Xbox announces disc-to-digital feature that digitizes your physical games
Overview & Key Takeaways
Microsoft is officially announcing a new Xbox feature that will allow Xbox owners to digitize their existing physical game collections. The disc-to-digital feature, which The Verge exclusively revealed last month, is part of work that Microsoft is doing for game preservation and in preparation for the next generation of Xbox consoles. "Most Xbox One and […]
Microsoft is officially announcing a new Xbox feature that will allow Xbox owners to digitize their existing physical game collections. The disc-to-digital feature, which The Verge exclusively revealed last month, is part of work that Microsoft is doing for game preservation and in preparation for the next generation of Xbox consoles.
“Most Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games support this new feature,” explains Jason Ronald, VP of next generation at Xbox. “Players can claim a digital entitlement by inserting a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console and launching the game.” This digital entitlement is tied to the specific disc, and it will move from account to account if you swap the physical game with a friend or log in to a different Xbox profile and try to play a disc-based game.
Microsoft will start testing this new Xbox disc-to-digital feature with Xbox Insider testers on August 31st, followed by a broader rollout to Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles in the coming months. Once you have a digital version of an Xbox disc game, if supported you’ll also be able to access the game on PC through Xbox Play Anywhere, or stream it to multiple devices with Xbox Cloud Gaming.
A leaked memo from earlier this month revealed that publishers would have control over the Xbox disc-to-digital, so not every game will be supported initially. “We’re starting with thousands of titles, and we’ll continue to add more over time,” says Ronald. “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.”
The Xbox disc-to-digital feature arrives just weeks after Sony announced it’s killing all physical PlayStation game discs. New PlayStation games released after January 2028 will be digital-only, but it’s not yet clear if Microsoft will announce a similar end of production for Xbox discs. Either way, Sony hasn’t announced a similar feature for converting an existing physical library into a digital one.
Microsoft is also bringing Xbox and Xbox 360 games to PC, in a move that could allow the next Xbox console to play every Xbox game ever made.
