Okay, got to give credit where credit is due. Microsoft have introduced a really cool feature where you can insert an Xbox game disc that you own into your Xbox console and claim a digital license for it. In light of the controversy that Sony are under since they announced they would no longer produce physical discs from 2028, this is a very welcome edition.

There's a couple of caveats though. It doesn't work for all discs. Some very early Xbox One discs apparently aren't supported, nor are some games altogether.

Also the digital license only stays active on your account whilst you own the disc. If you sell it, or lend it to a friend, and they claim the digital license, it's then removed from your account. That makes sense and is fair enough.

I realised this evening that I'm on the Xbox Beta software on my Series X, so I gave it a go! I'm going to list all of the physical game discs I own and tried to claim the digital license for, and tell you if they worked or not.

Worked

• Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
• Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled
• Battlefront
• Battlefront II
• Dishonored 2
• Elder Scrolls Online
• F1 2015
• FIFA 15
• FIFA 17
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Hitman 2
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
• Mirror's Edge Catalyst
• Peppa Pig: World Adventures
• Rock Band 4

Didn't Work

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed Unity
• The Division
• Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved
• Fallout 4
• Forza Horizon 3
• Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole
• Thief
• Titanfall
• Watch_Dogs
• Watch_Dogs 2

So about half worked and half didn't. And of the game discs that didn't allow me to activate a digital license, there was an immediate thing I noticed; Ubisoft games don't seem to be participating in this feature. Hopefully that changes in the future, but that means for now at least, for the likes of Assassin's Creed and Watch_Dogs, the disc will still be required.

The ones I was surprised didn't work were the first party Xbox titles like Fallout 4 and Forza Horizon 3. Not sure why Fallout 4 isn't included in this feature, but I reckon the Forza game probably has something to do with licensed music maybe. That said, GTA 5 and the FIFA games worked and they're full of licensed music, so maybe it's not that. Maybe it's delisted on the Xbox store? Lots of maybes.

Anyway, thought I'd share a quick blog post about as this needed a lot more than a 1500 character Mastodon post! Pretty cool that if I wanted to play any of the games that did successfully activate a license, I don't have to get up and put the disc in anymore.

And for any doubters out there, that Peppa Pig game is great! Snort!