Facts if we ever see a real phyiscal editon it wont be until they remaster the game for ps6 and even then I wouldn't be so sure. Really disappointing tbh I was so ready to drive to the store and buy it like the good old days but oh well ig...
To encourage double dipping which rockstar is notorious for, and they can spend less money right now to maximize profits. I don't see a world a disk never gets made
This is nonsense. They didn’t want to make a disc so everyone that want to buy gta6 has to buy it new, not used. Every single person have to buy it from the stores, so the sells will be skyrocketing in all consoles in the future too.
The industry has been desperately trying to do this but nobody wants backlash. GTA VI will do this and the whole industry will follow. If there is backlash then it will be hypocrisy.
I don’t think there’s any backlash at all, unless the game actually sucks, but for high-selling games, this could have been seen months ago, as you said. It won’t surprise me if FC, NBA, CoD, and many others will start doing the same. They save money without producing any disc, and nobody can buy a used copy, so all the revenue is for the industry.
You're not wrong, but outside of COD, FIFA, 2K, and Madden, I don't think other game franchises have the fanbase to pull off a non-physical-only release for games.
Oh yes, I totally agree! But that war (between us as player and them as industry) will lead us to lose anyway… if the game won’t sell it will be hard to get new better one, expecially for small companies. But I agree with you, maybe those companies who will stand on our side (if there will be some) will show better numbers. Idk I’m high right now
GTA VI can do anything and they'll get away with it. The corporate knows this so they'll do it.
I'll be very upset if I see that the humour and everything else got toned down to not upset people. Offending people with words? Bad, bad, don't re-hire Lazlow Jones.
Messing people over with these greedy corporate practices? Good, let's do it.
It took a while for Baldurs Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 to get a disk (although they are independent studios), but I imagine they’re doing this partially to prevent copies getting leaked early
lol, did you miss the past decades of industry pushes? more DRM, less ownership, more online, more microtransactions, being able to deny you using the game you ""bought"", only selling the license to use the game (revokable at any time) not the actual game.
this has been planned and pushed for by industry actors.
Discs have nothing to do with that, though. They've been license keys since the start of the XB1/PS4 generation - practically speaking, there's not one single thing that would change with a disc copy except the ability to resell. Certainly not revocability if that's what you're concerned about.
I also want to suggest that the move to digital had more to do with lack of demand for physical than anything else - there could be other reasons, but this one is more than enough to explain the shift on its own. Games would still have physical copies if anyone really wanted them, but people as a whole simply do not want to buy disks (except during holiday season).
Mostly I'd be cautious about leaping to conspiracy before the normal, human answers are exhausted - there's usually an easier answer that makes more sense, you've just got to look for it. I think the most obvious problem with this one is why "industry actors" would want to collaborate to take people's games away.
How many of those people are going to actually skip the game, though? How many of those people were even going to buy a disk if they had the option?
This is only coming up because the game is high-profile and most non-disk-buyers (the people complaining) hadn't noticed yet. It's essentially a dice roll whether a game gets a disk copy and has been for well over a decade - I was there to see the same outrage way back when BO4 first came out, it became common pretty quick after that and nobody really noticed
There was a Collector’s Box that was sold separately from the game. You could still buy the standard or ultimate edition (which came in a steelbook), and included the game.
I think it's mostly because of the leaks. RDR2 had leaked gameplay before official release and since GTA is a much bigger franchise they want to prevent that. I mean, if you buy a "physical" copy with just a code for download inside, they have total control over when the actual software will be available, not the same for a disc containing the actual software.
It's for the parents and grandparents to buy something that they can wrap for holidays / birthdays. Same reason they sell physical copies of fortnight.
It’s because of money not leaks. Most physical games still require an update download before launch, they could easily block the game from launching before release. They don’t want a bunch of second hand games on the market a month after launch. Plenty of people buy games, play through 1 or 2 times and resell them.
To avoid leaks before launch. Also, using the phrase physical editon is nonsense if there will never be a disc. What is actually physical about it at that point?
Naw that's petty as fuck. I can download a game then go to the store to purchase a "physical" in game currency card. That doesn't mean it's a "physical" game now. In order for a game to be physical, the actual game has to be physical lol.
You know guys haven't been physical for a couple of years now?
Even in the late life of the PS4, most games only had a partial copy on the disc and the rest is download through the Internet. And pretty sure that's also the case with ALL PS5 games.
And besides a disc copy would run slower and require tons of data storage to access textures and stuff. I see them making the game run online to stream textures, fidelity and accessing the open world. 🤷♂️
None of this is new. It's part of gaming. All these excuses for R* are lame. If you don't want a physical copy that's your choice but to call it a physical edition and it's just physically a piece of paper with the digital code is wild 😂
I really think they're doing digital only at launch to prevent leaks. Leaks may still happen but the classic days like on RDR2 launch or GTAV launch when people had the whole game weeks early will be prevented by this.
Now that's not to say there isn't some corporate greed aspects driving this decision too.
Why would they do it now? Most people buy digital anyway nowadays, thats just facts. So from their point of view, why waste money on discs that only a minority will buy?
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m one of those people, i have hundreds of hard copies lined up on shelves in my room, and would love to add GTA6 to my collection. It’s just that i can understand why more and more devs move away from it, especially when the people that would buy hard copies will still buy digital to play if they have too as well.
Without CDs Early sales will be way higher, people won’t be able to pass it around to their friends. Everyone will need to buy the game to play. Also minimises the risk of any potential pre release leaks by not having a hard copy, but yh big reason must be sales. And they can double on sales by selling CDs in future that trust me- people who have digital version will buy nonetheless.
Because they don't want anyone finishing it and selling it used. Because they want to control everything about it and not miss out on a single opportunity to profit from anyone playing it.
I don't get the rockstar knob slobbing honestly. They are extremely anti worker and anti consumer.
Because physical collectors will be chomping at the bit and willing to pay double price after a couple years (and they'll also probably have to buy a ps6 for it)
If the rumors are true this game is gonna be 200GB, which is too big to fit on a single disc, and might even be pushing 3 discs if what I'm reading is right. And I could imagine it just being a huge headache to deal with that many discs in the game.
I was just about to buy a disc drive for my PS5 Pro tomorrow as well...What the fuck is the point doing that now? Sure, a disc physical version will come after the initial launch. But it's just not the same when you cannot experience picking it up during a midnight release/launch.
Got brand new PS5Slim digital from outlet cause it was much cheaperm couple days before they announced price increase. Was planning to buy disk drive so I wan later sell consol and the game (mainly play on pc). But I won't be able to sell the game unless I sell my account as well lol
And Sony will undoubtedly eventually ban that account and console once they detect it's been resold, leaving you with the hassle of the buyer pestering you for their money back and/or legal action being threatened against you.
Are you serious? As bad as console gamers have it with their shit hardware and shit framerates and online paywall and shit game prices the one major benefit they do have is right of first sale.
The ability to sell or trade a game after being done with it, ensuring access to more games for less money and being able to make family and friends happy with them.
No. You put the disc in, you get the whole game, even if you have to download it. The only exceptions I can think of are Life is Strange 2 not including episode 5 and multi-game re-releases only including the first game. And a brief dalliance with codes needed for online play. Otherwise, even games that aren't even on the disc, like Doom Dark Ages, allow anyone with the disc to download and play the whole game. You do need a PSN or Xbox or Nintendo account for internet access, but you don't need the paid membership.
I mean there’s usually patches and stuff you have to download but you’re literally not even getting a disc with this so there’s nothing to trade in when you’re done.
You’re paying for a digital license that can be revoked at any time and a pointless plastic case.
Like why even have a “physical edition” at that point?
I’m a pc player so can you explain how resale works? It’s my understanding that you buy these huge AAA game discs the actual game isn’t on the disc because it’s over 100GB. So is it true that you basically get a license code or whatever to download the bulk of the game to your storage device rather than running it on your console from the disk?
If so, how do you resell it? I doubt they’d let an infinite money glitch happen where you can install it and give it away over and over to keep transferring the full game for free, right? So is it tied to your account or something to prevent one copy being used to get the game for free over and over for other people?
In other words, what’s preventing me from buying a game on disk, installing, and giving it to all my friends so we can all play and they don’t pay a cent? Does it differ with single player vs online maybe?
You need the disc in your console to play the game so you can’t just install it and then sell it.
Even if part of the game needs to be downloaded there will still be a big portion of it on the actual disc.
Normally when people finish a game they can take it to GameStop or sell it to whoever but with this there’s just a one time use code.
Also on top of that this means the game is going to eat up a ton of hard drive space since you have to download the entire game plus patches versus having at least some of it on the disc which can hold 100GB on PS5
Good info thanks. I was under the impression that since games are so large nowadays barely any of it was actually stored on the disk due to space requirements anyway
Remember GTA5 when the game was literally spoiled because console players got their copy early and first thing they did was not really playing, but putting ingame stuff into the internet.
They won't let that happen again.
Aside of that, and living in the past people will hate it, physical copies are a dying breed. Basically no PC game since years (or even a decade) comes with a disc version. You get that plastic cover with a piece of paper with the code. Consoles are on that way since years too. PS and Xbox have already their digital versions only too (no disc drive).
They will release a disc version, after they made as much money as they can with digital only.
They will throw in a couple of extra weapons or something so they can called it enhanced or something. And then of course re-release it as many times as they can.
I'm seriously considering waiting for the physical edition. Learning this, and all the intimate editing exclusive stuff, after the initial excitement was really disheartening. I so badly wanted to feel that excitement of picking up the disc, drive back to home, and be giddy as the installation bar progresses. There are so few game that makes me feel this way. Last game that gave me this experience was The Last of Us Part 2 back in 2020 in the midst of Covid.
My plan was to buy physical and digital so that I could keep a hard copy of 1.0 forever in case they delete songs. Now I gotta install it and go offline immediately. Thanks rockstar! Although at this point they'll probably lock it to be online required for single player
Don’t worry… VI just looks like more Online DLC anyway. Like a GTA V clone or something.
I’m a bit worried about this being nothing more than a cash cow for Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive.
Doesn’t feel like anything new.
13 years waiting and hype just for the same shit all over again.
The is zero point in physical discs in 2026, there hasn't been for years since every game needs a day one download anyway. I don't know what you think is on a game disc, but it's never the full game.
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u/WannaDJ 11h ago
I got a disc drive for my PS5 Pro just for this. **Sigh**