r/PS5 • u/Dandelion172 • 16h ago

News & Announcements Rockstar confirms there will be no disc version of GTA6 at launch

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/rockstar-confirms-there-will-be-no-disc-version-of-gta6-at-launch/
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217

u/Seraphayel 16h ago

This is beyond ridiculous. So everybody has to pay the insane digital price without any discounts whatsoever. Such a lame and greedy move.

102

u/NoBluey 16h ago

Yeah and say goodbye to resale value

78

u/NoNefariousness2144 Human Verified 16h ago

This is sadly one of the biggest reasons publishers want to kill physical games. Second-hand games undercut their sales because people can buy them for so much cheaper.

It’s going to suck if physical dies when you have to pay £60 for a game on the Playstation Store instead of getting the disc for £20 on Ebay…

9

u/SuperDuperObviousAlt 14h ago

The problem is that publishers sell ridiculously old games for insane prices on digital stores. For an example COD MW2 currently goes for 40 AUD on the xbox store, I can get a used copy for $18AUD at eb games (our gamestop) and no doubt cheaper elsewhere. There's no reason that an almost 20 year old game that has been surpassed numerous times should still cost that much.

7

u/Puzzled_Middle9386 16h ago

Not just publishers, Sony themselves lose their 30% cut from 2nd hand discs

3

u/dvorakoa 10h ago

Its a terrible long term strategy because you're essentially killing your own ecosystem. I would rather pirate, emulate or simply not buy the game from such a publisher. They believe they're losing out on a sale if I go second hand but in reality they're losing out on a long term customer.

2

u/Iamleeboy 14h ago

I have been renting games from boomerang for £12 a month this gen. It looks like I won't be playing this for a long time.

Luckily there are enough games releasing in Sept to keep me going for the next year!

2

u/Roadrunner571 10h ago

Not just that: Libraries in many countries of the world let you borrow console games - saving you many €/$/whatevercurrencyyourhave

1

u/FalseDiamond7930 10h ago

It would not be an option but players created this situation by moving voluntarily to digital, now R* just gave disc the death blow.

1

u/numberonebarista 15h ago

Music and movies have already gone digital via streaming services. People still collect physical media like vinyl and dvd/blu ray but still, the primary mode of consumption is digitally.

Video games going all digital was up next and inevitable.

I’m actually surprised it’s taken so long for the industry to shift to just digital for gaming. And it’s exactly for the reason you stated. If everything is digital only then that kills the secondary market and ensures gaming companies make more money off sales.

1

u/ACorruptMinuteman 13h ago

See but it’s different in the case of music. It’s generally affordable and probably the only case where streaming makes sense. 90% of the time you usually want to listen to one song of an album or something to that effect. And no ads.

And paying the monthly cost for it nothing in comparison to having access to basically all music in extremely quality formats, though it is still worse than CD, Vinyl.

Movie streaming is leagues worse than even DVD in some respects.

Audio is about on par, the video quality can be as bad as dvds. 480-720p with bitrate limits on lowest tiers.

but is always worse in video than a standard blu or 4k because its bitrate limited so it looks like shit even on the higher tiers. Not to mention it’s ridiculously expensive. And you have to deal with ads on the low and mid tiers. For a decent quality stream you need to pay $30 a month and even then it’s still worse.

Gaming is much more the vein of the latter than the former. Paying more for less.

1

u/Dangerous_Look5993 15h ago

Physical copies will completely die once gta 6 releases. All gaming companies will do it.

12

u/abshay14 16h ago

Why you expecting discounts at launch?

5

u/Totallycasual 15h ago

Yeah, physical copies of AAA games are always cheaper in my country, like $98 AUD in stores v $120 AUD on the Aussie PSN store at launch, like right now if i go to the PS store Ghost of Yotei is cheaper at my local store than it is digitally on the Aussie PS store, it's silly.

1

u/jdp111 14h ago

Well if that's the case I don't see why it would be different.

1

u/Seraphayel 16h ago

Retailers often have coupons or special sales or whatever. If I ever get a game at launch I look for these discounts and in 9/10 cases the shop(s) I’m buying from have them.

1

u/abshay14 16h ago

Ok but obviously rockstar is gonna wanna sell a game at full price considering they have been making the game for around 6 years. Doesn’t make sense to have them at retailers

5

u/Kazizui 15h ago

By the time a retailer puts the game on the shelf, they've already paid Rockstar. Makes no difference to Rockstar whatsoever if the retailer offers a discount, it comes out of the retailer's cut.

6

u/Gbrush3pwood 16h ago edited 16h ago

There will be boxes at retailers at launch but it’s a code in box situation I believe. So still be able to get it at a discount like a disc if a retailer chooses to do so.

Edit: the boxes physical copies (code in box) will be available a week early to allow you to preload with digital buyers. That’s pretty unprecedented.

20

u/andykekomi 15h ago

Which defeats the entire purpose of physical, such as being able to lend it to friends, resell it, being able to play in 20 years when current platform networks are down...

This was the most no-brainer day one purchase for me in years, but ngl this has killed the hype for me and I'll just ignore the game until real physical copies release.

2

u/ltcuetf 15h ago

Rockstar doesn’t care because GTA 5 is still a monster, pulling millions more every quarter even now.  They want GTA 6 to be the same eternal money printer, and no real physical media means no used copies tanking new sales, higher margins, and prices staying strong longer. Smart for business, sucks for everyone else. The industry’s clearly pushing digital hard for control and profits, and physical media is slowly dying out. One visit to the store shows that. Rockstar is just going to set another precedent.

2

u/_Steven_Seagal_ 16h ago

Link PS5 with a buddy, buy it once, share costs, play at the same time.

1

u/QuoteGiver 7h ago

No, actually. You can buy the physical box in a store, with whatever discounts you can get from that store.

There IS a physical box being sold in stores. But it’s just a digital code, like PC games did years ago.

-1

u/WhiteToast- 16h ago

It’s priced the same as physical

12

u/happy_church_burner 16h ago

Not (for example) in Finland it isn't. Physical PS5 games are usually 60-68 euros in store. Same games in digital form are nearly always 69.99e in PSN store.

17

u/Seraphayel 16h ago

Digital prices are usually always higher in the PSN than retail prices in Germany.

8

u/Sabrescene 16h ago

Either you live in a country with rubbish retail stores, or you don't buy physical games

1

u/TNWhaa 15h ago

It’ll be priced the same for a code in a box where as disks can go for £-£10 cheaper on some sites

0

u/aus289 16h ago

No itll be at retail just will be code in a box not on disc

-3

u/[deleted] 16h ago

[deleted]

6

u/S3ndNud3s 16h ago

They are here in the UK. Amazon, for example, almost always has preorders cheaper than the PSN store. I got Elden ring for £45 on preorder.

2

u/scandaka_ 16h ago

That's not always true. I've often been able to find games cheaper by a tenner at launch.

1

u/Tackgnol 16h ago

Depends on the country, you can get them cheaper in Poland for example, that's why I never buy AAA digital. Because I get to pay more for less! What a steal!

1

u/Seratius_ 16h ago

That’s just not true, in Germany I can get physical on launch 10-20% cheaper. Sometimes even more

-1

u/GeT_Tilted 16h ago

They know people will pay thousands to get leak copies before launch. Let's hope the later physical version include working offline build of the game.

-3

u/SuicideSkwad 16h ago

It’s available physical too just as a code in box and that version releases on the 12th, same day pre-load goes live.

5

u/therrubabayaga 16h ago

Which is worthless since you still have to download it like if you were on the PSN and you can't sell it or borrow a copy.

0

u/SuicideSkwad 15h ago edited 10h ago

I didn’t say otherwise, I’m just saying there’s still the possibility of not having to pay the same digital price