Xbox Experiment Could Accelerate End of Physical Game Discs

Sony's announcement of its phasing out of PlayStation game discs starting in 2028 was seemingly the precursor to the end of physical media in gaming. What Microsoft is reportedly testing for the Xbox could be the death knell.

Microsoft reportedly has a new feature being tested that will allow physical Xbox Series and Xbox One games to be granted a digital copy, according to The Verge on Wednesday. The disc-to-digital feature, referred to in code as "enabled Disc2Digital," would let owners receive a digital copy of the game when inserting the disc into their console. That copy will be tied to the Microsoft account on the console and will be available to play on other devices, such as PCs or handhelds, via the Xbox Play Anywhere feature.

The report also says that if a game is available for Xbox Cloud Gaming and the owner of the Microsoft account also has a Game Pass subscription, that game can be streamed directly to a device without having to take up hard drive space.

The disc-to-digital feature works with Xbox Series and Xbox One games, although some Xbox One games have issues; no specific titles were mentioned in the report. Disc-to-digital will reportedly not work with Xbox 360 or original Xbox games. Multidisc titles and games bundled with consoles will also make use of the feature, and any available downloadable content via the disc will be included in the digital copy.

Also read: Sony Phasing Out Physical Discs for PS5, Closes PS3 and PS Vita Stores

After a digital copy has been added to the account, the physical disc will still work. If someone sells or lends the disc, that person will lose the digital copy as it will move to the new console or Xbox account.

Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for confirmation on the feature.

Back in 2013, when Microsoft revealed the Xbox One at E3, it laid out plans for a digital library similar to this planned feature that would allow owners of physical copies to have a digital version of their games that could be lent out. Unfortunately for Microsoft, the messaging surrounding this feature wasn't clear to gamers, causing a huge backlash that had the company reverse course on its plans and seemingly kill the momentum the company had going into the eighth-generation consoles after the success of the Xbox 360.

At the time, physical media dominated digital sales, but that has since changed. In 2025, game disc sales were $1.5 billion in the US, according to retail analytics firm Circana, while the total global game content sales for the year were $195.6 billion.