Xbox Disc to Digital feature launches next week

After months of leaks, Microsoft has today announced its new disc-to-digital program, allowing players to obtain digital licenses for their physical games, without sacrificing any of the benefits of physical media, such as being able to sell or trade your unwanted games later down the line.

In a blog post today, Microsoft confirmed that disc-to-digital will be available starting next week, on the 31st of August. Better yet, “most” Xbox One and Xbox Series X games will support this feature from day-one, with more support to come over time.

Once live, 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. Once the entitlement is claimed, you can experience the benefits of digital, including Xbox Play Anywhere and Cloud Gaming where supported, while your physical disc continues to work exactly as it always has.

The digital license does not impede your ability to loan out your physical games, or sell them. However, once a disc is inserted into a new Xbox console, your digital license will be revoked until you get the disc back and re-insert it into your console, at which point, you can reclaim your digital entitlement.

We are still waiting for all the nitty gritty details, so we don't know if there are any limitations on how many times a digital license can be obtained per game, but so far, it doesn't sound like there are any hard limits.

KitGuru Says: While Microsoft required some developer participation for previous features like FPS Boost, Resolution Boost and backwards compatibility, it doesn't sound like they have that same requirement here, so unless a specific publisher kicks up a fuss, the vast majority of games should be supported.

Become a Patron!