Xbox Series X Smart Delivery means old game buys stay free
Microsoft expanded Smart Delivery for the Xbox Series X today with a variety of big-name game titles. With Smart Delivery, users will be able to play games on Xbox Series X that they'd previously purchased on systems like Xbox One and Xbox One X. Microsoft suggested that all Xbox Game Studios games that are "Optimized for Xbox Series X" will "support Smart Delivery."
What's this mean?
Say, for example, you purchase a game for Xbox One that supports Smart Delivery. If you purchased that game digitally, attached to your Microsoft account, you'll see that game available for download in the future, too, on your Xbox Series X.
This works for digital purchases of supported games, but it CAN also work for physical disks. Xbox Series X works with game disks, just like Xbox One X and Xbox One. If a developer decides to "support Smart Delivery" with their game released on a physical disk, they can... do so.
What's the big deal?
It's sort of like Microsoft's making a significant deal of something that, by all means, should've always been a given. If I buy a game on one gaming console and new console is released with the same operating system, it stands to reason that the game should work on the new console, too. Unfortunate for the everyday average gamer, that's not always been the case.
Smart Delivery games today
As of June 15, 2020, Microsoft had a list of games ready to roll for Xbox Series X that were ready to support Smart Delivery. So if you buy these games now, or when they're released (as is the case for a game like Cyberpunk 2077), you'll also have them available for download for Xbox Series X (assuming they've already launched by the time the console is released).
Smart Delivery games (June 15, 2020):
• Halo Infinite
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla
• Destiny 2
• DiRT 5
• Scarlet Nexus
• Chorus
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• The Ascent
• Call of the Sea
• Gears 5
• Second Extinction
• Metal: Hellslinger
There'll almost certainly be other games that work on the new console that you will not need to re-purchase if you've already purchased on an earlier console. For example Minecraft – while we're not CERTAIN that this will not require a NEW purchase, there's no evidence at the moment that we're aware of that would suggest that a new purchase would be required.
But we will see! Xbox Series X will be released in the "Holiday 2020" season. We'll know more about the exact launch date in the very near future – for now, you can probably bank on a guess around late October, early November.