Xbox Disc-to-Digital Still Lacks Some Major Publishers — Sega, Square Enix and Bandai Namco Are Missing, but Ubisoft Is Joining

The new Xbox Disc-to-Digital feature was meant to be one of Microsoft's most interesting steps toward a disc-free future. Players with a supported physical copy of an Xbox One or Xbox Series X game can obtain a digital license by inserting the disc, allowing them to use the benefits of the digital version without having to buy the game again. However, early tests have revealed gaps in support.

Some major publishers are still missing

Users in the Xbox Insider program report that games from Sega, Square Enix and Bandai Namco are currently largely not participating in the program. When some discs are inserted, the system displays a message saying that the game “does not participate in digital licensing,” while it can still be played normally with the disc inserted.

According to testing, incompatible titles include, for example, Final Fantasy XV and Dark Souls III. In Bandai Namco's case, the issue also affects several games from FromSoftware, meaning that owners of physical copies of some major games cannot use the new option for now.

However, the situation may not be final. Microsoft is still testing the feature and said when it was announced that support would be added gradually. It has also not been officially confirmed that the aforementioned publishers have completely rejected the program. Their games are simply not compatible at the current testing stage.

The principle behind Disc-to-Digital also makes sense from a game preservation perspective. Microsoft presented it as a way to carry players' existing libraries into the future and preserve access to games as distribution increasingly shifts to digital formats. For supported games, a digital license may also provide features such as Xbox Play Anywhere or Xbox Cloud Gaming, if the specific title supports them. The physical disc continues to work as before.

That is why the absence of some major publishers is also interesting from the perspective of game preservation. If a future Xbox generation becomes more dependent on digital licenses and a particular publisher does not support its older physical games, the owner of a disc may be left relying on an old console with a disc drive or having to buy the digital version again. And why? Simply for economic reasons, as it is often more appealing for publishers to push players into buying a game again. For example, Square Enix does not offer free or paid upgrades to Switch 2 versions for its games. If players want an improved technical version of their Switch 1 game, they have to purchase the native Switch 2 version at full price. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that, for a similar reason, the publisher does not allow a disc license to be transferred to a digital one.

It is also worth noting that Disc-to-Digital can make some games available even after they have been removed from digital stores. Testers have discovered older titles such as Deadpool and Transformers: Devastation this way. In this respect, the system could have a much greater significance for game preservation in the future than might initially seem apparent.

Ubisoft is joining

So this is not yet a definitive list of publishers that will not participate in the program. However, testing shows that the transition from physical games to digital licenses does not depend solely on Microsoft. The rights holders themselves will also largely determine which games we will be able to carry into the future.

Ubisoft was initially missing, for example, but it has just started joining. Of the games tested, Avatar already works, while some Assassin's Creed games and Rainbow Six Extraction have been confirmed so far.  The full list is being gradually updated on xtc.live. Currently, 1445 games work and 296 do not. Another 108 have not yet been confirmed.

Good News: Ubisoft games are now part of Xbox's disc-to-digital program. pic.twitter.com/F5fDYYbLCm

— Stallion83 (@Stallion83) September 8, 2026