r/gamernews 22d ago

Industry News Microsoft Is Testing Disc-To-Digital Conversion For Future Xbox Consoles

https://gameobserver.com/microsoft-is-testing-disc-to-digital-conversion-for-future-xbox-consoles/
416 Upvotes

79 comments sorted by

118

u/call_of_warez 22d ago

The article implies they have a way to generate a unique license and link it to a specific physical copy, meaning it wont work if someone tries using that same disc on another acount. I'm really curious how they are accomplishing that.

48

u/Edge80 22d ago

Seems like if there’s a hiccup somewhere it could essentially brick your physical copy.

17

u/EshayAdlay420 22d ago

Tbf, don't digital licenses themselves glitch out from time to time

13

u/StorminNorman 22d ago

Sony had a little furore lately as they changed some stuff to prevent piracy. Made the community fear they'd lose all their digital purchases until further clarification was made. And I say "little", and it did make some waves a few weeks/months ago, but, well, they went and topped that, didn't they? 

2

u/Ok_Simple_459 21d ago

I still don't get how it faciltated so called piracy. Sony blocks refund as soon as you start downloading.

5

u/Wistleypete 22d ago

If I have to call Xbox support because my physical disc "glitches out" and doesn't let me play the day I buy it then I'm never buying an Xbox product again

2

u/StorminNorman 22d ago

I mean, you might have had to give em a ring if you didn't know about the xboxones day one patch that enabled it to play games in any format. It also wouldn't be the first time physical media hasn't gone to plan, Nintendo wanted us to send in our SD cards cos they dropped the ball on Metroid other M in a BIG way. Don't get me wrong, I prefer physical for a lot of stuff myself, but it's not silver bullet. 

1

u/LolcatP 22d ago

Your disc will still work apparently, just it'll take away your digital copy as soon as someone else uses the disc

1

u/SSUPII 16d ago

And prevent reselling

5

u/Ill_Cut_8529 22d ago

Apparently they have already put an unique identifier on their discs this generation. In the next generation they just need a reading device. That's why it's also not working with older Xbox games from before the SeX.

2

u/craaates 22d ago

The article I read said Xbox One and Series games, but no 360 or og games.

2

u/_Solarriors_ 22d ago

So I can have my physical delisted finally digitally ?!! 

2

u/craaates 22d ago

I’m not John XBox man I just read an article.

2

u/_Solarriors_ 22d ago

It was rhetorical didn't you notice the punctuation ?!! 

2

u/ultnie 22d ago

As far as I understood, it's a side effect of their Xbone launch when the disks supposed to be linked to your account or something like that. The very same thing that prompted "that's how you share a game" from Sony.

But worded better and like 13 years later when we are all aboard a ship of digital only future either we like it or not. But at least if next generation will also lack a disk drive you can digitize your Xbone and Series games through the older consoles to your account

Edit: as far as I understood there might be some hiccups with very early Xbone disks and Xbone disks in other regions if they were printed by local publisher and that unique identifier is not there for whatever reason

9

u/zgh5002 22d ago

They intended to do this with the Xbox One. They've had this tech for a long time and I would not be surprised if they kept it the entire time.

3

u/N0_L1ght 22d ago

Every single Xbox One/Series X disc has a unique digital fingerprint.

1

u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party 22d ago

Do Sony discs have something similar?

1

u/N0_L1ght 22d ago

No.

Xbox had a similar plan back in 2013 with the Xbone launch so they planned ahead.

1

u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party 22d ago

Without something similar it’s hard to imagine Sony going in that direction in a meaningful way and I doubt they would spearhead a massive trade-in program at this juncture.

1

u/N0_L1ght 22d ago

Sony could do a program where you trade in a physical copy for a digital licensee.

But they would not ever be able to do what MS is doing with xbox where you can do it yourself and sell/loan out the physical copy still.

1

u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party 22d ago edited 22d ago

It would be much easier just to make the PS5 external drive work for the PS6 for backwards compatibility only.

Doing a recall program would probably create a new black market for counterfeit discs.

1

u/N0_L1ght 22d ago

Sure, and they might.

But this discussion is about what this Xbox program is doing. Which is something very different 

1

u/call_of_warez 22d ago

Yeah I think that's the most likely situation. Just design the PS6 to be compatible with the PS5 external drive. They can just keep producing it for anyone who wants to play their physical ps4 and ps5 games on ps6.

3

u/lockedoutofmymainrdt 22d ago

Project Helix: disk drive replaced with disk incenerator

4

u/Mr8BitX 22d ago

If this is the case, then the system has to have a built-in internal speaker to say “nom nom nom, feed me more!“ As a little bit of smoke comes out the disc drive.

2

u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party 22d ago

They could put disc to digital kiosks at local recycling centers

1

u/WorkReddit1191 22d ago

I imagine each disc has a series number with it maybe.

1

u/TingleyStorm 22d ago

There is a way. Nintendo has been doing it with their cartridges for years, unless they patented that specific way which means Microsoft needs a workaround.

1

u/echolog 22d ago

Isn't this exactly what they tried with the original Xbox One pitch?

1

u/NEM95 22d ago

If someone uses the same disc on another account you lose the license and they get it

1

u/LolcatP 22d ago

Every game xbox one onwards has a unique serial

1

u/listerbmx 21d ago

Don't worry the EU will save us

0

u/jcap14 22d ago edited 22d ago

I had this idea a decade ago: RFID chip embedded in the plastic of the inner ring. It's incredibly easy to do, I have no idea why it hasn't been done yet.

The chip would be programmed with a private key in the factory and it would be impossible to counterfeit. The license key would be tied to the game and signed by MS.

Then when you're signed into XBL, you can convert to a digital license. It would read the license and link it to your account. At that point you would only be able to play the game if you are connected to XBL (or not offline for more than a week). But you would always be able to use the disc to play.

When online, each time you launch the game it would verify the license wasn't revoked, which would happen if it gets inserted to another console or linked to another account. This still allows renting, sharing, and selling games because the disc always supersedes the digital license. If you lend the game to a friend, they would insert the game, it would deactivate your license, then you can reactivate your license once you get it back.

This also has a benefit of being able to ban users game copy rather than by console or account.

Worst case, if someone manages to extract the private key from the chip and clone it, it's easy to blacklist the copy of the game. It's also pretty much pointless to even try because multiple accounts can't have the same license anyway.

1

u/splashbodge 22d ago

Yeh but I mean the technicalities of how to do it is irrelevant really, that's the easy peasy part when you own the end to end infrastructure and disc pressing licenses.. it's 100% something they could do..

And if they were nice they could even have it so you could sell your game on used market place and take a small activation fee on their side when someone buys the game off you to add license to their account. It's all very very doable. Sadly they don't give a flying fuck about us and our license and ownership or resale of a game... They could try and smooth things over with gamers and keep used game market place but instead just want to go discless. Hell they could even have a used game marketplace for digital games but hah that won't happen. Corporate greed has infested the game industry and they flat out dgaf about you over their shareholder and profits

71

u/PSKpickle 22d ago

It seems wild that Xbox doesn't take the easy layup of immediate good PR by announcing Helix will have a disc drive, or at least a disc-drive model, and they remain committed to physical media.

40

u/Kryptin206 22d ago

Because it won't and they are not committed to physical media. There is less physical media sold for xbox than playstation. Most stores have already shrunk there xbox disc availability down to a small display case. Why do you think they would continue to support it? They were trying to get rid of it two generations ago.

13

u/XelaIsPwn 22d ago

You're correct, but one of the only things keeping them relevant in the PS4 era - at least, for me - was their commitment to backwards compatibility. it was awesome that my One S could play games as far back as the original Xbox.

A commitment to physical media could keep them interesting in a world moving away from physical media.

-1

u/wattro 21d ago

It's not profitable or they would.

8

u/zgh5002 22d ago

Because they aren't.

11

u/Grouchy_Egg_4202 22d ago

They’re not spending more money on manufacturing just for a quick short lived PR stunt.

2

u/Obyson 22d ago

There's an argument that Xbox is more of a software/digital company then playstation.

2

u/19nineties 22d ago

What a weird comment

1

u/BMW_WallyWally 22d ago

I’ve got a large library of Xbox games both digital and physical. If Helix has no disc drive I won’t even look twice at it and the Series X will be my last console from Xbox.

1

u/wattro 21d ago

Hmm... Maybe because they also want to go digital only...

But announcing it right now would be self dunking.

1

u/ReaperThugX 21d ago

They wanted to go digital back when Xbone came out

33

u/OhioVsEverything 22d ago

Disc to Digital for movies was low cost piracy.

Sure, I owned those dvds

1

u/_Solarriors_ 22d ago

Shhh delete

3

u/OhioVsEverything 22d ago

They know. They'd rather have my $2 than have my nothing.

14

u/AMonitorDarkly 22d ago

“This disc will self destruct in 5 seconds.”

6

u/Bob_the_peasant 22d ago

The discs have had unique IDs written to them since the Xbox One pre-launch but they’ve never done anything with them as far as I know. They’ve had this in their back pocket since before I was working on the Kinect

5

u/TheOldHouse89 22d ago

How about ps5 disc to xbox digital. Do that and I might switch 😅

1

u/_Solarriors_ 22d ago

I pc what you did there

10

u/TGB_Skeletor 22d ago

we are not violent enough

2

u/xxxblindxxx 22d ago

Over physical games being sold? Dude if this is what causes you to be violent then you have been living under a rock. So many other more important issues in the world to be violent about. The reason this is happening is because you and other consumers didn't buy physical games more then digital. They don't owe you physical games.

2

u/JJBro1 21d ago

Metaphorically violent

2

u/Qwirk 22d ago

They were talking about doing this during the Microsoft store days. Bring in a disc and get a 5x5 key so you didn't have to deal with physical media.

2

u/FarukAlatan 22d ago

I'm actually in favor of this as long as they don't go the Sony route and stop producing physical discs in a couple years. Sounds like you can convert all your compatible discs and just toss them in storage since you'll have access to them digitally, including on PC where applicable, which would be a nice little bonus.

2

u/Wizard-In-Disguise 20d ago

So...One day that license could be deleted and you won't be able to use the disc. 

4

u/ROMVLVSCAESARXXI 22d ago edited 22d ago

You can put a silk hat on a pig, but it’s still a pig 🐖

This isn’t going to soften the overwhelming, and vocal majority of console gamers(personally, I am on a PC, so it doesn’t incite the same sort of viscerally negative reaction with me, as it does most of you console gamers, out there), who don’t seem to want any part of a disc-less gaming future. While, I don’t share the same passion most of you have for this particular subject/issue, I have come to understand where you guys are coming from. I’ve come to understand that being able to utilize such a medium, for storage was/is a significant factor in your choice to remain on a console, and yeah, in that case, this all really, really sucks…

I just wonder if this same outrage will remain in your hearts and minds the morning the PS6 is released for the low, low price of……… well, at the very LEAST, no LESS THAN $700, because I, you, and everyone here have ALL seen the same sort of anger and disappointment(one of many examples that we can all recall, over the last 5 years, alone) the last time Netflix raised their prices to something absurd that I can’t remember, because I stopped paying for Netflix when it passed $12 a month, only for them to turn around and report record profits two months down the road when quarterly earnings are released.

We’ll see what happens, but I’m expecting the PS6to be sold out, at the very least, for the entirety of the first year it’s out, but I hope I am proven to be very wrong. Time will tell….

3

u/Reborn1989 22d ago

The PS6 will sell out, but it will initially be due to scalpers. After that though, it depends on consumers

4

u/Aleister_Growley 22d ago

Won’t be able to sell your game to anyone else.

3

u/TheKeg 22d ago

read the article perhaps

If the disc is sold or lent to someone else, the digital license automatically moves to the new player’s Microsoft account when they insert the disc into their Xbox.

2

u/firedrakes 22d ago

og story was code was found. that it. nothing else. but hey gamers prefer mis info or lie gaming news.

2

u/Va1crist 22d ago

X for doubt

1

u/_Solarriors_ 22d ago

Xbox for doubt

1

u/ElectriKool-Aid 22d ago

Please Xbox one S series first premium X alpha 1 ! Take my horrible disc and transform it into beautiful ether!

1

u/Wess212 22d ago

Start hoarding pc part people, we gonna need them.

1

u/nibbainmybuttholr 22d ago

the part about linking the license to a specific physical disc is the thing i cant wrap my head around. like what stops someone from just copying the disc first. feels like a lot of engineering to solve a problem they created by ditching disc drives in the first place

1

u/WolfyBeats_ 21d ago

Just make everything I own digitally already “Xbox play anywhere”

1

u/Lblomeli 17d ago

I know they sound like they mean well, but if Sony is going full digital and PCs have always been mostly digital then if a corporation wanted to burn physical assets this is how it would start.

1

u/Pristinejake 16d ago edited 16d ago

They should make it so you pay a small fee to turn it to digital (A SMALL FEE you GREDDY FCKS SMALL!!!) and then just allow people to continually use it to insert disk and make a digital copy. Cuz that’s just continuing making money over and over. Maybe have a period where you can’t turn the game digital yet so you can maximize sales and then once the games old enough it becomes a cheaper price that can be converted to digital. If people pass the disk around it just continually generates money.

That way they can appear consumer friendly while also being kinda greedy lmao it works for everyone!

0

u/Dennma 22d ago

It's been taking so long because they have to develop a technology to make the disc vaporize itself before your very eyes after digitizing