Submitted 2 weeks ago by iamthetot@piefed.ca to games@lemmy.world
https://www.ign.com/articles/some-retailers-are-refusing-to-sell-gta-6-due-to-the-lack-of-a-disc
Some Retailers Are Refusing to Sell GTA 6 Due to the Lack of a Disc
Video Games Plus, a gaming retailer based out of Canada, and an independent gaming retailer known as Loot Box Gaming have both stated that they won’t be selling GTA 6.
Not huge retailers in the grand scheme of things, but interesting to see at least some taking a stand especially when they are almost certainly losing out on money by doing so.
“Security measure to not leak the game”
Entirely BS. How has the entire games industry existed before then?
Can we also talk about how they’re locking full on content behind the ultimate edition? Not just some cosmetics, but the actual shops you’d go to in game to customize your character. In a single player game. That’s fucked.
It’s enough that I’m not getting the game. I can wait for PC and we’ll see if they release it as a full game rather tham carve it up. This is just an excuse not to have a $100 base price so they avoid that backlash while they effectively have it for the full game.
Remember when you bought a game and it was yours?
Remember when you unlocked things in game through completion and achievement?
Remember when you bought a game you got the whole game, not 70% and access to a storefront?
Fuck AAA gaming man. I feel sorry for the devs and artists who work so hard on a game only for executives to slice it up and smear the goodwill the game had by attempting to be predatory and parasitic capitalists.
Fuck the billionaires.
I’m just gonna wait for epic to give it away. Didn’t pay for 5, don’t intend on paying for 6.
same fam, see you in 2032
The game costs $100, the “lite” bullshit is just a poor deception.
But the code leads to a download, right? Which is you owning it, just like all other digital media you’ve downloaded.
Until you can’t download it anymore.
The “retro” gaming market is going to absolutely suck in 30 years because you don’t “own” anything.
“Ownership” should not imply the DRM you purchased it through can revoke said “ownership” whenever it becomes convenient. If you still have to ask permission to play something you “own”, I don’t call that ownership.
I feel like devs and artists show know about this already and that they’re enabling this behaviour. Please correct me if you think Im saying some dumbass shit but I think at this point I can’t excuse them.
They’re people who followed their passions, learned the skills, and were able to join those companies and have secured an income, which we have tied to our very survival.
Can we blame them for being used by corporations when the alternative could be homelessness and societal outcast? Especially in this current fascist regime with less and less social protections? Even more so if they have families to provide for.
I’m sure they’re aware. But we’ve yet to achieve class consciousness. They’re made to believe they have no choice. Corporations union bust and threaten that you’re replaceable and that there are no jobs.
Devs aren’t the enemy. They’re working class just like us. Executives psychologically, financially, and physically manipulate and abuse us. They’re the enemy we need to focus on.
You can’t correct an opinion, own it or shut up
This game is way too overhyped and I’ve played GTA 3, San Andreas, 4 and 5.
San Andreas was the best one for me, 4 was boring because of all the constant let’s go play darts, let’s go to the strip club especially with Roman fuck you Roman, 5 i completed because i was hoping that by the end i’d like it because it was worth it, it wasn’t and 3 was ok but that was during the PS2 era so if i played it today might have different opinion.
Haven’t seen much about it or i just missed it other than it’s a brother sister game and if it’s like 4 and 5 i won’t even bother watching a YT story video but if it’s kinda like San Andreas then it might have a chance with me.
5 was really mid because of the story. 2/3 of the characters you play as have already reached the end of their character arcs, and they spend most of the time bitching about how they’d rather not be doing any of the missions you’re forced to do. Really brings home how much of the missions are unnecessary bullshit they’re roped into by weird plot contrivances. Even the ones where they’re doing a big heist for huge profits … why? Again, 2/3 of them already have plenty of money and other shit going on. They don’t need it.
And then there’s the money and progression. In SA, you start out with next to nothing. There’s lots of stuff you can’t afford, which makes every dollar you manage to gain meaningful. Collecting stuff and completing missions can mean the difference between being able to afford a cool gun or not, between being able to afford a new safehouse or not. You eventually progress to being able to afford all of it … through your own work and effort. And then the whole gang wars part gives you even more progression as you slowly take over all the gang territory in the city. But in 5, again 2/3 of the characters start with enough money to afford anything in the game. And the 3rd character quickly gains just as much after only a few missions. There was never a single point in all of playing through 5 where I found anything they couldn’t already afford. That really robs the game of a sense of progression. You never really unlock anything new that you couldn’t have before (aside from a few safehouse locations that are mission-related). You have no reason to care whether you’re collecting money and mission rewards or not – it’s all meaningless money that you’ll never spend anyway. And that again contributes to a sense of meaninglessness when it comes to the story missions. Completing a mission makes no difference to you or your character – just another arbitrary challenge to be overcome, and the only reward is getting a little closer to being able to say you finished the game.
What made SA great is the story and the sense of progression. If GTA 6 doesn’t bring that back, I think I’m ready to give up on the franchise.
5 felt like they half wrote 3 different games, realized they were running out of time, and then smushed them all together. Finishing the campaign becomes a chore long before the ending. Speaking of the ending if you do manage to chug through your reward is an abrupt and extremely weak ending that again feels like they just ran out of time
It’s crazy because then they plopped out red dead 2 which was a tremendously excellent narrative by comparison. They clearly have the means to make something fantastic.
I agree. The game themes are about making money through doing crimes. If the gameplay doesn’t match that then they fucked up. It’s one of the most trivial things to do with the design of the game, but they think telling players no ever is bad, so they hand everything to you. What’s the point of the game then? I’m assuming the only reason this isn’t the same for multiplayer is because then they couldn’t sell you the solution.
I kinda liked the memes from 4. When online worked, I did the swing set glitch for hours at a time. 5 had the heist missions and those were fun.
But everything was hampered by their dog shit shooting mechanics. In a game where you shoot this much, it shouldn’t feel so bad.
That swing set glitch was the best thing about 4.
Same, Vice City and San Andreas are the only GTA games I enjoyed, got GTA 5 for free on Epic played it for a bit and got bored and dropped it, I do not like the photo real look, GTA works best with the slightly cartoons, janky graphics of San Andreas, the photo real shit has no soul
I liked 4, especially if you also played the DLCs you saw how the different characters intertwined, especially the diamond story, you for the whole picture how the diamonds changed hands, Pulp Fiction style.
Retailers should know that selling this is a poison pill. If no disc launches become the norm, then retailers will no longer serve a purpose in the industry.
They’ve been trying to kill the second hand market for decades and this release is the biggest threat to it yet.
Yep. Nevermind the fact that the second hand market is fantastic advertising for the companies and the quality of their games, and a surefire way to manufacture future customers.
I cant tell you how many brand new games I bought over the years, because I picked up a previous release used.
Hell, Final Fantasy is a fine example… I got FF4 used from a garage sale… which lead to me buying 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15… some of those games multiple times for new platforms.
One used game, translated into additional sales of almost every game that followed.
They don’t want the secondhand market. There’s no tangible profit there. They don’t want you to buy games. There’s tangible profit there only once. They want you to subscribe. They want recurring payments whether you use it or not. They want you to feel obliged to play certain games because you’re already automatically sending the money. They do not give a shit if you finish a title. Eyes on the screen in their ecosystem is all they want. It doesn’t matter if it’s the console manufacturer or the game developer. GTA(#) has been hyped for decades, they don’t need a physical GTAV to float around to convince a handful of people to buy GTAVI. GTA is not in the same market as FF
I still can’t find Ultra HD discs in the shops either - it’s easier to find low res DVDs in 2026 than 4k discs even though most TVs sold now are 4k.
I have become convinced that Sony are deliberately sabotaging their own format because Sony Pictures ran the numbers and concluded they’d make more money if everyone had to stream.
A perpetual subscription is obviously a more stable source of income for corporations than a one-time purchase of a software package.
Adobe figured that out more than a decade ago. I’m surprised that it has taken the legacy media companies this long to hop on that particular bandwagon.
Barnes and Noble is the only reliable place left for ultra discs
The solution is blockchain tokenization that is transferable to a new owner for the secondary market.
Will they ever implement something like that? Of course not.
I don’t understand why ive been seeing so many people say this, that ship sailed long ago. Not only did the switch have games with download only codes, (not to mention that with switch 2 they have the “Game Key Card”), but PC games did this for years (maybe still do?) before moving away from physical discs entirely.
I’m not buying GTA 6 anyway
Same. I kinda liked gta 5. But i was more intrigued to play online with my friends. Remember the online trailers? People doing cool stuff and mess around in the sandbox? Yeah no, i forgot about people who would play gtao are people who play gta.
GTA online was awful. You can never do anything because you would always get blown up because they kept putting in stupid overpowered vehicles.
GTA 6’s launch will be a terrible day for the video games industry.
A lot of releases postponed due to some boring ass game about gangs and crime. For some reason, everyone wants to just drive around and shoot people, instead of experiencing interesting stories? Whatever.
Not to mention all of their shitty decisions, lies, union busting, and more, which will have essentially been forgotten with GTA 6’s launch. No matter how much they lost or will lose in lawsuits, they’ll just make it back tenfold from GTA 6, and continue with their scummy practices.
For some reason, everyone wants to just drive around and shoot people, instead of experiencing interesting stories?
What a weird take. Every single GTA game has had a story and it’s pretty obvious that this one’s going to have a story too. You can complain about all sorts of things to do with rockstar but that’s just a weird thing to say.
GTA and red dead redemption are usually highly regarded, they usually also came out as single player campaign first, like GTA 6 I believe will as well, then later add on the online part which GTA V is now famous for.
I never really got into the online aspect of GTA but did play through the main story and even my wife would come over to just watch like if it was a movie, so Id say it was pretty good. Ive been wanting her to play red dead as I think that was better but just no time for much games anymore
Have you ever, like, played a game other than GTA?
Did you know they all usually feature stories? I mean, I do understand it’s kinda crazy, but it’s true!
And the stories in other games are infinitely better, too. They’re more than just poorly written characters saying ‘fuck’ or the n-word twice in every sentence.
Honestly, I highly recommend playing video games. Try it some time.
I’m much more interested in the new The Witcher 3 DLC than in this.
The GTA stories are better than like 90% of what constitutes a narrative in games these days. They’re not better than something like Cyberpunk, but it’s better than a visual novel like Citizen Sleeper.
I guess it depends on what you’re into, but for me stories in GTA are mediocre at best. Just average action movies dragged out into 40+ hour walking, driving, and shooting simulators.
if it doesn’t have a disc, i won’t pay more than $5 for it.
I have only bought stardew valley once, because I only game on PC, but I definitely would buy it for multiple systems if I used them; it’s already such good value that I feel like I’m stealing. I do love a passion project.
I wonder if ConcernedApe has a proper desk yet
we only have three copies. we’d have four but my wife says she’d get distracted at work if we got the android one. two for PC (different steam accounts so we can play together in different rooms) and one on playstation (so we can splitscreen).
like, i feel weird buying this many copies but we’re still below $60 total and it’s my wife’s favorite game so i don’t really mind.
No physical, no purchase. Period. I guess I’ll need to wait.
I fear they’re trendsetter and physical copies will become a thing of the past in the next couple of years.
Should they sell you an SSD? 20 Blu-rays?
Games would ship with multiple discs if required in the past. The issue with no disc at all is that the license cannot be transferred.
If it is on 20 blu rays they better start shipping it on SSDs instead.
But let’s be honest, it’s not going to be 2TB for the compressed installation. Probably around 100 to 200gb that will be needed, meaning it would need 2 discs at most.
Now, I am pretty old, so I have played a fair few games that came on multiple Disks, CDs and DVDs. Some of my favourite games are on 4 discs.
20 blurays?
If the game is 500gbs in size, and costs 100 fucking dollars, then goddamn yes it better include a fucking dedicated SSD.
y…yes. I would like a free SSD with my game please. That sounds like the best promotional deal.
I don’t even want GTA6 but i’d buy the fuck out of that.
I don’t care if it’s just one disk and you have to download most of the game, the important thing is being able to give the disk to someone else, allowing them to play the game.
Blu-rays can store up to 128gb so you need only 3 disks for a 300gb game…
I’m not going to play any games that need several terabytes to install. I’ve got more than enough older games I’ve never played to last me the rest of my life and then some.
nah, if it’s good enough I’ll give 'em $5.
Respect
It’s interesting to watch the cycle of bullshit that happens around every hyped game.
Years up to the release, people are full of wild speculation, impossible expectations, and excitement.
Months up to the release, suddenly every piece of news is blown massively out of proportion. People are now extremely overreacting to every minor piece of news like it’s going to end this game.
The internet is so boring when it comes to video games. Reviews have become useless because nothing is ever good enough. Online discourse is worthless because people are always focused on the weird parts of a game or it’s release.
Its such a weird thing to watch from a PC gamer perspective. The game won’t release on PC for another year or longer after consoles. I’m really not feeling like I’m missing out or anything, if anything it’s like I’m standing back and watching a potential train wreck from afar.
Rockstar has been hyping this game up like it’s the next coming of Christ and there’s just no way it lives up to that much hype. People complaining about the lack of physical media, or the confusion surrounding paid DLC. I’ll just sit back and watch what happens. If it releases flawlessly with zero issues, then I’ll look forward to the PC release. If it crashes and burns, well they have a year to fix it and to convince me it’s worth it.
Exactly what I am doing as well.
I don’t think this is an overreaction. As a PC gamer, this completely ruins my plans for playing the game. I was planning to buy a used console and the physical edition of the game, so I could resell both when the game came out on PC. This is another entry into “you will own nothing and be happy.”
i’m fortunate to have some friends who are close enough we trust each other to lend consoles. we tend to swap the nintendo/playstation for about a month a year so we can catch up on whatever we missed the most (and we’ve bought each other games just so we can play them, it’s cute)
Games like that don’t really fit on discs anymore when they are probably over 100GB. So you get a disc and put it in the console and then it downloads 150GB more content onto the console, that means the disc is just a license key anyway.
What is a bigger issue is that they want to charge $80+ for a game. I’m not going to pay that much for any game.
It’s like anything… Think about how many people ride bicycles. Now go to ANY online community where people talk about cycling; it will likely be the most insufferably pedantic asshole you can imagine.
99% of people who buy video games don’t identify as “gamers”, they don’t read gaming media, and they certainly don’t interact with gaming discussion online.
As both an industry professional (former), and a self-identified gamer, I stopped giving a shit what “core gamers” had to say 10 years ago.
or the reviews are in lines of “brings nothing new, 9/10”
Even if the disk was in the box, it wouldnt matter.
It’d probably just be some basic files. You’d still have to download a bunch online and use the code in the box to activate it.
So, while I applaud giving the finger to rockstars exploitative bullshit, this seems more performative than anything.
Ok, but you can still physically take that disk with those minimal files and trade them in for at least some credit or cash somewhere.
If it’s digital, you can’t do that at all. Hell, if you download or play the game and do not like it then it can’t even be returned for a refund on many systems. A physical disk gets you something. Something…
except no you cant, because the download keys already been used and registered.
This game is going to be a terd
Can I order the disc and return it from my least favorite online marketplace after I use the code?
I’ve said it before, but I really don’t get the GTA VI hype. The last Grand Theft Auto game being released over a decade ago isn’t any guarantee that the next one will be amazing - Duke Nukem, Metroid, Overwatch and Star Fox are examples of that. Also, anyone who’s been paying attention to the direction Rockstar games has been going for the last 5+ years would be pretty worried about how this game will actually turn out. A lot of stuff that used to be earned with in-game currencies in GTA online are only buyable with real money now. Their employee track record is horrible… Hearing about Rockstar not producing discs for their game doesn’t surprise me. Maybe GTA VI will “crash the industry” and all the things these YouTubers are saying, but it would be on status alone at the moment, not because we know this is going to be a great game.
Yeah, I get, I’ll wait to buy gta6 on discount instead
If your only metric is “long dev cycles bad”, then yeah this looks bad because you’re comparing games stuck in development hell to a game that has demonstrably had like 8 years of real dev time. Additionally, it’s not like Rockstar have put out stinkers in the past. every GTA game I’ve ever played has been a fun single player experience. I can’t imagine R* nuking the billions they’ve spent developing their game and the goodwill they’ve gathered in the past. Are there going to be scammy bullshit things in the game? Sure. It’s literally impossible for them to raise money from investors if they don’t put it in there. But if it’s another game, it’s just as good as GTA v and it will sell incredibly well and be a fun game to play, worth the up front money.
Buying only a download code is essentially a gift card.
Literally the only reason to get the physical on this is if it’s cheaper. Which is entirely possible in the UK, because retail often goes £5 cheaper.
They could at least put a printed map or poster in the box like in ye olden times.
Or they could give you a disc and all of that like they used to
From what I understand, for GTA 6 it would be more like 6 discs. But its not like the discs cost them a fortune either.
A map? That sounds like DLC.
The lack of a game is ridiculous.
But not as ridiculous as the lack of online multiplayer at launch. I’m ancient enough to remember the GTA V release. The pre-release trailer specifically said, “Complete heists with your friends!” or something very close to that. Then the game launched and you couldnt do anything with your friends. Once online was finally added, it was broken for a month or two. And heists weren’t added for 2 years.
Maybe I’ll buy GTA VI in 2 years, because $80 for a single-player-only game without a disc is 100% not happening for me.
Also, for extra GTA-doomer content, I still expect them to put online mode’s in-game currency on their own blockchain to prevent exploits, better enabling their bullshit monetization schemes.
Why would they do this? Do you think they’d want people to sell their in-game currency to other people without them being able to take a cut? How would putting it on a block chain prevent exploits?
Sorry, I don’t see an issue here. Everyone is perfectly happy giving Steam loads of money for games they’ll never physically own, but when it comes to consoles, suddenly we’re supposed to make a stand?
No. The overwhelming majority of game sales are digital downloads.
If you think having a disc somehow solves this, try playing Gran Turismo on the PlayStation 4. Sure, you get a disc, but you still have to sit through roughly six hours of downloads and installation before the game is actually playable.
The lack of a disc isn’t the issue.
Yall are boring, them raising the price is greedy but 10$ is not a big deal, most games yall buy digitally without a second thought since they are only available for sale online, this gta 6 just seems perfomative, im buying it day 1 and will likely get more than 1$ an hour of enjoyment out of it.
Good. Boycott until a physical copy is sold at a lower price. Stop pre-ordering incomplete games and vote with your wallet.
Are blu-ray drives even standard on gaming pcs anymore? I have no idea. They sure aren’t on laptops, you’re lucky to get an rj45 port on a laptop.
Those same stores have likely happily sold physical cases for PC games containing nothing but a Steam code.
PR posturing.
back when star field came out,i bought(for$85)what i thought was the deluxe edition dvd disc but when it arrived all it had was a code to download the 125GB data from their store page.
What’s the reason for no disc? Is this another one of those ‘you buy it but you don’t really own it’ things?
This is a tough one because on one hand I’m old school I like to own physical things. Going to the music store and looking at, and then buying, CDs was my favorite. I like my CD and BluRay collection
On the other hand, it’s a waste of money and material to make a physical copy of something you can sell digitally. Plus you got to package it, ship it, etc…
It’s better for the environment if we don’t make physical products
What disc will this game fit on? I’d like to buy a stack of them to backup my media library.
Half of the games on steam don’t have physical releases anymore. I don’t know what IGN is on about
Isn’t this game gonna be huge wrt size? Like how would this fit on a single disk. You would prolly need 10 disks or sth like that
Lol, haven’t bought physical in years. Means nothing to me. Digital for life
SoupBrick@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Based
LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
“The biggest game of 2026”
Is it a terabyte or something?
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
300GB apparently. So not far off. Especially with SSD prices these days.
toiletobserver@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No, but the packaging is a refrigerator box.
Lemming6969@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It is a reflection though. A box with a piece of paper in it is a direct reflection of fucking idiocy.