Inside sources at Microsoft have spoken to Digital Foundry about why the Xbox One hardware is so large, and what the tangible benefits of the larger footprint are for the user. Our information suggests the Xbox One design is based on an ambitious brief, essentially impossible to test in anything resembling real-life conditions, and so the company played it safe, putting unit reliability first. A highly placed source says that the console has been designed with a ten-year lifecycle in mind and that it is designed to be switched on for that entire period. What’s more, during that time it needs to operate almost silently in order to earn its place in the living room. It’s a unique hardware challenge, and so the company opted for a large design where heat dissipation comes first. Microsoft’s engineers are also aware that the company’s reputation for quality hardware is still in the balance after the Red Ring of Death Xbox 360 build quality fiasco.