Following months of intense speculation, Xbox has officially confirmed its Disc-to-Digital feature which will soon be rolling out to Xbox Insiders.
The move is expected to benefit users that own physical games, allowing them to convert their disc license to a digital one. Doing so will unlock all features associated with digital games, including Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
To do so, players will need to insert a supported disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X and launch the game. Once claimed, they will be able to access the digital benefits, while the original disc will continue to work exactly as it did before.
It is really impressive that not only is Xbox supporting Cloud Gaming with this, something we’ve talked positively about before, but also Xbox Play Anywhere. This means that if you have a compatible game sitting around, you will also get the PC version for it.
It is a significant step for game preservation, especially for players who have spent several generations building a physical library of Xbox Games. This is much needed after Sony’s recent discless debacle.
The more control people can have over their libraries the better, but there are a few bits we are curious about, whether the digital entitlement will remain permanent to where it’s been redeemed or will players be able to transfer the entitlement by inserting the disc in another console.
Those who are on the Xbox Insider Program will be able to test this feature out on 31 August. Xbox is starting with thousands of titles, and will continue to add more over time. They hope that while not every title will be available at launch, this will mark an important step towards a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come.
