Microsoft have applied for a patent that, while not a perfect solution for every gripe you may have with modern consoles and digital ownership, may nevertheless be a great step forward for anyone who has a catalogue of games they own on disc, but have bought (or are thinking of buying) a digital-only console.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
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The patent, first spotted by Gamerant, is called Software Ownership Validation Of Optical Discs Using Secondary Device. While it goes into a lot of detail about why it’s being applied for and how it works, it basically boils down users being able to insert a disc into a console that has both a disc drive and an internet connection, using that internet connection to validate the user’s ownership of the disc, then allowing the same user to download the digital version of the same game on a second, digital-only console for free.
Here’s Microsoft’s pitch for the application, which recognises “the ‘feel’ of handling the physical video game media and/or the nostalgia associated with the physical video game media”:
And it would work like this:
