If it’s a code you don’t own it. If this slides you will never own a game going forward.
this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
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Even when it's a disc you still need to download a shit ton of data. It won't just play on its own without an internet connection. They can always just decline to let you download the necessary data. You don't own it either way.
Unless it's on GOG and you can download the Offline Installer. Then you actually own it and can use the 3-2-1 data archival rule. I rip my games onto M-Disc media that is said to last 1000 years.
All games should come with a tag that explicitly says if it supports offline play, which would require no updates if you don't want to.
This isn't the first game to do this, this has been happening for a while. Switch had a number of games where you only got a digital download code and PC games were doing that for years before they stopped having physical releases.
Exactly. They're effectively killing off the used market.
Would it be better if it was on a piece of cardboard with the code behind a scratch off section?
I stand by this: a game should not need any internet connection to play. Same goes for any appliance or car.
"But EVERYONE has internet!!" Is not a valid argument.
Can we make some fucking laws for this?!
If your product requires internet, it's actually a service.
And yes, Cars as a Service (CaaS) can die.
I mean, the stop killing games organization is trying to get such legislation passed
You can help them
Isnt that only for Europe? I havent followed it super close because it seemed like something that'll never happen. I should donate.
Having a disc does not mean it will work offline, unfortunately. These retailers just want to be able to resell used copies so they can make extra money.
I know. I'm saying, the disc game should be fully playable regardless of network connection.
We made full games 20, 30 years ago, released them, and they had no updates, and were almost perfect. Like so many things, humans have just made everything such more for capitalism.
gestures broadly probably not
I mean, selling codes in a box is such a silly concept to me to begin with. I want to know it's marked up a bit to deal with the cost of keeping employees, be unable to trade it in or give it to a friend after I'm done playing it and have to wait to download it, but I'd also like to drive and wait in line to get it.
Are these cases going to have collectables? Are manuals, maps, sound track CD's, and other swag included? If all I'm getting is a case for my shelf and a piece of paper, I would rather not get physical anything.
On Wednesday, Video Games Plus, a North American chain that has been around for over 30 years, confirmed in a statement on X that, despite GTA 6 being one of the biggest launches in entertainment history, it will maintain its existing ban on selling games that don’t have a hard copy.
Meanwhile, Loot Box Gaming, another video game retailer focused on physical media, has also revealed that it won’t be selling GTA 6 at launch if it isn’t available on a disc.
I kinda hate how I had to scroll through so much "article" before they actually named either of the stores, and even further to get to the second one.
Care to share so the rest of us don’t have to wade through the slop?
Video Games Plus and Loot Box Gaming.
A couple of smaller retailers. Good for them, but not worth scrolling through again to copy-paste.
So I guess no, you don't care to share
I hope bigger retailers jump on board with this too 🤞
Maybe. But if Rockstar hold firm this could be the beginning (middle?) of the end for physical retail.
a disc
Considering the size of the game, it would need at least 3 discs. Doubt they're gonna redesign every case to accommodate that.
A bluray can hold 100 GB. They could fit it on one if they only put low resolution textures on the disk and made the high res textures a download.
The issue isn't that the game doesn't fit on one disc. The issue is that without a disc, the games can't be resold, rented, or lended. The disc is effectively a DRM check.
Unless the entire game is provided, then it will always be a DRM check. If they're just providing data for a preliminary download, then the buyer is still left to rely on being give access to download the rest of the data.
I think previous GTA games have come on multiple discs. Possibly as far back as vice city.
You might notice I didn't say it was impossible to do so.
No, see, you include a disk but all that disk has on it is the installer for the launcher with a “download gta6” command thrown on the end.
This is nowhere near the first “doesn’t contain a disk” game and choosing gta as the one to throw a fit over feels performative. This has been a thing for over a decade.
Reasonable really. If you're a bit outside the city, there's no shot you're getting the GTA6 download (which I presume is 100GB+) in under like, 12 hours.
Nice, but wake me when it's Gamestop or Best Buy.
Anybody else remember publishers trying to push the idea that games needed to be digital only because packaging and shipping games was too expensive?
Two of my favourite game franchises are Civilization and The Elder Scrolls. I played them since the first game, and I still play them. The original Civ and Daggerfall are always with me on a USB stick, in case I feel like playing them, even when the computer doesn't have them installed.
The last games from the franchises I played were Civ IV and Oblivion. The next games required a download, and to this day I refuse to pay for a digital copy only. I have a huge backlog of older games on discs, so I don't mind that my recent game purchases are largely limited to collector editions on Kickstarter.
For AAA games, discs have just been fancy download codes for the last decade. I don't understand getting upset is now; if these retailers were going to "honor the people who pay their hard earned money to purchase it," they should've started complaining a long time ago.