Microsoft’s gaming division has officially announced a new option for owners of XBOX One and XBOX Series X consoles. In just a few days, they will have the ability to digitize their game discs.
Gears of War: E-Day
The testing phase of the option will begin on August 31 within the XBOX Insider program. According to XBOX, from this point on, gamers will be able to convert physical editions of “most” games—at least several thousand titles—into digital form. The list of supported games will grow in the future.
To digitize a game, users simply need to insert the disc into the console and launch the game. The disc itself will remain unaffected and will function as before. However, with the creation of a digital copy, gamers will gain access to the XBOX Play Anywhere feature and the cloud gaming system.
“This is part of our broader effort to preserve games. As technology, hardware, and distribution methods evolve, ensuring access to games purchased by users becomes more important than ever,” commented Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next-Gen Devices at XBOX, about the initiative.
The full release date of the game digitization option has not been announced.