After Sony announced plans to abandon physical discs by 2028, all eyes turned to Microsoft to see whether its next-gen console, codenamed Project Helix and described as “an open-platform hybrid PC-console,” will continue to support physical media.
Microsoft has largely stayed silent (though there are plenty of reasons to keep an easily accessible 4K Blu-ray drive for consumers). One big hint that Xbox may be gearing up for a disc-less future, though, is the rollout of a feature called Disc to Digital.
The new tool lets players claim digital copies of their Xbox Series X or Xbox One physical games, making them accessible anywhere they can log into their Xbox account. After a month of beta testing for Xbox Insider users, the feature is now open to everyone, and you don't even need an Xbox Game Pass subscription. In theory, it allows anyone to archive their physical collections—but it’s not without a few complications.
So, how does it work? It’s almost as easy as just popping the disc into your console, but not quite. Microsoft says “playing any supported Xbox One or Xbox Series X game disc while signed in will grant you a digital license of that game.” In my experience, this didn’t happen automatically when I launched a game disc.
” Disc-to-Digital games are tied to your Xbox account rather than your console, and appear in your library with a new icon on the game tile, a disc “disintegrating” into bits of data.
Source link
