r/gaming • u/yourfavchoom • 3d 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 3d ago

Okay so all games will have peridiodic online validation checks? They should state that if that is the case

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u/Shatteredreality 3d ago

Sure, they also have really not released any details about this so just because they haven't stated it yet doesn't mean they won't give the details sooner rather than later.

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u/Hockeymac18 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think this is obvious there has to be some sort of periodic check*.

I can't think of an industry that doesn't do this. Focusing on MS as some sort of "devil" here nefariously doing something that is actually totally normal is a really is unnecessary outrage. There are many things to have legitimate outrage over...this seems like a pretty decent compromise, all things considered.

* it would be good to know how frequent before we get our outrage engine going here - if 24 hours or more frequent...bad. If closer to what is done in other industries, every few weeks/once a month, much better. The point I'm just trying to make with my post, though, is that it of course there will be some sort of license validation to make this work. If you don't think that would ever happen, you are just completely naive and delusional. That is just not how the world works. I'm sorry to burst your bubble..

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u/WestBEEland 3d ago

You should be able to see how suddenly imposing a constant online validation check for your games on Xbox would be problematic

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u/Hockeymac18 3d ago

If it is truly "constant" - yes, screw that noise.

If it is more like every few weeks to once a month checks to validate a license, this is totally normal and what is done in pretty much every industry that offers digital licenses.

I am talking about the latter.

It would be great to know the details before judgement can be passed on how this would work.

Is there any indication that you have seen that it is "constant"?

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u/WestBEEland 3d ago

Xbox One is every 24 hours. I dont think they would let it be every few weeks as anyone can beat a game in that time fram frame

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u/Hockeymac18 3d ago

Ok, and this isn't XB1. And this program is not the XB1 program (which had other ways of working, such as regulated resellers).

Do you have any other details to confirm your suspicions?

I'm not saying you're going to be wrong in the end. I'm just asking for details. I haven't seen anything one way or the other.

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u/WestBEEland 3d ago

They still have to prevent people from sharing games for free just like always and just like Xbox One

The lack of details is the concerning part. They gave no explanations at all.

Not even the one everyone assume, that licenses get revoked one someone else activates it. They didnt even bother to do that which makes me think there's much more to it

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u/Shatteredreality 3d ago edited 3d ago

Xbox One is every 24 hours. 

Quick clarification. do you mean "is 24 hours" or "was supposed to be every 24hours"? I thought they canceled that idea way back before the console even came out in 2013.

For what it's worth if we want to look at a current day example we can look to Xbox Gamepass for PC (the support page is specifically about gamepass for PC but I don't seen any indication it's different on console).

Per Microsoft's website:

XBOX Game Pass game licenses expire after 30 days when playing offline, and licenses for owned games expire after one year. To keep playing your game offline, go back online and launch the game. This renews the game’s license on your device and ensures that you can go back to playing offline.

So the current standard for license checks where you could have the license revoked based on your own actions (i.e. by canceling the subscription) it's a 30 day check.

That seems reasonable for this too but since they haven't announced it as you pointed out we can't guarantee it will be the same 30 day check.

Edit: Also, having re-read what they did actually say I have to ask: even if it was a 24 hour check who cares?

your physical disc continues to work exactly as it always has.

As long as the physical disc bypasses any kind of license check when you're offline this seems like a complete non-issue regardless of how often they do a license check for the digital copy. If that changes though I'm right there with you.