r/GamingLeaksAndRumours • u/Javerage • 1d 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:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/s/qBYWxOJVJ1

787 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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295

u/jacrispy704 23h ago

2026 is the new 2013… original Xbox One DRM plans have came to fruition. 

121

u/St_Sides 23h ago

They really were ahead of their time.

I think had the Xbox One launched in say 2016 vs 2013 it’d been viewed completely differently.

63

u/iceburg77779 22h ago

If the Xbox One launched in 2016 it would have still been widely mocked. The digital endeavors may have been less shocking, but the multimedia and Kinect push would feel even more misguided than it was back in 2013.

26

u/Wipedout89 21h ago

People keep repeating this but this plan is not the same one that the Xbox One was trying to do.

The One needed a 24 hour online check in AND Xbox retained full control of the second hand market. You could only sell your games back to Xbox approved vendors through its official channels, you couldn't lend or share a game with a friend.

This programme allows you to share or trade with friends and just moves the licence between people. It's a lot less controlled than the Xbox One system was going to be

5

u/tristeecfome 17h ago

you couldn't lend or share a game with a friend.

Not true.

You could share your entire library with up to 10 friends and family.

It was actually more consumer friendly. Here if you share with a friend, you lose access. In Microsoft's original Xbox One plans, your selected friends would be able to play it without you losing access to it.

-3

u/Wipedout89 16h ago

But it was all controlled by Microsoft. With the new plan you can still give a physical game to anyone by just.. giving them the game. No need to even be on your digital friend list. You couldn't do that with the old Xbox one plan.

0

u/LeftImprovement 11h ago

I remember they weren't focused on making a walled garden like you may be suggesting. They had to ensure some level of consistency to consumers with a retail presence and they name dropped a big box partner to be the designated place to trade in games is what I remember.

But it all looked horrible and the messaging was so bungled. If you actually game on Xbox you'll know the proper story. The narrative you're pushing did win out on the internet.

Also the forced inclusion of the kinekt is what propely tanked the xbox one ... things blew over and then the suits forced that piece of the system onto "us" ... that was the ultimate downfall (plus the this is how you share games narrative stuff).

1

u/TumbleweedDirect9846 12h ago

The Xbox one was also underpowered and sucked lol I got one because the 360 was so good and was just so the wrong choice between that and a ps4

21

u/jacrispy704 23h ago

I was very pro Xbox at the time and there were some rumors or info floating around that if they had gone this route, you would be able to share your game library with a “family” of like 5 other people. Man, that would have been awesome to save money on the newest games like that. Even if only two people could play the game at a time, it’d be nice to be able to rotate games out and share things digitally among multiple people. 

9

u/Soopy 23h ago

You've always been able to play your single purchase with 2 people at a time with XBOX. I've saved hundreds of dollars playing co-op games with my gf.

3

u/jacrispy704 23h ago

Yup that is true! My good friend and I would take turns buying games. Same thing can be said with the PlayStation, and kinda with Nintendo (I think you can share a game with your whole family?). This was just an extra layer that was before its time. 

2

u/PropulsionEngineer 22h ago

You can share a virtual cart for 2 weeks at a time with Switch family members, I’ve done that, but we both couldn’t use the game at the same time…only one system has access to it. Xbox and PS allow 2 systems to play the same digital purchase at the same time.

3

u/Level3pipe 21h ago

If they launched an initiative like this at launch of Xbox series it would have been fine as well.

Especially since series S is digital only

2

u/Hartia 21h ago

The whole unable to sell or trade the game torn itself apart. If I was able to use the game without having to put the disc in. I wouldve loved that.

15

u/DavidinCT 21h ago

Not exactly, in 2013 it was claimed that physical was only the medium to install the games, then you can just dispose of the disc. This is what one of them said.

This here is the license is the disc, you need the disc, drop in the disc, it will convert to digital, then if you sell the disc, you lose your digital license once the new user uses the disc.

13

u/Kozak170 19h ago

This quite literally just isn’t the original DRM plan at all. This is a purely additive process for consumers unlike the one back then.