Xbox has officially expanded the new disc-to-digital feature to all users worldwide. Now, participation in the Xbox Insiders program is not required to use it: Xbox console owners with a disc drive can insert a supported game disc and receive a digital license for the corresponding game for other Xbox platforms.
The feature does not yet work with all games. Microsoft separately warns that the list of supported discs may change due to technical, licensing, publishing, and production restrictions. Discs from the original Xbox and Xbox 360 are currently not supported.
There is also an important limitation for owners of physical copies. If a user sells, gives away, or loses the disc after obtaining a digital license, the license may be revoked. The mechanism does not allow buying a physical copy, activating its digital equivalent, and then selling the disc while keeping the digital game.
This looks especially interesting in the case of games with Xbox Play Anywhere support. Microsoft states that such games allow playing on Xbox, Windows PCs, and supported portable devices without additional purchase. Therefore, a supported Play Anywhere disc copy, once activated, can unlock access to the game on other devices in the Xbox ecosystem — for example, on a portable console like the ROG Xbox Ally X.
At the same time, the Play Anywhere technology itself officially applies to digital versions of games, and the new system effectively links a physical disc to digital rights for supported projects.