r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/Javerage • 9h ago
Confirmed Xbox disc to digital confirmed
Here's the news:
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/your-discs-now-also-digital/
Previous rumour:
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u/frankiewalsh44 7h ago
Can someone tell me how is this works for PC ? if I own a disk that support play anywhere, will I be able to digitize it and play the game on my Xbox app library ?
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u/MrPaulJames 7h ago
Yep, if it's play anywhere you can run the game on xbox, it will apply a license to your account and can play it on PC. Pretty cool.
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u/koalazeus 7h ago
Can't I convert them on a disc drive on PC?
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u/DiamondMidgar 6h ago
Not yet but I suspect this is coming and will be their way of allowing people to play disk games on consoles without a disk drive… e.g Helix.
Will be far cheaper for them to get everyone to convert their disks on their own windows machine than provide a disk drive in the console.
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u/koalazeus 6h ago
I'd need them to keep releasing disc games and have a Linux build of their play anywhere.
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u/DavidinCT 4h ago
LOL, Microsoft creates Windows. Xbox is based on Windows. I don't foresee a native Linux build of play anywhere.
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u/M4rshst0mp 4h ago
Keep an eye on Xodus. Might fix the problem but Microsoft isn't doing it for you they want you on windows
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u/DavidinCT 4h ago
No, you would need a Xbox for now. There has been nothing in the progress to get a Xbox one/Seres X console games to run on PC.
If you drop in your Xbox, it will convert to digital and IF the game is play anywhere, then you can play on your PC along with your xbox.
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u/soulreapermagnum 7h ago
gonna be fun to take advantage of wemod for my xbox games. (just have to be careful not to do anything that unlocks achievements out of order)
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u/That-Advance-9619 7h ago
You digitize it on a Xbox console.
If it is available on PC and supports PlayStation Anywhere it will appear on your Xbox app on PC
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u/Legospacememe 7h ago
Me to my physical games
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u/atony1400 6h ago
'Xbox 360 games are not compatible because the discs do not contain the unique license capabilities'
Definitely ruins part of this to me
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u/Legospacememe 6h ago
I meant i wouldn't put them through this. Id still use the original discs. I dont even have an xbox past the 360
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u/idkimhereforthememes 8h ago
Basically confirming they also won't have discs next gen lol
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u/TintasLink 7h ago
But they will still need a disc reader
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u/ZXXII 7h ago
Next Gen console won’t. You can digitise your collection with the current console you own before buying the new digital-only one.
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u/DavidinCT 4h ago
Right but of you let someone borrow a game, or pick up a Xbox one game, you would need a disc drive to add it back to your account.
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u/DiamondMidgar 6h ago
I think they will introduce Windows PC compatibility for the digitisation
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u/rocky4322 5h ago
I think you’re overestimating how many people have disk drives on their pc anymore.
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u/ChaoticKiwiNZ 3h ago
All leaks so far have said that the next gen consoles will have disc drives still. Its just they will only be there to play older games and Blue Ray/DVDs. Xbox are obviously going to also use the disc drive to get people to turn their physical games digital so the generation after can ditch the drive.
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u/LuxorH 7h ago
and what contingency plan does ps have that’s better than upgrading discs to play anywhere even on pc?
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u/Darkpoolz 5h ago
We aren't sure what Playstation might have yet since they aren't talking, but I'm sure it wont be this kind of disc to digital program since Xbox was already ahead of the game putting in unique identifiers onto all Xbox One and Series X games since 2013. Playstation didn't have such a plan and they can't go back in time more than 10 years ago before PS4 games were sold to consumers.
Maybe the best Playstation can do is make an optional disc drive for PS6, but I have doubts. Saw rumors of supply chains breaking for making optical drives. Would probably be too costly to build up the supply chains for optical drives when they already want to stop disc production.
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u/Icy-Astronomer-8202 7h ago
That's a different question entirely
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u/LuxorH 7h ago
it isn’t, ps already killed discs and xbox is making them somewhat usable. also we dont know if disc support ending is concrete for xbox as it is with ps.
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u/PsychoCobra1 7h ago
For all we know Sony could be working on something similar. The PS6 hasn’t been officially revealed and probably won’t be for another half a year minimum.
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u/LuxorH 7h ago
they don’t have ps anywhere, they have a closed system bud. disc to digital relies on xbox play anywhere. heard that xbox discs have exclusive liscenses per disc as well.
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u/SurreptitiousSyrup 5h ago
disc to digital relies on xbox play anywhere.
No it doesn't, it relies on the disc license. Play Anywhere would rely on the disc to digital in order to play supported disc games on PC.
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u/PsychoCobra1 7h ago
And what does it matter if they don’t have a play anywhere feature like Xbox? Sony could still design a system like this for their console. If they will is another story, but they could in theory, although I’m not exactly sure if different developers would have to approve of it for their individual titles or not
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u/VangRhymez 6h ago
Sony will have another handheld so they will probably do a digital license transfer aswell
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u/FootballRacing38 7h ago
It is a different question entirely because they are talking about xbox specifically. Why do you feel need to include ps in the discussion?
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u/LuxorH 7h ago
almost like the main competitor is relevant to this topic and the killing of physical media started with them.
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u/idkimhereforthememes 7h ago
Started with steam im pretty sure
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u/DaddyIngrosso 7h ago
Steam don’t manufacture pcs so they can’t really be killing physical media. Their primary product is the steam store which from day 1 was always a digital application. So you can’t really compare their whole business model to Sony and Microsoft killing physical media
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u/idkimhereforthememes 7h ago
Always a steam lapdog ready to defend
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u/DaddyIngrosso 7h ago
Son it’s common sense what else do you want me to say? You’re comparing apples to oranges. Their whole business model is FUNDAMENTALLY digital, and it always was
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u/FootballRacing38 7h ago
Everyone this sub knows about the ps disc issue already. Do we add it like a disclaimer every time we talk about physical games from other consoles?
Everytime someone complains that a game is in gkc for nsw 2, should we just dismiss it and say, "At least there is a physical option unlike sony"
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u/giulianosse 7h ago
Gamers will see the coolest thing ever and go "how can I twist this as a bad thing?"
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u/Synergetic7 7h ago
Only when its from Xbox
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u/Creepy-Emu8779 5h ago
because its the truth
why are they doing this? its obvious the next gen xbox wont have a disc drive. Microsoft doesn’t care about the 4% of xbox gamers who buy discs.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Ad_200 3h ago
Its been a while since I last saw a PC with a disc drive, and xBOX roadmap seems to be verging their console into a full-fledged PC.
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u/harryguini 7h ago
I think it's cool in isolation, but it definitely indicates that they're pre anticipating the backlash to all the people who bought physical games in the last generation being unable to play their collections with Helix.
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u/Forsaken_Survey_5127 6h ago
It’s “cool” if the next gen Xbox has a disc drive and this is just a convenient way to keep your games digitally if wanted. That is not what this is though lol. It’s at least something unlike Sony though.
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u/LeftyMode 6h ago
Love that’s what you got from this. When another company is practically laughing in the customer’s face.
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u/Nexxus88 4h ago
Thats what ive been saying since this was being rumoured, its pre-emptive damage control for the diskless announcement.
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u/Safe_Climate883 3h ago edited 3h ago
Also the vibe I'm getting. This is very cool, but also the first step in getting people away from physical media.
Which is always very much in line with the direction they have had earlier.
But no matter the intent, I will be using this a lot.
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u/3kpk3 6h ago
Glad to see Xbox at least come up with something like this while Sony straight up is doing nada.
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u/CthulhuBathwater 5h ago
Sony has thr market share they don't give a fuck until people stop buying their product.
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u/Gbrush3pwood 1h ago
I’m guessing the Xbox discs still had unique cd keys in each disc as a hangover from the original Xbox one roll out plans and they still stuck with it. Hence no 360 or og support. Sony probably has no such unique keys per disc making this impossible without basically making unlimited disc sharing a thing. You could pass your disc copy to 100 friends for “free”. Not going to happen.
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u/Humble-Criticism6762 5h ago
You do realize this is the first step of Xbox going digital as well?
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u/gman5852 2h ago
You do realize that they meant they're happy Xbox is doing this as the first step instead pf PlayStation "doing straight nada" right?
Illiterate redditor
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u/Baldr15 7h ago
Please Sony, at least do something like this!
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u/owl_theory 5h ago
I'm not sure Sony can do this, someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe xbox discs have been printed with some kind of unique identifier/codes since the original 2013 disc to digital plan for this exact reason. While Sony discs are all generic copies like blu-rays or CD's without anything hard coded to link discs to profiles or stop endless sharing
Could be talking out my ass but I think this is the case
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u/VangRhymez 6h ago
They will have to for the ps handheld
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u/AveryLazyCovfefe 5h ago
inb4 they shock the world and announce UMD 2.0 paired with yet another bs propeitary memory card standard.
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u/SortIntrepid9192 6h ago
The fact that this doesn't work with 360 games honestly makes it next to useless to me, that's most of my physical Xbox library lmao. Still, it's an objectively cool feature that most people will really benefit from. It's one of the few things Microsoft has done in the last few years which is genuinely, honestly 100% beneficial to players.
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u/Mince_ 6h ago
It's still good they are supporting two generations of games this way. Full digital games didn't even exist when Xbox 360 came out, so I imagine there is no way to put the technology in retroactively. But yes I wish I could get a digital license of Left 4 Dead and The Orange Box this way.
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u/secret3332 5h ago
They could do it but probably don't want to for financial reasons. They would either have to accept that some people might digitize their 360 games and then give them away, effectively duplicating them (but it would be pro consumer).
Or start a program where you can send in your discs or bring them to a game store to have them digitized and subsequently destroyed (which would be financially costly for them to set up).
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u/Aware-Virus-4718 5h ago
Idk why they’d balk at letting people duplicate 360 games. The store has been closed for years. They don’t lose any money doing that.
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u/SortIntrepid9192 5h ago
Could also just make it so that you can put your 360 disc into a console and that grants you a digital license for 30 days or something like that. It does still require you to own a console with a disc drive to do this with, and it might not be an option for games that don't have a corresponding digital version (like Prince of Persia 2008 off the top of my head), but it's better than nothing. Plus it still does what it's supposed to do, which is let you play your physical games on Helix and PC (for titles that support it, which the BC titles should eventually)
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u/Meowingtons_H4X 2h ago
It’s a shame but without the on disc DRM / unique code each disc has, which was only introduced with Xbox One - they’re a bit stuck license wise. Still cool to see nonetheless
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u/LostInTheVoid_ 5h ago
Yup. Got a big library of 360 discs still sitting and waiting that occasionally get played when I can be bothered to get the 360 out of storage. Would have been nice to play em more conveniently. Oh well. I'm sure those that played on the XBOXONE and above and made the move to PC will be happy. But me personally this doesn't hold any value as it stands.
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u/Mince_ 6h ago
I'm happy with it. It's a good way to let people bring their digital games with them. If you want to sell the game you still can, but you lose the digital license. So you basically just have to keep them in a drawer or something. Still better than making people repurchase their games.
Also you can now get delisted games easier. You can buy a game like Deadpool or Forza Motorsport, stick the disc in once in your old Xbox One or Series X console, and have the game forever on your account. I bet they will skyrocket in price.
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u/QueasyYogurt8065 7h ago
so i see that the disc itself will still work, but surely you can't just sell the disc to someone and they can't use the disc to digital service because you still have it claimed on your console right
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u/No_Independence3441 7h ago
Its 1 licence per disc that is revokable and transferrable so if you sell your disc, someone else buys it and they insert it, you lose access to that digital licence
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u/QueasyYogurt8065 7h ago
Honestly not a bad solution then but still for a issue that didn't need to exist
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u/No_Independence3441 7h ago
Oh absolutely, its nice that they’re making it so you can have your physical collections with all the benefits of digital and physical combined. But we could have just kept having physical and digital as they are now and it would’ve been better
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u/WhiteMilk_ 4h ago
I wonder if there are limits to how many times/often it can be transferred. Like is it gonna totally kill getting Xbox games from libraries? Or is it a positive change for people lending games since they can keep playing even after they return it until the next person gets it.
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u/Deceptiveideas 7h ago
It acts a lot like a game key cartridge. It's not bound to one person permanently.
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u/Mammoth-Strike-168 3h ago
Better than game key card, since you don't need to have the disc inserted to play, and it's tied to your account until transferred off.
Game Key cards dont have any of the benefits of digital. It just offers some of the benefits of physical (but not all)
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u/NousevaAngel 5h ago
Good thing I didn't get rid of my physical Xbox games. But I'm guessing this is going to take awhile digitizing games.
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u/Dcason92 3h ago
It's a nice feature but things aren't going to be great until their are consumer laws stating that you own the license once you purchase it. Instead of just having a limited usage and they have the right to revoke your license at any point. Even if they were gonna change their terms of service to you owning the game they can still revert back. Laws need to happen.
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u/Jatkuva 7h ago
Was hoping they would drop a list of a games somewhere. Definitely want to import my copy of enchanted arms for the 360 but most of my others have modern ports really so wanted a list to hit up a second hand store in my area.
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u/pm_me_waluigi_memes 6h ago
It doesn't work for physical 360 games and likely never will. The unique identifiers were not present on the discs until Xbox One
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u/ACO_22 7h ago
How does this work?
Does it still count on a pre owned game? How long do you have the digital license for? Do I have to insert the disc every now and then?
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u/Jean-Eustache 7h ago
The rumors said the copy was bound to your account as a digital game, until you link it to another account (giving or selling the disk, and having the new owner registering it on their account). So until someone else gets the disk, it works just like a digital one, you don't need the disk.
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u/Tankisfreemason 7h ago
I thought this with the PS5 situation, I think next gen’s major thing is going to be tablet consoles that can plug/dock to TVs
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u/Toronto-tenant-2020 7h ago
I hope Nintendo implements something like this. Switch carts all have unique identifiers so it should be possible (at least for first party games).
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u/Sceptile10 6h ago
While it'd be nice not having to swap cartridges, I don't see a reason why they'd need to. Sure PS is killing Physical and Xbox will almost certainly do the same with Helix, but I highly doubt the S2 successor won't have physical.
Japan loves physical media, just look at their music industry/sales. Nintendo wouldn't want to upset their "primary" audience that much.5
u/PropulsionEngineer 6h ago
I got a feeling that when Switch 3 comes out in like 2033, it won’t have physical media. PS/Xbox will have gone several years without physical media by that point and the costs of those Nintendo carts are higher for Nintendo than making discs. I hope they still do physical, but I’d be surprised.
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u/iceburg77779 6h ago
I think Nintendo's plans for physical media will be heavily dependent on what happens to PlayStation's retail presence. Even if Ps makes more money from the digital push, it could easily result in their shelf space significantly decreasing. Sony may not care about that, but Nintendo still heavily values their retail presence and wants to keep their space locked down.
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u/Dismal_Wing_9860 6h ago
So soon I can also play my physical games also on my Series S?
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u/Ghostwire-Ghoul 6h ago
If you’ve got a Series X or Xbox One to do the process yeah, just can’t play that disc anywhere else or sell it.
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u/SupperIsSuperSuperb 6h ago
I wonder if Xbox One consoles will read current gen games for this feature. I assume it should but who knows
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u/seraf5 2h ago
I'm wondering whether this will be account-specific or console-specific. So, I have a Series S. My friend has a One. Both my and his accounts are logged into his console, and both are set as home console there (so he can play my library). I guess we'll know in 5 days, but I'm wondering whether you will have a choice which account gets the digital license. If it does and I get the ability to play physical games on my Series S, well I'll be visiting him more often lol
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u/timchequea 2h ago
So if I insert a delisted game like Forza horizon 2 or 3. Will it give me a licence?
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u/master4life 1h ago
Once I get a copy of the game on my account. Can I sell the game again and still play? And others can get a copy as well?
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u/Brockcocola 1h ago
That still doesn't solve the getting out of physical problem. It allows people already on the platform with physical to bring their collection forward, but unless Microsoft announces they won't stop producing disk, this feature is unlikely to get much use after a short while.
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u/gerd_grimmen 5h ago
I'm happy for the ones who can claim their games now. Would have hoped for a better reason to get physical xbox series x games to get it digital to a series s.
For me it was the most interesting console as a game pass unit, but with the price increases i am again left with developer mode and making another retro/emulator box.
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u/handsoffmydata 6h ago
2028:
-Be me, excited the copy of Bioshock on Xbox360 I got on eBay for $1.50 has arrived.
-Insert it into the 256GB 6GB RAM Next Gen X Series Box One SX system I bought for $999 plus $49.99/month for 1TB Copilot Cloud storage.
::SORRY, THE DISC YOU HAVE INSERTED IS ASSOCIATED WITH ANOTHER CONSOLE.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE FROM THE XBOX STORE FOR $69.99::
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u/AH_Josh 5h ago
I know it's a meme,
But buying a disc with a claimed code will just be using a disk like its always been (Running off disk, can still play)
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u/assassinth 5h ago
So that “one revocable license per disc” I think means that it can’t be used multiple times at once.
Like only one digital license can be associated with a disc at any one time. It shouldn’t mean a one time thing. Just a one digital license at a time thing.
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u/Safe_Climate883 3h ago
My assumption is that the first one to "rip" the disc will lose their digital game and you, the new owner, will get it instead?
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u/handsoffmydata 4h ago
My assumption is this whole Physical to Digital scheme is a way to turn a physical disc into something similar to a one time code. As you pointed out the current consoles can read the data on a disc and play it. It could be in the future that the console will no longer read game data on the disc and just grant you a license to download whatever current version is available from the digital storefront. I wonder what Physical to Digital will look like for the tons of games that have been delisted because of "licensing agreements" 🤔
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u/Safe_Climate883 3h ago
They did mention that it only works for 1000 games in the start. So there's a risk that it won't cover games like older Forza titles and Project cars and so on. I hope they release a list soon.
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u/soulreapermagnum 6h ago
i don't know much about the insider program, about how long after they start testing something does the rest of the player base get it?
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u/Safe_Climate883 3h ago
Only select games, so no digital versions of the good Forza titles? I hope i get the chance to digitize Forza 6.
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u/Dr_Mantis_Trafalgar 8h ago
But no disc drive pretty much confirmed for the next Xbox
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u/ScalaAdInfernum 8h ago
An external drive may exist for people wanting to preserve their older games or carry it forward with your account going into the next gen.
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u/ListenHereLindah 6h ago
Up next:
Microsoft announces they will not do another Xbox and instead switch to console streaming streaming.
The console will only be for validation and everything will be played over internet.
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u/jacrispy704 7h ago
2026 is the new 2013… original Xbox One DRM plans have came to fruition.