Xbox will let you claim a digital license for the discs you own starting next week
With Sony announcing that it will stop physical production of new games starting in 2028, the future of physical games has never been so uncertain. With that, I’m in two minds about one of the latest announcements to come out of Xbox. You see, the company has finally revealed its disc to digital program, which will allow you to pop an Xbox game disc into your console and obtain a digital license for it.
On the one hand, it’s great. Anyone that’s built up a library of physical games will be able to pop them into their console and then play them without having to put the disc in again. And when it comes to games that support Play Anywhere, the digital license provided will allow that game to be played on PC, including handheld devices like the ROG Ally. That’s quite a nifty thing.
What’s not so great is what it insinuates – that perhaps the next Xbox console won’t have a disc drive at all, much like the PS6 probably won’t have a disc drive. Essentially, it’s easy to read the disc to digital scheme as a way to digitise your physical game collection in preparation for the end of physical media. Still, it’s better to be able to get a digital license for your physical games than not, and Sony hasn’t announced a similar scheme yet, which is disconcerting.
In any case, Xbox Insiders will be able to start trying out the disc to digital function starting from 31st August – this Monday. And apparently, most Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S games will be supported. The finer details of the program remain unclear, however, such as what happens when a disc that has been used to claim a digital license is loaded up on another person’s account on another console. Will the digital license automatically be transferred, or will the disc just actually function as a disc and no longer allow a digital license to be acquired? I guess we’ll see next week.
