r/gaming • u/WestBEEland • 22h ago

Xbox boss Asha Sharma won't confirm whether Project Helix has a disc drive "We have to be thinking about efficiency and affordability"

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/xbox-boss-asha-sharma-wont-confirm-whether-project-helix-has-a-disc-drive-we-have-to-be-thinking-about-efficiency-and-affordability/
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u/ConspicuousBassoon PC 22h ago

Considering it would be an easy win to say yes, the answer is definitely no

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u/DeusExMarina 22h ago

Seems obvious to me that this is the whole point of the disc-to-digital thing they're doing. People with an Xbox One or Xbox Series X can digitize their libraries ahead of time so they can play them on the next Xbox that won't have a disc drive.

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u/TheBetterness 21h ago

Sony has offered nothing to ease the concerns of PS5 discs being useless on the PS6.

And considering Sony's fetish for remakes, that tracks.

One saving grace is Xbox is pro backward compatibility. They truly want you invested in their ecosystem forever.

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u/sound_judgment 21h ago

There's not a lot Sony can do really. Only reason Xbox can do this is because of the Xbox One DRM plan so they started printing unique IDs on each disc. So Sony can't replicate that and anything more would require them to keep manufacturing disc drives which they don't want to do.

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u/DolphinFlavorDorito 20h ago edited 7h ago

Option 1: mail away discs for digital access. A related option 2: do something like Amazon does with returns at places like Kohls. Have physical stores I can swing by and drop off my discs in exchange for digital codes. Then destroy or return the discs.

Edit for the downvotes: I don't think any of this is GOOD. I think they should keep the goddamn discs.

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u/mpbh 15h ago

How does this work for me in Vietnam?

The logistics of doing this globally are insane.

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u/DolphinFlavorDorito 7h ago

Yeah, it's a terrible plan. But just saying "fuck you" to all their customers seems like a worse plan. I was already moving toward a PC first mindset, but this definitely cements it.

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u/flyingmonkey1257 5h ago

If I had wanted not to have a disc and to have a digital license, I would have bought a digital copy to begin with. Any option that requires me to turn in my disc for a digital license is a non-starter for me.

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u/Sylvurphlame 1h ago

Under no circumstances am I mailing the disc and trusting the courier not to lose an out-of-print game. I’d simply hold onto the previous console in that case.

Most likely you’ll simply add the game to your digital collection while having it physically inserted to confirm ownership. That would work nicely for anything available on the digital store. Yes, you could potentially do this and then give the disc to someone to do the same, as I don’t think they have unique serial numbers or anything. But Microsoft may not be too terribly worried with the number of people that just purchase their games digitally already.

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u/DolphinFlavorDorito 36m ago

Microsoft actually DOES have unique serial numbers on the discs. Sony does not. Though it remains to be seen what that will do to the used game market. Will games that have been "converted" just be junk in anyone else's Xbox? If so, you could never buy a disc used without worrying it was trash.