Xbox tests digitizing physical games ahead of Project Helix launch

On Wednesday, Sony announced it would no longer make physical game discs for its games released after January 2028. That same day, a new report claims Xbox is working on a way to digitize your physical game discs. The console wars never ended.

The Verge reports Xbox has been testing out a disc-to-digital feature since May. Basically, you’d insert your disc, play the game, and be granted a specific digital copy of the game. While logged into a Microsoft account on your Xbox console, you’d be given a “digital entitlement” for the game that’s tied to the specific disc you used.

You’ll still be able to let a friend borrow the game or resell it on a secondary market though. The digital entitlement would move between Microsoft accounts and Xbox profiles. You would not, however, be able to copy a game endlessly and have every Microsoft account play it at once. In a way, this disc-to-digital feature sounds like a distant cousin to Nintendo’s game-key cards for Switch 2.

There are some caveats, however. According to The Verge, only Xbox One and Xbox Series X discs would be eligible, so you wouldn’t be able to digitize your old Xbox 360 or original Xbox games. And not all Xbox One games will work, as Microsoft has told its testers, “It all depends on how and when the disc was manufactured and it may not have the features we need for this program.”

With the inevitable PlayStation 6 now looking like it might not have a disc drive, one has to wonder if Xbox’s forthcoming Project Helix will follow suit — especially with the backlash Sony has faced in response to Wednesday’s news. While The Verge reports “Microsoft hasn’t fully finalized” if Project Helix will launch with a built-in disc drive, Windows Central states it will not have one. “As for Project Helix, our sources also suggest that Microsoft’s next-generation console will drop the disc drive, too,” Windows Central reports.

Whenever the next generation of consoles launches, odds are the hardware will be digital-focused, a blow to longtime physical media collectors. In some ways, Grand Theft Auto 6‘s lack of a physical disc is a glimpse into the future.