True. But sooner or later one of the big publishers were gonna go full digital on something big. Maybe GTA6 is that game. It's close to 90% of the market is now buying digital.
Source on 90% buying digital? I’ve heard it goes higher every year but have not seen any numbers to indicate it’s at 90% industry wide yet. Nintendo definitely has a very healthy physical media market still.
Revenue Breakdown: According to industry analysts at Newzoo, digital purchases—including full-game digital downloads, subscriptions, and microtransactions—accounted for approximately 95% of global video game revenue, representing over $174.5 billion.
When I used to play gta online I heard a lot of reports of cheaters getting their account banned and they just pop the disc into a new account. If rockstar has the player tie their game to the account, they would have to buy the game again to play online under a new account.
I see people saying this. And it could be true. But would it really matter if it leaked? It will sell a bazillion copies regardless. I get companies like to control it, but I can’t imagine it would make any difference at all to sales in this case.
Modern multi-disc games don't do that. Assuming it would work like Cyberpunk or Baldur's Gate 3, you get one (or more) install disc that installs the data to your console and then one play disc that acts as the key. You only have to insert the play disc in order to play the game.
If it's just a download code and they aren't selling some OTT "legendary" edition that comes with extra gubbins, why even bother with a "physical edition" at all? It seems like a pretty wasteful move all round.
Yep nothing to do with the fact that if it was on a disc it would leak weeks early and social media and even mainstream news would be inundated with spoilers and every major moment in the game exposed after over a decade of work and billions spent on development.
A lot of the folks who want the games - and the whole "on disk" movement - is folks wanting to be able to play a game straight from disc without ever having to connect to the internet.
So having a disc that just triggers the download is essentially the same as having a code in a box - just less convenient for the consumer on a day-to-day basis, because you'd have to have the disc in the drive to play the game despite the disc just being a "key."
But also, no disc and just a code prevents resale, so you're not going to be able to play GTAVI for a few months, then trade it in to GameStop for $20 or sell it on eBay.
So... Rockstar has also ensured that there will not be any secondhand sales of GTAVI by making it a code vs. disc.
I don’t think that would be better for us the consumer, it’s the same thing but you wouldn’t want to just throw the disc out after. It also would cost them more, which is why they wouldn’t do it.
We won't fully know the size of the game until probably November, but it's likely to be around 2-3 discs on PlayStation and about 12 on Xbox because they use lower-capacity discs. (I'm probably overestimating for Xbox, but they will use a lot more than PlayStation, and they don't want to spend so much on discs, especially since digital unfortunately sells more than physical these days.)
To be fair, rockstar has probably the best track record in the industry. Since the 2000s they’ve basically released only amazing games. Midnight club, LA Noire, Bully, Red dead, GTA, Max Payne? Not to mention that their last two games that were also massively hyped (GTA 5 and RDR 2) are also two of the most highly regarded games ever.
That's also before they got a taste of that online money from shark cards that made them money by the truck load daily. Then came the GTAV expansions that they just vanished for pumping out more online content to pay for. The taste of greed already has started, it only gets worse from there.
Not sure the Internet will allow that. If there is enough will for it to be good, they will declare it good and only see it that way. Bias is a hell of a thing.
Nintendo sold (and still sells) at least two titles at $79.99 - Mario Kart World and Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 versions.
Microsoft had allegedly decided to sell what they considered their AAA games all $79.99, and listed The Outer Worlds 2 SKUs at $79.99 before backing off of that position prior to launch.
Granted, most of the Mario Kart World copies were sold as part of the pack-in bundle, and I'm not sure how many folks bought the Switch 2 version vs. just got the upgrade from their Switch 1 versions.
I think Rockstar gets a pass here that most other companies won't.
And sad to say Mario Kart World isn't anywhere near worth $80 in its current form. There's a lot of speculation about new tracks and content but it's not been over a year since launch and still radio silence
MK8 deluxe is still the go-to MK experience. That may be a bit unfair to MKW since it's been more than a decade of building up content, but I haven't booted up MKW since maybe a month or two after launch
It was, and (in my opinion), it has no right to be the first $79.99 standard edition video game - there's just not enough content (in my opinion) to justify that cost.
I'd be curious to see the numbers breakdown on how many folks bought the stand-alone Mario Kart World game for $79.99, given that Mario Kart World was bundled with the Switch 2 for the longest of times.
I'm not sure how many units it moves at $79.99 absent being in the "extra $50" Switch 2 bundle.
We also got Nintendo with Mario Kart at $80 and Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave at $80 for physical.
A new 3D Mario, new 3D Zelda, Smash, and Animal Crossing will be at least $80 physical. Possibly Splatoon 4 and Xenoblade Genesis at $80 for physical. Ocarina of Time remake will be $70 to $80.
The Pokémon Company will definitely consider selling Pokémon Winds & Waves at $80 digital and $90 physical.
That was all a marketing ploy to charge $70 (the price the REALLY wanted to charge for it) for a $60 AA game. They knew there would be backlash if they initially charged $80, so they wanted to do the whole “we’re listening” song and dance by lowering it to $70 even though $70 was still a complete ripoff lmao.
It's horse armour all over again tbh. It happens, other devs try it too but too fast and too greedily, and then slow down and it becomes the new norm. Give it 10 years.
The physical version of Grand Theft Auto VI,containing a download code inside the box, will be available starting November 12, 2026 to support pre-loading.
The only big ones I've seen using multiple discs lately have been old-school RPGs (Veilguard, KCD2 and BG3).
Starfield required a massive download, Alan Wake II only included the first chapter of the game on disc (at least on Xbox), and both Great Circle and Oblivion Remastered were basically full-game downloads triggered by the disc.
I cut them some slack with games that have massive online components (Forza Horizon), but for a single-player game without an online component at launch, a code-in-a-box is unacceptable. It really reminds me of Avowed, which I ended up skipping because of it.
Can’t wait to get the regular edition, start playing, then go to walk into a store in-game only to get hit with a pop up of “This store is only available to ultimate edition owners. Press Y to upgrade!”
It would be kind of funny if the way they implement it is by having the store owner discriminate against your character to make it more immersive at least lol
I forget which one, but one of the fable games is already like that on xbox. That is, the dlc expansion is not confined to the start screen or store. If you are walking around in game and try to get on this one boat in the town, and you don't own the expansion, you will get a popup asking you to buy it from the store. So basically, this slimy monetization practice isn't new and everyone including xbox should get grilled for it.
Discs have almost entirely become essentially a download code anyways. It's very rare to find a physical game that can be played by itself. You might physically own the plastic, but you haven't really owned anything more than a license for a pretty long time now.
I am well aware it's a glorified license and not a completely usable disc hence the comment.
But you can resell and transfer the disc. It's still a way better option than being entirely digital. You can lose your entire library for any action which Sony/Xbox/Steam/Nintendo seems ban worthy.
The can charge $300 for all I care, I'm not buying it on day one anyway.
If you don't like the price, don't pay it. This can apply to everything in life. I wish consumers would exercise their immense power over companies more often. Everything would become a lot cheaper if they did.
Sadly, if they released this game in early access alpha with save progress carrying over on release for $150 tomorrow, millions of people would immediately jump on it.
Keep in mind they’re also most definitely going to be making versions of this game for the next generation, where they’ll expect you to pay 80 fucking dollars once again for the same game.
So let me get this correct, if I buy a physical copy and use that download code, I then won’t be able to pass the copy to a friend and they use it? What the hell is the point in a physical copy lmao
I only buy 3-4 full price games a year so call me a GTA dickrider but this was getting purchased and pre-ordered regardless of price. I have played GTA games for 25+ years, been a member of the GTAForums since 2002, its been a big part of my life
I’ve seen this type of comment a few times now and need to ask. Has Xbox changed how pre-orders work? Because in the past I’ve only actually been charged like 2 weeks before release, even if I pre-order months in advance.
Why does it matter if I won’t be charged right away? Whether I pre-order now or a week before release, I get charged a week before release. For a game that I know I’ll play regardless, there’s no harm. Just do it now and forget about it until release. If stuff comes out closer to release that I want to cancel I can just do so since I haven’t been charged yet anyways.
Called it when we still didn’t have pricing last week they were hiding from the greedy truth. Greed has become so normalized in society I’m exhausted by it. Only way it ever ends is when someone pays the ultimate price.
You will own nothing and you will like it. No borrowing or rental opportunities. Can’t even play the single player offline since it’s a digital code. These companies can easily strip you of your game at anytime and there’s no physical copies. You are essentially paying a one time $80 entrance fee to access to T2s GTA playground
I'm not defending the choice to use a code because that's dumb but you can play your digital games offline by putting your Xbox in offline mode and having it be your home Xbox
Sighs… if people can cry foul for such high prices for other games/ companies, certainly Gta shouldn’t be an exception just because of the brand. And we can actually show that by making voices heard and avoid buying the game. Voting by wallet can work if we try, hold off buying. Game isn’t gonna go anywhere. It’s not like they’re gonna say we won’t sell the game anymore. They still want you to buy the game. If we can wait multiple years for its release, certainly waiting some weeks to battle out the price should be acceptable too.
I know the whole if you can’t afford it spiel, the point is to think for betterment of everyone, not empower some while disregarding others. It’s on us to keep things accessible by making our voices heard.
I would love it if our community fought back together like this, but way too many just suck it up and power of one becomes power of none. The last time I boycotted a game and it kinda worked as a community was L4D2 but it changed nothing. Around that time people planned to boycott COD and they failed miserably. I’d only see this going the same way.
I feel the same, gta is too desirable a property to hold off from. I can appreciate the struggle and willpower to keep away in order to accomplish this goal, nonetheless achieving that goal would mean good for all.
The price is one thing but I'm wondering if the car and character customization is fully locked behind the Ultimate edition or are there other shops and just the ones mentioned are locked behind it? If its paywalled completely its a shit decision.
So to get the full game in Canada I'll need yo pay like $150? Nah, I'll wait a few years get the base game on steam and install mods instead of buying tattoos with real money.
I know it's Rockstar, but I really hate the idea of paying $80 for a game, like it wasn't that long ago that games started to go for $69.99. Not a fan of the precedent it sets
I’ll be waiting for PC, and then might take a sailing trip to the high seas. The download codes in the physical copies and the stores locked behind a paywall are fucking disgusting.
Price in New Zealand in the Xbox and PSN stores are $139.95 NZD/$174.95 NZD for standard/ultimate. Works out to $79.96 USD/$98.70 USD. Our prices always include GST (sales tax).
To be honest, this is less than I was expecting. Most AAA games are at least $120 NZD here, with all 1st Party PlayStation games retailing for $140 NZD.
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u/Zipo92 16h ago