Xbox Disc-to-Digital has arrived, and hundreds of games are supported
Xbox Disc-to-Digital has arrived, and it is already supported by hundreds of physical games
Microsoft has started rolling out Xbox Disc-to-Digital support to Xbox Insiders, letting them redeem digital licenses with physical game discs for compatible titles. This applies to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S game discs, though not all games are compatible.
So far, almost 1,000 Xbox games have been confirmed to be compatible with Disc-To-Digital. However, it seems clear that some game publishers may not plan to support the program. Microsoft says that game eligibility can vary depending on “technical, licensing, publishing, manufacturing, or other factors”.
Disc-to-Digital does not give gamers access to a permanent digital copy of a game. Digital licenses will be revoked if someone else uses your game disc. As such, Disc-to-Digital game owners should keep their game discs to maintain their digital licensing benefit.
Disc-to-digital licensing on XBOX is a new way to make many of your disc-based games easier to access wherever you play. When you use an eligible XBOX One or XBOX Series X game disc, Microsoft may grant a digital license associated with that disc. This allows you to access supported digital versions of the game without keeping the disc inserted while playing.
Not all XBOX One or XBOX Series X game discs are eligible for disc-to-digital licensing. Eligibility may change over time, and varies due to technical, licensing, publishing, manufacturing, and other factors.
A disc-to-digital license is associated with the qualifying game disc. To maintain access to certain disc-to-digital licensing benefits, you may be required to demonstrate continued possession of the qualifying disc. For example, if you lose, sell, give away, or otherwise no longer possess a qualifying disc, access to associated disc-to-digital licenses may be limited or revoked.
– Xbox
Some publishers are more supportive than others
The xct.live project has been documenting disc-to-digital game support. So far, over 900 games have been confirmed to work with Disc-to-Digital. Some publishers have stronger Disc-to-Digital support than others. Some games show a “not participating in digital licensing” message when you insert a disc. For these games, it sounds like their publishers have specifically opted out of the program.
So far, the publishers with the worst support for Disc-to-Digital are Ubisoft, SEGA, and Bandai Namco, all of which have no, or very few, supported games. This may be due to a publisher opt-out, or some other unknown reason.
Play Anywhere titles unlock the game’s PC version
For Xbox Play Anywhere titles, using Disc-to-Digital gives gamers digital access to their games on both PC and Xbox. Digital games will be available through the Xbox App on PC. That’s great news for PC gamers who also own Xbox consoles, as well as owners of an ASUS ROG Xbox Ally gaming handheld (or other Windows PC handhelds).
Disable “Play disc automatically” if you are bulk claiming game licenses
If you aren’t an Xbox user and plan to “bulk claim” your game library, Microsoft suggests disabling the “Play disc automatically” setting on your Xbox. This will allow you to claim your game licenses faster by avoiding attempted game installs or playbacks.
- Press the XBOX button and go to Profile & system > Settings
- Go to Devices & connections > Disc
- Uncheck the Play disc automatically box
You can join the discussion on Xbox Disc-to-Digital on the OC3D Forums.
