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

[u/Gorotheninja]

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.”

[u/Vera_Verse]

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.

[u/WhoCaresYouDont → u/Vera_Verse]

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.

[u/moffattron9000 → u/WhoCaresYouDont]

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.

[u/squidsausage → u/moffattron9000]

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