Overview
- Xbox announced the disc-to-digital feature on August 26 and will begin testing with Xbox Insiders on August 31, starting with thousands of supported Xbox One and Series X titles.
- To convert a game, a player inserts a supported disc into an Xbox One or Series X console, launches the game, and is prompted to claim a tied digital entitlement that grants the same benefits as a purchased digital copy.
- Once claimed, the digital entitlement lets you play without the disc and use Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Cloud Gaming where available, while the physical disc continues to work as before.
- Reporting notes the digital license is linked to the disc and account, so if you sell or give the disc away the entitlement moves with the disc to the new owner’s Microsoft account.
- Microsoft says the change is part of a wider preservation and backwards-compatibility push, but availability will grow over time and will be limited by publisher permissions and some discs’ manufacturing compatibility.