Xbox’s solution for letting players use their discs on disc-free devices may be coming as soon as this month.
Last month it was reported that Xbox was working on a feature, codenamed Disc2Digital, which was being tried out by internal testers.
The feature lets players insert a compatible Xbox disc and receive a digital licence for it, essentially turning it into a digital version that acts as if it had been bought on the Xbox Store (and therefore no longer needs to have the disc in the drive).
Now The Verge reports that it’s received a document, recently sent to developers, which suggests the feature will be rolling out soon.
According to the publication, the report says a public beta for the program was supposed to take place in July, before rolling out for general availability in August.
The plan was reportedly to test the program with Xbox Insiders last month, but this was then delayed. It’s not clear whether the August target for the full roll-out is still the plan, or whether it too has been delayed, but it does appear that the feature should be expected in the coming weeks or months, rather than in 2027 for example.
Players will be able to turn their disc games into digital games
The document describes the process in a similar way to what was reported last month. If a player inserts an Xbox One or Xbox Series X disc into either console, they’ll be given a digital licence which is attached to that disc and the player’s account.
The licence will then stay with the player’s account, meaning the game will act like any other digital purchase – this means not only will they be able to play that game on the same console without needing to have the disc inserted, they will also be able to play it on other consoles (such as Xbox Series S).
Last month’s report also said the digital version would contain all the usual benefits it would if buying it on the Xbox Store. As such, if the game is available for streaming on Xbox Cloud Gaming, players with a Game Pass subscription will be able to stream it. If it’s a Play Anywhere title, they will also get access to the PC version.
In order to prevent widespread sharing of each game, the digital entitlement will also be tied to each disc. This means if players give their disc to a friend, trade it in, or try to play it with a different Xbox profile, the digital entitlement will swap over from account to account.
Discs will reportedly continue to work after they’ve been installed, and players will only lose their entitlement to keep playing it if the disc is given to a friend or sold to someone else.
