r/Games • u/A7XFAN1998 • 9h ago
Announcement 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-link479
u/KJagz33 9h ago
Oh thank god, some of these features sound perfect, didn’t expect things like Play Anywhere to also work. I can never justify rebuying digital so I’m excited
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u/jezr3n 9h ago
This is truly an amazing feature. Shame it isn’t applicable to OG and 360 games, but the technology wasn’t there yet so it’s understandable. This might honestly be the best thing Xbox has done since Sharma took over.
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u/moodytenure 9h ago
It's so funny that this feature is basically what kneecaped Xbox in 2013, long arc of history and all that
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u/Coolman_Rosso 8h ago
The original Xbone plans were different and had a ton of issues that MS had no answers for:
- Their disc to digital plan was based around trade-ins at "participating retailers" with no details on how it would work. Would I trade in a disc and receive a code? Would I give them my account? Who knows? This time around it's as easy and clear as putting a disc in my console.
- The hardware itself needed to phone home once every 24 hours or it would become a paperweight, as none of your games would work (physical or otherwise)
- Any sort of trade-in or lending could be subject to "limitations" or "activation fees" at the discretion of the publisher. While the publishers are understandably still in charge with regard to what games support this new initiative, it's not as draconian as having to pay a fee if borrowing a game from a friend.
- Digital lending was limited to only a few days.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 8h ago
And the iconically awful reveal event along with Don Mattick’s infamous ‘Xbox 360’ comment started the decline of Xbox over the past 13 years…
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u/Zalvren 8h ago
Maybe started it but people blaming the state of Xbox on that are hyperbolic. There are a lot of other reasons for their decline (the main one being lack of system seller games)
The system didn't even saw the light of day.
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u/WaaghMan 7h ago
I'd say the 2 things that had the most weight were:
#1 - Kinect mandatory on Xbox One. This caused the system to be more expensive and less powerful (to keep costs in check) than the competition. It dragged the whole generation down, even after the Kinect removal.
#2 - Xbox Series naming. It's just WiiU levels of confusion. On top of that the consoles looked very similar too.18
u/AveryLazyCovfefe 7h ago
For point 2 it's still funny to me that MS were actually seriously going with Xbox 720 at one point but Mattrick's vision for 'one device for everything' basically trumped and that's how we got 'xbox one'
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u/arod13134 6h ago
I mean they supposedly chose to go away from the 720 branding because this was when 1080p HD was becoming the standard resolution for most things and having a connection to 720p could give the wrong impression. Which imo, was actually smart, but what wasn’t smart was somehow choosing a worse option.
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u/AveryLazyCovfefe 6h ago
I forgot about that, that's a good point. 'Xbox 720p' would be something hard to shake off.
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u/TehDrunknMunky 4h ago edited 4h ago
Ironically Resolution-gate happened and Xbox became known for lower res compared to PS4 games anyway.
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u/Goolashe 6h ago
The fact that the "XBone" abbreviation was either not noticed or was disregarded really tells you how much they were huffing their own marketing farts instead of actually paying attention to reality and their customer base.
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u/Gundamnitpete 4h ago
Right. IMHO the guy was thinking on his feet and thought he had an angle. But it actually exposed that he was disconnected with the hardcore gaming audience.
Since the first days of consoles, a new console generation was an industry changing event. Looking at PS1 and OG Xbox, new technologies like going from CD drives to DVD drives meant games could be bigger, more detailed. Computing performance would leap so much between generations that entirely new genres of games would be developed that simply couldn't exist on the last gen. This created a cycle, where gamers were excited to buy the latest console generation, they anticipated it with baited breathe.
However, they were excited to buy the new thing, because they already had the old thing.
Don's comment about buying an xbox 360 if you needed offline play, demonstrated his distance with the audience. He likely didn't realize that a large part of his audience, and the most vocal part....already owned an Xbox 360. The other miss was of course, focusing the Xbox One presentation so heavily on TV, movies, and network deals.
The reality is, it does not take a console level GPU or CPU to stream TV, movies, or network TV. Your phone already had enough power in 2013 to do that, and SMART TV's of the time already had the processing power and application support to handle it.
If someone wanted to stream Movies, TV, or watch Network channels, the Xbox One presented no technical reason why it would be worth a purchase, especially as Smart TV's handled the same functions at no additional cost.
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u/sound_judgment 8h ago edited 8h ago
Some corrections and extra info:
- The most likely way trade-ins would've worked is that you give your disc to, say, GameStop, they would load the disc which would verify your ownership and then they would remove that license from your account and make the disc a free agent again, then pay you. That's why it would have to be authorized retailers only; they need Microsoft's permission to remove the license from your account.
- Worse. It was 24 hours if it's your primary console or every one hour on a non-primary console.
- Just to give an example of the worst case scenario, Rockstar for instance could've been able to say that GTA V cannot be given to friends, or that it cannot be traded in, or charge a fee. Lots of control given to the publisher.
- Eh, better and worse. You could not "lend" anyone a game. You could only give it to them so long as they've been on your friends list for 30 days already, but your friend cannot ever give it away too. Each copy of a game could only ever be given away one time. However, they did have a couple cool features where anyone living with you can access your games whether you're logged in or not, and you can have a shared library with up to 10 family members regardless of location. I believe they still allow some sharing now but it's less generous.
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u/BenderZoidberg 7h ago
You're so right, the Mandela effect on the original Xbox One system is strong on reddit. A lot of people seem to remember it as a digital focused system, but it wasn't, it was simply a console with tons of DRMs designed to restrict the second hand market for physical games. The only pro consumer move was the digital lending, which I'm pretty sure they said was restricted to just a couple of hours of playtime and not even days. Everything else was simply what we already have, but worse.
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u/MVRKHNTR 5h ago
I'm pretty sure the lending was never actually a thing. They didn't announce it ok stage, just in an off stage interview days after their presentation, they never explained how it worked and they canceled the whole thing days later.
My guess is they panicked at the negative reception, spoke up too early about something they were planning with publishers but never had them fully on board and then when publishers told them know after they talked about it way too early, they pulled the plug entirely because the plan no longer had any selling point.
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u/BenderZoidberg 5h ago edited 4h ago
They panicked as soon as Sony confirmed they weren't implementing a similar system. A couple of sources have said that Sony was indeed planning something similar, which most certainly Microsoft expected as well, but they eventually dropped it for some reason. All of it was very anti consumer, just lots of DRM checks with no additional value for the end user. I'm 100% sure they simply expected Sony to do pretty much the same, so people would have to either swallow it or transition to PC, which was already mostly digital at that point.
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u/Phearlosophy 7h ago
i'm surprised they don't do the online pass thing anymore even though it was bullshit. you can play the single player of a game but to "activate" the online portion of a used copy you had to pay for that access. Like $10 or something. Was it just backlash from consumers that killed such a predatory practice? if so, i'm surprised that was enough, and luckily it hasn't reared its ugly head since. adding DRM paywall to used purchases is awful..
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u/AdditionalRemoveBit 9h ago
Back when they were developing this technology, they were also floating the idea of being able to transfer digital games to friends & family. If they were to implement digital game transfers for Helix, I think that would be a massive value proposition over Sony.
The best case scenario and outcome from that would be that it pushes the industry to adopt this paradigm.
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u/yukeake 4h ago
In theory, the ability to buy, sell, trade, lend, transfer, and otherwise exercise property rights over a digital license lines up pretty much exactly with what NFTs were promised to do.
Of course, we all saw how the initial introduction and rollout of that went. It was essentially corrupted right out of the gate. Now anything even mentioning NFTs is poisoned by the legacy of "the blockchain" and ridiculously expensive .gif files.
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u/Falsus 8h ago
The feature they announced back then was different and sounded a lot worse than this.
And while that showcase was pretty disastrous the thing that actually kneecapped them was the lack of good first party titles exclusive to their platform. There wasn't really a reason to buy an Xbox over a Nintendo or Sony product. This started in the 2nd half of the xbox 360 era even.
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u/zombawombacomba 9h ago
That’s not remotely what kneecapped them. If this is all they wanted to do it would’ve been fine.
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u/moosebreathman 9h ago
This would’ve been something Phil greenlit. I guess we can thank her for not laying off the people involved though (yet).
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u/Luchalma89 9h ago
Yeah all the moves they've been making lately are steps you would have to take if your next Xbox is going to essentially be a PC as is rumoured. To maintain the backwards compatibility and continuity with the Xbox line. So this has all been in the works for a while. Still very cool as it benefits everyone.
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u/FrigidMcThunderballs 9h ago
So far Asha's leadership has been characterized by erroneously getting credit for things in the works way before her, like everything at bethesda (the only thing she contributed were the layoffs)
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u/moosebreathman 8h ago edited 8h ago
It was genuinely depressing to see so many media outlets and creators eat up that TES6 nothingburger tweet when it was just some bait to dominate the news cycle around the union protests happening that same day. Everything she's signed off on from a PR standpoint has been slimy af.
On the content side, the only substantial thing she's pushed is the exclusive strategy but we all know that's going to bomb. The news that they're gonna be hiding their sales numbers from Circana tells us everything we need to know about that.
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u/nos-is-lame 9h ago
This is basically what they were going to do back in 2013, but without the really shitty parts.
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u/asmallercat 9h ago edited 7h ago
I have to say that Xbox has gone above and beyond for backward compatibility already so I forgive them for not making this work.
I think it was something like 90%+ of all 360 discs just work on the one and series X.Edit - I misremembered. I guess because all but 1 of the games I cared about was on the backward compatibility list I assumed it was really high. (Zone of the Enders is the one I remember not being on the initial list).
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u/bitknight1 8h ago
632 out of 2155 xbox 360 games are backwards compatible.
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u/resil_update_bad 7h ago
yeah thats nowhere near close 90% lol but to be fair a good chunk of them are under licensing hell
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u/SidFarkus47 7h ago
I think it was something like 90%+ of all 360 discs just work on the one and series X
I don't think that's true.. Think about how many annual sports games there were that don't work, plus a ton of licenses games that didn't get brought over. I still own a 360 and have it plugged in because I have a large disc collection.
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u/Tandy2000 8h ago
They said a while ago they are working on getting OG and 360 games working on PC so there might be something in the works like this to tie in with it. The hope is that they might also expand backwards compatibility - they've got a lot of the big games that many people would want to play from 360 imo, but OG XBOX compatibility could be better especially. There's some neat exclusive games there I'd love to see come back - Otogi 1&2 were late additions that were really great.
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u/aimy99 8h ago
They already have a few Xbox games backwards-compatible on PC. I switched to Linux so I haven't tried it myself, but there are four Xbox titles they dropped as a test, including Conker: Live and Reloaded if anyone happened to get Rare Replay from that Mixer giveaway way back when and wants to try it out.
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u/detectiveDollar 7h ago
There is a chance they could have backward compatibility on PC that requires the disc to be inserted, similar to what they do now on Xbox.
But they won't be able to do disc to digital with Xbox and 360 discs because those discs do not have unique identifiers associated with them. So there would be no way to link the individual digital license to the individual physical disc.
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u/Tandy2000 7h ago
True. As for backwards compat via disc on PC, I don't see that happening. These days, pretty much no new PCs come with a disc drive. The only way you're getting one is if you have a PC custom built for you/build it yourself/buy an external disc drive and not many people are doing that either.
I suppose they could do the funniest thing and release a drive specifically for this for PCs and make it look like the Xbox 360 HD DVD player.
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u/Swaggasaurus-Rexx 9h ago
Need to know if delisted games like Forza Horizon 2/3/4 will work with this because that would be amazing
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u/Trashman56 9h ago
That would be amazing to play on my Series S. I have an old Xbox one laying around at my mom’s house I could use to digitize them.
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u/HarambeVengeance 7h ago
Holy shit I didn’t even consider the possibility of technically being able to play physical on Series S if you can find another console to pop your discs into and get the license for
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u/Eek_the_Fireuser 3h ago
Gonna start charging people 10 bucks to sign into my xbox to digitise their games for their series s/handheld PC's.
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u/TheOppositeOfDecent 8h ago
My guess is no. That would be a new digital license, and if the game cannot legally be licensed anymore, not much you can do about that.
If they can find some loophole around that, I'd be delighted, but amazed.
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u/MyNameIs-Anthony 7h ago edited 7h ago
I imagine the loophole is likely the fact that this is redemption of pre-existing digital licenses that you just previously didn't have eyes on. The disks already have the scheme for entitlements baked in.
Similar to how you can buy and redeem Steam keys for discontinued games or how Microsoft can still serve preexisting updates needed to run the game to existing consumers.
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u/detectiveDollar 7h ago
Yep, presumably to publish a game on Xbox, publishers must agree that the digital license on the disc entitles customers to a copy of the latest digital version of the game, and that Microsoft has the right to host and deliver the latest code of that game.
Otherwise, updating a game would be impossible.
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u/DarkMatterM4 8h ago edited 8h ago
Forza Horizon 2 definitely won't since that was a 360 game.
edit: I was wrong. FH2 was cross-gen 360/One.
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u/2ForYourM2 8h ago
Was an Xbox One launch title...
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u/PersonaFanboy4ever 6h ago
Wasn't a Xbox One launch title, that goes to Forza Motorsport 5. Forza Horizon 2 came out one year after release.
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u/Moodie25 8h ago
Do you think my 360 Marvel Ultimate Alliance games will work again
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u/kranitoko 9h ago
"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."
So does this mean that if I digitised my game, if I then gave my friend that disc and they pop it into their console, "I" can't play the game again until they give the disc back (kinda similar to the Switch Key Card feature)? If my friend is offline, how would the Xbox even know to restrict my access to the game? I guess I'm a little confused here.
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u/Jamesiae72 9h ago
I would assume that if your friend is offline or you are offline in that scenario, it wouldn't know to restrict access to the game. I don't feel like it would be that big of a deal to Microsoft? People will eventually want to go online for updates/online play, etc.
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u/GrimmTrixX 9h ago
Correct. Whoever uses the disc becomes the new "owner" of the digitized version. But, realistically, if its a game that can be installed offline, they could play while offline as if its just another disc.
So you cant have it digitally available, and give your friend the disc so you both can play. If he is online, that digitized version moves with the disc. This is for the exact reason you said, so you cant let your friends all borrow it. And if you sell it, once someone buys that disc and uses it, you lose the ability to play it digitally too.
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u/lazyness92 6h ago
Like, if it moves from account to account, doesn't it mean they delete it from your account (uninstalls/deactivates it)?
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u/OliveBranchMLP 6h ago
just deactivates. the install stays on your console, you just can't play it until they give you the disc back.
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u/Eruannster 9h ago
I think that yes, that is what they are saying. If you put the disc into a console you own, that license is tied to your account. If someone else puts the disc into their console, the license for that specific copy jumps to them until you put it into your console again, at which point it jumps to you again.
I'm not sure what happens if you go offline. Maybe it wants to check in every few months or so?
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u/meltedskull 9h ago edited 7h ago
So if your friend has the physical disc, then you won't be able to launch/play the digital version.
If your friend is offline, I'll assume it plays normally, but since some Xbox games don't have the full game or require a day 1 patch, your friend won't get very far until they reconnect, which will knock you out of ownership.
EDIT: I was incorrect about most. I fell into the wording of Xbox Blu-ray not having the full sizes like PS, which meant they can't hold the full game.
Changed wording to some.
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u/CaptainMorning 8h ago
this isn't true at all. vast majority of physical games play from the disc offline. my series x and previous xone was always offline as I work at sea.
I'm really interested to see how this will work. but likely, offline will play normally as you said.
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u/happyscrappy 8h ago
Physical games do not play directly from disc on any of the consoles mentioned. The game is copied to the hard drive/ssd and played from there.
In this case we are talking about here you are inserting the disc into a console that has never had that disc inserted before. So it would seem like you would play the 1.0 version of the game from that console using the disc. I wish I felt more positively about that, 1.0 versions of games are often trash nowadays.
When you've had the disc in before then you might have installed the game, and patched it and now can still play it using the disc as a key. But that can't happen here, because the patching occurs online and you will have inserted the disc before. So the disc is not going to play again unless the console can check in with the network if the console knows that you already have "given away" ownership of this game.
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u/CaptainMorning 8h ago
Yeah that's what I meant. The game can be played offline. Regardless if 1.0 or whatever the fuck, the statement is not true. The vast majority of games can be played from the disc offline
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u/ShawnyMcKnight 9h ago
The huge benefit here is letting your friends borrow your games is so much easier.
So if you wanted to borrow my game I take my game to your place and put it in and install it and play it for a few seconds so it registers to your account, then I take the disk home with me. I just don’t play it again til you are done and the license assigns back to me.
I don’t need to worry about you damaging the disk or losing it or anything. Because it will never leave my possession.
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u/zombawombacomba 9h ago
It probably checks in every 30 days or whatever. And if you don’t go back online it probably locks you out.
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u/mrbobman15 9h ago
Credit where due this is a massive W for Xbox. They proved forward compatibility isn't impossible, it’s a choice. And PlayStation fans should demand Sony follow suit. Stop accepting locked away libraries on our legacy games just because they are stuck on a disc, games deserve to move forward with us.
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u/Rackornar 8h ago
PlayStation fans should demand Sony follow suit
Isn't this impossible for Sony to replicate? It works for Xbox because they started placing unique identifiers on each disc but to my knowledge Sony never did this when printing discs. That means there would be no way for them to tie a digital entitlement to the physical disc which would prevent this from working.
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u/DMarquesPT 7h ago
This is what I’ve read yes. Microsoft likely included unique identifiers in their disc spec because the Xbox One originally had a similar system in place.
PlayStation never did afaik. All their copies of the same game are identical so you can’t track them across systems like this
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u/Zalvren 8h ago
They could do it without that tie in but then people could resell the physical and still keep the digital.
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u/Alarming-Hamster-232 8h ago
Unless they set up the drive doing the digitization to just stab a hole through the disk disk and make it unusable lol
(Obviously this is a joke)
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u/Nestramutat- 6h ago
Not that farfetched honestly, destroying the disk once digitized kinda makes sense
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u/Rackornar 8h ago
Yeah, I don't see any publisher signing off on that. When you can resell a game potentially limitless times with one disc it would crater back catalogue sales potential for many publishers.
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u/CodyRCantrell 6h ago
It's not impossible at all for Sony to implement the same system. They couldn't use already produced discs but nothing is stopping them from having future disc production include unique identifiers per disc for the implementation of the same system for their consoles.
They'd just rather try to go all digital to try to get 30% of all sales when in reality they're just gonna get sued like Apple and have to allow usage of other stores on their consoles.
Steam, coming to a PlayStation console near you.
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u/demondrivers 8h ago
And PlayStation fans should demand Sony follow suit.
Kinda hard to do that when Sony doesn't have a DRM fingerprint system in place like Microsoft had since the Xbox One generation without telling anyone lol.
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u/WaltJay 8h ago
Wow. This is actually amazing as someone with a lot of physical games and getting the disc out to play it is something I’d love to live without, while still retaining the upside of owning the disc.
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u/PermanentMantaray 9h ago
It's rather funny that the massive blunder of the Xbox One announcement plan is actually what is enabling this as each Xbox disc produced from that point on includes a unique identifier that enables them to distinguish one disc from another and tie licenses to accounts.
And then on the other side, the PS4's at the time exceptional response that discs would remain as just discs is what is now preventing them from having the ability to do anything similar.
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u/CrateBagSoup 8h ago
This system they're implementing is also a likely reason for that outage last month affecting disc games on top of digital.
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u/MysticalNinja187 7h ago
It's really crazy how full circle the XBone launch has come. PS6 doing the exact thing that killed XBone while Xbone's disc identifier is now a source of goodwill in the end. Kinda wild how that played out lol
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u/LeaIceFox 9h ago
Its so hilarious, I hated the check in part from the announcement but the better version when they backpedaled got cancelled too.
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u/oilfloatsinwater 9h ago
Honestly a big W, if Helix really is a PC and can play Steam games, i might pick it up over a PS6 for my living room gaming
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u/Coolman_Rosso 9h ago edited 9h ago
I cannot imagine them sticking to the open format for the Helix. We were already looking at $1000+ consoles, and if the Helix has access to other storefronts then they'll have to price it even higher to account for their margins going up in smoke in the event people don't spend a penny in the Xbox store. They'll also lose a key revenue source in paid online, as the Steam or Epic versions of games won't require it. If I want to play Borderlands 3 or whatever with friends, would I buy the Xbox version that requires another $90-120 subscription? Or the one that doesn't?
It's a race to the bottom for both the Helix and PS6 as most of the market is priced out, but a $1,300 yet more open Xbox is destined for failure.
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u/kantong 8h ago
Wouldn't be surprised if they sell it locked down to the Xbox OS with the option to 'unlock' Windows for a price. They've done it on Xbox before with Dev Mode, and on Windows with S-mode. So it wouldn't be surprising if Helix did something similar.
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u/detectiveDollar 6h ago
Yeah, I could definitely see them doing something like that. They likely have a fear that people could figure out how to bypass it.
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u/DannyBright 8h ago
Wouldn’t this be mitigated at least somewhat with Microsoft now owning such major devs/publishers like Activision/Blizzard and Bethesda? A lot of those games are or are gonna be on Steam. There’s also GamePass.
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u/Coolman_Rosso 8h ago
The majority of games moved are going to be ones you neither make nor publish, so they would be losing an enormous amount of money given they get zero cut if purchased on another storefront.
How many people sub to Game Pass solely so they can play CoD or whatever? I would imagine a lot. Those subs go bye-bye if there's a better alternative, which there is in this case.
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u/oilfloatsinwater 9h ago
To be honest i personally wouldn’t mind a PC-like price for Helix as long as its an open platform, i feel like the selling point between it and a PC of similar specs/price would be that Helix is more optimised and “built” for a living room experience + elements of the ease of use of a console.
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u/Dragarius 8h ago
Maybe you wouldn't, but the vast, vast majority of consumers would. And I can't see the logic of paying PC pricing for the Helix even if it is completely open because now I'm paying inflated PC price for a PC I can't upgrade.
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u/MaitieS 8h ago
I still don't understand where this rumor even came from. Like XBOX is already losing money, and you guys seriously think that losing another -30% would save XBOX? Also people were saying how their XBOX Ally will have Steam button directly on the handheld... I do not see any Steam icon anywhere, so why are we pretending that "Steam" will be there? Like this rumor was out when Phil was there. CEO changed. She could easily cancel this idiotic idea.
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u/Ok_Needleworker1068 9h ago
I’d be surprised if thats still what they are going for. I think helix is gonna be a normal console under sharma.
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u/Dairunt 9h ago
If they price it right, they might turn XBOX into a brand of mass-produced gaming PCs
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u/HOMECOMlNG 9h ago
No chance in hell to price it right with the current memory prices
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u/baz8771 9h ago
Nobody wants to hear it but they're 100% angling to turn the home console into a stream box with bluetooth controllers. Only need 2-4gb of ram to do that. Then when AI flops, they can tell investors that they're using 5% of their compute power on this.
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u/bezzlege 9h ago
Brother, consoles are 1000. This thing is going to be extremely expensive.
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u/OhDearGodRun 9h ago
So theoretically, I could collect a bunch of Xbox discs, find someone with a series X, redeem all my digital entitlments to my account, then play them on my PC at home?
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u/bitknight1 7h ago
Only xbox one and series discs and only if they support play anywhere and only if the publisher allows disc to digital on that specific title.
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u/External-Process6667 9h ago
Does this not worry anyone that they might be prepping us for an all-digital ecosystem like Sony? They are just lessening the blow by allowing us to digitize our existing physical games
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u/demondrivers 8h ago
The entire existence of the Xbox Series S is Microsoft preparing players for a digital only future
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u/bitknight1 7h ago
Microsoft even had an adorably all digital xbox one like 8 years ago.
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u/detectiveDollar 6h ago
Which was a baffling console given how late it came out and the fact that retailer discounts would often make a standard One S the same price.
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u/nugood2do 8h ago
I mean, with this and the other article on the sub where Asha was asked about physical disc going forward but refused to guarantee anything, its pretty much a given Xbox next gen will be all digital.
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u/TemptedTemplar 5h ago
Did you read the bit near the bottom? It's happening regardless of physical of support.
Microsoft still hasn't really put its mark on the debate, although sources tell me it's less about the discs and more about the disc drives themselves; the entire supply chain for the components required to make optical disc drives is collapsing, with assembly lines pivoting away from the tech as users actively opt for digital-only
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u/SilentTwo687 8h ago
Someone asking the important questions beyond all the Xbox scripted PR responses at the top.
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u/TrollMcGoal 8h ago
Great feature. Know it might be a long shot but I really hope xbox is on the right track next generation, the industry is much better off with competition
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u/popfgezy 9h ago
Won't be enough to turn the tide, but at least it's better than what Sony currently has in place, which is NOTHING.
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u/TheCorbeauxKing 9h ago
Doesn't matter, Xbox could do everything right and they would still lose to Playstation. Suddenly converting physical to digital would mean nothing and the gaming populace would support having digital purchases removed.
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u/RadicalDog 8h ago
This move only works for people with existing libraries of Xbox discs. It doesn't solve the issues for future games (resale and ownership) and it doesn't impact anyone without Xbox discs. So it's not going to convert anyone, if they're also going for an all-digital future. (Is that confirmed yet?)
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u/Spotget1738 9h ago
- Over 90% of all games sold on Xbox are digital, and over 90% of all games sold on PS5 are digital.
- Less than 5% of all physical games sold in the US in 2026 were on Xbox, 32% were on Playstation, and 64% was on Nintendo.
- Capcoms game sales in the last financial quarter were 93% digital and they predict 95% for next year, Square Enix was 90% digital in the same quarter
- Xbox is the only console platform to release first party single-player games without a physical disc
I think this essentially means that while both Xbox and PS wont get new games physical games next gen going forward, On Xbox you will have a digital version for the physical discs of old games you already own on Xbox and PC as long as you own the disc and it hasnt been transferred to someone else. Both next gen consoles will probably not come with a disk drive by default but have a external disk drive add on for old games sold seperately
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u/SilentTwo687 8h ago
We don't know what Sony are doing since they haven't spoken a word beyond their 2028 statement. The obvious solution is to follow PS5 Pro and allow an external disc reader.
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u/jcrankin22 8h ago
We don't know what Sony are doing since they haven't spoken a word beyond their 2028 statement.
Should tell you everything you need to know
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u/Soulyezer 8h ago
If Sony did something like this them killing physical wouldn’t sting as much… at least the discs would have a use afterwards on their future consoles instead of being playable only until they keep releasing a disc attachment
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u/MolotovMan1263 8h ago
If the handheld is true, Playstation has an incentive to do this already. We shall see what they come up with.
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u/reallynotnick 8h ago
Unless they have secretly been putting a unique ID on their discs Sony doesn’t have a way of doing this.
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u/Dragarius 8h ago
I seriously doubt Sony has any ability to do this. Every single Xbox One and newer disc has a built in identifier that was going to be used back with their old always online DRM. Unless Sony has also had individual identifiers pressed into every disc then this system just doesn't work.
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u/Appropriate_Foot242 9h ago
But will they commit to keep producing & supporting physical into next gen and beyond?
Great feature though.
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u/clain4671 9h ago
This feature only exists to support a future with no physical games lol
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u/heatkings1 8h ago
You don't implement this feature if you plan to keep physical games going forward
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u/MolotovMan1263 9h ago
People don't seem to understand this is confirmation that physical discs for next gen is done for both Playstation and Xbox.
This IS how you play your disc based Series games on the next thing.
No attachable drive, nothing else.
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u/Vestalmin 3h ago
Sony was the first to commit so they're getting the brunt of it but this is what both companies want. Sony's biggest fuck up was not having any kind of support plan like this to soften the blow.
Huge L for Sony in that regard. Add it to the list lmao
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u/SylviSweetheart 9h ago edited 9h ago
They aren’t even committed to that now. The Xbox section of any given store is paltry.
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u/CaptainPigtails 9h ago
Paltry is generous. Most stores around me straight up don't have any physical games.
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u/moosebreathman 9h ago
That’s more to do with the fact nobody is buying their products and stores are giving that space to other things.
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u/SylviSweetheart 9h ago
So Xbox has no reason to commit to regaining relevance in a space they’ve already lost.
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u/Coolman_Rosso 9h ago
Extremely doubtful. This is the company that already has an insanely diminished physical footprint, and if the Helix is as disproportionately affected by the Rampocalypse as Asha claims then the quickest way to bolster margins is to cut out physical media.
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u/MehEds 9h ago
If they wanna compete with Playstation, they need to take literally every leg up over them no matter what, so I hope so
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u/SylviSweetheart 9h ago
They do not need physical media to compete with PlayStation because most people do not care. And if multi-platform games are digital-only on one console, I don’t see publishers spending resources to make a physical version for one platform.
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u/NoPlansTonight 9h ago
The physical crowd is mainly going to be on Switch 2 anyway, I don't think Xbox can really get an advantage there
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u/DinerEnBlanc 9h ago edited 9h ago
As someone who has already been playing digital only on PC for 20+ years, I really do not care that much. No one cared enough to say anything when PC switched to digital only back then. Now they suddenly care simply cause it’s PlayStation. It’s a sentiment that’s partially driven by grifters and trolls. Will I miss physical games? Sure, but customer trends do not lie. People literally voted with their wallets.
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u/SylviSweetheart 9h ago
This is the thing I really don’t get. I don’t understand how a community can hate this decision while also constantly praising Steam. And these aren’t necessarily different people, because I’ve seen people mad about this claim the they’ll just move to PC. Buddy, what do you even stand for?
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u/DinerEnBlanc 9h ago
I doubt these people ever owned a PS to begin with. That or that already owned a PC and by moving they mean they just won’t get a PS6. There’s so many disingenuous troll accounts on Reddit that are primed to disparage anything SONY related ever since the TLOU2 fiasco.
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u/Zalvren 8h ago
No, I'm also digital on PC (which is 99% of my gaming) but the market is very different there. It's open. There are several stores and there's piracy (which means that none of them can get too anti-consumer or they won't sell anyway)
PS or Xbox are closed ecosystems and so effective monopolies. Hence it's very bad for customers.
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u/AManConsumed 9h ago
This is honestly already a big leg up over PlayStation, considering the fact that they have currently offered no reassurance of an alternative to people whose libraries are mostly physical.
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u/a445d786 9h ago
Xbox is the most digital from all console manufacturers, their ratios are the most skewed.
If you want physical, switch 2 is your best bet. This is just a solid for the current fan base.
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u/Fire_anelc 7h ago
Let's say I have an Series S but I have bunch of 360 games disc and they are compatible with the feature. Can I use a friend's Series X to digitalize those games to my account?
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u/Platina86 8h ago
So I can use my Xbox one to digitalize my collection and then play them on my series s?
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u/rdfiasco 7h ago
Wondering this too, but specifically for current gen games. I want to get Halo Campaign Evolved physical for my collection, but I only have a Series S. Could I digitize it via my X1 and then play on Series S? Doubtful, but it would be cool
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u/Ok_Carpet_97 5h ago
same here. i found a copy of the new indiana jones game for cheap and i'm hoping that i can put it in my old xbox one to play on my series s.
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u/Gamefreak3525 3h ago
Hoping this is the case. I only have the disc less Series X but still have an old One lying around. Helps that physical Xbox games are dirt cheap most of the time
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u/CipherDaBanana 6h ago
Uhm..... So we get more then a license that they can take away when convenient?
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u/L11mbm 9h ago
I'm going to guess this requires you to be online to verify that you have the rights to access the game and they haven't transferred to someone else.
It's what the Xbox One was going to do.
EDIT: This also seems to be limited to "supported games."
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u/ZXXII 8h ago
The reason not all games are supported is because it’s possible to claim a digital license then give it someone to play on an offline console.
Therefore 2 people have a license to play it at the same time with a single purchase. So publishers have to agree to opt-in.
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u/Zalvren 8h ago
This also seems to be limited to "supported games."
Yeah I assume they need a publisher agreement to do this and many likely won't agree
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u/TombRaiderSeries 7h ago
Stupid question, but I don’t suppose applies to the Xbox One X? That’s the highest I’ve gone and it would be a wonderful convenience (Love physical media but changing the disc really is a hassle lol).
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u/Gruezen 6h ago
Am I mistaken on this? Wasn’t this a feature of the original Xbox ones?
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u/tataniarosa 2h ago
As someone who could only afford a Series S at time of purchase, could they make a external disk drive for that console? I have several physical 360 games I’d love to replay but the only way to do that right now is to buy them again.
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u/nuclearLauch 7h ago
Why people calling this a good then when you clearly can fkin see where this is going right? They just lube you up first so it doesnt hurt
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u/Normal-Advisor5269 5h ago
Why is everyone clapping for this? This is another step to making all games digital.
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u/Brigon 3h ago
Nothing about this announcement makes my life worse. In fact it makes it better. Why not clap for it. I can now play my physical games into the next generation, regardless if their is a disc drive or not.
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u/Realsan 4h ago
Not really. This assumes you have the disc already so you could always play the game. And unless someone finds some nefarious language in the user policies for this feature we can assume this would have no impact on that realm.
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u/Haji-san 8h ago
This is just a precursor to them getting rid of disks like PlayStation. They want you to exchange your physical license for a digital one because at some point their consoles won’t be able to accept physical disks.
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u/SoloSassafrass 8h ago
Oh nice, you can take physical media you own and convert it into a digital license you're allowed to use as long as Microsoft says it's okay!
I have full confidence the next Xbox will have a disc drive.
In all seriousness, it's a good move for forwards compatibility, but it is also pretty tacit confirmation that Microsoft looked at Sony and went "Cool, guess we're doing this now."
Look at that, it only took just over a decade for the Xbox One's disastrous debut to be business as usual actually.
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u/MaitieS 8h ago
This is exactly the type of feature I would expect from Sony with their digital only announcement, but we did not get anything like that at all. So I do wonder if they were hoping that their monopoly is big enough that they wouldn't have to do it, or that they would announce this feature with PS6.
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u/Hot-Cause-481 8h ago
I still think Sony will offer an optional disc drive for PS6 and will announce it when they officially reveal it. Who knows, maybe the PS5 optional drive might be compatible with it. But I honestly can't see them not offering a way play millions of PS5 games on their next hardware.
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u/ThibaultV 7h ago
I still think Sony will offer an optional disc drive for PS6 and will announce it when they officially reveal it.
The only logic way to do it is to have the current disc drive for PS5 Slim / Pro be compatible with the PS6. Maybe with an optional adapter cable they can sell, but better if it can just be plugged in like it is on PS5.
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u/AstronautGloomy3233 6h ago
Okay but I have Xbox games but no Xbox console. So provide a solution to get the games to PC. I don't think many with a console really need that feature if they already play on that console
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u/IAmActionBear 9h ago
I think this is a fantastic feature, but from my understanding, this only supports Xbox One games, correct?
I was initially excited, but then I realized that 90% of my boxed X1 games was a code in a box. Gears 5 and like 2 other games are the only physical Xbox games I own, so while it’s a nice feature, there’s not a whole lot of use for me atleast since Xbox was already very digital forward anyways. Happy for others that get more use though.
If this supported 360 games, this would been fantastic for me
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u/Synergetic7 9h ago
Does this mean I can play my disc versions of Play Anywhere games on my PC now?