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Earlier today, we came across a story from the folks over at Twisted Voxel about how Xbox appeared to be changing its physical game box designs, based on someone who initially pointed it out over on ResetEra.
We've looked into this a bit further, and it does seem to be partially the case, but perhaps not to the extent that the OP initially thought. Basically, they've come across multiple upcoming Xbox games that are now advertising that they include a "Game Disc" in a grey bar at the bottom of the case, including Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced and Alien: Rogue Incursion (we've also spotted it for EA Sports UFC 6).
Here's a look at two of the cases next to each other:
There are some caveats here though. Firstly, this design isn't being used for some other upcoming Xbox games, such as Forza Horizon 6, 007 First Light and LEGO Batman. That would suggest they're either saving it for specific cases, or it's such a new idea that the designs had already been settled for those games before it was introduced.
It's also mentioned in the ResetEra post that "Requires Internet" is being applied to some titles instead of "Game Disc", and that is true, but it's not something we haven't seen before. In fact, if you go back a few years to the likes of Forza Motorsport, Starship Troopers: Extermination and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, all of these games feature a grey bar at the bottom of the case complete with some kind of phrase along these lines.
For example, here's Starship Troopers from 2024:
The "Game Disc" label is the only thing we've never come across before (although perhaps it's missed our radar in the past?), and ultimately it seems they've bounced around different ideas for the wording on this grey label in recent years.
With that said, what do you think Xbox should do here? How would you handle this situation in terms of providing as much clarity as possible for the consumer? We'd love to hear your suggestions down in the comments below.