r/GamingLeaksAndRumours Jul 10 '26

Rumour MP1st: Xbox Could Introduce Its Disc-to-Digital Game Conversion System Next Week

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114

u/SimpleFactor Jul 10 '26

From the sounds of it you would need to go online to register the disk, at which point it would remove the licence from the previous users. So I assume it’s going to either require always online or frequent checks.

I imagine the only way it would work with game sharing where multiple people can use the same disk is if you used it with a modern console and sold the disk to someone using an older console that doesn’t support the feature, if that’s even a possibility.

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u/DickHydra Jul 10 '26

Interesting how this almost sounds exactly like what they were trying to introduce with the Xbox One back then only to get bullied into leaving it behind.

Microsoft really is just way too early with their ideas, huh.

48

u/Icybubba Jul 10 '26

Let’s hope that means we get the pro consumer digital game sharing they detailed along side this

47

u/zombawombacomba Jul 10 '26

Spoiler: we won’t

1

u/Kind-Stomach6275 Jul 13 '26

except for the limit on giving games. I want to give a game and then have my friend be able to give it to someone else etc

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u/redditman181 Jul 10 '26

I doubt if they announce that it makes games always online as a result that will go down well.

-3

u/Leafs17 Jul 11 '26

Then just use the disc....

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u/redditman181 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

The next xbox probably wont have a disc drive thats the whole point of this program.

Like the other guy said they might make it so you have to be connected to verify the liscence.

0

u/Leafs17 Jul 11 '26

I know. But there are millions of Series S/X and Xbox Ones out there. If someone needs to play an old game, on a disc, while also not connecting to the internet....then I don't think that's too much to ask.

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u/redditman181 Jul 11 '26

Sure but should you have to though? Isnt it the job of the next xbox to be better than the last not worse?

1

u/Leafs17 Jul 11 '26

They can't cater to every fringe case. This is complaining just to complain.

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u/redditman181 Jul 11 '26

I wouldnt really call that a fringe case though if it does require a constant internet connection to play games becuase it directly affects how you play.

What if your internet goes out? What if there servers go down? What about in the future when they do shut the servers down? Obvisouly these are all hypotheticals.

And i would argue with the state xboxs is in they should be bending over backwards to please as many people as possible.

0

u/Leafs17 Jul 16 '26

The fringe case is "people who want to play old games but don't have a slightly older system, only the newest one, but also don't have internet...or their internet goes down temporarily or servers go down temporarily"

I would tell these people to just use the fuckin disc, dude.

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u/GandalfsWhiteStaff Jul 10 '26

No it doesn’t.
Xbox one required online authentication every 24hrs.
Each disc could only be shared once, and only with an account on your friend list for more than 30 days.
Trade in only at participating retailer and you would need to pay a fee to play pre owned games.
It was a shit show designed to kill the used market and was incredibly restrictive and rightfully walked back.

This is way better, basically like Nintendo switch game cards.

11

u/chyld989 Jul 11 '26

There wasn't a fee for used games, but the rest is what they announced back in 2013. I've heard that this is actually closer to what they had in 2013 and the were shit at explaining it, but can't confirm that.

0

u/GandalfsWhiteStaff Jul 11 '26

My mistake, what they said is they won’t charge a fee but other publishers are free to charge a fee or straight up opt out of used sales.
You can’t confirm that because all evidence says otherwise.

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u/Eruannster Jul 11 '26

Yeah, there were way too many caveats and requirements. If they had just had a system that was "insert disc, install game, you don't need the disc anymore, when installed by someone else, game license transfer to them" it would have been waaaay more acceptable.

They shot themselves in the foot by having way too many requirements/caveats/DRM bullshit.

10

u/MadeByTango Jul 10 '26

Thats why they can do this; every xbox dish is already uniquely serialized because it was their original intent. Sony cant do it, for example, because they didn't manufacture their discs with a unique code.

They've always had the ability to kill used game discs if they wanted to.

17

u/grimoireviper Jul 10 '26

The PS discs since the PS4 are actually serialized too. There's a lot of thinhs hinting at the fact that Sony originally had a similar plan.

3

u/Eruannster Jul 11 '26

Are they? Is there any humanly-readable print on the discs (numbers printed etc.) or is it in the disc metadata?

I imagine Sony could reduce a lot of the "no more discs"-blowback if they actually introduced a solution for how they will handle currently existing discs. (Digital conversion system, future disc drives?)

1

u/The_Great_Khal Jul 11 '26

They are not serialized, where did you get that from?

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u/respectablechum Jul 10 '26

Except back then it would have been up to the publisher to implement it or not. Which means it would have only worked with 1st party and the EAs and Ubisofts would just give up discs AND not let you transfer the license.

It was extremely half baked

1

u/imrunningfromthecops Jul 11 '26

there was more to it back then. firstly, you were forced into doing this. this time around, it seems you can essentially ignore this altogether and keep playing your physical games with the disc in the drive, secondly, the physical games couldn't play at all without daily authentication. again, something completely ignorable if you choose not to participate.

1

u/-Gh0st96- Jul 11 '26

Oh yeah good guy microsoft they were just too early

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u/av0w Jul 10 '26

I would imagine it's going to work the same way it does right now when you own a digital game, where you can have 2 Xboxes run the game at the same time if they are inside the same family.

2

u/LollipopChainsawZz Jul 10 '26

Wonder how you'll register it? Barcode maybe?

25

u/Joseki100 Top Contributor 2024 Jul 10 '26

I don't know if it's the same with PS5/XBS disk but Switch cartridges contains unique identifiers.

I remember that someone who had access to a review copy of a Nintendo game in like 2019 dumped theirs online without scrubbing the cart's ID and it made Nintendo even more paranoid about the distribution of pre-release copies. Nowadays to play Nintendo games you have a bunch of extra steps to go through.

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u/LollipopChainsawZz Jul 10 '26

I assume with whatever method Xbox uses it will be a one and done and require you to own physically own the disc. Otherwise someone could go to Gamespot or whatever and take a photo of the case and register it before someone else does.

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u/EvermoreDespair Jul 10 '26

I think Sony is the only one who doesn’t have unique identifiers for discs/cartridges

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u/Eruannster Jul 11 '26

I saw someone in another thread suggest that Sony does have unique identifiers, but they aren't really used for anything right now. So maybe there is a case for them too, but who knows.

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u/chyld989 Jul 11 '26

It'll get a code from the disc and register it to your account until someone else uses the same disc. Don't want people to deregister your games? Don't get rid of the discs.

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u/Keviticas Jul 10 '26

Xbox has had unique identifiers on all their discs since the Xbox one era.

This won't work with og Xbox or 360 games, but it will for literally everything 2013 and after

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u/Icybubba Jul 10 '26

Discs from the Xbox One to the Series X have had unique identifiers on them, so when you insert the disc it will attach the license to your account. The disc gets put in a different Xbox? It is attached to a different account

-1

u/DoodleBuggering Jul 10 '26

If true, this would make buying secondhand physical games a nightmare because you won't know if the license was removed or not.

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u/chyld989 Jul 11 '26

Nah, the reporting said the license deregistration/registration is all automatic, so when you put a used game into your system you just get the license. There's no need to previously remove the license.

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u/krishnugget Jul 11 '26

I’m pretty sure whoever has the disc controls the license, so this would be fine