Microsoft has posted a job listing for an "Xbox Games Supply Strategist," and the role revolves entirely around physical games. The full-time, Redmond-based position went live on October 14 and was spotted by users on X a few days later. The new hire will join the Xbox Supply Chain team to coordinate the launch of physical Xbox games "across all platforms," along with global supply planning, inventory, and retail sales. Oddly enough, the listing never mentions discs. The timing is interesting regardless. Sony confirmed in July that it will stop producing discs for new PlayStation games from January 2028, and its lawyers have since argued that digital game ownership "is not plausible." On the other hand, Microsoft's signals have been more mixed.

Team Green's Disc-to-Digital program lets owners of supported Xbox One and Series X discs claim a digital license, which many read as groundwork for a discless Project Helix, yet Microsoft later asked Insiders whether its next-gen console should install games from physical discs. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma also told the BBC in August that she wants players to have a choice between physical and digital, without committing to anything for Helix. Still, a job listing isn't a confirmed hardware roadmap. "Across all platforms" could simply cover Xbox-published games that ship physically on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, and it says nothing about a disc drive on Helix. It looks like boxed Xbox games will stick around a while longer in some form, but anyone hoping for a disc drive on Helix should wait for Microsoft to confirm it.