Less than a month after it started testing its Disc-to-Digital program with Insiders, Xbox has now started rolling the feature out to all users. The company has taken to social media to make the announcement, posting a short video showcasing how Xbox Series X users can use the feature to convert their physical games into digital licenses.
On its support page, Xbox has explained that not all Xbox One or Xbox Series X games are eligible to be converted into digital licenses through the program. This seems to depend on each publisher opting in, and eligibility for games may change over time depending on technical, licensing, publishing, manufacturing, and other factors.
It is worth noting that a digital license for a game is associated with the disc it was acquired through. This means that players might lose access to the game if they decide to convert it into a digital license and give it away.
“A disc-to-digital license is associated with the qualifying game disc. Without possession of the qualifying disc, you may lose the disc-to-digital licensing benefits. 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.”
The idea that some companies would be averse to participating in the disc-to-digital program shouldn’t seem too far-fetched. During the testing period for the feature, users had reported that Ubisoft and Square Enix games couldn’t be converted into digital licenses. Rather, players were simply met with a message stating “Digital license unavailable” and that “this game is not participating in digital licensing.” Neither Square Enix nor Ubisoft has made any statements regarding the matter.
When it first unveiled the Disc to Digital program back in August, Xbox said that players have spent “decades building their Xbox libraries” through discs and digital purchases. “Our goal is to make it easier for those libraries to move forward with players.”
Xbox has said that it is starting the feature off with thousands of titles, and has confirmed that it only works for Xbox One and Xbox Series X games for now. Whether there are any plans to extend the program to include discs made for the original Xbox or the Xbox 360 remains to be seen. Considering the company’s backwards compatibility efforts, however, an eventual announcement regarding the matter wouldn’t be too surprising.
While it didn’t outright make any mention of next-gen console hardware, the disc-to-digital program could be interpreted as a way for Microsoft to start phasing out physical releases of games altogether. The company hasn’t made any such announcement yet. However, the feature’s existence may hint at Project Helix not featuring any disc drive at all.
Sony, on the other hand, has outright confirmed that it is planning to end the production of new PlayStation discs in January 2028. Following this cut-off point, discs for older PlayStation games will continue to be produced. New releases, however, will only be available through digital means. Production of discs is slated to drop by 10 percent by January 2028.
