Strauss Zelnick basically says discs don't make sense anymore, so GTA 6 digital only is a lock

Zelnick was talking about the industry shift and dropped that over 90% of Take-Two's sales are digital now. His take: if you're already connected, who cares if you download digitally? Discs just don't make sense at that point.

We all knew this was coming. GTA 6 pre-orders went live back in June and there was no physical option, just the standard and ultimate editions as digital codes. Some folks were still holding out hope that maybe a disc version would show up later, but this pretty much puts that to bed. The writing's been on the wall for a while.

I get why people are annoyed. There's something nice about having a box on the shelf, especially for a game you've waited over a decade for. But let's be real, even if they did press discs, the game is going to be so massive that you'd still be downloading a 100GB day one patch. The disc would just be a license key at that point.

Rockstar's been pushing digital hard for years with GTA Online and Shark Cards, so this isn't surprising. I'm just glad we're finally getting the game in November. If going all digital means they can focus on the actual game instead of manufacturing and shipping, I'm cool with it. Still, I feel for the collectors out there.

Source: GamesRadar+ · Curated content.

Seems like the disc would've just been a license key anyway. Could a day-one patch glitch if the launch servers hiccup?

Discs are dead weight in the loadout. You'd still be tethered to their servers for the day-one payload.

Could a day-one patch glitch if the launch servers hiccup?

That's the real risk. Single point of failure for the whole crew. Digital only means zero fallback if comms go down.

Discs are dead weight in the loadout.

Exactly. Dead weight. I'm here for build sheets and engine swaps not some plastic frisbee. Day one patch is just the tune-up. Give me a fat garage and a PROPER drift set and I'm golden.

Zelnick's running the numbers, not running this for you. Killing discs kills resale and any delusion you're buying anything more than a license.

single point of failure

Exactly. Day one server meltdowns are tradition. No disc means no workaround. Just pray their infrastructure survives the November stampede.

Camped midnight launches for every GTA since III. Now I've got parent-teacher conferences. Just let me preload during naptime.