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Massive news dropped this morning from XBOX, as the video game platform’s rumored disc-to-digital plan is real and debuting soon.
XBOX plots the best of both worlds
It’s clear that the digital format just plain lends itself towards certain things. There’s the ease of use, for one thing, since players can just boot up games right from their hard drives, instead of using a disc. In the case of XBOX, there’s also the ability to play those games on hardware like the XBOX ROG Ally. You just can’t do that with a disc.
On the flip side though, there’s also a real and solid desire out there for fans to actually own their games. When it comes to that, there’s no clearer case than actually having those games on a physical disc. The want is more than understandable too. After all, digital games (and movies) have proven to not exactly be on completely solid ground as of late.
Considering all of the above though, what’s a platform like XBOX to do as it revamps and moves into the future? Well, it turns out, that’d be putting something of a conversion process into effect. There’s a heck of a kick to it though, because that process also preserves the original discs.
How it works
Hinted at for months in the online space, and just confirmed at Gamescom, the XBOX‘ disc-to-digital program is looking shocking simple to use. It’s so easy, that we warn you ahead of time that it’s going to sound like fiction. Nevertheless, it’s both real and apparently on the way to the Insiders Program in short order.
Basically, and as it was described in a video segment posted to social media, fans will be able to claim a digital edition of their XBOX discs. This will happen by simply running those games on their consoles. Yes, that’s it.
Once run on a console, the game can be playable with the install only, via XBOX Play Anywhere (as long as it’s supported), and even by cloud streaming. The license will be tied to the disc, meaning that you can still lend the physical game out to friends.
The catch to that, is that once someone else runs the game in question, they’ll have that license. And yes, you’ll lose yours. So you won’t be able to lend that game out and still play your digital copy while waiting for it to be returned. Maybe that’s not completely ideal, but it’s definitely understandable.
According to XBOX, the feature is set to go out to those in the Insiders program next week. We’d assume it won’t be all that long before it hits full release thereafter, assuming everything goes according to plan. Stay tuned.
