In a move that has been rumored since July, Xbox announced a new feature that can convert physical Xbox games into a digital collection.
According to Xbox vice president of next generation Jason Ronald on the Xbox Wire blog, the feature works by first inserting a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X. From there, the console reads the disc, launches the game, and lets you claim a digital entitlement for the game.
This digital entitlement doesn’t need to live with you – it can move from account to account if you swap games with a friend, for example. The same goes for if you decide to sell the game.
As for what you can do with it, the digital entitlement lets you play your games on an Xbox console, on PC through Xbox Play Anywhere, and over the cloud through Xbox Cloud Gaming.
Ronald said “thousands of titles” will be supported when the disc-to-digital feature becomes available to the masses later this year. Publishers will presumably have control over whether to support the feature, but it sounds as if more titles will be supported over time.
“While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come,” said Ronald.
You don’t have to wait very long if you’re an Xbox Insider tester, however – the feature will be available on August 31.
This could give Microsoft a leg up on Sony, which announced it would halt production of physical discs for any PlayStation released after January 2028. Sony hasn’t announced a similar disc-to-digital feature of its own, though only time will tell if one is coming.
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