The stupid thing about it all is the most likely cause of it not working entirely offline is a relatively small file that contains compatibility information for titles. For an individual title its smaller than most of our posts.
This is such a tough topic to get solid information about because DRM is constantly confused with the separate issue of Smart Delivery and distinct console versions. Not to mention home vs. other Xbox confusing things further. If I recall correctly there was an instance where even someone as astute as MVG made a claim about DRM on Twitter that turned out to be incorrect because he has multiple Xboxes and accidentally performed a test on one that was not his home Xbox.
Bottom line though is that the console is clearly meant to be online all the time, and it’s not a particularly friendly or intuitive experience if you’re offline, due to DRM as well as other reasons. It is what it is, it’s not something that bothers me because my consoles are always online anyway, but if it’s important to you to be able to play offline, you’re going to have a tough time.
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I’m not a tech guy and all I know, is that it’s very aggravating, frustrating and annoying to be required to validate my disc based games. I wish Microsoft would just eliminate it. In all honesty, I wish Microsoft would just copy Sony in this regard, just let me insert the disc and install it so I can play the damn thing.
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I wouldn’t say always online as I’ve played offline for days without connection before but it definitely requires connection to work, there’s offline functionality and it works but as you said it’s not friendly or intuitive.
Many thanks for all the replies !
I ask because the PlayStation 5 don’t need an internet connection for the first launch of many physicals games, and I need a console that can be are totally offline for downloading games, but I prefer Xbox than PlayStation.
Furthermore, I’m still on consoles because I love physics games and would like to play them in 30 years. If I need an internet connection or physical games will no longer exist, I’m just going to stay on PC and buy me a gamepad.
Thank you everyone !! 
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Hi Peter,
I would like yo know if you have trying Steel Rising (Install and run offline)?
Thank you 
I bought Steel Rising digitally so I could get access to the beta. I still have to go to GameStop to cancel my physical pre-order. lol
Gotham Knights is my next new release and if I end up buying it physically, I’ll let you know.
ITs 2022 dude. A lot of these games require extra content or mandatory content. Even if they don’t they will in the future. Thats why they have DRM
The data on physical disc gets outdated quick and some patches are mandatory.
That’s absolutely no excuse. For a game not to be in a playable state on the disc is completely unacceptable to me.
So? From my perspective, as long as I keep my system offline, the game should be playable off of the disc in the state it was on launch day.
I completely understand the need for patches and other updates, but it should be my choice.
To be clear, for me personally this is an academic discussion. I keep my system online at all times, and very rarely buy physical games, but it’s the principle of the thing that rubs me the wrong way.
Why do people act like this is a big deal ? It’s 2022.
Hotspot your phone for 5 seconds and connect if your home internet is down.
Because there’s no conceivable technological reason for it. And there’s plenty of situations where people may want to play games without being able to be online. So why not have the game playable on day 1 directly off the disc?
They have a console for that, it’s called the 360
But that principle will wane in the future anyway. And who knows when they close down servers they might patch it to play them without drm.
I know it sucks but thats the times we live in
Hikikomori Media reports that Smart Delivery game disks and Series games where you install the game from disk now do not need to be onlineto be able to install and play the game.
Backwards compatibility games (ie. OG and 360), Game Pass and stubs (games like Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite) still require internet connectivity. You also still need to connect online to set up your Series X console for the first time.
(I’m pretty sure someone has already posted this- if so, I’ll delete my post)
Call back to previous threads: Possible Issue - You cannot play Installed Xbox One games offline on Xbox Series X - Gaming - XboxEra
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This is an awesome step in the right direction. The less DRM on the system, the better. Hopefully they get to a point where peole can use the console out of the box and start providing system updates on game discs like they used to do. Would also like to see fewer stub games from the company. The system support 100GB blu ray discs, so it would be great if they used that when a game is too large for a 50GB disc.
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Reposting these from the community thread. Seemed like decent summary broken down into small nibbles:
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What does initial check in mean?
My next disc based purchase will probably be Gotham Knights. Does this mean I can install the game off the disc and play it once the install is done? If so, this is great news!!! The few negatives that I have with Microsoft and Xbox Series X are slowly being eliminated one by one. Woohoo!!! Xbox baby!!! 
If the game isn’t a stub, then it’s fine.
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I was hoping this would help with not being able to play games on a not-home console when Xbox servers are down, but it seems not. Still a good step though, props to MS.
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