Once, video games came with lots of physical goodies—fold-out maps, detailed manuals, art books, and sometimes even cloth posters or collectible coins. Opening a new game was an event in itself, a ritual that combined anticipation with discovery. Those days are mostly gone, but gamers have, up to now, usually been able to rely on one thing they could literally get their hands on: a disc.
But when pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto 6 went live on Thursday, developer Rockstar said customers who opted for the physical edition would get a box that just contained a code for a digital download instead. No disc. No map. No manual. Just a piece of cardboard with a code.
It’s not the first time a physical edition has launched this way. Several other major titles have made the shift in recent years, including some of the biggest names in gaming. But if the makers of one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history—a series that has defined generations of gaming—has decided to follow suit, does that mean the disc is dead? And what does that say about game ownership in the digital age?
The shock of a disc-less future
“My initial reaction was one of confusion and shock,” Ben, a UK-based 24-year-old gamer who covers GTA news on social media under the handle ‘videotech’, told the BBC following the announcement. His reaction was echoed by thousands of fans across social media platforms, many of whom had been eagerly awaiting the chance to own a physical copy of one of the most anticipated games in history.
In an interview with Variety in February, Strauss Zelnick, the chief executive of Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, had said a digital-only launch was “not the plan”. That statement gave fans hope that a physical disc would be available at launch. The reversal has left many feeling betrayed.
Ben said this led many to hope the physical disc would be available at launch too—and for more than sentimental reasons. “An important benefit of owning a disc is that you can lend the game to a friend or sell it later,” he said. For many gamers, the ability to trade, sell, or share physical games has been a cornerstone of the gaming experience. The shift to digital codes threatens that tradition.
Online retailers selling the physical edition have stated that, as with other digital game codes, the one being offered for GTA 6 is single-use and will become invalid after it is redeemed. That means no resale, no lending to a friend, and no second-hand market. For a game as expensive as GTA 6 is expected to be—with some analysts predicting a price tag of $80 or more—that is a significant loss of value for consumers.
Digital sales now account for the vast majority of game revenue, and online stores such as Steam for PC and the PlayStation Store have been around for many years. The trend towards digital distribution has been accelerating for more than a decade, driven by convenience, instant access, and the decline of physical retail.
The addition of consoles without physical disc drives is only helping further this trend, said Mat Piscatella, senior director and video game industry advisor at market research firm Circana. “More than half of all Xbox Series consoles in the US don’t have a physical drive, while over a quarter of PS5’s are the same,” he posted on social media. The numbers tell a clear story: the hardware itself is moving away from physical media.
For some gamers, the news they wouldn’t be able to play GTA 6 on a disc therefore felt like less of an upset. “I’m pretty much all digital these days, I download most of my games directly onto my console,” Alogirlx, a gaming content creator from Canada, told the BBC’s What in the World podcast. “Whether there’s a physical disc or not it doesn’t really change anything for me,” she said.
What the disc really represents
With physical game sales at an all-time low, the issue may well be less about the disc itself than what its absence may represent. For some, it appears to be another step away from buying a physical product, and instead towards buying a licence or access to software controlled by the publisher and platform holder.
When you buy a digital game, you are not purchasing the software itself—you are purchasing a licence to access it. That licence can be revoked, the servers can be shut down, and the game can become unplayable at any time. This is not a theoretical concern; it has happened before, with games being delisted from digital storefronts and online servers being switched off, leaving players with nothing but a useless icon on their hard drive.
Ross Scott is the founder of the growing consumer rights movement Stop Killing Games. The group is campaigning for publishers to leave online games playable if they end up switching off their servers. He told the BBC the issue raised by Rockstar’s code-in-a-box is less about the missing disc itself—after all, an online game on a disc can still become unplayable if its servers are shut down. Instead, he said, it was about a lack of trust that publishers will preserve access to games consumers have already paid for.
“The problem is the industry has a very poor reputation of disabling games once they end support, so the trust from customers for many large publishers just isn’t there,” he said. “I don’t think the lack of a disc is the problem in itself, but rather it can be a symptom of a larger, very consumer-hostile practice.”
His words resonate with a growing number of gamers who feel that the industry is increasingly treating them as renters rather than owners. The shift to digital-only distribution, while convenient, also gives publishers unprecedented control over how, when, and for how long consumers can access their purchases.
Why might Rockstar have done this?
The BBC has reached out to Rockstar for more details on its decision, but it is yet to comment. However, industry observers have offered several theories about the company’s motivations.
Chris Scullion, deputy editor of Video Games Chronicle, pointed to previous data leaks suffered by the studio as a possible explanation for why it may want to ensure its content cannot be easily ripped from a disc and shared before release. Rockstar has been the victim of major leaks in the past, including a massive data breach in 2022 that exposed early footage of GTA 6. By releasing the game as a download-only code, the company can maintain tighter control over its intellectual property.
He added that the game, which has already been delayed twice, may also be “so close to the wire” in development that players could still get an out-of-date version if they picked up a disc rather than the digital edition. Discs are manufactured weeks or even months in advance, meaning they often contain older, buggier versions of the game. Digital downloads, by contrast, can be updated up to the very last moment.
“A cynic would also say it’s simply a way to make more money on each physical copy sold,” he said. Without a disc to manufacture, package, and distribute, Rockstar can save on production and logistics costs. Whether those savings will be passed on to consumers remains to be seen.
Rockstar is not the only company moving away from the traditional physical format, however. Nintendo has also shifted further towards digital distribution in recent years with the introduction of Game-Key Cards—physical cartridges that act as a key to download a game, rather than containing the game itself. The trend is clearly gaining momentum across the industry.
The retail revolt and the future of physical media
Despite Rockstar’s decision, some independent retailers have refused to stock the code-in-a-box version, taking a stand against what they see as the erosion of physical game ownership.
VGP, an online retailer with a physical store in Toronto, said while it had “tremendous respect” for Rockstar, it was “committed to preserving the value of physical game ownership”, so would not be offering the product. The decision was met with applause from gamers who feel strongly about preserving physical media.
Lootbox Gaming, an independent retailer in Delaware, also declined to stock it, telling the BBC the decision “speaks volumes about the future for AAA (big-budget) releases on physical media”. The retailer’s stance reflects a growing anxiety among physical game sellers that their business model is under threat.
Meanwhile, PNP Games, an online retailer with three stores in Winnipeg, has launched a petition, calling on Take-Two to release a physical disc version. The petition has already gathered thousands of signatures, demonstrating that there is still a passionate community of gamers who value physical ownership.
However, Piscatella suggested the code “may provide a better opportunity for retailers, particularly those that don’t sell used games”, given the number of PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles without disc drives. For retailers that primarily sell new games, the shift to codes may not be as damaging as it first appears.
A tradition at risk
If the disc is dying, another gaming tradition is at risk of going with it. One hallmark of a game release as big as GTA has been the midnight launch, where gamers queue up at stores, often for hours, to be the first to walk through the doors and pick up a physical copy. It is a ritual that has defined gaming culture for generations, a communal celebration of shared excitement and anticipation.
It’s not yet clear whether shops intend to carry on the custom when the game launches on 19 November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S and X. With no disc to sell, the traditional midnight launch may become a thing of the past, replaced by a quiet digital unlocking at midnight.
Ben said while he had originally planned to go to a launch in person if it happened, he will now settle for a digital version instead. But he added he hoped those that do decide to make the journey to a store will be greeted with more than just a code, if not a disc.
“The coolest thing about opening a GTA game case is the unboxing/opening experience,” he posted. “The map, the manual, it’s very much part of GTA’s DNA. GTA IV nailed this experience for me.” “Hopefully the code comes with this at least.”
