"Project Saluki": A new Xbox Game Pass tier has been unearthed, alongside a curious "Positron" potential disc-to-digital program — and it could be huge

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already hinted at a big China expansion for Microsoft's gaming operations, and we might be on deck with the first details.

Sources familiar shared two new Xbox code names with us recently, now verified inside the latest Xbox Insider builds.

The first is "Project Saluki," which seems to be a brand new Xbox Game Pass tier set specifically designed for the Chinese market. Saluki seems to represent not one, but several Xbox Game Pass tiers and rewards, specifically tailored for China's unique regulatory environment and gamer preferences. Details beyond that are scant at this time.

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Indeed, China is an incredibly important and increasingly lucrative market for big gaming companies. China is, however, incredibly difficult for Western companies to break into. Microsoft already has significant operations in China via Activision-Blizzard, in partnerships with the likes of NetEase and other Chinese staples. The specifically-tailored Xbox Game Pass offering will likely revolve around titles that have been verified by Chinese regulatory rules, and perhaps focus more heavily on in-game currencies and the like.

Traditionally, China was a mobile-skewing market, but recent games like Black Myth Wukong have seen China break into AAA core gaming in a big way. Some analysts project China could surpass the United States as the world's biggest gaming market in 2026, with growth already outpacing traditional western markets. For those of us already in the Xbox ecosystem, this next bit of news might be more interesting to you.

Codename "Positron," from what we can tell, could be some form of disc-to-digital entitlement program.

The details here are incredibly scant right now and investigations are on-going. It might not be exactly as it seems right now from the details we've received, so take this with a huge pinch of salt and a healthy dose of speculation for now.

But, it would make sense. I thoroughly expect the next-gen Xbox "Helix" console-PC hybrid to be without a disc drive. Hints I've received about the nature of the box increasingly point to the idea that it will be a fully digital system, similar to today's gaming PCs, laptops, and most modern devices. Indeed, the industry for discs is on its last legs, with Blu-ray sales resigned mostly to core console gaming. PlayStation itself is now reporting an 85% digital ratio, and Microsoft's is likely even higher still.

I would be incredibly surprised if the PlayStation 6 and Xbox Helix console have disc drives by default, as the rise of Steam and mobile gaming have made the format increasingly outmoded.

PlayStation's solution has been external disc drives up until now. It's also a beneficiary of the Blu-Ray consortium, Microsoft conversely has to license the tech, increasing its costs.

If this program is what it appears to be, it could be a method that existing disc-based gamers can bridge into the Xbox Helix ecosystem without having to give up on their content.

Microsoft planned for a system like this with the Xbox One back in 2012, where users received both a physical and digital license for games on disc. However, lending games and reselling games became a problem in that universe, and there was a healthy backlash against the program. Now that the vast vast majority of gamers opting for digital-first licenses, more ways to use digital licenses would probably be a welcome addition. Disc-based owners can't access their games on the cloud or via Xbox Play Anywhere, for example, so they're often missing out.

Exactly how this will work wholly remains to be seen. I presume Microsoft would need to somehow render the license on the disc defunct remotely after conversion. If they didn't, you would in theory be able to take the disc and share the license out to dozens of people for free entitlements, and I can't imagine publishers would be happy with that. So, clearly there will be some limitations, if indeed it's real.

Perhaps it'll only work with the next-gen Xbox Helix. It could also be a feature that reads the disc from an external USB-based Blu-Ray drive, and while it's in, grants you a digital entitlements temporarily for use on systems without a native dive, like the Xbox Series S and assumedly, Xbox Helix. We'll try and find out more, starting with if it's actually even real.

Steam is arguably the best platform right now for handling digital games DRM, at least this side of GOG's DRM-free model. The fact you can share your Steam library with several family members is exactly what Microsoft was proposing with the Xbox One platform back in 2013, and I for one, would like to see it come back. Perhaps this is the first step towards that kind of universe, but it's also possible we're reading way too much into what "Positron" is right now. So like I said, take it as speculation for now.

What do you think? Would you convert your discs to digital for Project Helix? Let us know.

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