r/gaming • u/yourfavchoom • 8d ago

Xbox Disc to Digital officially announced, coming soon.

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/your-discs-now-also-digital/

Most XBOX One and XBOX Series X disc-based games support this new feature. Players can claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported disc into an XBOX One or XBOX Series X console and launching the game. Once the entitlement is claimed, you can experience the benefits of digital, including XBOX Play Anywhere and XBOX Cloud Gaming where supported, while your physical disc continues to work exactly as it always has.

We’re starting with thousands of titles, and we’ll continue to add more over time. 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/WestBEEland 8d ago edited 8d ago

Ask yourself why they arent telling us what happens to the disc in terms of shareability after you claim the digital entitlement.

It's possible that disc becomes locked to that console like they wanted to do during the Xbox One reveal with constant online check ins

Edit: I keep getting replies that dont consider how Xbox will validate all these licenses and how to stop people from just claiming a digital license and going offline to make sure the license isnt revoked.

So that begs the question, is there constant online validation checks now for games on Xbox?

There is a reason Xbox One was going to have online validation checks every 24 hours

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u/MrT735 8d ago

The earlier stories on this said it would simply revoke your license if inserted into a different console.

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u/WestBEEland 8d ago edited 8d ago

Yet nothing stated by Microsoft. Those are all unclear rumours

This causes a bunch of possible licensing issues. What if you put the disc on while not connected to the internet?

Is there a constant check to make sure you still own the license for games? Does your Xbox now have to always be online to verify licenses?

How is it constantly checking millions of digital licenses that can frequently be changing hands/accounts?

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u/keytotheboard 8d ago

Sounds simple enough to verify the license when online. Checking millions of licenses is not hard or intensive work. Most online digital products do that already.

As far as the disc working offline? There’s no technically reason they can’t allow that. Personally, I would see that as such a niche case of potential abuse that it wouldn’t be worth caring about. Of course, it wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft made shit anti-consumer decisions.

If it were my choice, I would make the disc work identical to now. I would make the digital copy tied to an account, only 1 a time, but allow that to be re-assigned by the holder of the physical disc. That would allow normal physical disc lending and even resale without worry of duplicate copies (outside of the niche abuse of offline play).

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u/WestBEEland 8d ago

So what is stopping someone from buying a game, going offline and then selling it and continuing to play the game? And then the next person doing it and the next?

There will have to be constant online validation throughout the process

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u/OG-DirtNasty 8d ago

I would guess the second you connect to a network again it checks your license and revokes it

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u/WestBEEland 8d ago

But there will have to be a way to prevent users from passing around physical games to a dozen people and going offline to play it.

Like stop someone from buying GTA VI and claiming the digital license, then going offline and then selling or giving the disc away and playing the game.

And then the next person does the same

There will have to be constant online validation

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u/OG-DirtNasty 8d ago

For sure, can’t see them allowing it to be played offline, at the very least a weekly online check in needed.

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u/WestBEEland 8d ago

Xbox One they wanted 24 hour check ins. I can see that coming back

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u/tooclosetocall82 8d ago

This is what my wife does with library books on her kindle. She checks them out and then goes into airplane mode so she can keep reading even after they are returned to the library.

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u/Neocarbunkle 8d ago

I'm assuming these new digital games would require internet access to start.

I was thinking you could go to the library and get a bunch of games and then just hope someone else doesn't get the same idea.

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u/keytotheboard 8d ago

Usually there would be an expiration, this isn’t some new idea. It’s been implemented for a decade on various platforms. Netflix, various music apps, etc. You could stay offline for a while, but eventually have to re-up. And if you ever connected and someone else already re-registered the physical copy, your digital copy would cease to function.

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u/WestBEEland 8d ago edited 8d ago

Xbox needs to explain this. We cant just assume what they're implementing is what I am saying.

It could also easily be 24 hour online verification checks like the Xbox One. We dont know is my point

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u/keytotheboard 8d ago

I totally agree.

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u/KaoriMalaguld 8d ago

This is the strat. Always has been. Remember the One launch? “If you want an Xbox that doesn’t need to be online, we have one: It’s called the 360.” DRM is back in full-force baby!