It’s been a big few days for Grand Theft Auto fans, with the next big series entry finally solidifying its impending launch by opening up pre-orders worldwide. Among the various topics of discussion following the pre-purchase doors opening, which includes the especially high price point, a lack of online component at launch and the locking-off of in-game stores for those who don’t fork out for the Ultimate Edition, no doubt the biggest has been the game’s physical release.
In case you somehow missed it, Grand Theft Auto 6 will arrive at physical retailer this November 12 – a week ahead of the game’s official release date of November 19 – with no disc inside the box. Instead, the game will be supplied as a download code, that extra few days carved out to allow players to pre-load it with plenty of time.
This has, naturally, caused a bit of an uproar among players and onlookers. The physical version of what is the single biggest video game release in years not being an actual, physical copy that can be played offline, kept indefinitely, traded or resold is a fact worth discussing. Some global retailers have even taken to social media to confirm they won’t carry the game at all due to this detail:
But it seems all hope may not be lost for those who crave a more tangible pressing of GTA 6, it just might be a case of waiting. According to multiple publications, Rockstar’s own support has been responding to email enquiries about the situation with a (admittedly vague) statement that seems to imply that the digital-only launch is not a permanent fixture and that physical disc versions of the game will arrive some time in the months following. Here’s what it says:
Rockstar’s statement on GTA 6 physical disc copies
Thank you for contacting Rockstar Support. Please note that the current pre-order is indeed just for a digital-only update you will be able to acquire a physical copy during the following months.
Now, crucially, this email can be read in a number of ways, making it frustratingly tricky to take any actual confirmation away from it. The statement suggests that eager players will be able to acquire a “physical copy,” during the following months, with the word “disc” not mentioned, and the timeframe of “the following months” not made clear in whether that’s beginning now or at the game’s launch.
We can infer that, given the fact physical pre-orders with a download code in the box are already live now, this written statement is talking about the latter, and about copies that include a disc. Or, we can equally take this as something of a mix-up and that the support team responsible for writing/pre-writing these emails is talking about being able to pre-order the already-announced physical copies in the months leading up to GTA 6’s release date.
Either way, it’s another small update in this ongoing saga that, as with every bit of information to come out around this game, threatens to have wide-reaching implications for the industry as a whole. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say that the decision to hold off on pressing physical discs for this game sits somewhere between file size restrictions, the logistics and expense of shipping the world’s biggest video game, and – more than likely – circumventing the incredibly high potential for targeted thefts, embargo breaks and anything else that might see the game slip out into the world earlier than desired.