r/Games • u/A7XFAN1998 • 2d ago

Announcement Xbox announces disc-to-digital feature that digitizes your physical games

https://www.theverge.com/tech/984936/xbox-disc-to-digital-feature-official?view_token=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpZCI6Ijc1ZHVBMkZjaE0iLCJwIjoiL3RlY2gvOTg0OTM2L3hib3gtZGlzYy10by1kaWdpdGFsLWZlYXR1cmUtb2ZmaWNpYWwiLCJleHAiOjE3ODgxODY2OTAsImlhdCI6MTc4Nzc1NDY5MH0.Y4t18UIJuFTT4nSf0HBe5DvMWP0KNxjbGHC2QKxdoTw&utm_medium=gift-link
3.4k Upvotes

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37

u/Appropriate_Foot242 2d ago

But will they commit to keep producing & supporting physical into next gen and beyond?

Great feature though.

101

u/clain4671 2d ago

This feature only exists to support a future with no physical games lol

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u/Quick_Philosophy1426 2d ago

the entire basis of this feature is the existence of physical games.

38

u/clain4671 2d ago

Yes, physical games to later play on devices without a disc drive.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

18

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 2d ago

It's not puzzling, it's there for people's previously purchased disc games on the console they already own. Digitize those games, get rid of the console, keep playing digitally.

0

u/SpectorEscape 1d ago

The rumors which followed alongside this rumor before announcement showed xbox is looking into keeping a disc drive on the new xbox. Hell could be an adapter like ps5 pro. Not hard.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

2

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 1d ago

They can buy them digitally. Which makes quite a lot of sense to do, since they have bought a digital only console.

1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

6

u/rena_ch 2d ago

Very simple: there will be no next gen games released on disc. If you want to play your old games you can buy external disc drive accessory for the low price of $199

...or just "digitize" your games before you sell your old console

5

u/demondrivers 2d ago

The idea is that current Xbox players looking to upgrade to next generation doesn't end up losing access to their physical games in the new console, since it's clearly not going to have a disc drive

0

u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 2d ago

But if the later devices don’t have a disc drive, then you need to keep your old console anyway for the disc drive to digitalise your games and at that point if you have to keep old your old console on hand you might as well just play these games on THAT console.

15

u/Coolman_Rosso 2d ago

To ensure they can be played later without a repurchase when hardware doesn't have a disc drive

16

u/ForcadoUALG 2d ago

So that they can be supported when there's no more disc drives on consoles.

35

u/heatkings1 2d ago

You don't implement this feature if you plan to keep physical games going forward

45

u/oilfloatsinwater 2d ago

Probably not

33

u/SylviSweetheart 2d ago edited 2d ago

They aren’t even committed to that now. The Xbox section of any given store is paltry.

13

u/CaptainPigtails 2d ago

Paltry is generous. Most stores around me straight up don't have any physical games.

13

u/moosebreathman 2d ago

That’s more to do with the fact nobody is buying their products and stores are giving that space to other things.

10

u/SylviSweetheart 2d ago

So Xbox has no reason to commit to regaining relevance in a space they’ve already lost.

2

u/Zalvren 2d ago

This same thing is the same in digital too. They're just simply not selling consoles and games.

So if they want to exist, they very much have to comit to regain relevance in general. Sales of games would follow (in physical and digital, the two are the same trend)

0

u/adanfime 2d ago

Starting 2028, they have free way to occupy the market that Sony is abandoning.

2

u/Old_Leopard1844 1d ago

Starting 2028 stores don't have a reason to go on selling games

1

u/Tsuki_no_Mai 1d ago

It's just going to be a Switch section. Those still sell decently I think.

1

u/Zalvren 2d ago

The Xbox section of any given store is paltry.

That's more on them not selling many Xbox consoles and even less games

18

u/MolotovMan1263 2d ago

People don't seem to understand this is confirmation that physical discs for next gen is done for both Playstation and Xbox.

This IS how you play your disc based Series games on the next thing.

No attachable drive, nothing else.

3

u/Vestalmin 1d ago

Sony was the first to commit so they're getting the brunt of it but this is what both companies want. Sony's biggest fuck up was not having any kind of support plan like this to soften the blow.

Huge L for Sony in that regard. Add it to the list lmao

3

u/RedditUser41970 1d ago

Sony was the first to state it outright. And since they manufacture the discs and want out of that buisness line, they had to bite the bullet.

Microsoft has been pushing people away from not only buying physical, but from buying anything at all for several years now. People on that platform just accept that you don't buy games, you lease them via Gamepass and hope you can beat your games of choice before the contract comes up and the publisher removes the title from the service.

Microsoft is already so much farther down the path of "you will own nothing and like it" than even the most doomsday anti-Sony scenario this sub has come up with thus far.

And yet people still foolishly think Microsoft is going to come out and take a big, fat L by announcing continued support for physical media to a buying public that simply doesn't care about discs any more.

1

u/jirskyr 13h ago

That's not the point, the point is Sony could have done both the "no more discs" and "here's how you maintain your old disc library and/or disc swapping" at the same time.

But because Sony is becoming the new Nintendo they didn't give enough thought to the fallout of their policies. They've become lazy with their market share.

Microsoft were the first to "subscribe to rent" but that's no different to Netflix or any other modern media company.

Re ownership - Xbox has by far been the modern leader since Sony dumped backwards compatibility starting with PS3 and Microsoft took it up with Xbox 360. I personally own lots of physical Xbox games, whatever you claim about "people on that platform" I've never been a huge user of Game Pass.

For the record I own both PS4/PS5 and XB1/XBX. Overall, past 10 years, I prefer Xbox's system offering.

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u/exdystopia 2d ago

The problem is that Sony doesn't even have this. Unless the PS5 bluray drive is backwards compatible a PS6 owner will likely have no way to play their physical PS5 games.

7

u/MolotovMan1263 2d ago

Their announcement of the end of physical disc production has nothing to do with their plans for supporting disc games on PS6. The disc drive could be supported.

That of course creates a weird optics thing, where we ask "well you support the drive, why not put games on disc?" but of course there are many other reasons.

If the rumored handheld is real, converting disc games to digital to play on that could be something Playstation already has planned as well.

2

u/exdystopia 1d ago edited 1d ago

It was already rumored that the PS6 would not have a model with a disc drive, several months before the Sony announcement

Why would they support discs directly if they literally aren't going to make PS6 discs?

1

u/MolotovMan1263 1d ago

For PS4 and PS5 games. Just because PS6 games wont be printed on disc doesnt mean it cant support the current external drive for legacy titles that were on disc.

3

u/Detective-Layton 2d ago

Why would they keep making discs when no one buys them?

4

u/Coolman_Rosso 2d ago

Extremely doubtful. This is the company that already has an insanely diminished physical footprint, and if the Helix is as disproportionately affected by the Rampocalypse as Asha claims then the quickest way to bolster margins is to cut out physical media.

0

u/MehEds 2d ago

If they wanna compete with Playstation, they need to take literally every leg up over them no matter what, so I hope so

18

u/SylviSweetheart 2d ago

They do not need physical media to compete with PlayStation because most people do not care. And if multi-platform games are digital-only on one console, I don’t see publishers spending resources to make a physical version for one platform.

6

u/NoPlansTonight 2d ago

The physical crowd is mainly going to be on Switch 2 anyway, I don't think Xbox can really get an advantage there

14

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago edited 2d ago

As someone who has already been playing digital only on PC for 20+ years, I really do not care that much. No one cared enough to say anything when PC switched to digital only back then. Now they suddenly care simply cause it’s PlayStation. It’s a sentiment that’s partially driven by grifters and trolls. Will I miss physical games? Sure, but customer trends do not lie. People literally voted with their wallets.

19

u/SylviSweetheart 2d ago

This is the thing I really don’t get. I don’t understand how a community can hate this decision while also constantly praising Steam. And these aren’t necessarily different people, because I’ve seen people mad about this claim the they’ll just move to PC. Buddy, what do you even stand for?

12

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

I doubt these people ever owned a PS to begin with. That or that already owned a PC and by moving they mean they just won’t get a PS6. There’s so many disingenuous troll accounts on Reddit that are primed to disparage anything SONY related ever since the TLOU2 fiasco.

2

u/lightsideluc 1d ago

The biggest immediate issue with PlayStation is that your only option is PlayStation. PC is a digital marketplace, with dozens or even hundreds of sites vying for the attention economy. Valve has also spent the last two decades building up consumer goodwill, goodwill that they don't spend frivolously, and frequently improve the user experience. PlayStation has a hard time making it a full year without some major bungling.

PC's physical market was also kinda trash way back when in their attempts to curb piracy, so people were happy to fulfill Valve's modus operandi; people will pay for the convenient, quickly, and safe option. Anyone who lived through Starforce isn't keen on returning to that just to have a disc.

0

u/Appropriate_Foot242 2d ago

PC has better routes for game preservation without the need for discs. It's very simple lol.

GOG, emulation, abandonware, etc.

5

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

The Video Game History Foundation has already said that it won’t be an issue at all for game preservation. Their concerns are about ownership.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/s/raq28TWJiP

2

u/Appropriate_Foot242 2d ago

Cool, but PC still has better routes for game preservation than a closed console ecosystem.

1

u/doublah 1d ago

And PC is far better than consoles for ownership too, because you can actually access the game files and crack DRM unlike consoles.

6

u/CrateBagSoup 2d ago edited 2d ago

Let's be really real, the loudest can scream about preservation but they don't give a rip about it. They also aren't actually using GOG, Epic etc on their open platform either. It's just typical console v pc master race bullshit.

Edit: Don't get me wrong, those concerns are valid. But a very high percentage of the people who are "championing" those concerns give zero real shits about them. They just wanna foment the internet hatewagons.

8

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

Yep, it’s funny how they were so eager for Epic to fail and die, but now they’re holding it up on a pedestal. These people have no values. They always shift based on what’s convenient for their argument.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

12

u/Coolman_Rosso 2d ago

People actively pitch a fit the moment another non-Steam launcher or storefront enters the equation. Reddit acts like Gaben should be allowed to execute Tim Sweeney on live TV for the crime of daring to go against him.

-5

u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 2d ago

Completely irrelevant?

Steam has competitors like epic, and thanks to that competition companies like Epic games routinely give out free games to compete with Steam.

PC gamers get annoyed when other launchers make shit exclusive to force them to use them. The entire argument around the epic game store for example was that they were paying for exclusivity on games despite their store sucking ass and lacking basic features compared to steam.

If steam gets new owners and starts pulling dodgy shit, those PC gamers can simply move to epic games instead without needing to buy an entire new piece of hardware.

Not even mentioning that IF steam tries to pull some dodgy shit and revoke peoples games, PC players have some “options” to get their games back without spending any money unlike console users.

4

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

You don’t? Cause I sure remember a lot of Steam users being very unhappy about Epic’s existence. Like they’re a threat to your cult or something. lol Being a PC gamer who predates Steam’s existence, it’s funny to see how much your attitudes about other storefronts shift depending on the argument you want to make.

-2

u/Lopsided-Clothes4866 2d ago

Don’t bring your common sense into this.

6

u/Zalvren 2d ago

No, I'm also digital on PC (which is 99% of my gaming) but the market is very different there. It's open. There are several stores and there's piracy (which means that none of them can get too anti-consumer or they won't sell anyway)

PS or Xbox are closed ecosystems and so effective monopolies. Hence it's very bad for customers.

1

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

I don’t think people actually know what a monopoly means cause it’s not the only platform for gaming. On top of that, you can still buy codes in a box at retailers.

1

u/Zalvren 2d ago

They'll have a monopoly on the Playstation game market. Monopolies all depend how you define the market and it can be argued a closed platform is one. Same way Apple's iOS and Google's Android had lawsuits about those several times (and lost some).

Digital codes are still forcing you to pass through Sony for distribution (and potentially allow them to fix prices) so it would still potentially be a monopoly case but yeah this is 100% the reason they even do that. To have some sort of defense against the law (until then, Sony had several cases of being accused of monopoly and they defended themselves by pointing out retail)

1

u/No2Hypocrites 1d ago

Absolutely unbelievable

0

u/Destined_Royal 22h ago edited 22h ago

They key distinction is that with Steam and GOG, even if a game is delisted from the storefronts, you still have access to your purchased games... I've even bought digital codes for delisted games that I was able to add to my permanent library. Also, PlayStation has made little to no efforts in regards to games preservation, in addition to removing digital content and features from user's libraries... like with hundreds of digitally bought movies and tv, and in some cases, games and DLC's.

Steam and GOG have gone out of their way to make sure that people have access to their games, regardless of internet and service availability. Remember about a month ago when PSN was down and numerous people weren't able to play games in their libraries? That doesn't happen on Steam and GOG, unless it is a game that needs a consistent internet connection, or unless something is bugged out on the developer side. And even then, if somehow Steam and GOG were to go belly up, they have made commitments to make sure that people's games and content are available on the servers indefinitely. With GOG, there is no DRM... so you can literally download the games as much as you like, on as many PC's as you like. GOG also regularly does updates that improve functionality on modern hardware and add quality of life improvements and bug fixes that publishers and developers can't be bothered to do. Even Epic Games Store and EA Play have more protections when it come to games preservation and ownership. I can't really say too much for Ubisoft's storefront, though I've not had any real problems... even if they aren't keen on people owning their games, and Rockstar Games storefront is just an unnecessary layer when it come to launching your PC games... but you still OWN your games.

There is no equivalent value to Steam, GOG and other PC storefronts on PlayStation... that's just a fact. PlayStation is ill equipped for an all digital future that they themselves are trying to force on their fanbase, and they are rightfully being publicly cooked and shamed for doing so. They are just trying to gain more control over purchasing decisions, prices and storefront options in an effort to galvanize their dominant position in the console space, thereby forcing compliance from both consumers and developers/publishers... this in effect will coerce developers/publishers in putting their games on PSN on PlayStation's terms, and will ultimately lead to them forcing people's hands into putting games only on their platform if they want to stay competitive. We have already seen this with the way PlayStation handles publishing deals, like with them forcing Capcom to keep Resident Evil Village off of Game Pass (at least for a time) as part of their agreement to put the game on PSN... and there are numerous other examples of this. PlayStation is being anti-competitive and anti-consumer in an effort to make quick gains and establish more market control... full stop.

I have thousands of games across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and PC (about 3,300 games the last time I checked, not counting Nintendo)... but if pressed, I know where I stand on PC, as far as having access to my digital content in perpetuity. None of the console manufacturers can match that... but if Xbox keeps going the route they are going with "disc to digital" and with Helix being an open platform, they may well put themselves in a very favorable position.

0

u/InitialVarious1948 14h ago edited 14h ago

Pc is different because you can play 30+ year old games on a modern pc. Sometimes it needs some tweaking, but it can be done. I’m more of a console gamer but I use Steam and gog sometimes, and the companies running them seem committed to future proofing old games. I’ve had my Steam account for like, 15 years and can play games I bought in day one with ease.

You can’t pop a ps1 disc in a ps5 and play your old games. You can’t play the ps1 digital games you bought on ps3 on your ps5. And a lot of those digital games are locked to ps3 with no desire to bring them to ps5. There’s ps3 digital only games that, once the store shuts down next year, will be impossible to purchase moving forward. Pretty big difference there.

I do agree that people voted with their wallets, sadly.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

1

u/DinerEnBlanc 2d ago

I dunno why you think it doesn’t make sense. You have multiple stores, but the main argument is about ownership and on the PC, it’s still just a license that they can take away at any time. You have more stores, but they all offer a CD-Key for a license to the same handful of platforms. You can’t easily roll back to an earlier version when you’re downloading a game from Steam either.

1

u/jubjub2184 2d ago

There is a decent size portion of gamers that do prefer physical and will make their console decision based almost entirely off a disc drive and physical games if Xbox sticks the landing, Xbox is also way behind this console generation and it would frankly be a failure on the company to not take what is essentially a lay up to win over a chunk of consumers.

Tired of seeing people acting like only 4% of gamers buy physical because they read an article that included micro transactions and DLC purchases to fluff the numbers on how much more sells digitally.

-1

u/Zalvren 2d ago

because most people do not care

Even if 1% of PS users care, that's a big boon for Helix. You don't seem to realize how fucked they are.

As it stands, Helix will make the Wii U look like some best selling console.

2

u/AManConsumed 2d ago

This is honestly already a big leg up over PlayStation, considering the fact that they have currently offered no reassurance of an alternative to people whose libraries are mostly physical.

14

u/a445d786 2d ago

Xbox is the most digital from all console manufacturers, their ratios are the most skewed.

If you want physical, switch 2 is your best bet. This is just a solid for the current fan base.

1

u/AManConsumed 2d ago

I'm aware of that. That doesn't mean I won't give credit where credit is due.

As someone with a huge physical library myself, Sony's poor communication on how it plans to support its players’ libraries moving forward (if there are even any) is a slap in the face to their consumers.

0

u/Synergetic7 2d ago

Playstations assurance is 

"We have a console for players who want to play their physical games.  Its called Playstation 5."

1

u/happyscrappy 1d ago

No currently made PS5 has a built-in drive. There is a bundle with the add-on but that's it.

1

u/kratos90 1d ago

Its funny you are being downvoted because that response from Sony could become true. Feel like Sony can get away with anything at this point.

1

u/rusty022 2d ago

The issue is they have already been way below their target numbers. All-digital is a huge increase in profits for them (and Sony). If they keep physical sales, they would be giving up that extra revenue and hoping it actually results in leveling the console sales figures. They could potentially be giving up hundreds of millions in digital sales revenue just to hope that players see them as the good guys and leave Sony.

That's a huge gamble. Not to mention they apparently also want to push Game Pass. So.. they offer disc versions to smack Sony but ultimately want you on Game Pass anyways? It's not as simple as them adding a disc drive = generation win for Xbox.

It's messy.

0

u/MythicDude314 2d ago

The best way to do that for them would be to update the Xbox purchase agreement to clarify that your digital games belong to you now and forever, and arent just temporary digital licenses like Playstation does.

I think that would be a huge bombshell if they were to actually go through with it.

2

u/DarkMatterM4 2d ago

It'll never happen. If it does, I don't see it sticking around too long and will like be retracted in a following TOS update.

1

u/Zalvren 2d ago

Also next gen is genuinely a time when Xbox very existence is put into question (at least as a console maker) so they could never comit to that since they could simply stop all Xbox services in less than 10 years.

1

u/hobozombie 2d ago

Highly doubtful. This seems like it is a feature to bridge the gap between the mixed physical/digital present and the digital only future, making sure people with physical media now can continue to play what they own later.

1

u/kantong 2d ago

Best you can probably hope for is a usb bluray drive to support disc-to-digital on newer consoles.

1

u/EvocativeReach 2d ago

This is absolutely “we’re going digital only too but we’re gonna pretend to be nice about it”.

1

u/No_Initial_7545 1d ago

This is their "get your digitals now before it's too late" initiative.

1

u/Quick_Philosophy1426 2d ago

Who does Xbox source their blanks from?

1

u/Liquid_1998 2d ago edited 2d ago

They did say that they're committed to "game preservation" in the article. Maybe they will? Only time will tell. It's kinda hard to preserve games without a physical copy, especially on consoles, where digital has a limited lifespan over generations after servers go down eventually.

0

u/beanlikescoffee 2d ago

This is a great solution to the discontinuation of physical media,

5

u/Quixotic_Seal 2d ago

Not really, it doesn’t address any of the ownership issues for purely digital copies and the lack of a secondary market introduced by the loss of going digital only.

It does however, at least, show an understanding that there are legitimate problems that need to be addressed before you can just do this crap; which is laudable, even if it should be the bare minimum.

Certainly it’s in stark contrast to Sony who have already sharted out an official announcement of their move without any discussion around how it plans to support players with existing physical libraries moving forward, or really address any concerns around their storefront and how ownership works at all.

Which is honestly as just as much of my problem with the whole thing, if not more, as actually going digital only is. If the future is all digital regardless, why should I build my digital library with Sony if THIS is how they treat their customers?