Microsoft applied for a patent that would allow a physical game to be replaced by a digital one

Microsoft has applied for a patent that would help gamers with Xbox games can access a digital copy of their games demonstrating that they possess a physical copy of it. The request, discovered now, was originally filed in November 2020, the same month in which the company launched its Xbox Series X|S consoles, recalling that the Xbox Series S does not have an optical drivethus being limited to digital content, to which is added that the patent details that they seek the “Software ownership validation of optical discs using [un] secondary device“.

In essence, this could be summarized as the user should put the physical disc of a game in a device, we assume that in an older Xbox console with a reader unit or a PC (in case you have an Xbox Series S), which would help the user to validate the copy and receive in return a digital version of the game which you could run on your latest console.

Suggestions from Microsoft for how it might work include the two devices being linked to the same network or being linked by the same user account. Once validated, the second device could download the game (presumably from the Xbox Store). There appears to be no indication as to whether users would still have access to the digital version if they later sell the disc.

In explaining the rationale for this system, Microsoft described a situation where a previous-gen console owner buys a next-gen device without an optical disc drive, such as the Xbox Series S, so can’t play the physical games you own forcing you to buy a digital version if you want to replay them.

Microsoft considered this scenario “undesirable for multiple reasons“, noting that the games represent”a significant financial investment“for the people and”it can be difficult for some people to justify buying back a video game they already own and have already played or completed“. As with all patents, all the examples given are hypothetical and it is impossible to know if anything will come of this, but it is clear that the future will be only digital, and we have a clear example on PCand it is that most PC gamers have not bought a game in a physical version for years, not to mention having, nor will their systems have a reader unit.

via: Gamesindustry