Xbox’s Disc-To-Digital Program Means Microsoft Is Probably Done With Discs Too

That’s all to say that this initiative hasn’t been trivial, which would make it rather wasteful if its next console will support discs anyway. Whether it’s offered as a standard option, like the Xbox Series X, or as an add-on, like Sony does with the PlayStation 5 Slim and Pro, a disc drive would allow you to enjoy your physical library in the exact same way as you can today: via a full installation that requires the disc in the console to authenticate and play. This disc-to-digital program allows you to swap between digital versions of your disc-based games without having to physically swap discs, which was only ever a convenience issue. It does, however, allow you to play your supported physical games on both PC and via cloud streaming neither of which is possible today. Even so, it’s unlikely the demand for that functionality alone was high enough to convince Microsoft to go down this route, especially when it could have at any point over the last two generations..

Losing access to a physical library in its entirety is a problem that would motivate such an undertaking, made even more obvious by the reception Sony has received for not providing such a solution. Sony is sticking to its plans and ceasing production of discs but hasn’t yet detailed a way for current owners of libraries of PS4 and PS5 discs to continue playing their games on what will almost certainly now be a discless PlayStation 6. 

In a similar way, Sony would not choose to stop disc production if it planned to offer a disc drive on its next console, and Microsoft’s disc-to-digital program strongly signals the same intent, albeit while solving the biggest issue Sony has now created for itself. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was recently asked about whether or not Project Helix will support discs, and her response didn’t provide a clear answer. “I want to make sure people have a choice. There are stacks of games on everybody’s shelves.” It’s true that many Xbox gamers might have stacks of games they will want to continue playing into the future, but also true that physical sales now account for less than 5% of all software sales on Xbox. This program allows those physical collections to become digital ones, letting Xbox make the same logical business move while also keeping legacy Xbox owners happy.

Will it be enough for disgruntled PlayStation consumers to make the jump to Xbox? Maybe for a few, but the previous generation of consoles was where most people started building up their digital libraries, locking them into one platform or the other at the risk of losing years of collecting (and spending). It’s likely why, given how dominant the PlayStation 4 was, that Sony feels emboldened to make as big of a move as it has without fear of consequence, and why Microsoft is trying all it can to claw back some consumer faith. Allowing people to convert their physical libraries into digital ones is possibly the best they can do, but it won’t save us entirely from a discless future.