Xbox’s clever disc-to-digital feature was 15 years in the making
Xbox’s clever disc-to-digital feature was 15 years in the making
Xbox 巧妙的“光盘转数字”功能，酝酿了整整 15 年
When Xbox announced a new feature last month that lets you digitize existing physical game collections, I immediately thought of the Xbox One. Disc-to-digital seems like a clever new feature for Xbox, perfectly timed as a response to Sony killing PlayStation discs. But the reality is that it has been 15 years in the making and is now a big part of Xbox’s ongoing game preservation efforts.
上个月，当 Xbox 宣布推出一项新功能，允许用户将现有的实体游戏收藏数字化时，我立刻想到了 Xbox One。对于 Xbox 而言，“光盘转数字”（disc-to-digital）似乎是一项巧妙的新功能，恰逢索尼宣布取消 PlayStation 光盘之际，显得时机完美。但事实上，这项功能已经酝酿了 15 年，如今已成为 Xbox 持续进行的游戏保存工作的重要组成部分。
Ahead of the launch of the Xbox One in 2013, Microsoft made a key decision to uniquely identify discs. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell me the company was exploring the idea of true Xbox digital ownership in 2011, including digital gifting, recycling digital games, and the ability to swap discs at retail stores in exchange for a digital version. Some of those original Xbox One plans leaked out online, and many others have remained secret for more than a decade.
在 2013 年 Xbox One 发布之前，微软做出了一个关键决定：为光盘添加唯一识别码。熟悉微软计划的消息人士告诉我，该公司早在 2011 年就开始探索真正的 Xbox 数字所有权概念，包括数字赠礼、数字游戏回收，以及在零售店用光盘换取数字版游戏的能力。其中一些最初的 Xbox One 计划在网上泄露过，而更多计划则被雪藏了十多年。
Microsoft’s Xbox One launch hinted at some of these ideas, too. The console was originally supposed to be always online, to enable Microsoft’s vision of digital game sharing, and more. Microsoft walked back those plans after a messy and confusing Xbox One launch created a backlash to the always-online requirement. But some of those original digital ideas are now starting to come to life in different ways.
微软在 Xbox One 发布时也暗示过其中一些想法。该主机最初被设计为必须始终联网，以实现微软对数字游戏共享等愿景。在 Xbox One 发布时，由于“始终联网”的要求引发了混乱和争议，微软随后撤回了这些计划。但如今，其中一些最初的数字构想正开始以不同的方式变为现实。
Microsoft’s decision to essentially embed a serial number on the discs that Xbox consoles can read has allowed it to launch disc-to-digital, a method that lets you turn a physical Xbox One disc into a digital copy simply by slotting it into a disc drive. A decision made 15 years ago has resulted in this useful feature and may well lead to true digital ownership in the coming years.
微软决定在光盘中嵌入 Xbox 主机可读取的序列号，这使得“光盘转数字”功能得以实现——你只需将光盘插入光驱，就能将其转换为数字副本。15 年前做出的一个决定，造就了今天这项实用的功能，并很可能在未来几年引领我们走向真正的数字所有权时代。
It’s not something Sony can copy, either. Unless the PlayStation maker has been quietly adding metadata to its discs over the years, it will have to find another method to help PS5 owners move their physical collections over to the digital era.
这也是索尼无法轻易复制的。除非这家 PlayStation 制造商多年来一直在悄悄地向其光盘中添加元数据，否则它必须寻找另一种方法，来帮助 PS5 用户将他们的实体收藏过渡到数字时代。
Microsoft thought ahead, not necessarily to disc-to-digital, but just about identifying discs so it was ready for when console games moved into an all-digital era. That era looks like it’s right around the corner, especially now that Sony has announced it’s killing PlayStation discs in 2028. Both Microsoft and Sony also ship digital-only variants of their consoles, and it’s clear from game sales numbers that most titles are purchased digitally these days.
微软未雨绸缪，虽然未必是专门为了“光盘转数字”，但通过识别光盘，他们为游戏主机进入全数字时代做好了准备。那个时代似乎近在咫尺，尤其是索尼已经宣布将在 2028 年取消 PlayStation 光盘。微软和索尼也都推出了纯数字版主机，从游戏销售数据来看，如今大多数游戏都是通过数字渠道购买的，这一点显而易见。
I fully expect Microsoft to follow Sony and eventually scrap Xbox discs, especially as the number of authorized manufacturers capable of producing physical media continues to shrink. That’s largely because almost every other form of media, from music to movies, has moved on from optical discs. The big difference with Xbox, though, is that Microsoft has always been obsessed with game preservation.
我完全预计微软会效仿索尼，最终放弃 Xbox 光盘，尤其是因为能够生产实体介质的授权制造商数量在持续萎缩。这主要是因为从音乐到电影，几乎所有其他形式的媒体都已经告别了光盘。但 Xbox 的不同之处在于，微软一直对游戏保存有着执着的追求。
In the same year that disc-to-digital is launching, Microsoft is also bringing original Xbox and Xbox 360 games to PC. The company has also spent years working on its backward compatibility program, to get as many games from the Xbox and Xbox 360 eras working on modern Xbox consoles. Game preservation is a central part of Project Helix, the next Xbox that could play every Xbox game ever made.
在推出“光盘转数字”功能的同一年，微软还将初代 Xbox 和 Xbox 360 游戏引入了 PC 平台。该公司还花费多年时间致力于向下兼容计划，让尽可能多的 Xbox 和 Xbox 360 时代的游戏能在现代 Xbox 主机上运行。游戏保存是“Project Helix”的核心部分，这是下一代 Xbox 的代号，目标是能够运行有史以来所有的 Xbox 游戏。
It’s not an easy task to pull off game preservation, either. There are the complex technical challenges that need to be overcome, alongside licensing issues and the business challenges from publishers that decide how a game should be sold.
实现游戏保存并非易事。除了需要克服复杂的技术挑战外，还涉及授权问题以及发行商在游戏销售方式上的商业考量。
Some of those technical challenges mean that not every single Xbox One disc will work with this new disc-to-digital feature. That could be because some early discs simply didn’t get pressed with the unique identifier. Microsoft warned its internal Xbox testers that “it all depends on how and when the disc was manufactured and it may not have the features we need for this program.”
一些技术挑战意味着并非每一张 Xbox One 光盘都能使用这项新的“光盘转数字”功能。这可能是因为一些早期的光盘在压制时并未包含唯一识别码。微软曾警告其内部 Xbox 测试人员：“这完全取决于光盘的制造方式和时间，它可能不具备我们该项目所需的功能。”
Discs that are slightly damaged might also not work with disc-to-digital, but run just fine otherwise. That’s why it’s important that Xbox is launching this right now — physical media decays over time.
轻微损坏的光盘可能也无法使用“光盘转数字”功能，尽管它们在其他方面运行正常。这就是为什么 Xbox 现在推出这项功能至关重要——因为实体介质会随着时间的推移而老化。
The licensing and business challenges are far more complicated. Publishers need to agree to disc-to-digital, and some could hold back. It appears that most are on board, and even Ubisoft games started showing up recently. We’ve seen a number of other games come online since Microsoft’s announcement, and the company has been clear that more will follow.
授权和商业挑战则要复杂得多。发行商需要同意“光盘转数字”计划，而有些发行商可能会持观望态度。目前看来，大多数发行商都已加入，甚至育碧的游戏最近也开始支持了。自微软宣布该消息以来，我们已经看到许多其他游戏上线，微软也明确表示未来会有更多游戏加入。
The next challenge beyond disc-to-digital is solving digital ownership. If all we really own of a digital game is a license, I hope that one day those licenses can move freely across devices and platforms. I want to buy a single copy of a game and have that license follow me across Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and PC. I also want to be able to gift or sell that license on different marketplaces, just as we’ve been able to do with physical discs at retailers for decades.
在“光盘转数字”之后，下一个挑战是解决数字所有权问题。如果我们拥有的数字游戏仅仅是一个授权许可，我希望有一天这些许可能够在设备和平台之间自由转移。我希望购买一份游戏后，该授权能跟随我在 Xbox、PlayStation、任天堂和 PC 之间使用。我还希望能够在不同的市场上赠送或出售该授权，就像我们几十年来在零售店处理实体光盘那样。
Microsoft envisioned this true digital ownership future 15 years ago, and it has gradually taken steps toward making it a reality. I hope Xbox can eventually pull it off, but the solution will require publishers and platform owners to agree on a shared system for how game licenses are bought, transferred, gifted, and resold. That’s a much bigger challenge than simply getting rid of the disc.
微软在 15 年前就构想了这种真正的数字所有权未来，并已逐步采取措施将其变为现实。我希望 Xbox 最终能实现这一目标，但这需要发行商和平台所有者就游戏授权的购买、转移、赠送和转售达成统一的共享系统。这比单纯取消光盘要困难得多。