Microsoft has plans for an Xbox Series S external disc drive

techradar.com:

A new patent suggests Microsoft is designing a system that would allow the Xbox Series S to play physical game discs. Although Microsoft hasn’t confirmed the product, the speculative system would enable owners of the digital-only console to convert their physical games into downloadable copies.

As spotted by GameRant, the patent describes a system that would validate your ownership of a physical game, before granting you access to its digital version to download online. The system would involve two devices: one that includes an optical drive capable of reading game discs and verifying your ownership; and a second that you’d use to download the games.

It sounds akin to pairing a console with an external disc drive, albeit with one drive that’s capable of independently connecting with Xbox servers. If rolled out for the latest generation of consoles, it would effectively allow owners of the Xbox Series S to run physical copies of their games through the console.

In the patent, Microsoft says such a system would address concerns over backward compatibility. Some players are reluctant to upgrade to the next console generation because they can’t carry over their existing library of physical Xbox games to digital-only systems.

“Many next-generation video game devices being developed are configured without hardware components for playing physical video game media,” the patent says. 

“Consequently, when an owner of a previous generation video game device purchases a next-generation video game device, the owner is unable to play their physical video game media,” it continues.

“Instead, the owner must repurchase the digital version of the video game content for the next-generation video game device. This scenario is undesirable for