GTA 6 PS5 Disc Hopes Seemingly Dashed by Rockstar Source

Well that pretty much confirms that the real reason wasn't some sort of leak prevention, and instead was literally to kill ownership and the ability to resell.

Screwing over gamers, retailers, and resellers alike.

GTA6 was always going to bring a new normal along with it, I don’t know about y’all but I’m not liking the look behind the curtain. No physical media, paywalled CONTENT.. not just skins and cosmetics, actual game content, game’s 110$ CAD preorder right now, and that’s not even for the whole game. You’d have to pay me to play this game. I’m not going to be a willing participant in this, I don’t care what your game does or doesn’t do.

Sometimes I forget what acronyms stand for. What does PC mean again? Pirated copy?

I'm not particularly bothered as I was planning to buy digitally anyway but it would be nice if the so called "Physical version" at least came with a map of the city or something. At least that way there would be a slight incentive to buy it.

Otherwise it's just a useless bit if plastic

Typical Rockstar/2K, they will suck out every single penny from their fans, and the same people will lap it up because IT'S GTAAA BROOO DURR!11!!. Good grief, I can't wait for this to come out so people will finally stop talking about it. It's madness how much the gaming industry freezes over every single Rockstar release 🤡

you will own nothing and be happy

They're doing that annoying thing where they aren't giving clarity on the situation. It's basically cause they want people to give in and buy the digital version without committing to a physical one, then they'll release the disc when they think they can get people to double dip. I wish they'd just say, we are releasing it digitally, then a year or so down the line we'll release a complete physical version with all the updates and content on the disc. I'd actually respect them for that.

I've got multiple friends who ordered the code in the box without realising there's no disc. It's pretty scummy practice, they know exactly what they're doing. There should be laws about making millions of empty plastic boxes, just cause they want their 18 rated game to find its way into the hands of children.

@Old-Red I think that's bang on the money! In the meantime they also prevent second hand copies stealing their profits

What a load of old bull.
It’s a digital world and get with it 2026.

Of course they would deny it. They want people pre-ordering or buying at launch. Admitting a real physical version is coming would be like saying "don't buy just yet, there is a better version coming".

I saw scalpers bragging about how many copies they were securing, or planning on securing for launch so I am happy to see that they won’t get anything from their awful practice. I personally buy only physical editions of games, but GTA6 is definitely a generational release and I wont miss out on it due to it only being digital at launch. If there is ever a physical release, I’ll buy that 100% later down the line! I also expect a themed control pad from Sony, so I’ll probably pick that up, at least!

I am more than happy to wait another year for a physical copy all patched up.
Everyone's been waiting 13 years one more aint gonna make me sweat.

None, I can wait.

The narrative that it's to prevent leaks is completely wrong. It's because it would need to be on multiple discs and manufacturers can't automate the process for multi-disc casing

Reasons they went for digital inly release in order of importance for R* (as I see it)

1) You can sell a bluray game after finishing and they get nothing from it. You can’t resell a code once it’s used. (This could be thousands of copies)

2) they can polish the game untill the very last second without going gold on a disk. (No one will ever experience the build from 1+ month prior the release.)

3) Leaks of gameplay would flood the internet, making people consume that first, before they would even boot up the game themselves. Ruining the first experience by being impatient. Not necessarily getting spoilers on a story that we know nothing about.

4) spoilers

People will complain but still buy it regardless and they know it.

The only good thing about the game being released in physical stores—even with just a code inside—is that retailers can run promotions. In my country, for instance, it’s cheaper to buy it on Amazon (using a coupon) than on PSN.

On the other hand, a major game retailer also in my country announced in a post that they wouldn't be selling the game; they stated that they know their collector customer base and value their own integrity, so they wouldn't sell just a code. I thought that was cool, though I also suspect it stems partly from a fear of returns from customers who might not realize what they're buying. I dont know if other retailers from other countries will do the same.

Not saying I won’t ever get gta 6, that’s crazy. But I am in no real rush and can wait for a sale or online.

Yeah i guess they're doing this to stop 2nd hand market. But eh, i bet they will port this game for PS6 and people will buy it again.

Anyway. I voted none. For me, there's other games that looks more interesting than GTA 6. And i also don't want to support an $80 "physical copy" with only download code. Hopefully this price and scummy practice not become standard. So no thanks to GTA 6.

Thats absolutely a no buy for me ,if they cant respect choice for people then my choice is to have no more interest in gta6,besides i much prefer the red dead series anyway,theres absolutely no reason why a disc version cant be released not long after launch,absolutely total nonsense ,just give people the choice total muppets

I voted none anyway

The least they could do is be transparent about this and call it as it is, a digital-only release, both Crimson Desert and 007 proved that you can lock a disc until a day one update is released, not the perfect scenario but even an empty disc holds much more value than a code in a box, this is really just about killing that resell value and second-hand market so they can profit off every single copy sold throughout the years.

@IllusiveMan
Yes, exactly. There’s only one reason Rockstar is doing this and that’s to eliminate the second hand market for this game. But this isn’t surprising in the least considering how Rockstar has been operating for over a decade now.

The people claiming they won't buy it because of this are really kidding themselves if they think others will believe them.

You do your protest and pretend you won't, but deep down we all know you will.

PC games have been digital only for years. Steam is massive. Baldur's Gate III didn't get a physical edition until the following year, and even then it was in limited quantities direct from Larian, and it won awards and sold like hotcakes. I didn't see article after article about that. There are tons of digital only games across all platforms. I guess I'm not completely grasping what the outrage is about.

I’m pretty much all digital across the board now, the only exception is on Switch. Seems to be a mostly console hold out now for physical now that steam dominates in PC.

I don’t buy the ownership aspect re physical vs digital as regardless you’re just buying a licence to play. Disks are generally pointless without a lot of patches day one too.

The exception I’d accept would be some sort of definitive edition a few years after release, say something like that came out for Cyberpunk now for example. If you’re getting that though the resale argument doesn’t really hold up as surely you’re looking to keep those and after a few years resale is less worthwhile.

I’ll admit part of it is laziness on my part. I like swapping between games without having to swap cards/disks!

More profit for Take Two, they dont make a dime off a used game. If everyone has to buy it new, even if digital storefronts get a cut it would still be alot more money for them after another 13 years. Owning a disk based game is not owning anyway, cant play my physical version of The Crew or Concord just to name a couple.

@JPEGMakima Do you ever really own anything though?
You can't take anything with you to whatever is next.

I really don't like gameplay details being casually revealed by way of ultimate edition content explanations. If Rockstar is asking $80 for a stripped down version, and $100 for the complete edition, then they need to do a gameplay deep dive with key details, including how large the map actually is. They keep talking about how big the game is but haven't actually shown us anything.

@Netret0120 Totally agree, people pretending to be “outraged” but will be most likely buying day one.

Digital is the future anyway. We will get to a point where discs are meaningless apart from nostalgia. It may take longer but discs will go the way of VHS.

@commentlife wow such a brave and bold stance lol too bad it will only get you internet good boy points and not make any difference

I have zero interest in playing the game due to its whore like nature and meme quality story. I am a little interested in seeing the technical showcase side whenever it does release through YouTube. I enjoyed RDR2, its story was the biggest highlight and at least it took itself seriously, but the gameplay was pretty meh in my opinion way too repetitive. Also the anti consumer practices with the discs makes me even more against GTA 6.

There are tons of good games that never get a physical release, and I’d rather play them and have fun than deprive myself to grandstand on the internet. That being typed, I think selling an empty box is dumb, but oh well. Companies can sell what they want and people can buy what they want.

The leaks reasoning is unconvincing. There's going to be major spoilers in the wild within hours of the game releasing, and I'm probably being very generous with that time estimate.

We've got 3 PlayStations in my household (Dad and two teenage children) and 3 different PS Plus accounts. There's no way I'd buy 3 digital copies so we can all play. My preference is to buy a single physical copy and we all share, but in lieu of that, the only option is to all use the same account and take turns.

@somnambulance Between the complete silence about the game itself and this mess regarding the boxed copy, I'm kind of getting the feeling it's going to be the next Cyberpunk 2020 launch.

The big difference being boxed copy being code in box and the GTA+ subscription preorder bonus sounds like all refund requests would be void if GTA6 is a buggy mess at launch.

@BallseyHalsey
Why don't you do this?
https://www.playstation.com/en-au/support/account/ps5-console-sharing-offline-play/

Regarding the lack of a disc for GTAVI, I've got a feeling it's going to be a huge game, maybe won't fit on 1 or perhaps even 2 discs, so easier and cheaper to do the download code (unfortunately).

@BallseyHalsey

Same here. 2 PS5 and a Portal. Ain't gonna buy it 3 times.

@mrmartinrohr biggest reason of no disc is going to be disc space.
Would come on 4 discs.
And install probably 250gb+.

Why is everyone so surprised that there won't be a disc when so many recent games gave you a disc with a very small amount of data on it and large download that requires it to play. Lets be honest, did anyone truly think it would all fit on a single disc? Yes they could have had two discs but with how gaming is going I think the future probably will be all digital.

I believe nothing without official confirmation, so time will tell. Even if it comes, still expecting it to require a download.

@BallseyHalsey you could GameShare between two consoles at the very least as mentioned by FutureShark

I reckon there will be a physical disc version eventually. It maybe 6 months later, or even a year, but they (Rockstar/Take Two) know that some people will double dip, making them even more money.

I will buy it if and when a disc comes. Otherwise, hope everyone else enjoys it. I have a backlog to keep me going for years in the meantime

I get it's dumb to even have a physical version when it's just a piece of paper in a plastic box, but the game will still sell like hot cakes so Rockstar and Take Two aren't going to all of a sudden switch stances on the minority that have an issue with it.

I hate to say it lol.

That seems like such a stupid and unimportant reason to avoid making it a physical game

I shall buy a disc version, when it arrives. Hope everyone enjoys the digital. 😁

i'm not sure why any one would care if there is a disc or not , a game this big the disc would pretty much be a key you'd put in every time to play it.

No disc, no sale. It's that simple.

Oh, there will be a disc version down the road. R* knows it’s leaving money on the table and a 2 disc “definitive edition” with the classic R* map would capture both the physical purists (that’s me) and a whole lot of double dippers.
I haven’t even played GTA V yet, autumn is stacked with releases and my backlog is huge. I can wait…

I get the need for physical ownership and having physical media but honestly maybe let's get priorities straight. To be a part of and contribute to this industry which spits out normal working people by the masses every month, uses predatory practices to prey on children, crunch culture, Rockstar's very own union busting and sacking, is normal, yet it is getting upset over a missing disc that you choose.

Surely just accept that you vote with your wallet. If you don't want it to continue, don't buy the game. But of course it will still continue, because everyone will buy it anyway. Everyday we give publishers the confidence to keep doing stupid and egregious things with both our games and the people who make them.

I’ll wait for the disc. I normally pass my games onto my nephew or sell them on eBay when I’m done.
Those saying digital is the future dont realise what they are wishing for. I guess the next step will be be pay per play on a centralised server.

I waited for alan wake 2 physical, I can wait here too.

I'm on PC, so I'm forced to get a digital if it releases after a year. But consoles should always be physical. I weren't planning on buying this game on launch. Would wait for a sale.

@Bionic-Spencer (#11) too bad that your principles have limits, and Take2 getting you to double-dip makes you their perfect customer! Not a dime from me for Rockstar are union busting, and everything else anti-consumer on top of it.

@Netret0120 (#16) let's bet money that I won't touch this!

@jerrylongbones (#26) would you bet money on that statement?

It's a shame I was looking forward to this day 1 but not now game looks great though & I hope you all enjoy it

@PerpetualBoredom I collect games, it’s not a matter of principle. I’d quite happily buy a number of editions of a game that I like and I don’t feel that I am rewarding a developer that doesn’t really care for my choice. It’s a personal decision for myself..

@mrmartinrohr You also forget the profit margins are higher if you don't also have to print discs to supply in the box. Its not just the costs of a blank disc, but the cost of embedding the game onto it and also printing the top side with art work. It might not be 'much' of a saving per copy, but over millions of copies, that adds up.

Its not as if the game itself runs from the disc, it has to be downloaded and installed to run from the SSD as Discs are too slow, don't have the required Data transfer speed to play modern games. The disc is just a Licence holder in effect and that does allow you to 'sell' your licence regardless of whether the whole, some or just launcher to download the game is included.

So many buy games, music and Film/TV digitally that this will only affect a small percentage of gamers and unlike music and film, the physical media isn't capable of running the software, the game doesn't 'play' from the disc and requires downloading and installing to your hardware.

I know the PS5 with Disc Drive is the most popular console, but that and the Series X are the 'only' Hardware with a Physical drive. The PS5 digital, PS5 Pro, Series S and PC are all digital and so its no surprise that Digital sales exceed Physical.

The ability to sell your Licence, to have something to trade-in, something of 'value' to someone else is really what Physical still provides but you don't need the 'full' game on the disc as the next owner can still download and install, still just needs the disc to prove they own the licence now. But Physical can also lock you to a specific Hardware and not allow you to bring games forward - unless you bought Digitally - because they lack Physical drives for example.

But I would expect a big part of the decision to go with codes is that the game would still need to be downloaded and installed on the Hardware, they likely can't put the entire game on the disc anyway so why not just download everything, inc your licence, from the internet instead of most of it and having to keep putting the disc in every time you want to play - and it also saves them a lot of money as well as potentially increases their sales as no-one can buy a 'used' copy...

I'll wait and see on a disc copy. I'll probably pick the game up at some point, but I'm in no great rush, and have plenty to play.
Remember how Sony got rid of game codes that could be sold by bricks-and-mortar retailers? Is shipping people an empty plastic box all it takes to get around that?

I’ll buy if there is a physical version released, otherwise I’ll be waiting 5+ years for the price to drop. Not chucking that much money for a digital only release, never will.

V concerned that the PS6 is likely to be digital only - will seriously consider whether it’s worth it or not for me.

The fact that the online store controls everything about price (so no resellers, no sales in physical shops) worries me for the future of gaming - for example God of War Ragnarok is £69.99 on PS store currently £40 on amazon, but £22 used at CEX/£15 on eBay. I just can’t afford to buy many £70 games, and don’t want to wait for years for price reductions/PS store sales that may or may not happen.

I won't be buying this at launch. Maybe someday when it drops in price, or a physical disc version comes out. I don't want it that bad. lol.

I love to see how the voting on here is going. Looks like people are finally taking a stand against this money grabbing going on with this game! I agree. If we pay the $80-$100 other companies will charge the same! Now is the time to set Rockstar straight! Especially with the no disc option. This is robbery!

@Member_the_game maybe you should look at the terms and conditions on digital. They own it, not you. At any time they can stop you from playing it for any reason. Not control I feel like giving anybody, especially for a highly overpriced game!

It's all about greed rockstar are the apple of the gaming world! They just want more money for the fat cats and physical copies 2nd hand don't milk the fat cats

@Morriskind

I understand what you're saying and in theory what you say is correct.... however I do feel that you're catastophising over a hypothetical scenario that will, in all likelihood never happen.

I don't buy everything digitally, I'm probably 50 / 50 on buying physical / digital games in general.

One thing I will say though is that there isn't a single digital game that I've ever bought that I've lost access too so it's not quite the big issue that it's made out to be.

Even games I bought on My Nintendo Wii on the virtual console 20 years ago are all still there and fully playable.

Well Sony just took away over 500 digital movies that if you downloaded are now gone. If they can do that to movies it’s only a matter of time to happen to games…

@JPEGMakima You don't need to "own" things to be happy.

Once you are gone, all of these "owned" things are irrelevant anyways.

Like many millions of others, I will get the digital ultimate edition for day one release.

Not sure a hard core gaming site with a bias towards physical will give you accurate data on what the masses care about.

@Morriskind

Not quite the same thing as those movies you speak about were only ever available to Stream, they weren't physically downloaded to the console in the same way a video game is.

I'm not saying that what's happened regarding the movies doesn't suck, because it does, in fact it's terrible but it's completely different for Video games

Absolute greed, nice one rockstar/2K. I am actually considering not buying at launch to see what happens.

I’ve got so many other games to keep me going plus I’ve waited 13 years why not 14 😅

I'm happy not to buy their new game. Rockstar to me, is a long way from the company that made Vice City and San Andreas. Image a C64 loader intro on GTA 6, they'd never do something that specific now. Or, maybe they'll prove me wrong and it will start up like a Spectrum game.

If it takes a year I'll have enough time to play all the fantastic and more exciting games that are releasing in September 2026.

@PerpetualBoredom Yes...

@jerrylongbones you would lose it all.

@PerpetualBoredom I'll take that risk but the numbers are already speaking for themselves.

If you and the 9 other people wanna do your protest refusal, all the power to you.

@jerrylongbones I won't be at a loss by that. Thank you, nonetheless.

@PerpetualBoredom You're welcome

@Oxy yeah dude, people like yourself really are not money left on the table.

I love physical and try to buy physical whenever I can for console but we'd be kidding ourselves if we think R* need that pocket change.

Its clear a lot of people on here really are forgetting how little physical media sells now in the gaming space.

@jerrylongbones great, you seem like a guy with access to sales statistics. I’m not talking about those stats Sony loves to send out where they put all games (including tons of games with no physical edition), subscription fees, dlc and micro transactions in one big bucket and declare 90% of their revenue is digital. Those numbers say nothing. Instead, look at AA and AAA single player only games (ghost of yotei, Astro bot, god of war ragnarok, death stranding 2, Elden ring, super Mario odyssey, breath of the wild and so on). Find out how many percent are physical sales and how many are digital for each title. When you have those numbers we can resume the discussion, otherwise you’re just shouting into the void. Good luck!

@Oxy its not a void, you don't have to look very hard to see the sales statistics are wildly in favour of digital over physical. I don't pretend to be happy with this, being in the UK where we now have basically nowhere to go to buy physical games is on its own a pretty key indicator to the world we live in now. I still buy physical over digital but I'm not going to throw my toys out of the pram because of this so I can pretend to have some morale high ground over the majority who will purchase GTA VI at launch.

Also to bring Nintendo into this is a little amusing when they too are moving away from proper physical media with the Game Cards that are just keys, may as well be a code in my eyes. Also can we note games from this generation, talking about Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey, these are decade old games now.

Honestly I think this actually helps me, you're still pretending its 2017 and the digital games market is the fraction of the size it is now.

@jerrylongbones Look at that wall of text and not even a semblance of an answer! I asked for sales stats which you obviously don’t have or didn’t bother to look up. Look, I don’t pretend physical is in a great place. But if people are given a choice when it comes to single player games between physical and digital I still believe physical is in a better place than Sony and company wants to admit. Oh, how they love to drag us to that digital utopia.
But looking at the games I mentioned there are of course no official data in most cases. It’s all guesswork. The physical proportion of sales for the ps5 games range from 55-60% (Astro bot) to 20% for yotei.
I don’t know why it’s funny to mention Nintendo. Yes, I also hate game key carts but at least their first party games are still regular carts. Still, they are the only console where physical sales still dominate for first party titles (65-70%).
But even when looking at games like yotei 20% is still a lot of money. And I still believe Rockstar wants to sell their game to absolutely everyone. It’s not like they can’t afford a physical release. It’s not like they will lose money. Sure, we who refuse the digital release might not be many but combine them with double dippers and it’s still like printing money for rockstar

I’m going to wait and see what happens (it was going to be day one purchase had it come out on disc)