Microsoft: Use Xbox One vertically "at your own risk"

Microsoft's Albert Panello, senior director of product management and planning for Xbox, has warned consumers not to use their Xbox One in a vertical orientation as the machine is not designed to function when not horizontal.

The issue, says Panello, is with the slot-based disc drive. Whilst the 360's tray meant that it was able to operate on either plane, a slot means that using the One vertically is done "at your own risk."

"We don't support vertical orientation; do it at your own risk," Panello told Gamespot. "It wouldn't be a cooling problem, we just didn't design the drive for vertical. Because it's a slot loading drive, we just didn't design it for both."

Other machines, such as the PS3 and PS4, have successfully utilised a slot drive without the need to prohibit vertical orientation, but Panello doesn't see it being a problem.

"We found, interestingly enough," he added, "that 80 percent of people, believe it or not, have their Xbox [360] horizontally."