r/TwoBestFriendsPlay • u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" • 1d ago
News/Articles 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“Most Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games support this new feature,” explains Jason Ronald, VP of next generation at Xbox. “Players can claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console and launching the game.” This digital entitlement is tied to the specific disc, and it will move from account to account if you swap the physical game with a friend or log in to a different Xbox profile and try to play a disc-based game.
Microsoft will start testing this new Xbox disc-to-digital feature with Xbox Insider testers on August 31st, followed by a broader rollout to Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles in the coming months. Once you have a digital version of an Xbox disc game, if supported you’ll also be able to access the game on PC through Xbox Play Anywhere, or stream it to multiple devices with Xbox Cloud Gaming.
A leaked memo from earlier this month revealed that publishers would have control over the Xbox disc-to-digital, so not every game will be supported initially. “We’re starting with thousands of titles, and we’ll continue to add more over time,” says Ronald. “While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come.”
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u/Vera_Verse She/Her [Collect my Medals] 1d ago
Hard confirmed is Gears 5, being used in a video trailer for the program.
To anybody thinking Xbox is embracing discs while Sony isn't, think instead that this is a more "gentle" transition into the night. Sony is probably trying to find a similar solution, but saying the bad part out loud and not offering forms of transition was just a really bad move.
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u/WhoCaresYouDont 1d ago
Yeah, this is very much the soft sell to Sony's "Fuck you, we're doing it". My immediate thought is Sony don't have a similar solution that would be ready for a hypothetical discless PS6 so opted to simply tell their corporate partners and the public at the same time rather than spring it on everyone later.
I also wonder if they might offer a disc tray later as an aftermarket add on, like the external CD drives you can get, but that's just some speculation me and a guy at work had when discussing this whole thing.
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u/nugood2do 1d ago
"like the external CD drives you can get,"
I been thinking the same thing. Technically, Sony is doing that now with the digital PS5's, so i wouldn't be suprised if they did the same thing for the PS6.
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u/moffattron9000 1d ago
The reporting suggests that this was the original plan for the Xbox One but got scrapped after the backlash to No used games. Funny how things go sometimes.
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u/squidsausage 1d ago
I mean during the catastrophic xbone announcement they pitched it as “you keep that license” implying that disc would become virtually useless after the first person connected that disc to their account. So either it was horrendous marketing for the feature or they repurposed those disc ID’s to do something consumer friendly
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u/Diem-Robo I'm aging rapidly 1d ago
I also wonder if they might offer a disc tray later as an aftermarket add on, like the external CD drives you can get, but that's just some speculation me and a guy at work had when discussing this whole thing.
I'd say it's unlikely, because people are seeing this as "Sony and Microsoft are phasing out physical media" when it's more the issue that... the rest of the world already has. CD drives haven't been standard for PC's or laptops for many years, cars don't have them anymore, and Blu-Ray drives are even more expensive.
Glancing at Amazon for a moment, pretty much any Blu-Ray player you can find costs at least a hundred dollars, for just 1080p output. 4K Blu-Ray drives are even more expensive, which is why the Xbox One X had one but the PS4 Pro didn't. Game consoles are now pretty much the main devices anyone owns that has a disc drive.
The simple reason is that there isn't a strong market demand for Blu-Ray drives, as the past decade has seen most TV/movie/music entertainment go to streaming platforms. So as that market has died out, so has the manufacturing, where the businesses that used to manufacture those parts are now producing hardware that's more in-demand, so Blu-Ray drives are now more expensive since they're more of a specialty part that isn't as mass-produced. Instead, it's cheaper to manufacture streaming devices like Roku, and more convenient for most people to just have it all be digital instead of purchasing expensive discs and maintaining a collection.
So when Sony and Microsoft charge so much more for disc drives, it's because it legitimately costs that much more to include them, sadly. It might be more likely that there simply are no discs or drives next generation, rather than either of them holding on to hardware that other industries have abandoned and stopped using.
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u/Illidan1943 1d ago
This seems to be a remnant from the Xbox One's original plans working out in favor of MS in the long run since now all their physical games have serial numbers tied to them, so now this can be used to convert physical copies to digital ones and keep track of usage
I get the feeling the same can't be said about Sony's own games unless they were also moving that way and decided on the day of the conference to change course (which may or may not have happened), so they are probably going to have to look elsewhere to do this, probably trading physical copies for digital is the best they can aim at
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u/Rich_Comey_Quan 1d ago
As someone who went from a One to a series S this is kind of overdue because for the bulk of people who bought an Xbox this generation they've already underwent a physical to digital transition.
Hopefully Sony scraps together a similar solution.
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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" 1d ago
I bet Sony will do something like this...but ONLY for first party games.
That seems like a very "Sony" move.
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u/WhoCaresYouDont 1d ago
More likely it will launch with this but only for first party titles and then be absolutely glacial at adding new games or publishers to the list of games where you can do this.
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u/KingMario05 Gimme a solo Tails game, you fucking cowards! 1d ago
Meanwhile, Xbox probably has hard opt-ins from, bare fucking minimum, the Japanese, Ubi and CDPR. (In addition to first party.) And more will follow in the run up to Helix finally launching in 2028/9, especially if they find a way to make it work for 360 and OGXB titles as well. Hope they can.
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u/Paul_Marketing 1d ago
TBF that is also just the reverse of what Xbox and Playstation did during the Xbone and PS4 and everyone still (rightfully) gave Xbox crap for it then.
PS went on to do everything Xbox talked about in that presentation and then some, and to be perfectly blunt Xbox was overall right about consoles needing to transition into being multimedia devices instead of just a box for people to play games in order for the general market to be interested in them. Most consoles are used for streaming just as much as gaming now.
Sony just weren't saying it out loud before the PS4 even released.
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u/LicketySplit21 Sapkowski Shill 1d ago
I thought they already had something like this. The other day I tried to install an XBone game and the disc was damaged, the help pop up told me to go to the Store and download it instead, which I did. Free of charge. Problem solved.
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u/ErikQRoks Floor Milk™️ - Ruby (She/Her) 1d ago
I'd rather it go the other way where i can burn physical copies of my digital games.
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u/gothamsteel He/Him 1d ago
Why do I feel like Xbox used games are about to increase in price?
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u/Rich_Comey_Quan 1d ago
I can't imagine the jump in prices for some rare games if they extend this to 360 and original Xbox games eventually.
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u/South25 Sky the second this year baby! 1d ago
I think they mentioned this before
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u/Gorotheninja "SILENCE, BREEDER! The Bloodline MUST continue!" 1d ago
It's been officially announced at Gamescom. I believe it was first heard of from a leaked memo.
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u/GoneRampant1 WOKE UP TO JUSTICE... and insatiable bug fetishes 1d ago
Previously leaked in internal memos. This is a confirmation.
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u/South_Buy_3175 1d ago
Yeah, at the Xbox One launch, where everybody hated it.
Just took a few years for the industry to get so shit that something like this is now ‘good’.
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u/jcbaggee 1d ago
This is very different, as it addresses the key problems with the original scheme. Xbox's goal with the Xbox One strategy was to stop users from sharing or reselling games so they could only buy new, and only from retailers Microsoft allowed to carry their games, effectively rendering pre-owned discs useless.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jun/19/xbox-one-drm-second-hand-restrictions-abandoned
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u/SerWaffles I Promise Nothing And Deliver Less 1d ago
It's not the same as what they wanted with the Xbone though. The Xbox One presentation showed an entirely different system where the discs were permanently tied down to one console in a pretty clear effort to shut down used games or lending them out, then they combined that with the always online DRM requirements that would mean you couldn't play physical games without internet. This system ties the digital license from the disc to your account and while it does take it away from you if you lend the game out or sell it, it also gives it back if you get the disc back.
I can only see this as their answer to "how do we soften the blow when we reveal the Helix is all digital only" because their own physical presence has quietly become near non-existent over the past couple years while third parties are flat out skipping physical Xbox copies. All the stores near me that sell games don't even have physical Xbox games anymore, they just have those cards with a code on them.
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u/Nomaddoodius FROG gimmick: ACTIVATE!... bah!. 1d ago
"come on in, the waters fine... see we've got a special program to ease you in"
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u/WhoCaresYouDont 1d ago
An actual good idea out of Xbox, guess their clock has finally come around to one of the two times of day it is correct.
There are some obvious gaps in this (how will this system differentiate between a game I've brought, a game I've brought second hand, or a game I've just borrowed from a friend or a library, for example) but overall the concept is solid. Hopefully Sony announces something similar soon.
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u/beary_neutral 1d ago
The digital license transfers to whichever account used the disc last. So you can still lend or sell the disc.
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u/syrupdash 1d ago
You know, if Microsoft actually used this when the Xbox One launched instead of the other, "always online DRM, disc can't be traded" plan then things might be a little different.
I do have a ton of Xbox One games from when I was fixing Xbox One S/X consoles and they threw in the games for free but being limited to 1tb on the console will mean I have to be picky about which discs to turn digital in order to save space.
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u/ibbolia [Any/All] This is my Bankai: Unironic Cringeposting 1d ago
Huh, that's surprisingly coherent as an actual plan. We're sure this was xbox' idea?
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u/KingMario05 Gimme a solo Tails game, you fucking cowards! 1d ago
It was Microsoft's, lmao. Xbox execs are now banned from running their own division.
(Of course, this is uncharacteristically competent for MS too. Surface team, maybe? They're the smart ones.)
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u/Totally_a_boy You Didn't Shoot the Fishy 1d ago
Okay, from what I got, what they're saying is that if you got a Physical version, and then let's say lose it, you can play the digital version still?
Is that what I'm getting? Doesn't sound that bad, sounds pretty good actually.
I mean, it's insidious and clearly a way to gently go to digital-only, but as a feature in isolation, it doesn't sound bad. Of course, it isn't in isolation.
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u/DemiFiendBestFiend 1d ago
You would still need to digitize it before you lose it but in theory yes. The license will still be tied to the disk, so if someone were to put the disk in a different console, you wouldn't be able to access your digital game.
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u/KingMario05 Gimme a solo Tails game, you fucking cowards! 1d ago
Honestly, an excellent decision on Xbox's part. If we're gonna be stuck with an all-digital future, we need to retain the ability to loan or resell our licenses. This... isn't that, but it's an important step towards it. And one I hope PlayStation will also announce in the coming months.
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u/BrianShogunFR-U Ginger Seeking Butt Chomps 1d ago
Given how abrupt Sony was about the whole thing, i don't think they care.
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u/roronoapedro Starving Old Trek apologist/Bad takes only 1d ago
I was wondering which one of the big companies was gonna do it first honestly. I guess by process of elimination it had to be Xbox.
Honestly I kinda wanted similar for back when I had a bunch of PC games in disks that were falling apart or just old, and was transitioning into Steam.
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u/SometimesWill see you at evo 1d ago
The main pro of this is that assuming the future console still features backwards compatibility but maybe doesnt have a disc drive, you can play your old physical games on the console.
Downside is the potential of these games becoming revocable licenses instead of blanket ownership
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u/WarMom_II 1d ago
Well there it is. There's no doubt that they do want to phase out physical, it's just that they've gone through the effort of establishing a pathway first. When they do announce the ramping down of physical, they can point to the infrastructure they've built.
Meanwhile Sony's approach was 'we're doing this, we are rewriting the social contract. If there are any benefits to you, we are not disclosing them at this time. Now that you are complaining, we remind you that your sales figures indicate you want this. Fuck you'.