Xbox Series S and physical games
Despite the huge popularity of digital games, Microsoft may not completely exclude the Xbox Series S from the physical gaming market. At the moment it is only a hypothesis, which however is based on a new patent from the Redmond house, which would show how someone at the head of the Xbox division perhaps thought of an idea to allow the playback of disc games on the smallest console of the brand never produced.As reported by Game Rant, the Redmond house has in fact filed a patent that would allow the start of physical games on Xbox Series S. This would happen, at least according to the images accompanying the patent, using a device such as Xbox One for authentication, passing through PC and smartphone, thus creating a sort of communication bridge between the two consoles and thus enabling the start of a title already in the player's possession.| ); }
Microsoft would still have a certain interest in launching such a solution and above all it would benefit consumers, who perhaps they chose Xbox Series S due to inability to find Series X but still have a library of physical Xbox One games. At the moment it is only a hypothesis, but it is not excluded that over the next few years the Redmond house will not bea> able to find the right solution to meet those afflicted by these problems.
Microsoft patent may let Xbox Series X|S owners verify physical games
Microsoft recently published a patent indicating that the company is looking to develop a process for physical game owners to verify ownership and add a downloadable copy of that game to their digital library. If developed further, the patent could spell big changes not only for Xbox Series X|S owners, but possibly PlayStation 5 owners as well.
First reported by GameRant, the patent suggests a future system in which Microsoft can verify a physical game’s owner via a network-connected disc reader, for example, an older system like an Xbox One, and assign access to certain ownership rights and privileges to that owner’s Xbox account.
This would act as a means for Xbox Series S owners, in particular, to gain access to their physical library of games, given the console’s lack of a disc reader. Taken to its conclusion, it’s not hard to imagine this same method being utilised by owners of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition further down the line – depending on the details of the patent, of course.
At first glance, it’s not hard to imagine this news being received rather positively, especially for owners of digital-only consoles. The patent promises a long-sought feature for console owners of every capacity, as even users who own a physical disc can argue that they don’t enjoy the hassle of having to switch discs every time they want to play a different game. Furthermore, given that PC players have long since migrated to a broadly digital-only environment, this can easily be seen as console gamers merely catching up.
However, there are numerous implications that can be made about the patent and what this means for physical media ownership – the most obvious and onerous of which being our taking one step further into the always-on DRM future that Microsoft received intense backlash for around the release of the original Xbox One. With digital ownership needing to be verified by the console manufacturer, the used games market becomes once more under threat, as owners may easily be forced to prove digital ownership of a second-hand disc to access its contents.
(Gamerant) Microsoft Patent Could Verify Physical Games for Xbox Digital Libraryhttps://t.co/vMB2E9Y2Eq pic.twitter.com/NzhZM23R0i
— Idle Sloth💙💛 (@IdleSloth84) May 10, 2022
With digital ownership potentially being required to access on-disc content, simple acts like lending and reselling games become a precarious act that requires Microsoft’s permission to enact. If the digital access licence is currently owned by an unknown previous seller, it becomes all the more difficult to imagine a case where the rights to access that game are easily validated and transferred to a new owner, as there would need to be further checks to prevent cases of theft or piracy.
Of course, it remains to be seen how Microsoft intends to use the patent, and it’s entirely possible that the technology could be implemented in a way that only grants benefits to future consumers – however unlikely. With Microsoft already heavily invested in its Xbox Game Pass streaming service, and Sony following suit with its PS Plus revamp release date on the periphery, its apparent ownership of games has already begun to slide away from console gamers.