It’s a shame it doesn’t send a stronger signal, but you’ll still be joining many others.
Eventually, there’ll be enough conscientious objectors that things change. It’s probably some small percentage, so you sitting out will do more than you think!
So, no longer can customers:
1. Buy the game as Physical
2. Play it until done or bored
3. Sell it as Used to recoupe some of their gamer cash, and spend it elsewhere
3.1 Other user buy a discounted game. << HERE the CD KEY CODE will already have been consumed by the original purchaser.
NOTE: This game is $100.00 for the full version, and $80.00 for the "not all gameplay" version.
NOTE 2: For Disabled Folks amongst us, who game, the Digital Only system is a bit of a kick in the teeth. It's extra difficult to evaluate whether a game is playable for a given person's individual different-ability, and this evaluation/trying-hard-to-work-with-the-game time-period may easily elapse the retailer's (Sony, et al) Digital Refund timer.
https://www.ign.com/articles/some-retailers-are-refusing-to-...
On an even more personal note, very few modern games, if any, are worth purchasing for my own enjoyment. The gaming landscape overall has dropped so low that I don't even care anymore.
- Externalizes the costs of distribution to consumers. DVDs and Blu Rays cost a pittance compared to the $100 MSRP that GTA 6 is rumoured to retail under. GTA 6 will likely break records for the highest single day gross of a media release of all time. They can't allocate some of that top line to providing a physical token that gamers can collect?
- Sets a bad precedent for future AAA releases in terms of acceptable size. Forces gamers to have to buy more storage at a time when storage costs are astronomical. At 200GB I don't know how anybody can justify valuable space in their SSD for a single game.
- Genuinely leads to worse quality product. Without physical media there's no deadline and effectively no incentive to provide a polished product on release day. Have fun playing a broken game for the next 3 to 5 years.
What supplies!? Rockstar is running out of bytes?
It saves the publisher money and cuts down on reselling, which was cutting into their sales. It simplifies distribution. It gives them far more control, especially if they use their own launcher. Is anyone surprised that they like it when it offers only positives for them?
Also: Many big AAA releases can't even fit on a blu ray anymore. Games are coming up on 200GB+, that will not fit on a disk.
This trend isn't reversing. And the average person buying the game doesn't gaf, so it'll continue.
Of course, there will be some 'protestors' (who will just buy the game anyways) or some """protestors""" (who never intended to buy the game in the first place)
I'll be honest, this discussion is so stale I just don't care at this point. The fight for this ended a decade ago.
And honestly, considering how much more expensive AAA game creation has gotten over the years, and how game price hasn't even close to kept up with inflation, I get it.
There are so many much more egregious behaviors publishers do than this nonsense. Fight them on microtransactions, or making games online-only even for singleplayer content and then shutting down servers. Literally anything than this waste of time.
Of course no-one will care (until it happens) but at the same time, it will be available on PS5 and Xbox but not for the PC or the Steam Machine.
Given the price of the game and the Steam Machine, I expect the Steam Machine to not sell well at all but GTA 6 to break over $1 billion in sales in a single day.
