(Credit: Fabian Sommer/picture alliance
Many games are lost to history when delisted from online storefronts like Microsoft’s Xbox Store and the <a href="https://comicvibe.com/playstation-gamers-sue-sony-over-what-buying-a-digital-game-really-means/” title=”PlayStation Gamers Sue Sony Over What ‘Buying’ a Digital Game Really Means”>PlayStation Store. The new Xbox Disc-to-Digital feature, however, may offer a workaround for some scenarios where you have a physical disc.
Xbox’s Disc-to-Digital program opened to Microsoft Insiders on Aug. 31, and many testing the tool have tried using it on games previously delisted from the company’s store. To their surprise, it works for many, though not all, of the games.
The Disc-to-Digital program lets you insert a physical game disc into an Xbox One or Xbox Series X console and add a digitally playable version to your account. You can then take your games to other Xbox-compatible devices, such as your PC, without needing the disc.
Before launch, it was unclear whether previously delisted games would work or whether each game would need to be offered on the Xbox storefront to be compatible. Microsoft has yet to confirm that this is intentional behavior, but Xbox Insiders have found many games working in the first 24 hours since its launch.
The 2013 Xbox One game Deadpool was famously delisted in late 2017, leaving no easy way to play the title digitally. If you own the Xbox disc, this tool will now easily digitize your copy
On Reddit, Rarefroggy123 started a thread to compile titles that the community has tested. The post and comments list Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019), FIFA 15, Ghostbusters, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Madden NFL 23, Minecraft: Xbox One Edition, NHL 17, and Rare Replay.
Other reports on social media say franchise tie-in games G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Transformers: Devastation are also working.
Another report on X, from a user called Storm360, found various delisted music titles worked, including Avicii Invector and games from the Let’s Sing, Now That’s What I Call Sing, and The Voice franchises. Another user found the same for Rock Band 4 from 2015. Music games are often delisted when publishers lose the rights to popular songs.
Lego Dimensions, which was discontinued in 2017, also works through the tool. To play the game, you’ll need the USB-connected Toy Pad to add physical minifigures, and it’s unclear how well that works with other devices.
Selected titles proven not to work include Dead Rising 3, Destiny, Ryse: Son of Rome, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Titanfall. Some users report that various delisted Sega titles aren’t working for them, but didn’t clarify which ones.
Microsoft previously said it plans to add more titles to its program at a later date, so this may change. For example, various Ubisoft games aren’t currently compatible. We’ll have to see how it shakes as Disc-to-Digital access moves beyond Insiders.
