// PC GAMER — GAMING
Rockstar's decision to make GTA 6 fully digital is a terrible, anti-consumer move that makes me worry about the future of videogames
An increasing digital landscape shouldn't erase physical media entirely.
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PC gaming entered the digital domain long before any other platform, but my heart has always lied firmly with physical media. Before I joined this team and became a full-fledged PC GamerTM, I was a console gamer—a label I have long blamed on being a child of divorce and finding it far easier to ferry an Xbox between two households than a desktop computer.
And for the most part, my console collection has always consisted of physical copies. Real, tangible discs you can pop in and hear that satisfying little whirr. And a lot of those copies I've procured secondhand. Hell, I spent nearly four years of my life working in a secondhand videogame store. The act of trading and repurposing someone's once-loved game, DVD, or CD is woven into the very fabric of my being.
For a long time, physical media was one of the most accessible, affordable ways to play videogames. Hell, there was literally a time where Sony created a 22-second marketing video mocking Xbox over its attempt to make game sharing more difficult.
I grew up doing swaps with my schoolmates. I have a distinct memory of being freshly 16 and desperately attempting to trade away a portion of my Xbox 360 collection to score a copy of Fable 3—turns out trying to sell something without ID when you're still in secondary school is an absolute ballache. I could walk into a store and come away with a pre-owned videogame that was half the price of buying it brand new.
But that's a problem, isn't it? At least, I reckon that's a problem as far as Rockstar's concerned. Its recent preorder announcement for Grand Theft Auto 6 came with a little tidbit that really bummed me out: its so-called physical editions are little more than a box containing a bit of paper with a code on it.
Is Rockstar the first developer to pull this? Of course not. Nintendo has long been using box-with-code as a way to get stuff on store shelves without needing a cartridge to do so. Alan Wake 2 received a fair bit of backlash for going digital-only, but that was in the name of keeping the game's overall price down to a respectable $60 on console and $50 on PC. And as I said at the start, PC has been almost exclusively digital for years: When was the last time you bought a used PC game at your local EB?
GTA 6 guide: Everything we knowGTA 6 cars: The garage lineupGTA 6 characters: Your anti-hero castGTA 6 map: Confirmed Vice City localesGTA 6 PC release: When's it going to happen?
But consoles have remained firmly footed in the physical world, at least until now, and Rockstar has no explanation for the lack of a GTA 6 disc. There's no deep discount to excuse its decision. And I can't help but feel like it's all in the name of some bizarre form on control.