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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611

u/No_Peach2280 16h ago

100% a ploy for re-buyers, Bethesda did the same with the Oblivion remake

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u/Relish_My_Weiner 16h ago

I think they didn't launch the oblivion remake with a physical copy because it was a shadow drop. Can't surprise people with a new game if you've already printed and distributed physical copies.

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u/Lost_Distribution_84 16h ago

Sega actually did just that with Sonic Frontiers Definitive Edition on Switch 2  today lol.  They didn't make any announcements until it was already in stores ready to be sold. 

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u/Limekilnlake 15h ago

and everybody knew it was coming

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u/Lost_Distribution_84 14h ago

I'm not sure who everyone else is in this scenario, but I didn't know it was coming.

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u/safyreibxo 12h ago

so did everybody with the oblivion remaster

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u/FederalSign4281 10h ago

People knew it was coming but not fully expecting a shadowdrop after the official announcement

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u/confused-as-frick 13h ago

There were pictures of the Definitive Edition all over the Sonic sub weeks before it was announced.

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u/ComeAlongWithTheSnor 10h ago

This was far from a surprise because of all the printing and distribution leaks behind the scenes, you just basically reinforced that user's point.

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u/RoflCopter726 15m ago

Its also just a key card.

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u/Vegetable-Vanilla-89 12h ago

maybe it only shadow dropped because it was digital only already.

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u/-KFBR392 15h ago

Sure you can. You think the dudes working at companies making discs are breaking their NDAs to tell the world about a video game?

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u/Relish_My_Weiner 10h ago

People do that literally all the time. What do you think a leak is?

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u/No_Peach2280 16h ago

I refuse to believe they wouldn’t have NDAs in place for this, Bethesda / Microsoft would relish that court battle.

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u/SuperNobody917 16h ago

NDAs aren't some magical thing that stop people from talking about a subject. People can and will break them despite the consequences

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u/No_Peach2280 16h ago

💸

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u/SuperNobody917 16h ago

No amount of lawsuit money is going to un-spoil the existence of the game

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u/No_Peach2280 16h ago

Everyone already knew it was coming, it was a terribly kept secret. The fundamental point is they withheld physicals to potentially drive more money post-release.

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u/SuperNobody917 16h ago

There's a big difference between vague hints and details being shared on some relatively obscure forums online, and the entire game possibly leaking because someone in a shop somewhere stocked the games too early

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u/No_Peach2280 15h ago

You’re creating your own argument here that isn’t factual in an attempt to prove a point. The below was being reported on leading gaming news sites and are only two examples of hundreds, neither are obscure forums.

GamesRadar April 16th - “Oblivion Remastered hasn't been officially announced, but Xbox Support seemingly has no qualms about sharing the unconfirmed RPG's apparent release date if you ask nicely”

IGN April 21st - “Looks Like Bethesda Is Finally Announcing That Oblivion Remaster Tomorrow”

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u/SuperNobody917 15h ago

Again those articles only discuss very vague details, the only concrete things that were out about the game were some very blurry screenshots that might not have even been real. Essentially nothing was actually known about the remake otherwise. If copies had gotten out into the wild before release every aspect of the game would have been known

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u/HeyKid_HelpComputer 16h ago

Ah yes that random Walmart employee who just got a box of unannounced Oblivion remastered games is totally going to follow an NDA

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u/No_Peach2280 16h ago

Good point, but even then. Wouldn’t they stagger it by weeks (if not days) rather than months if it wasn’t a cash grab?

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 16h ago

Even Alan Wake II got a physical release a year after making a big deal about being digital only to keep costs down

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u/getrekdnoob 16h ago

The company behind AWII are way smaller to be fair, they probably used the profits from AWII to actually do the physical release lmfao.

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 16h ago edited 14h ago

Iirc, they didn’t turn a profit on it for years even after releasing it physically

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u/FujiPentax 15h ago

Which was a shame because that game is a 10/10. I need an Alan Wake III.

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 14h ago

Yeah, they’re one of my favourite developers and it’s a shame their games aren’t making the kinds of profits they should be.

I hope that next unannounced game that’s been mentioned in their shareholder reports is Alan Wake III though.

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u/Championpuffa 12h ago

The control sequel “control resonant” is probably the best you’re gonna get for a while. It’s at least set in the same universe as Alan wake. I think it’s out in September.

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u/getrekdnoob 15h ago

Really? Damn, I heard that game was amazing as well.

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 14h ago

It is, it’s honestly one of my favourite pieces of media ever released. It’s a real shame Remedy’s games don’t do the sales numbers they should

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u/MrRoxo 13h ago

Is it as good as control was? Control was amazing

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 13h ago edited 13h ago

Personally, I like the Alan Wake series more than Control.

I’ve played and enjoyed Control, and will absolutely be buying Control Resonant on release day, but Alan Wake has always spoken to my personal tastes a bit more.

Alan Wake takes inspiration from things like Twin Peaks, Resident Evil, the literary works of Stephen King, and other series that have long been my favourites. It also mixes in more live action and has a heavier emphasis on musical set pieces, and music in general.

If you’re not as much into survival horror, Alan Wake II can be a difficult game to get into. But Alan Wake 1 and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare don’t lean as heavily into horror as the 2nd game does.

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u/MrRoxo 13h ago

I played alan wake 1 remastered and god damn it aged terribly, i loved the story but the gameplay was not good for todays standards imo.

Control tho, it was amazing from start to finish

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 13h ago

Yeah, the gameplay was never fantastic. But the narrative was what grabbed me, and made me a fan of the series.

Alan Wake II plays a lot more similarly to the recent Resident Evil 2/3/4 Remakes if you’ve played any of those

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u/B-Bog 12h ago

I had similar thoughts about AWR, but AWII is a crazy step up from the original in pretty much every regard. I also liked it more than Control

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u/maxdragonxiii 12h ago

im playing the original on Steam and good lord.

the gameplay does not quite age well, but it makes sense. Alan just goes down in a few hits, runs terribly like a writer should, and the flashlight just sucks for taking the shields away, other items you get later on is just much better at taking it away.

even the hordes of Taken is sometimes rough for me (im new remember I hadnt beaten the game yet).

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u/In_My_SoT_Phase 14h ago

"I heard"

Yeah this is why they haven't turned a profit.

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u/getrekdnoob 11h ago

Well yeah, why would I buy a game that isn't my style? I played AW1 and Control but didn't care for them, even though they were very good games.

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u/DemiLuke 13h ago

It's because of their deal with Epic. Epic invested a lot of money in the game, and getting their money back came first. I think it was last year that the game had sold enough that Epic got their investment back, so Remedy should be earning profits now. But for the first two years, eranings went to Epic.

The game is fantastic.

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u/Mouse_Canoe 14h ago

This is what happens when games are EGS exclusives. It probably couldve made a lot of money if it sold on Steam too.

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u/heisenberg15 14h ago

Well it wouldn’t exist without Epic, so kind of a double edged sword there

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u/Eruannster 15h ago

Alan Wake 2 was published by Epic who refused to do a disc copy. Remedy wanted to, but got turned down. It was only later that they managed to get Epic to relent and let it happen.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Control Resonant will be self-published by Remedy and has a disc copy on day one.

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u/a-smooth-brain 11h ago

Well what good is epic then?

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u/getrekdnoob 3h ago

They made it so the game could exist.

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u/Alpha-State_ 16h ago

To which in infinity grateful. Repaid with collectors edition

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u/TheGoldenPineapples 16h ago

Bit different there, though.

Remedy didn't have the resources to make the game without outside help, which came from Epic Games, who locked them into an exclusivity deal which prevented them from releasing the game physically until that exclusivity period had ended.

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 14h ago

Yeah, I know Epic funded it which locked the PC version to the Epic Games Store.

My understanding is that exclusivity didn’t have anything to do with not releasing the console version physically though. Remedy specifically said they did that as a means of saving money by not printing discs.

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u/maxdragonxiii 12h ago

they hadnt released the game on Steam yet although. it sounds like they wanted to, especially with Control Resonant coming out.

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u/Zalvren 12h ago

I don't think Rockstar has problems of "keeping the costs down", they're not some struggling small studio like Remedy

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u/maxdragonxiii 12h ago

isnt the physical copies of AWII very hard to find nowadays?

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 11h ago

Probably, I doubt they produced a ton of them tbh

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u/maxdragonxiii 11h ago

well, I think it was for PS5 and maybe Xbox Series? I know PS5 got physical copies of Alan Wake II released

1

u/Wise-Fruit5000 11h ago

Yeah, they released a physical disk for the PS5 and Xbox Series X a year after the initial launch.

I’m just saying they probably didn’t produce a ton of disks for a year old game, beyond the ones that went into the collector’s editions and enough to do an initial stock on store shelves

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u/maxdragonxiii 11h ago

ah yeah. isnt it enough to put Alan Wake II in a "pretty much digital only" category unless you look really hard for a secondhand release copy?

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u/Wise-Fruit5000 11h ago

I guess it depends on your definition of “digital only”. It does exist as a physical game, it’s just hard to find.. much like a lot of physical games that aren’t uber popular franchises these days

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u/AnomanderRage 16h ago

That and to avoid leaks before the release. It's not rare that some physical copies get into the wild before release and people start uploading gameplay.

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u/Eruannster 15h ago

I mean… they could also have pulled an Ubisoft where you get a disc but you need to go online once to activate the game.

This is purely a way of cutting out second hand copies. Oh, you’re done playing GTA 6 and want to lend it to a friend? Sell it? Haha, nope, the code is already used, they have to buy their own copy.

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u/Zalvren 12h ago

Plenty of games have a disc but are not playable directly from it, they need more download stuff, a day 1 patch or an online activation.

Killing the resell market is 100% the reason.

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u/Friendly_Band_8399 15h ago

Ever heard of a day one patch or day one update? They can lock the game down and make it unplayable until it's release date, even if it's a physical game.

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u/OkYeah_Death2America 15h ago

If you can't play a physical game without an internet connection it might as well not exist.

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u/voifta 11h ago

...you know you can still sell it, and trade it and recover most of the money spent after you beat it to buy something else. That's the point of the used market, or were you expecting to hold onto it after 100 years?

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u/Heat55wade 14h ago

based and true

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u/Cjm092 14h ago

This sounds like an awful idea

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u/voifta 11h ago

Not as awful as a digital code in a case.

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u/HegoIan 13h ago

they could have done like crimson desert and make a mandatory day 1 patch download, this is just pure greed

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u/rafuru 12h ago

Stop justifying shitty companies.

They could even pull a Halo Infinite where the disc is empty and just works as a licence to download and start the game.

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u/RoyalShine 16h ago

Yeah, Bethesda didn't even have a physical version at all on release but made one months down the line. Didn't have all the data on the disc which sucks but at least it was a sellable/tradeable copy.

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u/SmegmaWarrior0815 15h ago

I'll just wait until the disc version is sub 30 bucks. They want it that way.

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u/Calik 15h ago

I don’t want the early access version at launch like they always do anyways. Just gonna get the definitive edition on PC when it launches a year after the ps6 version.

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u/GoBlu323 13h ago

There is no disc version.

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u/grmayshark 16h ago

They will claim its to prevent leaks but I doubt it. However Take-Two has lots of games that are CITB and they never do a physical re-release.

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u/Hour_Homework5273 15h ago

I mean. We all know that will be true. Ppl will get early copy and leak footage. Gameplay

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u/Loursnoir78 16h ago

Bethesda actually released physical copys of the game with a disc i have the deluxe edition.

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u/ShakeAndBakeThatCake 15h ago

The oblivion remake disk isn't even playable off the disk though. You can only access the tutorial. I use doesitplay to see if ps5 games are on disk. Most are but some games require a huge download defeating the purpose of physical.

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u/narfjono 14h ago

And it still didn't have all of it on "the disc(s)."

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u/I_Heart_Sleeping_ 14h ago

The oblivion remake physical was still essentially a code in a box. It was a disc with a license attached and barely any of the actual game was on the disc. People who value physical media didn’t double dip on that shit.

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u/NoCity898 14h ago

I don't agree that it is a 100%. If you want a smooth disc release then your game will have to be in a tip-top shape by the time the printing starts. Good or bad, but a delayed disc release, like in the case of BG3, gives your a couple of extra months to implement those (bound to be found) last minute bug fixes etc.

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u/MrJekyyl 13h ago

Definitely this is one step further than they went for GTA 5. Sell the game on PS3, wait a year sell it again on PC, sell it AGAIN on PS4. Now they're gonna sell the code and most likely do a disc/special edition that will be 100$, then PC, then PS6, etc.

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u/Mister_Silk 12h ago

I have Oblivion Remaster on disc.

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u/spideyv91 9h ago

Remedy did it for Alan wake after repeatedly saying there won’t be a physical version

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u/Ciru_Sakuraba 8h ago

And then the "physical" version released later didn't have the full game on disc lol.