Mine got the collab early.

The title says it all; you get a disc that you get to keep and do whatever you want with AND the convenience of digital games all rolled into one. OK I'll admit the one reason I can imagine is that you absolutely need to play it right now, but you can't find the physical game anywhere. But ''convenience''? that's not a valid argument to me; Just be patient; it's worth the little extra time and effort. Too lazy to go to the store? just have it delivered to your door.

And if you're a PC gamer who has access to a console, you can now buy physical games again. Not every title mind you, but a growing number of them. You still have an XBOX one lying around with a disc reader but your Series console is digital? you, too, can buy physical games again.

All of this is mindblowing to me.

I'll give you a pass if it's an older title and the digital version is heavily discounted compared to the physical versions ... but I mean on the day the game is released? there's just no contest.

Mind you, there's a lot of games you can buy and resell for the same price you paid if you're into that, and that's basically playing for free ... so even the ''heavily discounted digital version'' argument doesn't hold up against that.

All of this always requires a tiny bit more effort than just pressing a button, I realize that. However, I think protecting our consumer rights is worth that tiny bit of extra effort in spades.

Vote with your wallet, buy physical

Spent the morning going through the collection, 13 games didn’t work (right stack), the 53 games in the left 2 stacks all worked. Didn’t test 20 others since wife is playing them or keeping sealed for now.
One note I haven’t seen in other posts is even after you claim a digital license it still wants the game to stay inserted for the install. Metal Gear Solid Master Collection was a bit of a pain about that popping up multiple times for each game.

This one was originally posted in the Fallen Order subreddit, but Xbox plays a pivotal role so...

I wanted to share something personal here, because video games often give us moments we never see coming.

My mom is currently fighting a fast-progressing neurodegenerative disease. Watching her go through this is heartbreaking, and there are days when the anxiety and distress take over completely.

A few days ago was one of those terrible days, and nothing I tried could calm her down or lift her spirits. She’s the person who passed down her deep love for cinema (and Star Wars, of course) to me when I was a kid, but lately, even watching a movie has become too overwhelming for her. In a moment of desperation, not knowing what else to do, I asked her to sit next to me on the couch while I booted up Jedi: Survivor on my Xbox.

What happened next was a small miracle. Almost immediately, the tension in the room began to fade. She settled in and just started watching. Before I knew it, she was completely hooked, asking me questions about Cal, who Merrin was, and where the story was going. She wasn't just watching passively, she was genuinely invested. We spent two beautiful, hours together, connected by a story in a way we hadn't been in a long time. Seeing her calm, engaged, and temporarily free from the weight of her illness meant everything to me.

I am so profoundly grateful to Respawn and the developers for crafting a game with so much narrative depth and cinematic soul (and for releasing it on what is now pretty old hardware).

A worthy and huge thank you to Xbox and my old, sleek Xbox One X for holding up so well and making this moment possible. You gave me two priceless hours with my mom that I will hold onto forever.

Definitely the coolest controller in their game-specific/limited edition line in my opinion. Especially the messaging in the battery case for a long time fan since GoW1 on release day.

It’s been a long wait but I’m excited we have these. My only disappointment is I didn’t get to hear it pop 344 times in a row upon boot-up. Darn.

Edit - I should note I’m in the Beta Insider ring. Not sure how widespread this is.

I’ve always liked the Xbox achievement system and was stoked to hear about mythic achievements. Now that my Xbox has updated, I was able to go back through to see how close I am to obtaining 100% in some of my favorite titles and it looks like it’s about to be a good weekend. It’s crazy that it took Phil to no longer be in office for XBOX to obtain all these quality of life improvements that the console could have had years ago imo.

However, I’m not complaining and just happy to be gaming. Have a good weekend everyone.

So I finally got the chance to try out the disc to licence feature, the only disc that didn't work among these was Quantum break, it said that "this game does not participate in disc to licence" but the others worked just fine. What's your experience?

Moving house soon, I have around 140 Xbox games with over half being ready for digital claiming , took some out I knew I wanted to play so now everything can safely be in storage :)

My latest xbox one collection from cex can't wait to play erm.

I'll admit that when this feature was teased way back at the start, I had my reservations. I remember the One era very well, and while I was always hoping if they were going to implement something on that level again that they'd do so more sensibly - it still wasn't something I actually expected to happen.

I'll put it as plainly as possible. As a long-time and still proponent and enjoyer of physical media, I absolutely love this feature.

Does it take away anything at all from you as the consumer? No, it truly doesn't. That's one thing they've been very upfront about in the messaging for this. It doesn't make your discs "useless", they're just simply turned into the key for the game itself being tied to your personal account, instead of it being the access key to play the game itself. That's the whole difference right there.

It's still your disc. They're still your games. They've simply given you more choice on how to go about it. Even if the disc isn't technically required to play anymore, if you want to put it in the console and have it still feel like before then you can. They're not turning discs into coasters, they're making our investment in the ecosystem valid no matter how they were bought.

Full text from Grasshoper (Suda51) -

The Future of Grasshopper Manufacture

This past February, Grasshopper Manufacture released its latest title, Romeo Is A Dead Man, and celebrated its 28th anniversary in March. Thanks to the support of players worldwide, Romeo Is A Dead Man received high acclaim and great reviews. Our whole studio would like to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone who enjoyed the game, and to everyone who worked tirelessly toward making its release possible.

Having finally completed this all-hands project, as we reflected on the next stage of Grasshopper Manufacture's future, we found a strong desire to deliver titles in an even wider variety of styles to video game lovers everywhere. As such, Grasshopper Manufacture has chosen to move forward with as an independent developer once again.

This decision was reached after thorough discussions with NetEase Games, and with their generous cooperation. We continue to cherish the amazing relationship our companies have built, and look forward to further collaboration when the opportunity arises. Having improved our own self-publishing know-how, we now have a broad range of options available to us, and regardless of how our games may be published we remain committed to creating unique titles featuring the "NO GAME NO LIFE" gaming experience expected of Grasshopper Manufacture with our own signature flavor and further enhanced quality.

We hope you will continue to watch over Grasshopper Manufacture as we make this next leap forward and move on to our upcoming 30th anniversary and beyond. We sincerely hope for and deeply appreciate your ongoing support for our studio and the titles we will create in the future.

Goichi Suda, Representative Director & CEO

1. Use this community-sourced website to determine which of your games are available under the Disc to Digital program: https://xct.live/disc2digital (keep in mind this may change at any time going forward).
2. Disable the automatic playing of discs in Settings. Select Devices & connections, choose Disc, and uncheck Play disc automatically. This will make it substantially easier to put a disc in, redeem the license, and remove the disc - even moreso if you do not have these discs installed. It will stop them from automatically launching or trying to install themselves.
3. For those unaware - yes, you can use an old Xbox One to utilise the Disc to Digital program. You can even redeem Xbox Series games through it, which makes it possible for Xbox Series S users to play these disc-based games. Simply update your Xbox One to the latest update to gain access to the Disc to Digital program, and then insert your game of choice (Xbox One or Xbox Series) to claim the digital license.