Well that's the thing. The old authentication scheme would have you log in to your friend's Xbox One and then you have access to your entire game collection.

No need to lug anything to your friend's house. It all happens in the cloud.

You are assuming that there is a fast internet connection available at all times. If I put a disk into the console, I can play it immediately. If I start a download of a 2-layer DVD's content, 9.4 GB, then that is 10 hours to download it at a 2 Mbps connection. Even on a 25 Mbps connection, that is 50 minutes. These times aren't prohibitive if you have just bought a game and are downloading it overnight, but they are not sufficient to have it immediately ready.

Or, consider a LAN party. 5 people each bring their consoles, and 3 games per person. Using disks, you put whatever disk into whatever console, and start playing. Using download-only games, you need to wait until the correct console is available to use.

IIRC, the Xbox One has a similar download scheme as PS4, in which it will download while you play. So you'd be up and running before the whole thing is downloaded.

I'm focusing more on the pricing model that Steam has. Sure, physical media has its benefits, but I'd give them all up for the equivalent of Steam Sales on Xbox. To be fair, I never trade or resell my games anyway.

http://cdn.leviathyn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/steam_sa...

True enough. The sales on Steam are what make the DRM be bearable. That said, should the DRM become intrusive, or should Valve go out of business, I feel no moral requirement to pay for the game again in a different medium instead of pirating it.