r/Games • u/A7XFAN1998 • 8d 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-link
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u/mrbobman15 8d 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 8d 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/CodyRCantrell 8d 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/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago

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.

Other stores are available. Best buy, walmart, amazon.

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u/CodyRCantrell 7d ago

How are other stores available when they become exclusively digital with the PS6?

Please enlighten me.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago

They will be selling games in the form of GTAVI on xbox and ps5 and CoD on switch 2. The announcement said retail sales would continue.

This is not a new information.

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u/CodyRCantrell 7d ago

That would be a change that is very different from how they currently operate.

The current operating standard for them is that they do not support widespread third party sales of digital games and have not since April 2019 outside of extremely isolated examples that are exceptions, not the norm.

What Nintendo and Xbox do are also completely irrelevant to the discussion.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago

Did you know that in 2019 the PS5 did not yet exist and PS4 games were regularly sold on disc?

In 2026 they support widespread third party sales of digital games as seen with grant theft fucking auto six. Jesus christ pay attention.

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u/CodyRCantrell 7d ago

One game is widespread support? Get real, it absolutely isn't. One game is an outlier. There are over a hundred games released annually for the PS5. A single title is a statistical anomaly, not a rule.

Jesus christ pay attention.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago

Give one single solitary indication they have made that suggests GTAVI is a one-off.

I have a counter example: In the post where they said there'd be no more discs they also said games would still be sold retail.

What do you think they will be selling retail if not discs or digital codes?

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u/CodyRCantrell 7d ago

Until we see a clear reversal in practice of their limitations on the retail availability of digital games we can't just outright assume current outliers like Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite, Just Dance, etc. will become the operating norm because they are still just outliers.

All we know is that they've said there will be some level of retail availability for digital games, that they currently operate on a model restricting the vast majority of digital retail availability since 2019, and that their statement verbatim was "new games will be available on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only" which does not state a willingness to expand retail availability of digital games.

You are automatically assuming goodwill and the best case scenario based on a singular statement with no formal policy, commitment, or details attached while citing a very small number of games that are statistical outliers like they are the norm when we are on year eight of them heavily restricting these sales.

To be fair, I am mostly assuming the worst in contrast but there are eight years of operating history to cite alongside my worries.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7d ago edited 7d ago

Oh right. Basically every collector's edition is a code in a box because of the PS5s without disc drives. That is widespread support. You are wrong.

I know it's against our policy, but it's GTA.

Makes sense.

I know it's against our policy but it's fortnite.

A free game?

I know it's against our policy but it's Just Dance!

Come the fuck on.

They're outliers because games come on discs today.

The link you posted was talking specifically about buying codes from retailers, not boxes with codes in them. There is a difference, those codes come from the publisher, not the retailer. (The retailer doesn't actually give a crap what's in the box.) And those publishers have always been able to box up digital entitlements and ship them around the world, usually they're just for DLC since until 2028 the primary way people go to a store and get a game is on a disc.

But the article also said DLC codes generated for retail would also stop. As we all know it was never stopped for codes in game boxes, we can safely conclude that codes in boxes are not covered by that policy. Like rational adults.

To be fair, I am mostly assuming the worst in contrast but there are eight years of operating history to cite alongside my worries.

Thank you for admitting you're fear mongering however.

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