Microsoft Patent Could Verify Physical Games for Xbox Digital Library

gamerant.com:

The two most recent console generations have seen a market shift away from physical disc-based games and towards digital downloads straight onto the console. While there are those that remain adamantly in favor of physical games, the option is becoming less and less substantial. The discs for many modern games like Halo Infinite don’t hold the entire game and require a digital download and an online connection to play.

This current trend for online connection requirements and digital games was first forecasted by Microsoft at the Xbox showcase reveal for the Xbox One back in 2013, where the reaction was so overwhelmingly negative that Microsoft backtracked on many of the features announced for the Xbox One. However, over time many of these features have since crept into the home consoles.

Xbox Fan Gives Their Series X a Marble Look

Digital games have now become so prevalent that both Xbox and PlayStation's next-gen consoles have versions without disc drives. These digital-only options are cheaper but do leave some players with a few worries. However, Microsoft has now filed a patent for a system which may eliminate one of these worries for Xbox Series S buyers. The patent describes a system that allows an external disc drive to authenticate an Xbox game and allow the player access to the digital version of that game through the Xbox Series S Games Store.

A system like this would benefit players that feared any Xbox One discs they owned would become useless after purchasing an Xbox Series S, whereas on Xbox Series X they could have played every non-Kinect Xbox One game. This is a huge element of backwards compatibility to miss out on for players that are upgrading to next-gen after exclusively purchasing physical games for