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Following Sony's announcement that it was ceasing production of physical PlayStation games from 2028, hinting towards an all-digital PS6, Tom Warren at The Verge has reported that Xbox employees are now testing a disc-to-digital entitlement programme, which would be a necessary component to preserve backwards compatibility ahead of a hypothetical disc-free Project Helix console - and a "likely" similar halt in production of Xbox game discs.
According to Warren, the disc-to-digital feature will work for Xbox Series and Xbox One era games only, meaning original Xbox and Xbox 360 discs that work on Xbox Series X/S under back-compat will not be supported. For supported titles, inserting a disc, installing and playing the game will create a digital license on your Xbox account, allowing you to play it subsequently without the disc.
If the disc is later used on another account - eg you sell the game, loan it to a friend or use it on another account - the digital entitlement will move to the new user. Therefore, you have some incentive to physically hold onto games that you want to keep playing, while still allowing usable game discs to be sold to game retailers or directly to other gamers.
How should Project Helix support physical game discs? (143 votes)
- Via a built-in disc drive
- Via external disc drives
- Via a disc-to-digital entitlement programme
The Xbox PC app already has code referring to a "enable Disc2Digital" toggle, and undergoing the process will allow you to play Xbox games on PC if they are Xbox Play Anywhere titles. Similarly, you will be able to stream games in your library to other devices via Xbox Cloud Gaming if you have an active Game Pass subscription.
Relatively few restrictions apply, though Microsoft has apparently noted to its internal testers that some early Xbox One discs may not work, as it "all depends on how and when the disc was manufactured... it may not have the features we need for this program".
Microsoft first experimented with disc-based licenses back in the Xbox One era - which started 13 years ago! - and though they didn't eventually use the system in the face of consumer pressure, it's clear that licenses have still built into all discs going forward to eventually allow for this disc-to-digital feature.
What do you make of the news? Personally, I feel that the inclusion of such a feature makes the digital transition a lot more manageable, even if I'd prefer that all games consoles continue to offer a disc drive option. As always, we welcome your thoughts in the comments below.