With the recent Xbox server outage that happened a few days ago, Microsoft conducted an internal review and discovered that physical discs were prevented from physically running.
According to Tom’s Hardware, Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Scott Van Vliet said that disc-based entitlement checks should not, by design, prevent gamers from playing.
Techspot reported that Microsoft was able to isolate the “failing part of the network and shifted traffic to healthy systems,” with access returning slowly to different parts of the world. This explains why some players could sign in and launch games and apps, and others could not, as recovery was still underway at the time.
How do these entitlement checks work? All game discs go through license checks, determining what content a user can access, including accessing content while offline, since it is still saved on the console. Van Vliet said there was an issue during the outage that would not allow users to access the saved data.
Xbox uses what’s called Smart Delivery, where the best version of one’s game is installed on the console automatically. There is an alternative implantation called full-disc support, where developers can put all the executable files on the game disc instead of using a license to digitally download the content. This would normally not require an Internet connection, since the disc would be ready to install directly out of the case, but unfortunately that did not happen this past weekend.
Not only did the outage affect everything from log-ins to the usage of Xbox apps, it also affected discs not running as planned. During the 16-hour outage, an external service provider that Xbox relies on for entitlement checks had its servers down, so consoles could not connect to do its verifications and players were locked out, so discs could not run, as Tom’s Hardware reports.
Microsoft is preparing an update to address the matter, but gave no timeframe. They also did not disclose which console models were affected.
Meanwhile, IGN is reporting that Digital Foundry’s John Linneman has sources telling him that Microsoft has plans to continue supporting physical discs to prioritize backwards compatibility, gamers do seem to have some form of reassurance that the company will be focusing on physical discs for the near future, including a possibility to digitize a gamer’s physical library. There has been also a leaked report that with Project Helix coming, Xbox 360 games might be coming to both PC and its next-generation console.
The news about Microsoft supporting physical discs should come as welcome news, particularly since Sony’s decision to end physical disc support by 2028. In a quarterly earnings call late last July, Sony Chief Financial Officer Lin Tao addressed the protests, confirming what the Company plans to do.
“We’re going to cautiously move this forward,” she said. “And to this decision, we have received various opinions and people have strong views, and we understand that the community has put forth those views to us. Games are loved by many people. It’s a form of entertainment that’s loved by people, and it’s connected to people’s fond memories in many cases.
And so we understand those emotions. We want to consider that. And in the future digital ecosystem, how do we engage the gamers is something that we would like to continue to explore.”
While the gaming industry is shifting toward digital distribution, physical media has always been regarded as a protection against server issues, account problems, and delistings, especially with the ability to play offline. This benefit becomes doubtful when remote licensing checks result in a disc becoming a just a plastic paperweight.