio port on Xbox Series X? Let us know in the comments.