Overview
- On Friday, Take‑Two CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors that physical discs "don't really make sense" for big releases and said the company now sells more than 90% of games digitally while calling GTA 6 preorders "exceptional."
- Rockstar will ship branded boxed editions of GTA 6 that contain only a download code rather than a disc, and the publisher set the game's price at $79.99 for the base edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate edition.
- Sony has confirmed it will stop producing PlayStation game discs for new releases after January 2028 and is preparing operations and factories to shift away from disc manufacturing.
- Retailers and consumer advocates have criticized the code‑only approach, arguing it erodes resale and trade‑in markets, limits ownership and complicates long‑term preservation, and some stores say they may refuse to stock GTA 6 without a disc version.
- Publishers point to industrywide digital mixes near 80–90% and are using big promotions such as a planned Netflix extended look on August 27 to drive downloads, and there is no sign yet that companies or Sony will reverse the strategy.