GTA VI, one of the most anticipated video games in history, will arrive this year without a physical disc. This has been confirmed by Rockstar Games, the company that created the saga: the boxed copies of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X version won’t include a disc, but a code to download the game digitally. It’s the first time such an important release does away entirely with the physical format, and many wonder if this marks the beginning of the end of discs in video games.
Why did they make this decision? According to Rockstar, the main reason is that discs are no longer practical for such a big game. GTA VI will take up more than 150 GB, and many users end up downloading the game anyway even if they have the disc, because the updates and the day-one patch already take up a large part of the content. Besides, manufacturing discs, boxes and distributing them all over the world is expensive, and more and more people buy games directly from PlayStation, Xbox or PC digital stores. The physical version will basically become a collector’s box with a code inside, as has already been the case with many PC games for years.
For the average player, this has good and bad sides. The good: you won’t have to deal with discs, swap them every time you want to play something else, and you’ll always have the game available to download even if you lose the box. The bad: if your internet connection is slow, downloading 150 GB can take days; and if one day Rockstar’s servers shut down (which won’t happen soon, but you never know), you won’t be able to reinstall the game. The same happens if you want to lend or sell the game: you won’t be able to anymore. The industry has been moving toward digital for years —music and movies already did it— and GTA VI is the final push for video games to follow the same path.
— Marta, for inteligencia intermitente.
