When the X Box Series S was announced as a digital-only console I posted on the X-Box Reddit asking if we’d be able to download physical games we owned onto the console. In classic Reddit style, I was basically called a stoopid nood and berated for such a ridiculous question.
However, there were no legitimate answers as to why this can’t be the case. As discussed elsewhere, game disks are now basically nothing more than a digital code that allows games to be downloaded from a server to play. At the very most, you have the absolute base version of a game on the disk, but we all know that games are no longer the base version pretty much after day one of relese.
On X-Box, and I assume PS4/5, you have to be signed into an account to use the console. This account is tied to the X-Box/ PS server and it registers every game you’ve accessed the server with - which is every game you’ve at least opened on the console. You can see this - at least with X-Box - by going to your profile on any other device and reading what activity you’ve done on your console.
So, if the games you own are tied to your account, if MS/Sony KNOW what games you’ve played, then WHY should you have to re-buy a digital version of a game that you already own the physical copy of? Apart from the publisher/MS/Sony getting more money for that extra copy, what actual reason for this is there?
I was going to get a Series S but decided against it because I’d have to re-buy all my physical games digitally. I honestly, 100% do NOT understand why this has to be the case, apart from the aforementioned greed of companies.
I’d really love it if someone could explain this to me, even if it is to say “yep, companies be greedy.”
I think this was the plan for xbox games and then playstation showed how easy you can share games on their console.
Digitally bought games are tied to a specific account.
I think it really comes down to the fact that MS, or Sony or Nintendo, can’t know if you have claimed a digital copy of a physical game you own and then sold that disc. They need you to have that disc to validate the copy installed on the console. They don’t want us to double dip. In a scenario where you can claim the digital copy of a physical game, one person could buy it and then claim it, then sell it to a second person, who claims it and sells it to a third person, and so on. One copy multiplies into multiple copies, yet MS or Sony has only made licensing fees off one copy. At that point I wouldn’t even say this is greed (although it’s still a little bit greed, lol).
Wasn’t that image just Sony claiming you can play the same disc on multiple consoles? I regularly give my PS4 discs to my brother so he can play them after I have finished a game. The original plan that Microsoft had for the Xbox One would have prevented that (but it would have made re-selling digital copies of games possible I believe).
@BMO
I think it really comes down to the fact that MS, or Sony or Nintendo, can’t know if you have claimed a digital copy of a physical game you own and then sold that disc. They need you to have that disc to validate the copy installed on the console. They don’t want us to double dip. In a scenario where you can claim the digital copy of a physical game, one person could buy it and then claim it, then sell it to a second person, who claims it and sells it to a third person, and so on. One copy multiplies into multiple copies, yet MS or Sony has only made licensing fees off one copy. At that point I wouldn’t even say this is greed (although it’s still a little bit greed, lol).
But is it’s a code on the disk surely the code can be individual? Once that code is claimed then you can’t use that disk to claim the game anymore. This is how DLC included with a game (like in special editions etc) seems to work. If you buy a game with DLC 2nd hand then the DLC can’t be claimed if the previous owner already used the code. I don’t really see how it would be different for the whole game.
@BMO
Wasn’t that image just Sony claiming you can play the same disc on multiple consoles? I regularly give my PS4 discs to my brother so he can play them after I have finished a game. The original plan that Microsoft had for the Xbox One would have prevented that (but it would have made re-selling digital copies of games possible I believe).
From what I recall Sony claimed it was as easy as that, but when when people tried it there were a whole bunch of hoops you had to jump through. Honestly, I can’t recall the details and didn’t pay that much attention at the time because I’m not a Sony player, but I recall a section of the Aussie show Good Game saying they were having trouble getting borrowed games to run.
If we are talking purely about physical disks, it really is that easy. If I own something I can hand it to another PS4/PS5 owner and they can pop it in and play it. No hurdles.
The one exception is something like FFXIV where you need a subscription. But I can still give someone my disk and they can still use it to play the game, but they need to start their own Square Enix account to subscribe. But they can play up to level 20 free. This is less an issue of disc transfer and more one of the paid MMO mode.
Because I didn’t own an Xbox prior to now I don’t fully know if it’s the same, but for PlayStation typically any DLC that comes with the game is redeemed by code that you enter on the PS Store. Thus that DLC is tied to your account. So if a game came with a special rifle, let’s say, and I redeem that it’s mine forever. If I give you my disc you can’t redeem that for yourself. But for the rest of the game on the disc, you have free and complete access to it.
Code on an optical disc is identical across all pressings. That’s why they need to use DLC codes that you type in the store for redemption of anything additional, because it’s not in the base code. I think it would be costly for Sony or anyone else to make the data on each disk slightly different so that each disc can be identified. This is largely due to the nature of pressing optical discs. Every disc is an identical copy of the master data. To introduce a variation on every single disc would cause the costs of making optical disks skyrocket because you’d need a separate master data set for every single disk. If you go to this wiki page on optical media there’s a section on BlueRay authoring. The way that Games would be masse produced is via the first method listed for pressing BlueRay, and why I believe each disc is identical.
Somehow Microsoft had supposedly figured out a way to get around that but I think the solution was entirely software based and tied to the then plan for an always on Xbox One. They scrapped that when there was backlash. I’d like to look into how they planned to do this some more because I want to understand how they were identifying disks that should essentially be identical. I think that the original plan was never to have the actual game on the disc and the only data on the disc was the activation code. From there you could pop it in your Xbox and the console would download a copy, and that digital copy was what was tied to your account. This is different from what Sony planned and then implemented. After the backlash MS followed Sony and went forward with having the game on the disc.
But if MS had gone with their original plan, every Xbox One game you would have purchased would be available on every console you own, whether digital or not. But the flip side is that the actual game files wouldn’t have been on your disc so you’re in trouble if you lose your connection for more than 24hours.
