{"id":4067,"date":"2026-07-19T13:09:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T13:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4067"},"modified":"2026-07-19T13:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T13:09:59","slug":"physical-discs-gta-vi-playstation-rockstar-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=4067","title":{"rendered":"The future of physical games is not looking great"},"content":{"rendered":"


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This is <\/em>The Stepback<\/a>, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on video games and physical media, follow Jay Peters.<\/a><\/em> The Stepback arrives in our subscribers\u2019 inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for <\/em>The Stepback here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As a kid, I relished trips to Best Buy, GameStop, and the nearby mall so that I could browse video games. I loved sifting through games and chatting with my friends at the store about upcoming releases. On the lucky days I actually got a new game from the store, I treasured reading through every page of the manual on the drive home. Over the years, I built up a collection of games that I was proud of.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That was a long time ago. Shortly after college, I sold my collection of older games and hardware because I wasn\u2019t using them and wanted the money for other things. (Probably weekends out.) Starting with the Nintendo Switch in 2017, I started buying games digitally because it was easier to just download stuff, and I wouldn\u2019t have to accumulate physical game cases. Now, I don\u2019t own any physical games: My Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam libraries are all digital.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I\u2019m not the only player who has moved to mostly digital games. Digital libraries are increasingly convenient, especially as console makers have made efforts to keep backwards compatibility across generations. Some players can\u2019t play physical games at all, as PlayStation and Xbox launched the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles with all-digital console options that were cheaper than the versions with disc drives. On PC, digital libraries through platforms like Steam have been the reality for quite some time. Capcom, one of the biggest publishers around, reported that<\/a> an astounding 93 percent of its game sales were for digital copies in its last fiscal year \u2014 a figure that it expects will rise to 95.4 percent over the fiscal year. Many of the most popular games are only available digitally, like Roblox<\/em> and Fortnite<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For better or worse, video game players overwhelmingly buy and play digital games. But in the span of a week, two industry giants put nails in the coffin of physical games \u2014 or perhaps even poured concrete into the grave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On June 24th, Rockstar Games finally put a price tag<\/a> on Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em> ahead of its scheduled November 19th release on PS5 and Xbox Series X \/ S: $79.99 for the base edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition. The prices themselves weren\u2019t too unexpected, as even Nintendo has dabbled<\/a> with<\/a> $79.99 games for its biggest titles. But what was more shocking was something buried in Rockstar\u2019s post<\/a>: The physical version of the game won\u2019t have a disc, instead containing a download code in the box.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The announcement was a worrying sign for physical games<\/a>. Selling games as codes in a box isn\u2019t a new concept, but GTA VI<\/em> will be the biggest game to do it so far. Rockstar\u2019s choice could push more publishers to do the same for their future titles. By making the game only available on digital storefronts, players can\u2019t easily share it with a friend or sell the game when they\u2019re done with it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s also becoming increasingly clear you can\u2019t rely on digital storefronts. Titles can get pulled for things like licensing<\/a> or the store closing down<\/a>. This may not be a problem for GTA VI<\/em>, as Rockstar will almost certainly make sure the game is easily available on many digital platforms for the foreseeable future, especially if it wants to give the game the same kind of legs<\/a> as the 13-year-old GTA V<\/em>. But with digital storefronts, you also have to hope that you aren\u2019t locked out of your account, even by mistake, and lose access to your games. (In 2023, some PlayStation users were unexpectedly banned through no fault of their own, though Sony eventually restored access<\/a> to their accounts.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking of PlayStation, just days after Rockstar\u2019s news, Sony dropped an even bigger bomb: It announced that, starting January 2028, it would not make physical discs for any new PlayStation games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The decision led to widespread criticism online. Sony and PlayStation got yelled at everywhere online, as Kotaku<\/em> reported<\/a>, and the PlayStation account didn\u2019t make a new tweet until six days after<\/a> its announcement about dropping discs. The comments section of Sony\u2019s famous 2013 PS4 game sharing ad<\/a> where one person just hands a disc to another \u2014 an ad made after<\/a> Xbox announced restrictive DRM plans for the Xbox One \u2014 is filled with new comments taking jabs at Sony. Heck, Sony itself showed why killing discs is a terrible idea<\/a> by, on the same day as the disc news, saying that it would be closing the digital stores for the PS3 and the PS Vita<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sony\u2019s announcement also drew criticism<\/a> from retailers<\/a> and games preservationists<\/a>. \u201cThis is unfortunate news for those who still prefer buying games on physical media, and is certainly a significant hit to consumer rights, the resale market, and game creators whose businesses rely on the physical market,\u201d said Frank Cifaldi<\/a>, executive director of the Video Game History Foundation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sony\u2019s own statement was clear as to why it\u2019s making the change. \u201cThis is a natural direction for Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt to consumer trends as the general preference for digital media significantly outpaces physical discs,\u201d Sony said in its announcement<\/a>. \u201cThis transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today.\u201d The company\u2019s numbers prove it, too: In the fourth quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, Sony reported that<\/a> the \u201cFull game software digital download ratio\u201d of games on PS4 and PS5 was 85 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We have to see if Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em> actually releases on November 19th and if it will ever come out on disc. Despite two major<\/a> delays<\/a>, it seems likely the game will at least launch as planned, especially because Rockstar gave the game a price and is pushing preorders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We\u2019ll also have to see what Microsoft and Nintendo might do. Xbox hasn\u2019t announced what it\u2019s thinking about for discs for Project Helix, its next generation console, but The Verge<\/em>\u2019s Tom Warren reports that Xbox will \u201clikely soon\u201d stop making physical discs for Xbox games. However, Warren reports that the company is testing a feature that would let you digitize your physical game collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Nintendo will probably stick with physical games for a while. According to its last fiscal year report<\/a>, digital makes up 54.6 percent of game sales, so physical is still a big part of its business. The Switch 2 is also only a year old, and it seems extremely unlikely that Nintendo would stop making physical games for hardware it will be supporting for a long time to come. However, with the Switch 2, Nintendo gives developers the option to sell game-key cards, which are physical carts you can borrow and resell<\/a> but don\u2019t actually have a game\u2019s data on them. Instead, they serve as keys to let you download a game to your system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Game stores and preservationists also have to adjust to the fact that physical games are going to be harder to come by. Cifaldi noted that museums and archives have already been preparing for this kind of future \u201cwith the expectation that putting discs on a shelf isn\u2019t going to be a long-term solution for preserving new games.\u201d But he called on trade groups to offer solutions to legally preserve digital content for research \u2014 efforts that the Entertainment Software Association has previously opposed<\/a>. \u201cThe industry needs to meaningfully come to the table on this issue, because asking museums to download a copy of Grand Theft Auto VI<\/em> and hope it\u2019ll run in 50 years is not a preservation solution,\u201d Cifaldi says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sony now has to navigate an awkward period where it\u2019s launching new games but dealing with pushback from players wanting physical discs. While Sony has been subject to severe blowback after its announcement, it seems unlikely it will reverse course. It\u2019s already repurposing its last PlayStation disc-making factory<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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