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Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 7th, 2015, 8:05 am
by Verm3
This will likely be a very stupid sounding question. But I am not familiar with how the Xbox One and PS4 operate.

As we know, their games are heavily internet dependent, install etc etc.

But I was wondering does this lock their disc based games to the console or user account?

It seems that online all people talk about is that digitally brought games are account locked, as they were in the previous gen. I may have just missed it, but I can't find a similar answer about disc based games.

I haven't yet purchased an Xbox One or PS4 myself, but with MS's upcoming 360 emulation and new PS4 games on the horizon, I'm more tempted. I understand that MS's 360 emulation essentially uses the game disc to download a digital copy that requires said disc in the drive. Hence I'm wondering that if One games are console/account locked, that 360 game discs put through the 360 emulator will also become console/account locked on One Consoles?

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 7th, 2015, 8:15 am
by ActRaiser
No, they're not.

However, it is possible for the game to include an unlock code for DLC of some sort. The unlock codes are tied to your account but Disks themselves are not.

Regarding the 360 games on Rare's Replay, Good question. I'll try to confirm that later tonight. I know if you don't have a digital copy of the 360 game you'll need the disk in the drive. But I'm not sure about Perfect Dark for example. I have the Xbox Live Arcade game on my 360 and am using the same account on my Xbox One. I'll fire it up tonight to see what happens. You can select those games in your game menu outside of the Rare's Replay game itself.

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 7th, 2015, 8:53 am
by Atariboy
It's impossible since Xbox 360 game discs are identical. For instance, my launch day copy of Project Gotham Racing 3 is identical to all launch day copies of PGR3 released in the United States. No unique serial number is present on the disc nor is there a CD key that must be inputted in order to play it.

The only variation is of course between different titles, regions, and occasionally, between different production runs (Such as your typical GOTY edition with DLC included right on the disc). As such, there is no unique identification number that could be used to lock down a specific disc to a single Xbox One console/Xbox Live account.

There's really no need for a lock since even though you're downloading the game file off Xbox Live, the 360 disc must of course still be present in the XB1's drive at all times when playing said title to serve as a DRM check (Just like optional disc installation on the Xbox 360 itself). They'd gain absolutely nothing by locking them down since the BC system can't be abused.

You can pass your game around to friends, but only one person can play it at a time thanks to the DRM requirement.

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 7th, 2015, 12:05 pm
by Wallyworld
ActRaiser wrote:No, they're not.

However, it is possible for the game to include an unlock code for DLC of some sort. The unlock codes are tied to your account but Disks themselves are not.

Regarding the 360 games on Rare's Replay, Good question. I'll try to confirm that later tonight. I know if you don't have a digital copy of the 360 game you'll need the disk in the drive. But I'm not sure about Perfect Dark for example. I have the Xbox Live Arcade game on my 360 and am using the same account on my Xbox One. I'll fire it up tonight to see what happens. You can select those games in your game menu outside of the Rare's Replay game itself.


I bought a used copy of Rare's Replay on Xbone. You don't need a code or anything to download the online games. Once the Xbone recognizes the disc it lets you download Banjo Kazooie and everything else.

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 7th, 2015, 7:02 pm
by ActRaiser
Even if you have the digital rights to a 360 game, the Xbox One requires the Rare Replay disk in the machine. Maybe, that goes away once they release the update for 360 backward compatibility?

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 8th, 2015, 8:27 am
by Atariboy
ActRaiser wrote:Even if you have the digital rights to a 360 game, the Xbox One requires the Rare Replay disk in the machine. Maybe, that goes away once they release the update for 360 backward compatibility?


It will.

Xbox 360 backwards compatibility isn't officially available yet outside of Rare Replay. So unless you're in the preview program, Xbox Live doesn't care that you own stuff like Perfect Dark digitally on the Xbox 360 since that's not available to you right now.

It's only concerned with Rare Replay and in order to play the content contained on Rare Replay, the disc itself must be present in the drive. But once BC is rolled out here soon to everyone, you'll be able to bypass Rare Replay for the 360 content that you already own digitally or on disc (Ideally, without having to download a duplicate file of the same thing in order to do so).

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 8th, 2015, 5:10 pm
by Verm3
So, I get the impression that the Xbox One and PS4 don't lock discs to accounts. Thanks for the information :)

I was wondering if it was something I would have had to check with used PS4, Xbox One and 360 games when I purchase either console or in future with regards to the 360 discs.

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 14th, 2015, 8:52 pm
by Tron
Good question in a time when playing games has gotten so confusing. I fled from PC gaming because of confusion like this. Now it seems that these DRM concerns are invading consoles. Good answers everyone & thanks.

Re: Are discs on Xbox One and PS4 console/account locked once used?

Posted: October 15th, 2015, 2:02 pm
by Verm3
I don't expect many will agree with me here and while I would prefer there to be no DRM at all, I don't feel PC DRM is any more confusing than Xbox Live or PSN, just there are multiple providers offering different games, instead of one single provider as there is on console (though EA Access is an addition on Xbox One).